The Toad
Earthbound and poisonous, with a jewel in its head.
The Toad: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
The toad is of the earth and the damp, cold, poisonous, and ugly, and for the alchemists it was the heavy earth of the work, set against the eagle of the spirit. Yet the old belief said it carried a precious stone in its head: the value hidden in what is most despised.
The Toad: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
“Like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head” in As You Like It, the frog prince, and the toad and toadstone of the old pharmacies.
From the Sources
Duke Senior compares the sweet uses of adversity to the toad, 'ugly and venomous', which yet wears a precious jewel in its head.
“Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; And this our life, exempt from public haunt,”
William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II, Scene I. Project Gutenberg eBook #1523. The text, read in part
In the fairy tale Silberer presents, the Simpleton goes down beneath the earth to a fat toad, who gives him a ring glittering with jewels, finer than any goldsmith on earth could make.
“So he went down again to the fat toad and told her that he needed the most beautiful ring. She immediately had her big box fetched and from it gave him a ring that glittered with jewels and was more beautiful than any goldsmith upon the earth could have made.”
Dr. Herbert Silberer, Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts (originally published as Problems of Mysticism and its Symbolism), Part II, Section V ('The Problem of Multiple Interpretation'), the fairy tale of the king's three sons. Translated by Smith Ely Jelliffe, M.D., Ph.D.; Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1971, an unabridged republication of the work published by Moffat, Yard and Company, New York, in 1917 (Project Gutenberg eBook #27755). 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.
In the Materia Medica
Toad: the substance itself, as the old medicine used it and as it is known today.
Where to Read
- Psychology and Alchemy, CW 12
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
In the Glossary: Prima materia.
Also among Small Creatures
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Toad.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/toad.
Symbols That Share Its Terms
Lead (Saturn) · The Prima Materia (The first matter) · The Stone (Lapis philosophorum) · The Dragon (Draco)
Nearby in the alphabet: The Throne: The seat of rule, and of what rules the soul. Tin: The metal of Jupiter, completing the seven. The Tomb: The grave that is also a womb. The Tower: Height, enclosure, and the danger of reaching too high.