The Wasteland
The barren land of a wounded king.
The Wasteland: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
In the Grail stories the land lies waste because its king is wounded, and it will be healed only when the right question is asked. Emma Jung and von Franz read the wasteland as the sterility of a ruling attitude of consciousness cut off from its source; Jessie Weston’s study of the legend gave T. S. Eliot the title of his poem.
The Wasteland: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
The Fisher King, the land under Pharaoh’s plagues, Eliot’s The Waste Land (1922), and the barren earth of Demeter’s mourning.
From the Sources
Weston notes that in the Perceval versions the sickness and disability of the Fisher King is first regarded as the direct cause of the wasting of the land, and the task of the quester becomes that of healing the King.
“The distinctive feature of the Perceval version is the insistence upon the sickness, and disability of the ruler of the land, the Fisher King. Regarded first as the direct cause of the wasting of the land, it gradually assumes overwhelming importance, the task of the Quester becomes that of healing the King”
Jessie L. Weston, From Ritual to Romance, Ch. II, "The Task of the Hero". Project Gutenberg eBook #4090; no publisher, place or date printed in the text. The text, read in part
Frazer writes that by killing the man-god before his natural force was abated, his worshippers thought to secure that the world should not fall into decay with his decay.
“…and, in the second place, by putting him to death before his natural force was abated, they would secure that the world should not fall into decay with the decay of the man-god.”
Sir James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: a study of magic and religion, Ch. XXIV, "The Killing of the Divine King", §2. Abridged edition (preface dated June 1922), Project Gutenberg eBook #3623. The text, read in part
Weston sets at the root of the Grail tradition the position of a people whose prosperity and the fertility of whose land are closely bound up with the life and virility of their king, a divine re-incarnation.
“…we have postulated as forming the basic idea of the Grail tradition—the position of a people whose prosperity, and the fertility of their land, are closely bound up with the life and virility of their King, who is not a mere man, but a Divine re-incarnation.”
Jessie L. Weston, From Ritual to Romance, Ch. V, "Medieval and Modern Forms of Nature Ritual". Project Gutenberg eBook #4090; no publisher, place or date printed in the text. 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
- Emma Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz, The Grail Legend (1960)
- Jessie L. Weston, From Ritual to Romance (1920)
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 Wasteland.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/wasteland.
Nearby in the alphabet: Vitriol: Go down into the earth, and you will find the hidden stone. The Volcano: Fire breaking up from below. Water: The commonest symbol of the unconscious. The Well: The deep source, and the way down.