The Twins
The Dioscuri
The pair who are one, one mortal and one divine.
The Twins: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Twins picture the first division of a unity into two: the pair of opposites still bound to each other. Castor was mortal and Pollux immortal, and they shared their fate between them, a day in the underworld and a day among the gods. Jung found the same doubling in the two torch-bearers who flank Mithras, one torch raised and one lowered.
Joseph Henderson, following Paul Radin, set the Twins at the end of the Winnebago hero cycle, after the Trickster, the Hare, and Red Horn: the hero grown into two sides of one nature that must be held together.
The Twins: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Romulus and Remus, Jacob and Esau, the Ashvins of the Vedas, the Hero Twins of the Maya Popol Vuh, and the Doppelgänger of the Romantics.
From the Sources
Jung reports Vollers's comparison of Chidher and Elias with Gilgamesh and his mortal brother Eabani, and with the Dioscuri, one immortal and the other mortal.
“Vollers compares Chidher and Elias, on the one side, with Gilgamesh and his mortal brother Eabani; on the other side, with the Dioscuri, one of whom is immortal, the other mortal.”
Dr. C. G. Jung, Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido, Part II, Chapter IV, 'The Unconscious Origin of the Hero'. Authorized translation, with introduction, by Beatrice M. Hinkle, M.D.; New York: Moffat, Yard and Company, 1916. The text, read in part
Bulfinch tells that when Castor was slain, Pollux begged Jupiter to give his own life as ransom, and the brothers were allowed to live alternately, one day under the earth and the next in heaven.
“Castor was slain, and Pollux, inconsolable for the loss of his brother, besought Jupiter to be permitted to give his own life as a ransom for him. Jupiter so far consented as to allow the two brothers to enjoy the boon of life alternately, passing one day under the earth and the next in the heavenly abodes.”
Thomas Bulfinch, Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, Legends of Charlemagne, The Age of Fable, 'Castor and Pollux'. Complete in one volume, Project Gutenberg eBook #4928. 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
- Joseph L. Henderson, “Ancient Myths and Modern Man,” in Man and His Symbols (1964)
- Paul Radin, The Trickster (1956)
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Heroes and Tricksters
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Twins.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/twins.
Nearby in the alphabet: The Trinity: Threeness, process, and the missing fourth. The Twelve: The whole circle of time. The Unicorn: Wild power, tamed only by the pure.