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object:3.02 - The Psychology of Rebirth
book class:The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
author class:Carl Jung
subject class:Psychology
subject class:Occultism
class:chapter


2. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF REBIRTH

8 6 Rebirth is not a process that we can in any way observe. We
can neither measure nor weigh nor photograph it. It is entirely
beyond sense perception. We have to do here with a purely
psychic reality, which is transmitted to us only indirectly
through personal statements. One speaks of rebirth; one pro-
fesses rebirth; one is filled with rebirth. This we accept as suffi-
ciently real. We are not concerned here with the question: is
rebirth a tangible process of some sort? We have to be content
with its psychic reality. I hasten to add that I am not alluding
to the vulgar notion that anything "psychic" is either nothing
at all or at best even more tenuous than a gas. Quite the con-
trary; I am of the opinion that the psyche is the most tremendous
fact of human life. Indeed, it is the mother of all human facts;
of civilization and of its destroyer, war. All this is at first psychic
and invisible. So long as it is "merely" psychic it cannot be ex-
perienced by the senses, but is nonetheless indisputably real.
. The mere fact that people talk about rebirth, and that there is
such a concept at all, means that a store of psychic experiences
designated by that term must actually exist. What these expe-
riences are like we can only infer from the statements that have
been made about them. So, if we want to find out what rebirth
really is, we must turn to history in order to ascertain what
"rebirth" has been understood to mean.

207 Rebirth is an affirmation that must be counted among the
primordial affirmations of mankind. These primordial affirma-
tions are based on what I call archetypes. In view of the fact that
all affirmations relating to the sphere of the suprasensual are, in
the last analysis, invariably determined by archetypes, it is not
surprising that a concurrence of affirmations concerning rebirth
can be found among the most widely differing peoples. There
must be psychic events underlying these affirmations which it is
the business of psychology to discuss without entering into all
the metaphysical and philosophical assumptions regarding their

116



CONCERNING REBIRTH



significance. In order to obtain a general view of their phe-
nomenology, it is necessary to sketch the whole field of trans-
formation experiences in sharper outline. Two main groups of
experience may be distinguished: that of the transcendence of
life, and that of one's own transformation.



I. EXPERIENCE OF THE TRANSCENDENCE OF LIFE

208 a. Experiences induced by ritual. By the "transcendence of
life" I mean those aforementioned experiences of the initiate
who takes part in a sacred rite which reveals to him the perpet-
ual continuation of life through transformation and renewal.
In these mystery dramas the transcendence of life, as distinct
from its momentary concrete manifestations, is usually repre-
sented by the fateful transformations death and rebirth of a
god or a godlike hero. The initiate may either be a mere witness
of the divine drama or take part in it or be moved by it, or he
may see himself identified through the ritual action with the
god. In this case, what really matters is that an objective sub-
stance or form of life is ritually transformed through some proc-
ess going on independently, while the initiate is influenced,
impressed, "consecrated," or granted "divine grace" on the
mere ground of his presence or participation. The transforma-
tion process takes place not within him but outside him, al-
though he may become involved in it. The initiate who ritually
enacts the slaying, dismemberment, and scattering of Osiris,
and afterwards his resurrection in the green wheat, experiences
in this way the permanence and continuity of life, which out-
lasts all changes of form and, phoenix-like, continually rises
anew from its own ashes. This participation in the ritual event
gives rise, among other effects, to that hope of immortality
which is characteristic of the Eleusinian mysteries. 1

*9 A living example of the mystery drama representing the
permanence as well as the transformation of life is the Mass. If
we observe the congregation during this sacred rite we note all
degrees of participation, from mere indifferent attendance to
the profoundest emotion. The groups of men standing about

1 [Cf. infra, "The Psychology of the Kore," and Kerenyi's companion essays in
Essays on a Science of Mythology. Editors.]

117



THE ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

near the exit, who are obviously engaged in every sort of worldly
conversation, crossing themselves and genuflecting in a purely
mechanical way even they, despite their inattention, partici-
pate in the sacral action by their mere presence in this place
where grace abounds. The Mass is an extramundane and extra-
temporal act in which Christ is sacrificed and then resurrected
in the transformed substances; and this rite of his sacrificial
death is not a repetition of the historical event but the original,
unique, and eternal act. The experience of the Mass is there-
fore a participation in the transcendence of life, which over-
comes all bounds of space and time. It is a moment of eternity
in time. 2

b. Immediate Experiences. All that the mystery drama
represents and brings about in the spectator may also occur in
the form of a spontaneous, ecstatic, or visionary experience,
without any ritual. Nietzsche's Noontide Vision is a classic
example of this kind. 3 Nietzsche, as we know, substitutes for the
Christian mystery the myth of Dionysus-Zagreus, who was dis-
membered and came to life again. His experience has the char-
acter of a Dionysian nature myth: the Deity appears in the garb
of Nature, as classical antiquity saw it, 4 and the moment of
eternity is the noonday hour, sacred to Pan: "Hath time flown
away? Do I not fall? Have I not fallen hark! into the well of
eternity?" Even the "golden ring," the "ring of return," appears
to him as a promise of resurrection and life. 5 It is just as if
Nietzsche had been present at a performance of the mysteries.

Many mystic experiences have a similar character: they
represent an action in which the spectator becomes involved
though his nature is not necessarily changed. In the same way,
the most beautiful and impressive dreams often have no lasting
or transformative effect on the dreamer. He may be impressed
by them, but he does not necessarily see any problem in them.
The event then naturally remains "outside," like a ritual action
performed by others. These more aesthetic forms of experience
must be carefully distinguished from those which indubitably
involve a change of one's nature.

2 Cf. my "Transformation Symbolism in the Mass."

3 Thus Spake Zarathustra, trans, by Common, pp. 315ft*.

4 Ibid.: "An old, bent and gnarled tree, hung with grapes."

5 Horneffer, Nietzsches Lehre von der ewigen Wiederkehr.

Il8



CONCERNING REBIRTH



II. SUBJECTIVE TRANSFORMATION

212 Transformations of personality are by no means rare occur-
rences. Indeed, they play a considerable role in psychopathology,
although they are rather different from the mystical experiences
just discussed, which are not easily accessible to psychological
investigation. However, the phenomena we are now about to
examine belong to a sphere quite familiar to psychology.

213 a. Diminution of personality. An example of the alteration
of personality in the sense of diminution is furnished by what is
known in primitive psychology as "loss of soul." The peculiar
condition covered by this term is accounted for in the mind of
the primitive by the supposition that a soul has gone off, just
like a dog that runs away from his master overnight. It is then
the task of the medicine-man to fetch the fugitive back. Often
the loss occurs suddenly and manifests itself in a general ma-
laise. The phenomenon is closely connected with the nature of
primitive consciousness, which lacks the firm coherence of our
own. We have control of our will power, but the primitive has
not. Complicated exercises are needed if he is to pull himself
together for any activity that is conscious and intentional and
not just emotional and instinctive. Our consciousness is safer
and more dependable in this respect; but occasionally something
similar can happen to civilized man, only he does not describe
it as "loss of soul" but as an "abaissement du niveau mental,"
Janet's apt term for this phenomenon. 6 It is a slackening of the
tensity of consciousness, which might be compared to a low
barometric reading, presaging bad weather. The tonus has given
way, and this is felt subjectively as listlessness, moroseness, and
depression. One no longer has any wish or courage to face the
tasks of the day. One feels like lead, because no part of one's
body seems willing to move, and this is due to the fact that one
no longer has any disposable energy. 7 This well-known phe-
nomenon corresponds to the primitive's loss of soul. The list-
lessness and paralysis of will can go so far that the whole
personality falls apart, so to speak, and consciousness loses its

6 Les Nevroses, p. 358.

7 The gana phenomena described by Count Keyserling (South- American Medi-
tations, pp. 161 ff.) come into this category.

119



THE ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

unity; the individual parts of the personality make themselves
independent and thus escape from the control of the conscious
mind, as in the case of anaesthetic areas or systematic amnesias.
The latter are well known as hysterical "loss of function" phe-
nomena. This medical term is analogous to the primitive loss
of soul.

214 Abaissement du niveau mental can be the result of physical
and mental fatigue, bodily illness, violent emotions, and shock,
of which the last has a particularly deleterious effect on one's
self-assurance. The abaissement always has a restrictive influence
on the personality as a whole. It reduces one's self-confidence
and the spirit of enterprise, and, as a result of increasing ego-
centricity, narrows the mental horizon. In the end it may lead
to the development of an essentially negative personality, which
means that a falsification of the original personality has super-
vened.

215 b. Enlargement of personality. The personality is seldom,
in the beginning, what it will be later on. For this reason the
possibility of enlarging it exists, at least during the first half of
life. The enlargement may be effected through an accretion
from without, by new vital contents finding their way into the
personality from outside and being assimilated. In this way a
considerable increase of personality may be experienced. We
therefore tend to assume that this increase comes only from
without, thus justifying the prejudice that one becomes a per-
sonality by stuffing into oneself as much as possible from outside.
But the more assiduously we follow this recipe, and the more
stubbornly we believe that all increase has to come from with-
out, the greater becomes our inner poverty. Therefore, if some
great idea takes hold of us from outside, we must understand
that it takes hold of us only because something in us responds to
it and goes out to meet it. Richness of mind consists in mental
receptivity, not in the accumulation of possessions. What comes
to us from outside, and, for that matter, everything that rises
up from within, can only be made our own if we are capable of
an inner amplitude equal to that of the incoming content. Real
increase of personality means consciousness of an enlargement
that flows from inner sources. Without psychic depth we can
never be adequately related to the magnitude of our object. It
has therefore been said quite truly that a man grows with the

120



CONCERNING REBIRTH



greatness of his task. But he must have within himself the
capacity to grow; otherwise even the most difficult task is of no
benefit to him. More likely he will be shattered by it.

216 A classic example of enlargement is Nietzsche's encounter
with Zarathustra, which made of the critic and aphorist a tragic
poet and prophet. Another example is St. Paul, who, on his way
to Damascus, was suddenly confronted by Christ. True though
it may be that this Christ of St. Paul's would hardly have been
possible without the historical Jesus, the apparition of Christ
came to St. Paul not from the historical Jesus but from the
depths of his own unconscious.

217 When a summit of life is reached, when the bud unfolds
and from the lesser the greater emerges, then, as Nietzsche says,
"One becomes Two," and the greater figure, which one always
was but which remained invisible, appears to the lesser per-
sonality with the force of a revelation. He who is truly and
hopelessly little will always drag the revelation of the greater
down to the level of his littleness, and will never understand that
the day of judgment for his littleness has dawned. But the man
who is inwardly great will know that the long expected friend
of his soul, the immortal one, has now really come, "to lead
captivity captive"; 8 that is, to seize hold of him by whom this
immortal had always been confined and held prisoner, and to
make his life flow into that greater life a moment of deadliest
peril! Nietzsche's prophetic vision of the Tightrope Walker 9
reveals the awful danger that lies in having a "tightrope-walk-
ing" attitude towards an event to which St. Paul gave the most
exalted name he could find.

