The Pearl
Beauty grown around a wound, in the depths.
The Pearl: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
The pearl grows in the dark around a grain that hurts the oyster, and is brought up from the depths of the sea. It is one of the forms of the treasure hard to attain, and of the Self: something precious made out of an irritation and a long patience.
The Pearl: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
The pearl of great price, for which the merchant sold all he had; the Gnostic Hymn of the Pearl, in which a prince is sent to Egypt to bring back the pearl guarded by a serpent; the pearl gates; and prepared pearls in the old pharmacies.
From the Sources
Pliny says that pearls produced in a healthy state are built of many layers, so that they may fairly be compared in form to the callosities on an animal's body.
“Those which are produced in a perfectly healthy state consist of numerous layers, so that they may be looked upon, not inappropriately, as similar in conformation to the callosities on the body of an animal”
Pliny the Elder, The Natural History of Pliny, Vol. II, Book IX, Chapter 54, "Pearls; how they are produced, and where". Translated, with copious notes and illustrations, by the late John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., and H. T. Riley, Esq., B.A.; London: Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden, MDCCCLV (Project Gutenberg eBook #60230). The text, read in part
In the parable, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking goodly pearls who, finding one pearl of great price, sells all that he has to buy it.
“…the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: 13:46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”
The King James Version of the Bible, Matthew 13:45-46. King James Version, Project Gutenberg eBook #10. The text, read in part
Each passage is quoted from the text named, which the press fetched and read, and was checked word for word against a fresh copy of it; the link opens that copy. Passages are given as printed, without the editors’ footnote numbers, and with words broken across lines joined.
In the Materia Medica
Pearls, prepared: the substance itself, as the old medicine used it and as it is known today.
Where to Read
- Symbols of Transformation, CW 5
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Growing Things
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Pearl.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/pearl.
Nearby in the alphabet: The Owl: Wisdom that sees in the dark. The Peacock’s Tail: All the colours at once, before the white. The Pelican: The mother who feeds her young with her own blood. The Persona: The face turned to the world.