Rebirth
Renovatio
Becoming new, in five forms.
Rebirth: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Jung distinguished five forms of the idea: metempsychosis, the passing of the soul through bodies; reincarnation, rebirth in a human body with the personality continuing; resurrection; renewal, renovatio, within one life; and indirect rebirth, through taking part in a rite of transformation.
Psychologically he was concerned with the fourth, the transformation of the personality, which may be lived as a death and a new birth.
Rebirth: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Osiris dismembered and restored, the dying and rising gods of the Near East, baptism as a second birth, the initiations of the mysteries, the phoenix from its ashes, the snake that sheds its skin.
From the Sources
Jung writes that the motive of the twofold mother may be replaced by that of twofold birth, which in Christianity is baptism, representing rebirth: man is born not only in the ordinary way but born again in a mysterious way.
“The twofold mother may be replaced by the motive of twofold birth, which has attained a lofty significance in the Christian mythology; namely, through baptism, which, as we have seen, represents rebirth. Thus man is born not merely in a commonplace manner, but also born again in a mysterious manner”
Dr. C. G. Jung, Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido, Part II, Chapter VII, 'The Dual Mother Rôle'. Authorized translation, with introduction, by Beatrice M. Hinkle, M.D.; New York: Moffat, Yard and Company, 1916. The text, read in part
In John, Jesus tells Nicodemus that unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God, and Nicodemus asks how a man can be born when he is old.
“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 3:4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?”
The King James Version of the Bible, John 3:3-4. 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.
Where to Read
- “Concerning Rebirth” (1940/1950), CW 9i
- Symbols of Transformation, CW 5, “Symbols of the Mother and of Rebirth”
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Death and Birth
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“Rebirth.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/rebirth.
Nearby in the alphabet: The Rainbow: A bridge of light between heaven and earth. The Raven: The black bird of the beginning. Red: The reddening: the work completed in blood and life. The Redeemer: The one who frees what is bound.