218 Christ himself is the perfect symbol of the hidden immortal
within the mortal man. 10 Ordinarily this problem is symbolized
by a dual motif such as the Dioscuri, one of whom is mortal and
the other immortal. An Indian parallel is the parable of the
two friends:

Behold, upon the selfsame tree,

Two birds, fast-bound companions, sit,

8 Ephesians 4:8.

9 "Thy soul will be dead even sooner than thy body." Thus Spake Zarathustra,
p. 74. JuaA<

10 Cf. "A Psychological Approach to the Dogma of the Trinity," pars. 226ff.

121



THE ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

This one enjoys the ripened fruit,
The other looks, but does not eat.

On such a tree my spirit crouched,
Deluded by its powerlessness,
Till seeing with joy how great its Lord,
It found from sorrow swift release. . . . 11

21 9 Another notable parallel is the Islamic legend of the meet-
ing of Moses and Khidr, 12 to which I shall return later on. Natu-
rally the transformation of personality in this enlarging sense
does not occur only in the form of such highly significant ex-
periences. There is no lack of more trivial instances, a list of
which could easily be compiled from the clinical history of
neurotic patients. Indeed, any case where the recognition of a
greater personality seems to burst an iron ring round the heart
must be included in this category. 13

220 c . Change of internal structure. We now come to changes
of personality which imply neither enlargement nor diminu-
tion but a structural alteration. One of the most important
forms is the phenomenon of possession: some content, an idea
or a part of the personality, obtains mastery of the individual
for one reason or another. The contents which thus take posses-
sion appear as peculiar convictions, idiosyncrasies, stubborn
plans, and so forth. As a rule, they are not open to correction.
One has to be an especially good friend of the possessed person
and willing to put up with almost anything if one is to attempt
to deal with such a condition. I am not prepared to lay down
any hard and fast line of demarcation between possession and
paranoia. Possession can be formulated as identity of the ego-
personality with a complex. 14

221 A common instance of this is identity with the persona,
which is the individual's system of adaptation to, or the manner
he assumes in dealing with, the world. Every calling or profes-

11 Shvetashvatara Upanishad 4, 6ff. (Trans, based on Hume, The Thirteen Prin-
cipal Upanishads, pp. 403ft.).
1^ Koran, 18th Sura.

13 1 have discussed one such case of a widening of the personality in my inaugural
dissertation, "On the Psychology and Pathology of So-called Occult Phenomena."

14 For the Church's view of possession see de Tonquedec, Les Maladies nerveuses
ou mentales et les manifestations diaboliqucs; also "A Psychological Approach to
the Dogma of the Trinity," p. 163, n. 15.

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CONCERNING REBIRTH



sion, for example, has its own characteristic persona. It is easy
to study these things nowadays, when the photographs of public
personalities so frequently appear in the press. A certain kind
of behaviour is forced on them by the world, and professional
people endeavour to come up to these expectations. Only, the
danger is that they become identical with their personas the
professor with his text-book, the tenor with his voice. Then
the damage is done; henceforth he lives exclusively against the
background of his own biography. For by that time it is written:
". . . then he went to such and such a place and said this or
that/' etc. The garment of Deianeira has grown fast to his skin,
and a desperate decision like that of Heracles is needed if he is
to tear this Nessus shirt from his body and step into the consum-
ing fire of the flame of immortality, in order to transform
himself into what he really is. One could say, with a little
exaggeration, that the persona is that which in reality one is not,
but which oneself as well as others think one is. 15 In any case
the temptation to be what one seems to be is great, because the
persona is usually rewarded in cash.
222 There are still other factors which may take possession of
the individual, one of the most important being the so-called
"inferior function." This is not the place to enter into a de-
tailed discussion of this problem; 16 I should only like to point
out that the inferior function is practically identical with the
dark side of the human personality. The darkness which clings
to every personality is the door into the unconscious and the
gateway of dreams, from which those two twilight figures, the
shadow and the anima, step into our nightly visions or, remain-
ing invisible, take possession of our ego-consciousness. A man
who is possessed by his shadow is always standing in his own
light and falling into his own traps. Whenever possible, he pre-
fers to make an unfavourable impression on others. In the long
run luck is always against him, because he is living below his
own level and at best only attains what does not suit him. And
if there is no doorstep for him to stumble over, he manufactures
one for himself and then fondly believes he has done something
useful.

15 In this connection, Schopenhauer's "The Wisdom of Life: Aphorisms" (Essays
from the Parerga and Paralipomena) could be read with profit.

16 This important problem is discussed in detail in Ch. II of Psychological Types.



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THE ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

22 3 Possession caused by the anima or animus presents a different
picture. Above all, this transformation of personality gives
prominence to those traits which are characteristic of the oppo-
site sex; in man the feminine traits, and in woman the mascu-
line. In the state of possession both figures lose their charm and
their values; they retain them only when they are turned away
from the world, in the introverted state, when they serve as
bridges to the unconscious. Turned towards the world, the
anima is fickle, capricious, moody, uncontrolled and emotional,
sometimes gifted with daemonic intuitions, ruthless, malicious,
untruthful, bitchy, double-faced, and mystical. 17 The animus is
obstinate, harping on principles, laying down the law, dogmatic,
world-reforming, theoretic, word-mongering, argumentative,
and domineering. 18 Both alike have bad taste: the anima sur-
rounds herself with inferior people, and the animus lets him-
self be taken in by second-rate thinking.

224 Another form of structural change concerns certain unusual
observations about which I speak only with the utmost reserve.
I refer to states of possession in which the possession is caused
by something that could perhaps most fitly be described as an
"ancestral soul," by which I mean the soul of some definite
forebear. For all practical purposes, such cases may be regarded
as striking instances of identification with deceased persons.
(Naturally, the phenomena of identity only occur after the
"ancestor's" death.) My attention was first drawn to such possi-
bilities by Leon Daudet's confused but ingenious book
L'Heredo. Daudet supposes that, in the structure of the person-
ality, there are ancestral elements which under certain condi-
tions may suddenly come to the fore. The individual is then
precipitately thrust into an ancestral role. Now we know that
ancestral roles play a very important part in primitive psy-
chology. Not only are ancestral spirits supposed to be reincar-
nated in children, but an attempt is made to implant them into

17 Cf. the apt description of the anima in Aldrovandus, Dendrologiae libri duo
(1668, p. 211): "She appeared both very soft and very hard at the same time, and
while for some two thousand years she had made a show of inconstant looks like
a Proteus, she bedevilled the love of Lucius Agatho Priscus, then a citizen of
Bologna, with anxious cares and sorrows, which assuredly were conjured up from
chaos, or from what Plato calls Agathonian confusion." There is a similar descrip-
tion in Fierz-David, The Dream of Poliphilo, pp. i8gff.

18 Cf. Emma Jung, "On the Nature of the Animus."

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CONCERNING REBIRTH



the child by naming him after an ancestor. So, too, primitives
try to change themselves back into their ancestors by means of
certain rites. I would mention especially the Australian concep-
tion of the alcheringamijina/ 9 ancestral souls, half man and half
animal, whose reactivation through religious rites is of the
greatest functional significance for the life of the tribe. Ideas of
this sort, dating back to the Stone Age, were widely diffused, as
may be seen from numerous other traces that can be found else-
where. It is therefore not improbable that these primordial
forms of experience may recur even today as cases of identifica-
tion with ancestral souls, and I believe I have seen such cases.
225 d. Identification with a group. We shall now discuss an-
other form of transformation experience which I would call
identification with a group. More accurately speaking, it is the
identification of an individual with a number of people who,
as a group, have a collective experience of transformation. This
special psychological situation must not be confused with par-
ticipation in a transformation rite, which, though performed
before an audience, does not in any way depend upon group
identity or necessarily give rise to it. To experience transforma-
tion in a group and to experience it in oneself are two totally
different things. If any considerable group of persons are united
and identified with one another by a particular frame of mind,
the resultant transformation experience bears only a very re-
mote resemblance to the experience of individual transforma-
tion. A group experience takes place on a lower level of
consciousness than the experience of an individual. This is due
to the fact that, when many people gather together to share one
common emotion, the total psyche emerging from the group is
below the level of the individual psyche. If it is a very large
group, the collective psyche will be more like the psyche of an
animal, which is the reason why the ethical attitude of large
organizations is always doubtful. The psychology of a large
crowd inevitably sinks to the level of mob psychology. 20 If,
therefore, I have a so-called collective experience as a member of
a group, it takes place on a lower level of consciousness than if
I had the experience by myself alone. That is why this group
experience is very much more frequent than an individual ex-
perience of transformation. It is also much easier to achieve,

19 Cf. Lvy-Bruhl, La Mythologie primitive. 20 Le Bon, The Crowd.

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THE ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

because the presence of so many people together exerts great
suggestive force. The individual in a crowd easily becomes the
victim of his own suggestibility. It is only necessary for some-
thing to happen, for instance a proposal backed by the whole
crowd, and we too are all for it, even if the proposal is immoral.
In the crowd one feels no responsibility, but also no fear.

226 Thus identification with the group is a simple and easy path
to follow, but the group experience goes no deeper than the
level of one's own mind in that state. It does work a change in
you, but the change does not last. On the contrary, you must
have continual recourse to mass intoxication in order to con-
solidate the experience and your belief in it. But as soon as you
are removed from the crowd, you are a different person again
and unable to reproduce the previous state of mind. The mass
is swayed by participation mystique, which is nothing other than
an unconscious identity. Supposing, for example, you go to the
theatre: glance meets glance, everybody observes everybody
else, so that all those who are present are caught up in an
invisible web of mutual unconscious relationship. If this condi-
tion increases, one literally feels borne along by the universal
wave of identity with others. It may be a pleasant feeling one
sheep among ten thousand! Again, if I feel that this crowd is a
great and wonderful unity, I am a hero, exalted along with the
group. When I am myself again, I discover that I am Mr. So-and-
So, and that I live in such and such a street, on the third floor.
I also find that the whole affair was really most delightful, and
I hope it will take place again tomorrow so that I may once
more feel myself to be a whole nation, which is much better
than being just plain Mr. X. Since this is such an easy and con-
venient way of raising one's personality to a more exalted rank,
mankind has always formed groups which made collective expe-
riences of transformation often of an ecstatic nature possible.
The regressive identification with lower and more primitive
states of consciousness is invariably accompanied by a height-
ened sense of life; hence the quickening effect of regressive
identifications with half-animal ancestors 21 in the Stone Age.

