The Theft of Fire
Prometheus
Stolen light, and the price of it.
The Theft of Fire: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Prometheus steals fire from the gods and is chained to the rock. In Symbols of Transformation Jung followed the old derivation of his name from the Sanskrit pramantha, the fire-drill, and read the stolen fire as libido won from the unconscious; Edward Edinger read it as the ego’s necessary hubris in winning consciousness, and the suffering that follows.
The Theft of Fire: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Prometheus and the eagle, Maui stealing fire from the underworld, Coyote and Raven as fire-thieves, Lucifer the light-bearer.
From the Sources
Jung notes that the legend of the discovery of fire always expresses the making of fire as a robbery, and so places it among the widespread myths of the treasure difficult to attain.
“The legend of its discovery always expresses the production of fire as a robbery. (In this far it belongs to the motive widely spread over the earth of the treasure difficult to attain.)”
Dr. C. G. Jung, Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido, Part II, ch. III, "The Transformation of the Libido". Authorized translation, with introduction, by Beatrice M. Hinkle, M.D.; New York: Moffat, Yard and Company, 1916. The text, read in part
Hesiod tells how the son of Iapetus stole the gleam of unwearying fire from Zeus in a hollow fennel stalk, and how Zeus, angered, made an evil thing for men as the price of fire.
“But the noble son of Iapetus outwitted him and stole the far-seen gleam of unwearying fire in a hollow fennel stalk. And Zeus who thunders on high was stung in spirit, and his dear heart was angered when he saw amongst men the far-seen ray of fire. Forthwith he made an evil thing for men as the price of fire”
Hesiod, Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica, Theogony, ll. 561-584. Translator: Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Project Gutenberg eBook #348). 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
- Edward F. Edinger, Ego and Archetype (1972)
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Unions, Spells, and Changes
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Theft of Fire.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/theft-of-fire.
Nearby in the alphabet: The Temptation: The offer that tests who one is. The Theatre: The inner drama, and the seat of the one who watches it. The Thread: The line of fate, and the way back out. The Throne: The seat of rule, and of what rules the soul.