The Spear
The lance of Longinus
The wound that pierces, and the wound that heals.
The Spear: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
In Symbols of Transformation Jung set the spear that pierced Christ’s side beside Odin, who hung on the windy tree nine nights, “wounded with a spear,” to win the runes: the self-sacrifice of the god.
The bleeding lance carried in the Grail procession belongs with the wounded king, and with Achilles’ spear, which alone could heal the wound it had made.
The Spear: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Longinus; the bleeding lance of the Grail castle; Odin’s spear Gungnir; Telephus, healed by the rust of the spear that wounded him.
From the Sources
John records that one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water came out.
“But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.”
The King James Version of the Bible, John 19:34. King James Version, Project Gutenberg eBook #10. The text, read in part
Thurston notes that, according to tradition, the soldier was healed of ophthalmia and converted by a drop of the precious blood spurting from the wound, a legend he judges as old as the sixth century.
“This seems to show that the legend which assigns this name to the soldier (who, according to the same tradition, was healed of ophthalmia and converted by a drop of the precious blood spurting from the wound) is as old as the sixth century.”
H. Thurston, The Holy Lance, opening section. The Catholic Encyclopedia, New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910 (New Advent transcription). The text, read in full
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
- Emma Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz, The Grail Legend (1960)
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
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 Spear.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/spear.
Nearby in the alphabet: Solutio: Dissolved back into the waters. Sophia: Wisdom as a feminine figure beside God. The Sphere: Wholeness in three dimensions, with no beginning and no end. The Sphinx: The riddle that must be answered.