227 The inevitable psychological regression within the group is

21 The alcheringamijina. Cf. the rites of Australian tribes, in Spencer and Gillen,
The Northern Tribes of Central Australia; also Levy-Bruhl, La Mythologie primi-
tive.

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CONCERNING REBIRTH



partially counteracted by ritual, that is to say through a cult
ceremony which makes the solemn performance of sacred events
the centre of group activity and prevents the crowd from re-
lapsing into unconscious instinctuality. By engaging the individ-
ual's interest and attention, the ritual makes it possible for him
to have a comparatively individual experience even within the
group and so to remain more or less conscious. But if there is
no relation to a centre which expresses the unconscious through
its symbolism, the mass psyche inevitably becomes the hypnotic
focus of fascination, drawing everyone under its spell. That is
why masses are always breeding-grounds of psychic epidemics, 22
the events in Germany being a classic example of this.
228 it will be objected to this essentially negative evaluation of
mass psychology that there are also positive experiences, for
instance a positive enthusiasm which spurs the individual to
noble deeds, or an equally positive feeling of human solidarity.
Facts of this kind should not be denied. The group can give the
individual a courage, a bearing, and a dignity which may easily
get lost in isolation. It can awaken within him the memory of
being a man among men. But that does not prevent something
else from being added which he would not possess as an in-
dividual. Such unearned gifts may seem a special favour of the
moment, but in the long run there is a danger of the gift becom-
ing a loss, since human nature has a weak habit of taking gifts
for granted; in times of necessity we demand them as a right in-
stead of making the effort to obtain them ourselves. One sees
this, unfortunately, only too plainly in the tendency to demand
everything from the State, without reflecting that the State con-
sists of those very individuals who make the demands. The
logical development of this tendency leads to Communism,
where each individual enslaves the community and the latter is
represented by a dictator, the slave-owner. All primitive tribes
characterized by a communistic order of society also have a
chieftain over them with unlimited powers. The Communist
State is nothing other than an absolute monarchy in which there
are no subjects, but only serfs.

22 I would remind the reader of the catastrophic panic which broke out in New
York on the occasion [1938] of a broadcast dramatization of H. G. Wells' War of
the Worlds shortly before the second World War [see Cantril, The Invasion from
Mars (1940)], and which was later [1949] repeated in Quito.

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THE ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

9 e. Identification with a cult-hero. Another important iden-
tification underlying the transformation experience is that with
the god or hero who is transformed in the sacred ritual. Many
cult ceremonies are expressly intended to bring this identity
about, an obvious example being the Metamorphosis of Apu-
leius. The initiate, an ordinary human being, is elected to be
Helios; he is crowned with a crown of palms and clad in the
mystic mantle, whereupon the assembled crowd pays homage to
him. The suggestion of the crowd brings about his identity with
the god. The participation of the community can also take place
in the following way: there is no apotheosis of the initiate, but
the sacred action is recited, and then, in the course of long
periods of time, psychic changes gradually occur in the individ-
ual participants. The Osiris cult offers an excellent example of
this. At first only Pharaoh participated in the transformation of
the god, since he alone "had an Osiris"; but later the nobles
of the Empire acquired an Osiris too, and finally this develop-
ment culminated in the Christian idea that everyone has an
immortal soul and shares directly in the Godhead. In Chris-
tianity the development was carried still further when the outer
God or Christ gradually became the inner Christ of the individ-
ual believer, remaining one and the same though dwelling in
many. This truth had already been anticipated by the psy-
chology of totemism: many exemplars of the totem animal are
killed and consumed during the totem meals, and yet it is only
the One who is being eaten, just as there is only one Christ-child
and one Santa Claus.

23 In the mysteries, the individual undergoes an indirect trans-
formation through his participation in the fate of the god. The
transformation experience is also an indirect one in the Chris-
tian Church, inasmuch as it is brought about by participation in
something acted or recited. Here the first form, the dromenon }
is characteristic of the richly developed ritual of the Catholic
Church; the second form, the recitation, the "Word" or "gos-
pel," is practised in the "preaching of the Word" in Protestant-
ism.

23 1 f. Magical procedures. A further form of transformation is
achieved through a rite used directly for this purpose. Instead
of the transformation experience coming to one through par-
ticipation in the rite, the rite is used for the express purpose of

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effecting the transformation. It thus becomes a sort of tech-
nique to which one submits oneself. For instance, a man is ill
and consequently needs to be "renewed." The renewal must
"happen" to him from outside, and to bring this about, he is
pulled through a hole in the wall at the head of his sick-bed,
and now he is reborn; or he is given another name and thereby
another soul, and then the demons no longer recognize him; or
he has to pass through a symbolical death; or, grotesquely
enough, he is pulled through a leathern cow, which devours
him, so to speak, in front and then expels him behind; or he
undergoes an ablution or baptismal bath and miraculously
changes into a semi-divine being with a new character and an
altered metaphysical destiny.

232 g. Technical transformation. Besides the use of the rite in
the magical sense, there are still other special techniques in
which, in addition to the grace inherent in the rite, the personal
endeavour of the initiate is needed in order to achieve the in-
tended purpose. It is a transformation experience induced by
technical means. The exercises known in the East as yoga and
in the West as exercitia spiritualia come into this category.
These exercises represent special techniques prescribed in ad-
vance and intended to achieve a definite psychic effect, or at
least to promote it. This is true both of Eastern yoga and of the
methods practised in the West. 23 They are, therefore, technical
procedures in the fullest sense of the word; elaborations of the
originally natural processes of transformation. The natural or
spontaneous transformations that occurred earlier, before there
were any historical examples to follow, were thus replaced by
techniques designed to induce the transformation by imitating
this same sequence of events. I will try to give an idea of the
way such techniques may have originated by relating a fairy
story:

233 There was once a queer old man who lived in a cave, where
he had sought refuge from the noise of the villages. He was re-
puted to be a sorcerer, and therefore he had disciples who hoped
to learn the art of sorcery from him. But he himself was not
thinking of any such thing. He was only seeking to know what
it was that he did not know, but which, he felt certain, was
always happening. After meditating for a very long time on
23 cf. "The Psychology of Eastern Meditation."

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THE ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

that which is beyond meditation, he saw no other way of escape
from his predicament than to take a piece of red chalk and
draw all kinds of diagrams on the walls of his cave, in order to
find out what that which he did not know might look like. After
many attempts he hit on the circle. "That's right," he felt, "and
now for a quadrangle inside it!" which made it better still. His
disciples were curious; but all they could make out was that
the old man was up to something, and they would have given
anything to know what he was doing. But when they asked him:
"What are you doing there?" he made no reply. Then they dis-
covered the diagrams on the wall and said: "That's it!" and
they all imitated the diagrams. But in so doing they turned the
whole process upside down, without noticing it: they antici-
pated the result in the hope of making the process repeat itself
which had led to that result. This is how it happened then and
how it still happens today.

2 34 h. Natural transformation (individuation). As I have
pointed out, in addition to the technical processes of transforma-
tion there are also natural transformations. All ideas of rebirth
are founded on this fact. Nature herself demands a death and a
rebirth. As the alchemist Democritus says: "Nature rejoices in
nature, nature subdues nature, nature rules over nature." There
are natural transformation processes which simply happen to
us, whether we like it or not, and whether we know it or not.
These processes develop considerable psychic effects, which
would be sufficient in themselves to make any thoughtful per-
son ask himself what really happened to him. Like the old man
in our fairytale, he, too, will draw mandalas and seek shelter
in their protective circle; in the perplexity and anguish of his
self-chosen prison, which he had deemed a refuge, he is trans-
formed into a being akin to the gods. Mandalas are birth-places,
vessels of birth in the most literal sense, lotus-flowers in which
a Buddha comes to life. Sitting in the lotus-seat, the yogi sees
himself transfigured into an immortal.

*35 Natural transformation processes announce themselves
mainly in dreams. Elsewhere 24 I have presented a series of
dream-symbols of the process of individuation. They were
dreams which without exception exhibited rebirth symbolism.
In this particular case there was a long-drawn-out process of

24 Cf. Psychology and Alchemy, Part II.

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CONCERNING REBIRTH



inner transformation and rebirth into another being. This
"other being" is the other person in ourselves that larger and
greater personality maturing within us, whom we have already
met as the inner friend of the soul. That is why we take comfort
whenever we find the friend and companion depicted in a. ritual,
an example being the friendship between Mithras and the sun-
god. This relationship is a mystery to the scientific intellect,
because the intellect is accustomed to regard these things un-
sympathetically. But if it made allowance for feeling, we would
discover that it is the friend whom the sun-god takes with him
on his chariot, as shown in the monuments. It is the representa-
tion of a friendship between two men which is simply the outer
reflection of an inner fact: it reveals our relationship to that
inner friend of the soul into whom Nature herself would like to
change us that other person who we also are and yet can never
attain to completely. We are that pair of Dioscuri, one of whom
is mortal and the other immortal, and who, though always to-
gether, can never be made completely one. The transformation
processes strive to approximate them to one another, but our
consciousness is aware of resistances, because the other person
seems strange and uncanny, and because we cannot get accus-
tomed to the idea that we are not absolute master in our own
house. We should prefer to be always "I" and nothing else. But
we are confronted with that inner friend or foe, and whether he
is our friend or our foe depends on ourselves.
23 6 You need not be insane to hear his voice. On the contrary,
it is the simplest and most natural thing imaginable. For in-
stance, you can ask yourself a question to which "he" gives
answer. The discussion is then carried on as in any other con-
versation. You can describe it as mere "associating" or "talking
to oneself," or as a "meditation" in the sense used by the old
alchemists, who referred to their interlocutor as aliquem alium
internum, 'a certain other one, within.' 25 This form of colloquy
with the friend of the soul was even admitted by Ignatius
Loyola into the technique of his Exercitia spiritualia^ but with
the limiting condition that only the person meditating is

25 Cf. Ruland, Lexicon (1893 edn.), p. 226.

26 Izquierdo, Pratica di alcuni Esercitij spirituali di S. Ignatio (Rome, 1686, p. 7):
"A colloquy ... is nothing else than to talk and communicate familiarly with
Christ."

