The Scales
The balance, Libra
Weighing the heart: judgment, justice, and equilibrium.
The Scales: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Jung held that the psyche regulates itself like a balance: when consciousness leans too far one way, the unconscious weighs in on the other, above all in dreams, which he read as compensations.
The scales are also the judgment of the soul, weighed at death against what it should have been.
The Scales: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
The heart weighed against the feather of Maat in the Egyptian Book of the Dead; the archangel Michael weighing souls; blind Justice; Libra.
From the Sources
The commentary to chapter CXXV states that the essential notion was a trial before Osiris, in which the man's conduct or conscience was weighed in the Balance.
“The essential notion was that of a trial before Osiris, in which the man's conduct or conscience was weighed in the Balance.”
Sir P. Le Page Renouf; E. Naville, The Egyptian Book of the Dead: Translation and Commentary, Chapter CXXV, notes. By the late Sir P. Le Page Renouf, Knt., continued and completed by Prof. E. Naville; privately printed for the Society of Biblical Archaeology, London, 1904. The text, read in part
Daniel reads the writing on Belshazzar's wall: 'TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.'
“TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.”
The King James Version of the Bible, Daniel 5:27. 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
- “General Aspects of Dream Psychology,” CW 8
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
In the Glossary: Enantiodromia.
Also among Things Held and Worn
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Scales.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/scales.
Symbols That Share Its Terms
Nearby in the alphabet: Salome: The anima as Jung first met her: blind, and loving. Salt: Wisdom, and the bitterness it costs. The Scarab: The beetle that rolls the sun into rebirth. The Sea: The collective unconscious, unfathomed.