The Prison
The captive spirit
Bound in the dark, awaiting release.
The Prison: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Jung opened his essay “The Spirit Mercurius” (1943) with the Grimms’ tale of the spirit in the bottle, shut under the roots of an oak and freed by a poor student: the alchemists’ Mercurius, the spirit imprisoned in matter, who must be released and then mastered.
The Gnostics pictured the soul itself as imprisoned in the body and the world, and the redeemer as the one who comes to set it free.
The Prison: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Plato’s cave; Joseph in the pit and in Pharaoh’s prison; Boethius consoled by Philosophy in his cell; the Harrowing of Hell.
From the Sources
The prophet says the Spirit of the Lord has sent him to bind up the broken-hearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and open the prison to them that are bound.
“…he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;”
The King James Version of the Bible, Isaiah 61:1. King James Version, Project Gutenberg eBook #10. The text, read in part
Socrates pictures people who have been in the den from childhood, chained by legs and neck so that they cannot move and can see only what is before them.
“…here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads.”
Plato, The Republic, Book VII, opening. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. The text, read in part
Bunyan's pilgrim, lying in the dungeon, calls himself a fool to stay there when he has in his bosom a key called Promise which, he is persuaded, will open any lock in Doubting Castle.
“What a fool, quoth he, am I, thus to lie in a stinking Dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty. I have a Key in my bosom called Promise, that will, I am persuaded, open any Lock in Doubting Castle.”
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come, Part One, section 292. Part One, delivered under the similitude of a dream; Project Gutenberg eBook #131. 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.
Where to Read
- “The Spirit Mercurius,” CW 13
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
In the Glossary: Spirit.
Also among Vessels and Enclosures
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Prison.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/prison.
Symbols That Share Its Terms
The Animus (Latin: spirit, mind) · The Father (Senex, the old king) · The Wise Old Man (Senex sapiens) · Violet (The ultraviolet) · The Wind · Breath (Pneuma, spiritus, ruach)
Nearby in the alphabet: Possession: An archetype taking hold of the whole person. The Prima Materia: The chaos from which the work begins: despised, everywhere, and everything. Projectio: Casting the stone upon the metal to change it, and the psyche upon matter. The Psychopomp: The one who leads the soul across.