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THE ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

allowed to speak, whereas the inner responses are passed over as
being merely human and therefore to be repudiated. This state
of things has continued down to the present day. It is no longer
a moral or metaphysical prejudice, but what is much worse
an intellectual one. The "voice" is explained as nothing but
"associating," pursued in a witless way and running on and on
without sense or purpose, like the works of a clock that has no
dial. Or we say "It is only my own thoughts!" even if, on
closer inspection, it should turn out that they are thoughts
which we either reject or had never consciously thought at ali-
as if everything psychic that is glimpsed by the ego had always
formed part of it! Naturally this hybris serves the useful pur-
pose of maintaining the supremacy of ego-consciousness, which
must be safeguarded against dissolution into the unconscious.
But it breaks down ignominiously if ever the unconscious
should choose to let some nonsensical idea become an obsession
or to produce other psychogenic symptoms, for which we would
not like to accept responsibility on any account.
237 Our attitude towards this inner voice alternates between two
extremes: it is regarded either as undiluted nonsense or as the
voice of God. It does not seem to occur to any one that there
might be something valuable in between. The "other" may be
just as one-sided in one way as the ego is in another. And yet the
conflict between them may give rise to truth and meaning but
only if the ego is willing to grant the other its rightful personal-
ity. It has, of course, a personality anyway, just as have the voices
of insane people; but a real colloquy becomes possible only
when the ego acknowledges the existence of a partner to the dis-
cussion. This cannot be expected of everyone, because, after all,
not everyone is a fit subject for exercitia spiritualia. Nor can it
be called a colloquy if one speaks only to oneself or only ad-
dresses the other, as is the case with George Sand in her conver-
sations with a "spiritual friend": 26a for thirty pages she talks ex-
clusively to herself while one waits in vain for the other to reply.
The colloquy of the exercitia may be followed by that silent
grace in which the modern doubter no longer believes. But
what if it were the supplicated Christ himself who gave imme-
diate answer in the words of the sinful human heart? What fear-
ful abysses of doubt would then be opened? What madness

26a ["Daily Conversations with Dr. Piffoel," in her Intimate Journal Editors.]

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CONCERNING REBIRTH



should we not then have to fear? From this one can understand
that images of the gods are better mute, and that ego-conscious-
ness had better believe in its own supremacy rather than go on
"associating." One can also understand why that inner friend
so often seems to be our enemy, and why he is so far off and
his voice so low. For he who is near to him "is near to the fire."
Something of this sort may have been in the mind of the
alchemist who wrote: "Choose for your Stone him through
whom kings are honoured in their crowns, and through whom
physicians heal their sick, for he is near to the fire." 27 The al-
chemists projected the inner event into an outer figure, so for
them the inner friend appeared in the form of the "Stone," of
which the Tractatus aureus says: "Understand, ye sons of the
wise, what this exceeding precious Stone crieth out to you:
Protect me and I will protect thee. Give me what is mine that
I may help thee." 28 To this a scholiast adds: "The seeker after
truth hears both the Stone and the Philosopher speaking as if
out of one mouth." 29 The Philosopher is Hermes, and the
Stone is identical with Mercurius, the Latin Hermes. 30 From
the earliest times, Hermes was the mystagogue and psychopomp
of the alchemists, their friend and counsellor, who leads them
to the goal of their work. He is "like a teacher mediating be-
tween the stone and the disciple." 31 To others the friend ap-
pears in the shape of Christ or Khidr or a visible or invisible
guru, or some other personal guide or leader figure. In this
case the colloquy is distinctly one-sided: there is no inner dia-

27 A Pseudo- Aristotle quotation in Rosarium philosophorum (1550), fol. Q.

28 "Largiri vis mihi meum" is the usual reading, as in the first edition (1556) of
Ars chemica, under the title "Septem tractatus seu capitula Hermetis Trismegisti
aurei," and also in Theatrum chemicum, IV (1613), and Manget, Biblio theca
chemica, I (1702), pp. 400ft. In the Rosarium philosophorum (1550), fol. E Y ,
there is a different reading: "Largire mihi ius meum ut te adiuvem" (Give me my
due that I may help thee). This is one of the interpretative readings for which
the anonymous author of the Rosarium is responsible. Despite their arbitrariness
they have an important bearing on the interpretation of alchemy. [Cf. Psychology
and Alchemy, par. 139, n.17.] 29 Biblio. chem., I, p. 430b.

30 Detailed documentation in Psychology and Alchemy, par. 84, and "The Spirit
Mercurius," pars. 2781!., 287ft".

31 "Tanquam praeceptor intermedius inter lapidem et discipulum." (Biblio.
chem., I, p. 430b.) Cf. the beautiful prayer of Astrampsychos, beginning "Come to
me, Lord Hermes," and ending "I am thou and thou art I." (Reitzenstein,
Poimandres, p. 21.)



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THE ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

logue, but instead the response appears as the action of the
other, i.e., as an outward event. The alchemists saw it in the
transformation of the chemical substance. So if one of them
sought transformation, he discovered it outside in matter, whose
transformation cried out to him, as it were, "I am the transfor-
mation!" But some were clever enough to know, "It is my own
transformation not a personal transformation, but the trans-
formation of what is mortal in me into what is immortal. It
shakes off the mortal husk that I am and awakens to a life of its
own; it mounts the sun-barge and may take me with it." 32
2 39 This is a very ancient idea. In Upper Egypt, near Aswan, I
once saw an ancient Egyptian tomb that had just been opened.
Just behind the entrance-door was a little basket made of reeds,
containing the withered body of a new-born infant, wrapped in
rags. Evidently the wife of one of the workmen had hastily laid
the body of her dead child in the nobleman's tomb at the last
moment, hoping that, when he entered the sun-barge in order
to rise anew, it might share in his salvation, because it had been
buried in the holy precinct within reach of divine grace.

32 The stone and its transformation are represented:

(i) as the resurrection of the homo philosophicus, the Second Adam ("Aurea
hora," Artis auriferae, 1593, I, p. 195);

(2) as the human soul ("Book of Krates," Berthelot, La Chimie au moyen
age, III, p. 50);

(3) as a being below and above man: "This stone is under thee, as to obedi-
ence; above thee, as to dominion; therefore from thee, as to knowledge; about
thee, as to equals" ("Rosinus ad Sarratantam," Art. aurif., I, p. 310);

(4) as life: "blood is soul and soul is life and life is our Stone" ("Tractatulus
Aristotelis," ibid., p. 364),

(5) as the resurrection of the dead ("Calidis liber secretorum," ibid., p. 347;
also "Rachaidibi fragmentum," ibid., p. 398);

(6) as the Virgin Mary ("De arte chymica," ibid., p. 582); and

(7) as man himself: "thou art its ore . . . and it is extracted from thee . . .
and it remains inseparably with thee" ("Rosinus ad Sarratantam," ibid., p. 311).



134



3. A TYPICAL SET OF SYMBOLS ILLUSTRATING
THE PROCESS OF TRANSFORMATION

240 I have chosen as an example a figure which plays a great role
in Islamic mysticism, namely Khidr, "the Verdant One." He ap-
pears in the Eighteenth Sura of the Koran, entitled "The Cave." x
This entire Sura is taken up with a rebirth mystery. The cave
is the place of rebirth, that secret cavity in which one is shut up
in order to be incubated and renewed. The Koran says of it:
"You might have seen the rising sun decline to the right of their
cavern, and as it set, go past them on the left, while they [the
Seven Sleepers] stayed in the middle." The "middle" is the cen-
tre where the jewel reposes, where the incubation or the sacri-
ficial rite or the transformation takes place. The most beautiful
development of this symbolism is to be found on Mithraic altar-
pieces 2 and in alchemical pictures of the transformative sub-
stance, 3 which is always shown between sun and moon. Repre-
sentations of the crucifixion frequently follow the same type,
and a similar symbolical arrangement is also found in the trans-
formation or healing ceremonies of the Navahos. 4 Just such a
place of the centre or of transformation is the cave in which
those seven had gone to sleep, little thinking that they would ex-
perience there a prolongation of life verging on immortality.
When they awoke, they had slept 309 years.

2 4* The legend has the following meaning: Anyone who gets
into that cave, that is to say into the cave which everyone has in
himself, or into the darkness that lies behind consciousness, will
find himself involved in an at first unconscious process of
transformation. By penetrating into the unconscious he makes

1 [The Dawood trans, of the Koran is quoted, sometimes with modifications. The
18th Sura is at pp. 89-98. Editors.]

2 Cumont, Textes et monuments figures relatifs aux mysteres de Mithra, II.

3 Cf. especially the crowning vision in the dream of Zosimos: "And another
[came] behind him, bringing one adorned round with signs, clad in white and
comely to see, who was named the Meridian of the Sun." Cf. "The Visions of
Zosimos," par. 87 (III, v bis).

4 Matthews, The Mountain Chant, and Stevenson, Ceremonial of Hasjelti D&iljis.

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THE ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

a connection with his unconscious contents. This may re-
sult in a momentous change of personality in the positive or
negative sense. The transformation is often interpreted as a
prolongation of the natural span of life or as an earnest of im-
mortality. The former is the case with many alchemists, notably
Paracelsus (in his treatise De vita longa 5 ), and the latter is exem-
plified in the Eleusinian mysteries.

242 Those seven sleepers indicate by their sacred number 6 that
they are gods, 7 who are transformed during sleep and thereby
enjoy eternal youth. This helps us to understand at the outset
that we are dealing with a mystery legend. The fate of the numi-
nous figures recorded in it grips the hearer, because the story
gives expression to parallel processes in his own unconscious
which in that way are integrated with consciousness again. The
repristination of the original state is tantamount to attaining
once more the freshness of youth.

243 The story of the sleepers is followed by some moral observa-
tions which appear to have no connection with it. But this ap-
parent irrelevance is deceptive. In reality, these edifying com-
ments are just what are needed by those who cannot be reborn
themselves and have to be content with moral conduct, that is to

5 An account of the secret doctrine hinted at in this treatise may be found in my
"Paracelsus as a Spiritual Phenomenon," pars. i6gff.

6 The different versions of the legend speak sometimes of seven and sometimes of
eight disciples. According to the account given in the Koran, the eighth is a dog.
The 18th Sura mentions still other versions: "Some will say: 'The sleepers were
three: their dog was the fourth.' Others, guessing at the unknown, will say: 'They
were five; their dog was the sixth.' And yet others: 'Seven; their dog was the
eighth.' " It is evident, therefore, that the dog is to be taken into account. This
would seem to be an instance of that characteristic wavering between seven and
eight (or three and four, as the case may be), which I have pointed out in Psy-
chology and Alchemy, pars. 2ooff. There the wavering between seven and eight is
connected with the appearance of Mephistopheles, who, as we know, materialized
out of the black poodle. In the case of three and four, the fourth is the devil or
the female principle, and on a higher level the Mater Dei. (Cf. "Psychology and
Religion," pars. i24ff.) We may be dealing with the same kind of ambiguity as in
the numbering of the Egyptian nonad (paut 'company of gods'; cf. Budge, The
Gods of the Egyptians, I, p. 88). The Khidr legend relates to the persecution of
the Christians under Decius (c. a.d. 250). The scene is Ephesus, where St. John lay
"sleeping," but not dead. The seven sleepers woke up again during the reign of
Theodosius II (408-450); thus they had slept not quite 200 years.

