The Star
A light in the dark: guidance and destiny.
The Star: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Paracelsus spoke of the firmament within the human being, the inner stars, and Jung took up the idea as the light of nature in the unconscious, many small lights before the one sun of consciousness. A star is guidance in the dark and the sign of an individual destiny.
The Star: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
The star of Bethlehem, the pole star, the stars as the souls of heroes, the morning star, and the star of the Tarot.
In the Press’s Books
“I tell you: one must still have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star”: Zarathustra, in the prologue.
From the Sources
In Matthew the star seen in the east goes before the wise men until it stands over the place where the young child is.
“…and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.”
The King James Version of the Bible, Matthew 2:9. Project Gutenberg eBook #10. The text, read in part
Jung remarks that the purpose of the rite was generally to destroy the 'evil compulsion of the star' by magic power.
“Generally it was the purpose of the rite to destroy the “evil compulsion of the star” by magic power.”
Dr. C. G. Jung, Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido, Notes to Part I, Chapter III, footnote 91 (after quoting Lucius's prayer to Isis in Apuleius). Authorized translation, with introduction, by Beatrice M. Hinkle, M.D.; New York: Moffat, Yard and Company, 1916 (Project Gutenberg eBook #65903). 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
- “On the Nature of the Psyche,” CW 8
- “Paracelsus as a Spiritual Phenomenon” (1942), CW 13
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among The Heavens
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Star.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/star.
Nearby in the alphabet: Squaring the Circle: The impossible figure of the whole. The Stag: The fleeing spirit of the wild, crowned with antlers. The Stone: What endures: the philosophers’ stone. Sublimatio: What was heavy rises, and becomes spirit.