The Seed
The whole, hidden in the small.
The Seed: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
The seed holds the whole plant in potential, and must be buried and die to grow. It is the germ of the Self and of every development, and the image of a meaning that is present from the beginning and unfolds.
The Seed: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone,” the mustard seed, the sower of the parable, the ear of grain shown in the Eleusinian mysteries.
In the Press’s Books
The acorn that holds the oak is the governing figure of An History Beside Time.
From the Sources
In the parable of the mustard seed, the kingdom of heaven is likened to the least of all seeds, which grows into the greatest among herbs and becomes a tree in which the birds lodge.
“The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 13:32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree”
The King James Version of the Bible, Matthew 13:31-32. King James Version, Project Gutenberg eBook #10. The text, read in part
Jung writes that the covered head signifies death and that the initiate dies figuratively like the seed corn, to grow again and come to harvest.
“The covering of the head signifies death. The mystic dies, figuratively, like the seed corn, grows again and comes to the corn harvest. Proclus relates that the mystics were buried up to their necks.”
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
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
- 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 Seed.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/seed.
Nearby in the alphabet: The Scarab: The beetle that rolls the sun into rebirth. The Sea: The collective unconscious, unfathomed. The Self: The whole of the psyche, and its centre. The Senex: Order, limit, and time, and their hardening into rigidity.