1 The seven are the planetary gods of the ancients. Cf. Bousset, Hauptprobleme
der Gnosis, pp. 23ff.

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CONCERNING REBIRTH



say with adherence to the law. Very often behaviour prescribed
by rule is a substitute for spiritual transformation. 8 These edi-
fying observations are then followed by the story of Moses and
his servant Joshua ben Nun:

And Moses said to his servant: "I will not cease from my wander-
ings until I have reached the place where the two seas meet, even
though I journey for eighty years."

But when they had reached the place where the two seas meet,
they forgot their fish, and it took its way through a stream to the sea.

And when they had journeyed past this place, Moses said to his
servant: "Bring us our breakfast, for we are weary from this jour-
ney."

But the other replied: "See what has befallen me! When we were
resting there by the rock, I forgot the fish. Only Satan can have put
it out of my mind, and in wondrous fashion it took its way to the
sea."

Then Moses said: "That is the place we seek." And they went
back the way they had come. And they found one of Our servants,
whom We had endowed with Our grace and Our wisdom. Moses
said to him: "Shall I follow you, that you may teach me for my
guidance some of the wisdom you have learnt?"

But he answered: "You will not bear with me, for how should you
bear patiently with things you cannot comprehend?"

Moses said: "If Allah wills, you shall find me patient; I shall not
in anything disobey you."

He said: "If you are bent on following me, you must ask no ques-
tion about anything till I myself speak to you concerning it."

The two set forth, but as soon as they embarked, Moses' com-
panion bored a hole in the bottom of the ship.

"A strange thing you have done!" exclaimed Moses. "Is it to
drown her passengers that you have bored a hole in her?"

8 Obedience under the law on the one hand, and the freedom of the "children of
God," the reborn, on the other, is discussed at length in the Epistles of St. Paul.
He distinguishes not only between two different classes of men, who are separated
by a greater or lesser development of consciousness, but also between the higher
and lower man in one and the same individual. The sarkikos (carnal man) re-
mains eternally under the law; the pneumatikos (spiritual man) alone is capable
of being reborn into freedom. This is quite in keeping with what seems such an
insoluble paradox: the Church demanding absolute obedience and at the same
time proclaiming freedom from the law. So, too, in the Koran text, the legend
appeals to the pneumatikos and promises rebirth to him that has ears to hear. But
he who, like the sarkikos, has no inner ear will find satisfaction and safe guidance
in blind submission to Allah's will.

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THE ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

"Did I not tell you," he replied, "that you would not bear with
me?"

"Pardon my forgetfulness," said Moses. "Do not be angry with me
on this account/'

They journeyed on until they fell in with a certain youth. Moses'
companion slew him, and Moses said: "You have killed an innocent
man who has done no harm. Surely you have committed a wicked
crime."

"Did I not tell you," he replied, "that you would not bear with
me?"

Moses said: "If ever I question you again, abandon me; for then I
should deserve it."

They travelled on until they came to a certain city. They asked
the people for some food, but the people declined to receive them
as their guests. There they found a wall on the point of falling down.
The other raised it up, and Moses said: "Had you wished, you could
have demanded payment for your labours."

"Now the time has arrived when we must part," said the other.
"But first I will explain to you those acts of mine which you could
not bear with in patience.

"Know that the ship belonged to some poor fishermen. I damaged
it because in their rear was a king who was taking every ship by
force.

"As for the youth, his parents both are true believers, and we
feared lest he should plague them with his wickedness and unbelief.
It was our wish that their Lord should grant them another in his
place, a son more righteous and more filial.

"As for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city whose
father was an honest man. Beneath it their treasure is buried. Your
Lord decreed in His mercy that they should dig out their treasure
when they grew to manhood. What I did was not done by caprice.
That is the meaning of the things you could not bear with in pa-
tience."

2 44 This story is an amplification and elucidation of the legend
of the seven sleepers and the problem of rebirth. Moses is the
man who seeks, the man on the "quest." On this pilgrimage he
is accompanied by his "shadow," the "servant" or "lower" man
(pneumatikos and sarkikos in two individuals). Joshua is the son
of Nun, which is a name for "fish," 9 suggesting that Joshua had
his origin in the depths of the waters, in the darkness of the

9 Vollers, "Chidher," Archiv filr Religionsxvissenschajt, XII, p. 241. All quotations
from the commentaries are extracted from this article.

138



CONCERNING REBIRTH



shadow-world. The critical place is reached "where the two seas
meet," which is interpreted as the isthmus of Suez, where the
Western and the Eastern seas come close together. In other
words, it is that "place of the middle" which we have already met
in the symbolic preamble, but whose significance was not recog-
nized at first by the man and his shadow. They had "forgotten
their fish," the humble source of nourishment. The fish refers
to Nun, the father of the shadow, of the carnal man, who comes
from the dark world of the Creator. For the fish came alive
again and leapt out of the basket in order to find its way back to
its homeland, the sea. In other words, the animal ancestor and
creator of life separates himself from the conscious man, an
event which amounts to loss of the instinctive psyche. This proc-
ess is a symptom of dissociation well known in the psychopa-
thology of the neuroses; it is always connected with one-sided-
ness of the conscious attitude. In view of the fact, however, that
neurotic phenomena are nothing but exaggerations of normal
processes, it is not to be wondered at that very similar phe-
nomena can also be found within the scope of the normal. It is
a question of that well-known "loss of soul" among primitives,
as described above in the section on diminution of the personal-
ity; in scientific language, an abaissement du niveau mental.
245 Moses and his servant soon notice what has happened. Moses
had sat down, "worn out" and hungry. Evidently he had a feel-
ing of insufficiency, for which a physiological explanation is
given. Fatigue is one of the most regular symptoms of loss of
energy or libido. The entire process represents something very
typical, namely the failure to recognize a moment of crucial im-
portance, a motif which we encounter in a great variety of
mythical forms. Moses realizes that he has unconsciously found
the source of life and then lost it again, which we might well
regard as a remarkable intuition. The fish they had intended to
eat is a content of the unconscious, by which the connection
with the origin is re-established. He is the reborn one, who has
awakened to new life. This came to pass, as the commentaries
say, through the contact with the water of life: by slipping back
into the sea, the fish once more becomes a content of the uncon-
scious, and its offspring are distinguished by having only one
eye and half a head. 10

10 Ibid., p. 253.

139



THE ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

2 46 The alchemists, too, speak of a strange fish in the sea, the
"round fish lacking bones and skin," n which symbolizes the
"round element," the germ of the "animate stone," of the filius
philosophorum. The water of life has its parallel in the aqua
permanens of alchemy. This water is extolled as "vivifying," be-
sides which it has the property of dissolving all solids and coag-
ulating all liquids. The Koran commentaries state that, on the
spot where the fish disappeared, the sea was turned to solid
ground, whereon the tracks of the fish could still be seen. 12 On
the island thus formed Khidr was sitting, in the place of the
middle. A mystical interpretation says that he was sitting "on a
throne consisting of light, between the upper and the lower
sea," 13 again in the middle position. The appearance of Khidr
seems to be mysteriously connected with the disappearance of
the fish. It looks almost as if he himself had been the fish. This
conjecture is supported by the fact that the commentaries rele-
gate the source of life to the "place of darkness." 14 The depths
of the sea are dark (mare tenebrositatis). The darkness has its
parallel in the alchemical nigredo, which occurs after the con-
iunctio, when the female takes the male into herself. 15 From the
nigredo issues the Stone, the symbol of the immortal self; more-
over, its first appearance is likened to "fish eyes." 16

11 Cf. Aion, pars. lgsff. 12 Vollers, p. 244.

13 Ibid., p. 260. 14 Ibid., p. 258.

15 Cf. the myth in the "Visio Arislei," especially the version in the Rosarium
philosophorum (Art. aurif., II, p. 246), likewise the drowning of the sun in the
Mercurial Fountain and the green lion who devours the sun (Art. aurif., II, pp.
315, 366). Cf. "The Psychology of the Transference," pars. 467ft.

16 The white stone appears on the edge of the vessel, "like Oriental gems, like
fish's eyes." Cf. Joannes Isaacus Hollandus, Opera mineralia (1600), p. 370. Also
Lagneus, "Harmonica chemica." Theatrum chemicum, IV (1613), p. 870. The eyes
appear at the end of the nigredo and with the beginning of the albedo. Another
simile of the same sort is the scintillae that appear in the dark substance. This idea
is traced back to Zacharias 4 : 10 (DV): "And they shall rejoice and see the tin
plummet in the hand of Zorobabel. These are the seven eyes of the Lord that run
to and fro through the whole earth." (Cf. Eirenaeus Orandus, in the introduction
to Nicholas Flamel's Exposition of the Hieroglyphicall Figures, 1624, fl- A 5.)
They are the seven eyes of God on the corner-stone of the new temple (Zach. 3 : 9).
The number seven suggests the seven stars, the planetary gods, who were depicted
by the alchemists in a cave under the earth (Mylius, Philosophia reformata, 1622,
p. 167). They are the "sleepers enchained in Hades" (Berthelot, Collection des
anciens alchimistes grecs, IV, xx, 8). This is an allusion to the legend of the seven
sleepers.

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CONCERNING REBIRTH



247 Khidr may well be a symbol of the self. His qualities sig-
nalize him as such: he is said to have been born in a cave, i.e., in
darkness. He is the "Long-lived One," who continually renews
himself, like Elijah. Like Osiris, he is dismembered at the end
of time, by Antichrist, but is able to restore himself to life. He
is analogous to the Second Adam, with whom the reanimated
fish is identified; 17 he is a counsellor, a Paraclete, "Brother
Khidr." Anyway Moses accepts him as a higher consciousness
and looks up to him for instruction. Then follow those incom-
prehensible deeds which show how ego-consciousness reacts
to the superior guidance of the self through the twists and turns
of fate. To the initiate who is capable of transformation it is a
comforting tale; to the obedient believer, an exhortation not to
murmur against Allah's incomprehensible omnipotence. Khidr
symbolizes not only the higher wisdom but also a way of acting
which is in accord with this wisdom and transcends reason.

248 Anyone hearing such a mystery tale will recognize himself in
the questing Moses and the forgetful Joshua, and the tale shows
him how the immortality-bringing rebirth comes about. Charac-
teristically, it is neither Moses nor Joshua who is transformed,
but the forgotten fish. Where the fish disappears, there is the
birthplace of Khidr. The immortal being issues from something
humble and forgotten, indeed, from a wholly improbable
source. This is the familiar motif of the hero's birth and need
not be documented here. 18 Anyone who knows the Bible will
think of Isaiah 53: 2fT., where the "servant of God" is described,
and of the gospel stories of the Nativity. The nourishing charac-
ter of the transformative substance or deity is borne out by
numerous cult-legends: Christ is the bread, Osiris the wheat,

17 Vollers, p. 254. This may possibly be due to Christian influence: one thinks of
the fish meals of the early Christians and of fish symbolism in general. Vollers him-
self stresses the analogy between Christ and Khidr. Concerning the fish symbolism,
see Aion.

18 Further examples in Symbols of Transformation, Part II. I could give many
more from alchemy, but shall content myself with the old verse:

"This is the stone, poor and of little price,
Spurned by the fool, but honoured by the wise."

(Ros. phil., in Art. aurif., II, p. 210.) The "lapis exilis" may be a connecting-link
with the "lapsit exillis," the grail of Wolfram von Eschenbach.

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THE ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

Mondamin the maize, 19 etc. These symbols coincide with a psy-
chic fact which obviously, from the point of view of conscious-
ness, has the significance merely of something to be assimilated,
but whose real nature is overlooked. The fish symbol shows im-
mediately what this is: it is the "nourishing" influence of uncon-
scious contents, which maintain the vitality of consciousness by
a continual influx of energy; for consciousness does not produce
its energy by itself. What is capable of transformation is just this
root of consciousness, which inconspicuous and almost invis-
ible (i.e., unconscious) though it is provides consciousness with
all its energy. Since the unconscious gives us the feeling that it is
something alien, a non-ego, it is quite natural that it should be
symbolized by an alien figure. Thus, on the one hand, it is the
most insignificant of things, while on the other, so far as it po-
tentially contains that "round" wholeness which consciousness
lacks, it is the most significant of all. This "round" thing is the
great treasure that lies hidden in the cave of the unconscious,
and its personification is this personal being who represents the
higher unity of conscious and unconscious. It is a figure com-
parable to Hiranyagarbha, Purusha, Atman, and the mystic
Buddha. For this reason I have elected to call it the "self," by
which I understand a psychic totality and at the same time a
centre, neither of which coincides with the ego but includes it,
just as a larger circle encloses a smaller one.

249 The intuition of immortality which makes itself felt during
the transformation is connected with the peculiar nature of the
unconscious. It is, in a sense, non-spatial and non-temporal.
The empirical proof of this is the occurrence of so-called tele-
pathic phenomena, which are still denied by hypersceptical
critics, although in reality they are much more common than is
generally supposed. 20 The feeling of immortality, it seems to
me, has its origin in a peculiar feeling of extension in space and
time, and I am inclined to regard the deification rites in the
mysteries as a projection of this same psychic phenomenon.

5 The character of the self as a personality comes out very

19 [The Ojibway legend of Mondamin was recorded by H. R. Schoolcraft and be-
came a source for Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha. Cf. M. L. Williams, School-
craft's Indian Legends, pp. 58ft. Editors.]

20 Rhine, New Frontiers of the Mind. [Cf. also "Synchronicity: An Acausal Con-
necting Principle." Editors.]

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CONCERNING REBIRTH



plainly in the Khidr legend. This feature is most strikingly ex-
pressed in the non-Koranic stories about Khidr, of which Vol-
lers gives some telling examples. During my trip through Kenya,
the headman of our safari was a Somali who had been brought
up in the Sufi faith. To him Khidr was in every way a living
person, and he assured me that I might at any time meet Khidr,
because I was, as he put it, a M'tu-ya-kitabu, 21 a 'man of the
Book,' meaning the Koran. He had gathered from our talks
that I knew the Koran better than he did himself (which was,
by the way, not saying a great deal). For this reason he regarded
me as "islamu." He told me I might meet Khidr in the street
in the shape of a man, or he might appear to me during the
night as a pure white light, or he smilingly picked a blade of
grass the Verdant One might even look like that. He said he
himself had once been comforted and helped by Khidr, when he
could not find a job after the war and was suffering want. One
night, while he slept, he dreamt he saw a bright white light near
the door and he knew it was Khidr. Quickly leaping to his feet
(in the dream), he reverentially saluted him with the words
salem aleikum, 'peace be with you,' and then he knew that his
wish would be fulfilled. He added that a few days later he was
offered the post as headman of a safari by a firm of outfitters in
Nairobi.

251 This shows that, even in our own day, Khidr still lives on in
the religion of the people, as friend, adviser, comforter, and
teacher of revealed wisdom. The position assigned to him by
dogma was, according to my Somali, that of maleika kwanza-ya-
mungu, 'First Angel of God' a sort of "Angel of the Face," an
angelos in the true sense of the word, a messenger.

252 Khidr's character as a friend explains the subsequent part of
the Eighteenth Sura, which reads as follows:

They will ask you about Dhulqarnein. Say: "I will give you an
account of him.

"We made him mighty in the land and gave him means to achieve
all things. He journeyed on a certain road until he reached the West
and saw the sun setting in a pool of black mud. Hard by he found a
certain people.

21 He spoke in Kisvvahili, the lingua franca of East Africa. It contains many words
borrowed from Arabic, as shown by the above example: kitab book.

143



THE ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

" 'Dhulqarnein,' We said, 'you must either punish them or show
them kindness.'

"He replied: 'The wicked We shall surely punish. Then they shall
return to their Lord and be sternly punished by Him. As for those
that have faith and do good works, we shall bestow on them a rich
reward and deal indulgently with them.'

"He then journeyed along another road until he reached the East
and saw the sun rising upon a people whom We had utterly ex-
posed to its flaming rays. So he did; and We had full knowledge of
all the forces at his command.

"Then he followed yet another route until he came between the
Two Mountains and found a people who could barely understand a
word. 'Dhulqarnein,' they said, 'Gog and Magog are ravaging this
land. Build us a rampart against them and we will pay you tri bute.'

"He replied: 'The power which my Lord has given me is better
than any tri bute. Lend me a force of labourers, and I will raise a
rampart between you and them. Come, bring me blocks of iron.'

"He dammed up the valley between the Two Mountains, and
said: 'Ply your bellows.' And when the iron blocks were red with
heat, he said: 'Bring me molten brass to pour on them.'

"Gog and Magog could not scale it, nor could they dig their way
through it. He said: 'This is a blessing from my Lord. But when my
Lord's promise is fulfilled, He will level it to dust. The promise of
my Lord is true.' "

On that day We will let them come in tumultuous throngs. The
Trumpet shall be sounded and We will gather them all together.

On that day Hell shall be laid bare before the unbelievers, who
have turned a blind eye to My admonition and a deaf ear to My
warning.

253 We see here another instance of that lack of coherence which
is not uncommon in the Koran. How are we to account for this
apparently abrupt transition to Dhulqarnein, the Two-horned
One, that is to say, Alexander the Great? Apart from the un-
heard-of anachronism (Mohammed's chronology in general
leaves much to be desired), one does not quite understand why
Alexander is brought in here at all. But it has to be borne in
mind that Khidr and Dhulqarnein are the great pair of friends,
altogether comparable to the Dioscuri, as Vollers rightly empha-
sizes. The psychological connection may therefore be presumed
to be as follows: Moses has had a profoundly moving experience
of the self, which brought unconscious processes before his eyes

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CONCERNING REBIRTH



with overwhelming clarity. Afterwards, when he comes to his
people, the Jews, who are counted among the infidels, and
wants to tell them about his experience, he prefers to use the
form of a mystery legend. Instead of speaking about himself, he
speaks about the Two-horned One. Since Moses himself is also
"horned," the substitution of Dhulqarnein appears plausible.
Then he has to relate the history of this friendship and describe
how Khidr helped his friend. Dhulqarnein makes his way to
the setting of the sun and then to its rising. That is, he describes
the way of the renewal of the sun, through death and darkness
to a new resurrection. All this again indicates that it is Khidr
who not only stands by man in his bodily needs but also helps
him to attain rebirth. 22 The Koran, it is true, makes no distinc-
tion in this narrative between Allah, who is speaking in the
first person plural, and Khidr. But it is clear that this section is
simply a continuation of the helpful actions described previ-
ously, from which it is evident that Khidr is a symbolization or
"incarnation" of Allah. The friendship between Khidr and
Alexander plays an especially prominent part in the com-
mentaries, as does also the connection with the prophet Elijah.
Vollers does not hesitate to extend the comparison to that other
pair of friends, Gilgamesh and Enkidu. 23
2 54 To sum up, then: Moses has to recount the deeds of the two
friends to his people in the manner of an impersonal mystery
legend. Psychologically this means that the transformation has
to be described or felt as happening to the "other." Although
it is Moses himself who, in his experience with Khidr, stands
in Dhulqarnein's place, he has to name the latter instead of
himself in telling the story. This can hardly be accidental, for
the great psychic danger which is always connected with indi-
viduation, or the development of the self, lies in the identifica-
tion of ego-consciousness with the self. This produces an infla-
tion which threatens consciousness with dissolution. All the
more primitive or older cultures show a fine sense for the
"perils of the soul" and for the dangerousness and general

22 There are similar indications in the Jewish tales about Alexander. Cf. Bin
Gorion, Der Born Judas, III, p. 133, for the legend of the "water of life," which is
related to the 18th Sura.

23 [For a fuller discussion of these relationships, see Symbols of Transformation,



pars. 282fF, Editors.]

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THE ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

unreliability of the gods. That is, they have not yet lost their
psychic instinct for the barely perceptible and yet vital processes
going on in the background, which can hardly be said of our
modern culture. To be sure, we have before our eyes as a warn-
ing just such a pair of friends distorted by inflation Nietzsche
and Zarathustra but the warning has not been heeded. And
what are we to make of Faust and Mephistopheles? The Faust-
ian hybris is already the first step towards madness. The fact
that the unimpressive beginning of the transformation in Faust
is a dog and not an edible fish, and that the transformed figure
is the devil and not a wise friend, "endowed with Our grace and
Our wisdom," might, I am inclined to think, offer a key to our
understanding of the highly enigmatic Germanic soul.

255 Without entering into other details of the text, I would like
to draw attention to one more point: the building of the ram-
part against Gog and Magog (also known as Yajuj and Majuj).
This motif is a repetition of Khidr's last deed in the previous
episode, the rebuilding of the town wall. But this time the wall
is to be a strong defence against Gog and Magog. The passage
may possibly refer to Revelation 20: 7L (AV):

And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed
out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are
in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them
together for battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the
camp of the saints about, and the beloved city.

2 5 6 Here Dhulqarnein takes over the role of Khidr and builds
an unscalable rampart for the people living "between Two
Mountains." This is obviously the same place in the middle
which is to be protected against Gog and Magog, the featureless,
hostile masses. Psychologically, it is again a question of the self,
enthroned in the place of the middle, and referred to in Revela-
tion as the beloved city (Jerusalem, the centre of the earth). The
self is the hero, threatened already at birth by envious collective
forces; the jewel that is coveted by all and arouses jealous strife;
and finally the god who is dismembered by the old, evil power
of darkness. In its psychological meaning, individuation is an
opus contra naturam, which creates a horror vacui in the collec-
tive layer and is only too likely to collapse under the impact of

146



CONCERNING REBIRTH



the collective forces of the psyche. The mystery legend of the
two helpful friends promises protection 24 to him who has
found the jewel on his quest. But there will come a time when,
in accordance with Allah's providence, even the iron rampart
will fall to pieces, namely, on the day when the world comes to
an end, or psychologically speaking, when individual conscious-
ness is extinguished in the waters of darkness, that is to say
when a subjective end of the world is experienced. By this is
meant the moment when consciousness sinks back into the dark-
ness from which it originally emerged, like Khidr's island: the
moment of death.

257 The legend then continues along eschatological lines: on
that day (the day of the Last Judgment) the light returns to eter-
nal light and the darkness to eternal darkness. The opposites are
separated and a timeless state of permanence sets in, which, be-
cause of the absolute separation of opposites, is nevertheless one
of supreme tension and therefore corresponds to the improbable
initial state. This is in contrast to the view which sees the end
as a complexio oppositorum.

25 8 With this prospect of eternity, Paradise, and Hell the Eight-
eenth Sura comes to an end. In spite of its apparently discon-
nected and allusive character, it gives an almost perfect pic-
ture of a psychic transformation or rebirth which today, with
our greater psychological insight, we would recognize as an in-
dividuation process. Because of the great age of the legend and
the Islamic prophet's primitive cast of mind, the process takes
place entirely outside the sphere of consciousness and is pro-
jected in the form of a mystery legend of a friend or a pair of
friends and the deeds they perform. That is why it is all so allu-
sive and lacking in logical sequence. Nevertheless, the legend
expresses the obscure archetype of transformation so admirably
that the passionate religious eros of the Arab finds it completely
satisfying. It is for this reason that the figure of Khidr plays such
an important part in Islamic mysticism.

24 Just as the Dioscuri come to the aid of those who are in danger at sea.



H7




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Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou 2nd Season -- -- Asread -- ? eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Harem Fantasy -- Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou 2nd Season Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou 2nd Season -- Second season of Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou. -- TV - Jan ??, 2022 -- 93,600 N/A -- -- Kyou kara Maou! -- -- Studio Deen -- 78 eps -- Light novel -- Adventure Comedy Demons Fantasy Shoujo -- Kyou kara Maou! Kyou kara Maou! -- Kyou kara Maou! revolves around Yuri Shibuya, your average Japanese teenager. One day, Yuri sees a classmate being harassed by bullies. Thanks to this intervention, his friend is able to escape, but unfortunately Yuri becomes the new target of the bullies in the process and gets his head shoved into a toilet. But instead of water, the toilet contains a swirling portal that sucks him into another world, largely resembling medieval Europe. There, he is told that he will become the next Demon King due to his black hair and black eyes, traits only possessed by the demon's royal lineage. -- -- Yuri's arrival is met with some skepticism by some of the demons, who view him as unworthy to be their king. However, after Yuri wins a duel by utilizing his magical powers, the demons slowly begin to acknowledge him as their monarch. Yuri must now learn what it takes be a true Demon King, as he tries to keep the peace between demons and humans in this strange new realm. -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media -- TV - Apr 3, 2004 -- 93,555 7.69
Beelzebub -- -- Pierrot Plus -- 60 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Demons Supernatural School Shounen -- Beelzebub Beelzebub -- Ishiyama High is a school populated entirely by delinquents, where nonstop violence and lawlessness are the norm. However, there is one universally acknowledged rule—don't cross first year student Tatsumi Oga, Ishiyama's most vicious fighter. -- -- One day, Oga is by a riverbed when he encounters a man floating down the river. After being retrieved by Oga, the man splits down the middle to reveal a baby, which crawls onto Oga's back and immediately forms an attachment to him. Though he doesn't know it yet, this baby is named Kaiser de Emperana Beelzebub IV, or "Baby Beel" for short—the son of the Demon Lord! -- -- As if finding the future Lord of the Underworld isn't enough, Oga is also confronted by Hildegard, Beel's demon maid. Together they attempt to raise Baby Beel—although surrounded by juvenile delinquents and demonic powers, the two of them may be in for more of a challenge than they can imagine. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media -- TV - Jan 9, 2011 -- 477,746 7.90
Beelzebub -- -- Pierrot Plus -- 60 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Demons Supernatural School Shounen -- Beelzebub Beelzebub -- Ishiyama High is a school populated entirely by delinquents, where nonstop violence and lawlessness are the norm. However, there is one universally acknowledged rule—don't cross first year student Tatsumi Oga, Ishiyama's most vicious fighter. -- -- One day, Oga is by a riverbed when he encounters a man floating down the river. After being retrieved by Oga, the man splits down the middle to reveal a baby, which crawls onto Oga's back and immediately forms an attachment to him. Though he doesn't know it yet, this baby is named Kaiser de Emperana Beelzebub IV, or "Baby Beel" for short—the son of the Demon Lord! -- -- As if finding the future Lord of the Underworld isn't enough, Oga is also confronted by Hildegard, Beel's demon maid. Together they attempt to raise Baby Beel—although surrounded by juvenile delinquents and demonic powers, the two of them may be in for more of a challenge than they can imagine. -- -- TV - Jan 9, 2011 -- 477,746 7.90
Boku no Tonari ni Ankoku Hakaishin ga Imasu. -- -- EMT Squared -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy School Josei -- Boku no Tonari ni Ankoku Hakaishin ga Imasu. Boku no Tonari ni Ankoku Hakaishin ga Imasu. -- In the distant past, Miguel, the God of Destruction, was sealed inside the knight who ruled over light and darkness, Sturmhurt. Alongside the knight was Gestöber, who accompanied him through countless battles. In the present day, destiny causes them to reincarnate as Kabuto Hanadori and Seri Koyuki, two classmates. -- -- Their reunion should be a joyous moment, if not for the fact that these fantasied heroes are just products of Kabuto's delusions. As the fictional "Gestöber," Seri finds himself in various embarrassing situations due to Kabuto's antics that sometimes grow out of his control. Moreover, his classmate Utsugi Tsukimiya joins the fray with his absurdly accurate mind-reading abilities, slowly destroying Seri's social life. -- -- Seri tries hard to stay away from them, refusing to acknowledge their shenanigans, however with Kabuto's chuunibyou and Utsugi's unpredictability, he is only bound to be swept by the craziness coming his way. -- -- 40,259 6.65
Clannad: After Story - Mou Hitotsu no Sekai, Kyou-hen -- -- Kyoto Animation -- 1 ep -- Visual novel -- Drama Romance School -- Clannad: After Story - Mou Hitotsu no Sekai, Kyou-hen Clannad: After Story - Mou Hitotsu no Sekai, Kyou-hen -- Included in the 8th and final DVD of Clannad ~After Story~ is an extra episode set in an alternate universe. Here, Fujibayashi Kyou is the main heroine in place of Furukawa Nagisa. -- -- Love can be wonderfully exciting, but also extremely painful. Fujibayashi Ryou, Kyou's sister, is in love with Okazaki Tomoya, the male protagonist. With the help of Kyou, Ryou manages to sum up the courage to ask him out and now Tomoya and Ryou are a couple. However, as things progress, Kyou begins to acknowledge her feelings for Tomoya, and a love-triangle is formed. -- -- As everything is revealed, the sisters learn the pains of love and try to decide between the two loves of their life: Tomoya, or each other. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- Special - Jul 1, 2009 -- 225,544 7.84
Kiddy GiRL-AND -- -- Satelight -- 24 eps -- Original -- Action Comedy Sci-Fi Super Power -- Kiddy GiRL-AND Kiddy GiRL-AND -- Twenty-five years after Éclair and Lumière, (from the flagship Kiddy Grade series), rescued the galaxy from destruction's doorstep, the GTO (Galactic Trade Organization), created after the defeat of the GOTT (Galactic Organization of Trade and Tariffs), act on behalf of universal peace by combating criminal activity. -- -- Their special ES division mirrored after the GOTT's ES (Encounter of Shadow-work) force, now includes publicly acknowledged ES member candidates. The series follows two such trainees, Ascoeur and Q-feuille, as they work their way to ES membership. -- -- (Source: Wikipedia) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Oct 16, 2009 -- 16,353 6.87
Kyou kara Maou! -- -- Studio Deen -- 78 eps -- Light novel -- Adventure Comedy Demons Fantasy Shoujo -- Kyou kara Maou! Kyou kara Maou! -- Kyou kara Maou! revolves around Yuri Shibuya, your average Japanese teenager. One day, Yuri sees a classmate being harassed by bullies. Thanks to this intervention, his friend is able to escape, but unfortunately Yuri becomes the new target of the bullies in the process and gets his head shoved into a toilet. But instead of water, the toilet contains a swirling portal that sucks him into another world, largely resembling medieval Europe. There, he is told that he will become the next Demon King due to his black hair and black eyes, traits only possessed by the demon's royal lineage. -- -- Yuri's arrival is met with some skepticism by some of the demons, who view him as unworthy to be their king. However, after Yuri wins a duel by utilizing his magical powers, the demons slowly begin to acknowledge him as their monarch. Yuri must now learn what it takes be a true Demon King, as he tries to keep the peace between demons and humans in this strange new realm. -- TV - Apr 3, 2004 -- 93,555 7.69
Les Misérables: Shoujo Cosette -- -- Nippon Animation -- 52 eps -- Novel -- Slice of Life Historical Drama Shoujo -- Les Misérables: Shoujo Cosette Les Misérables: Shoujo Cosette -- In 19th century France, a struggling single mother, Fantine, leaves her three-year-old daughter Cosette in the care of her new acquaintances, the Thernadiers. Unfortunately, Cosette's caretakers prove to be anything but loving, and the poor girl is subjected to repeated abuse and forced servitude. Still, she endures the torment in the hopes of seeing her mother once again. -- -- One night, while doing errands for her host family, Cosette is assisted by an honorable stranger named Jean Valjean. After a brief conversation with the young girl, Jean acknowledges her as the type of person he has been seeking and rescues her from the clutches of the Thernadiers. They make their way to a nearby town where Cosette enjoys a new life thanks to her savior. -- -- Under Jean's guidance, Cosette promises to help others with her newfound freedom. She pledges to heal the nation, ensuring that no one else suffers her fate. Though the road ahead is paved with tragedies left by the French Revolution, this idealistic girl will not rest until France is freed from poverty and suffering. -- -- TV - Jan 7, 2007 -- 22,190 7.87
Mobile Suit Gundam NT -- -- Sunrise -- 1 ep -- Novel -- Action Drama Mecha Military Sci-Fi Space -- Mobile Suit Gundam NT Mobile Suit Gundam NT -- U.C. 0097, one year after the opening of "Laplace's Box." -- Despite the revelation of the Universal Century Charter that acknowledges the existence and rights of Newtypes, the framework of the world has not been greatly altered. -- -- The conflict later dubbed the "Laplace Incident" is thought to have ended with the downfall of the Neo Zeon remnants known as the Sleeves. In its final battle, two full psycho-frame mobile suits displayed power beyond human understanding. The white unicorn and the black lion were sealed away to remove this danger from people's consciousness, and they should now be completely forgotten. -- -- However, the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam 03, which disappeared two years earlier, is now about to show itself in the Earth Sphere once more. A golden phoenix... named Phenex. -- -- (Source: Gundam.info) -- -- Licensor: -- NYAV Post -- Movie - Nov 30, 2018 -- 11,948 6.63
Nurarihyon no Mago -- -- Studio Deen -- 24 eps -- Manga -- Action Demons Shounen Supernatural -- Nurarihyon no Mago Nurarihyon no Mago -- Rikuo Nura, a part-youkai and part-human boy, grew up as the young master of the Nura Clan. Comprising youkai of all shapes and sizes, Rikuo treated the clan like family, however, he learned that he was the only one among his classmates who saw them in this light. To most, they were terrifying creatures of folklore who ate children and relished in bloodshed. Taking this to heart, he swore to live his life as a normal human. -- -- Normalcy, however, is hard to come by for young Rikuo. Complicating his goal are his youkai attendant, who under the name Tsurara Oikawa, goes to school alongside him; the young onmyouji Yura Keikain; and his close friend Kiyotsugu, who idolizes youkai and hopes to prove their existence. To make matters worse, rival youkai and other entities threaten to harm those Rikuo holds dear. -- -- If he wants to protect what's important to him, Rikuo must acknowledge his ancestry—that he is the grandson of the legendary Nurarihyon—and transform at night into a youkai, becoming worthy of being the next leader of the Nura Clan. -- -- 227,805 7.64
Nurarihyon no Mago -- -- Studio Deen -- 24 eps -- Manga -- Action Demons Shounen Supernatural -- Nurarihyon no Mago Nurarihyon no Mago -- Rikuo Nura, a part-youkai and part-human boy, grew up as the young master of the Nura Clan. Comprising youkai of all shapes and sizes, Rikuo treated the clan like family, however, he learned that he was the only one among his classmates who saw them in this light. To most, they were terrifying creatures of folklore who ate children and relished in bloodshed. Taking this to heart, he swore to live his life as a normal human. -- -- Normalcy, however, is hard to come by for young Rikuo. Complicating his goal are his youkai attendant, who under the name Tsurara Oikawa, goes to school alongside him; the young onmyouji Yura Keikain; and his close friend Kiyotsugu, who idolizes youkai and hopes to prove their existence. To make matters worse, rival youkai and other entities threaten to harm those Rikuo holds dear. -- -- If he wants to protect what's important to him, Rikuo must acknowledge his ancestry—that he is the grandson of the legendary Nurarihyon—and transform at night into a youkai, becoming worthy of being the next leader of the Nura Clan. -- -- -- Licensor: -- VIZ Media -- 227,805 7.64
Re-Kan! -- -- Pierrot Plus -- 13 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Comedy School Seinen Supernatural -- Re-Kan! Re-Kan! -- Hibiki Amami would be a regular high school girl if it weren't for one thing: a sixth sense that allows her to see ghosts. Rather than being scared, Amami is more interested in befriending and helping the apparitions. This often leads to her human friends witnessing paranormal activity as the ghosts try to help Amami with everyday tasks. -- -- The majority of Amami's friends accept that she has a sixth sense, but Narumi Inoue—a girl who is terrified of the supernatural—refuses to acknowledge that ghosts are real. Though she is scared and stubborn, Inoue goes along with the rest of her friends, who decide to take up Amami's mission of helping ghosts however they can. -- -- 53,580 6.76
Shingeki no Kyojin: Kuinaki Sentaku -- -- Wit Studio -- 2 eps -- Visual novel -- Action Fantasy Shoujo -- Shingeki no Kyojin: Kuinaki Sentaku Shingeki no Kyojin: Kuinaki Sentaku -- Many years before becoming the famed captain of the Survey Corps, a young Levi struggles to survive in the capital's garbage dump, the Underground. As the boss of his own criminal operation, Levi attempts to get by with meager earnings while aided by fellow criminals, Isabel Magnolia and Farlan Church. With little hope for the future, Levi accepts a deal from the anti-expedition faction leader Nicholas Lobov, who promises the trio citizenship aboveground if they are able to successfully assassinate Erwin Smith, a squad leader of the Survey Corps. -- -- As Levi and Erwin cross paths, Erwin acknowledges Levi's agility and skill and gives him the option to either become part of the expedition team, or be turned over to the Military Police, to atone for his crimes. Now closer to the man they are tasked to kill, the group plans to complete their mission and save themselves from a grim demise in the dim recesses of their past home. However, they are about to learn that the surface world is not as liberating as they had thought and that sometimes, freedom can come at a heavy price. -- -- Based on the popular spin-off manga of the same name, Shingeki no Kyojin: Kuinaki Sentaku illustrates the encounter between two of Shingeki no Kyojin's pivotal characters, as well as the events of the 23rd expedition beyond the walls. -- -- OVA - Dec 9, 2014 -- 352,829 8.40
Skate-Leading☆Stars -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Original -- Comedy Drama School Sports -- Skate-Leading☆Stars Skate-Leading☆Stars -- Child figure skating prodigy Kensei Maeshima abruptly quits the sport after his one-sided rival, Reo Shinozaki, refuses to acknowledge his skill. Now, as a student at Inodai High School, Kensei uses his athletic skills to assist the other sports teams, but he never officially joins one. One day, Reo announces his switch from singles figure skating into team-based skate-leading and joins St. Clavis Gakuin High School—last year's Grand Prix champions. Hayato Sasugai, a classmate with a mysterious connection to Reo, convinces Kensei to switch to skate-leading in order to finally defeat his rival in a competition. -- -- Kensei’s sudden entry into the Inodai Skate-Leading Club is met with backlash from the current members. Although he is a very strong singles skater, Kensei lacks the teamwork skills required to perform well in skate-leading. Factoring in his hot-headed, impatient attitude, inconsistent skating performances, and a complicated history with some of the members, Kensei's teammates do not believe he is a good fit to be their "Lead." The team must work together to resolve these issues, however, if they wish to qualify for the Grand Prix Finals and even stand a chance at defeating St. Clavis Gakuin. -- -- 26,761 6.37
Super Robot Taisen OG: The Inspector -- -- Asahi Production -- 26 eps -- Game -- Action Mecha Sci-Fi Space -- Super Robot Taisen OG: The Inspector Super Robot Taisen OG: The Inspector -- With many of its central personnel lost in the war, the Earth Federation Government is forced to rebuild, and Brian Midcrid, president of the Unified Colonies, takes the position of its president. During an emergency session of the Federation Diet, he publicly acknowledges the existence of extraterrestrials, and reveals the events of the L5 campaign to the masses in what will later come to be called the "Tokyo Declaration." He goes on to state that these aliens pose a serious threat to humanity. -- -- (Source: Crunchyroll) -- TV - Oct 2, 2010 -- 8,242 7.25
Tokyo Ghoul:re -- -- Pierrot Plus, Studio Pierrot -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Psychological Supernatural Mystery Drama Horror Seinen -- Tokyo Ghoul:re Tokyo Ghoul:re -- Two years have passed since the CCG's raid on Anteiku. Although the atmosphere in Tokyo has changed drastically due to the increased influence of the CCG, ghouls continue to pose a problem as they have begun taking caution, especially the terrorist organization Aogiri Tree, who acknowledge the CCG's growing threat to their existence. -- -- The creation of a special team, known as the Quinx Squad, may provide the CCG with the push they need to exterminate Tokyo's unwanted residents. As humans who have undergone surgery in order to make use of the special abilities of ghouls, they participate in operations to eradicate the dangerous creatures. The leader of this group, Haise Sasaki, is a half-ghoul, half-human who has been trained by famed special class investigator, Kishou Arima. However, there's more to this young man than meets the eye, as unknown memories claw at his mind, slowly reminding him of the person he used to be. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 764,007 6.47
Tong Ling Fei -- -- Haoliners Animation League -- 16 eps -- Web manga -- Comedy Historical Drama Romance -- Tong Ling Fei Tong Ling Fei -- When Qian Yunshang's marriage to Ye Youming is arranged by the emperor, she is terrified that the bad blood between their families will lead to her being treated miserably in the Ye household. Torn between duty and concern for his daughter, Qian Aotian devises a reckless plan. He summons his firstborn daughter—her existence unknown to all but his own family—to be the stand-in for her younger sister. -- -- Due to her unusual powers, Qian Yun Xi was exiled by her family when she was a child. Deprived of filial affection, she made a life of her own amid the wilderness on Mt. Ling Yun. However, everything begins to change when she marries Ye Youming in her sister's stead. -- -- Harboring immense contempt for the family of Qian, Ye Youming refuses to acknowledge Qian Yun Xi as his wife and treats her coldly, going so far as to banish her from his palace grounds. But he can only resist her childlike charm and boldness for so long... -- -- ONA - Nov 30, 2018 -- 20,014 7.71
Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo "Shounen Tanteidan" yori -- -- Shin-Ei Animation, TMS Entertainment -- 24 eps -- Original -- Sci-Fi Mystery Psychological Drama -- Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo "Shounen Tanteidan" yori Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo "Shounen Tanteidan" yori -- Kogorou Akechi is the founder of a private investigation firm known as the Boy Detectives' Club. Together, this group takes on cases both great and small. One of their junior members, Kensuke Hanasaki, is out solving a case one day when he happens upon Yoshio Kobayashi, a mysterious amnesiac boy with an inability to die. After seeing his abilities in action, Kensuke offers Yoshio a deal: join the Boy Detectives' Club and help them solve cases, and in exchange he will find a way to help Yoshio die. -- -- The apathetic Yoshio accepts this deal begrudgingly, unaware of how different his life will become. Although he does not have much use for people, he gradually begins to acknowledge the group as he spends more time with them while solving cases. -- -- Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo "Shounen Tanteidan" yori follows Akechi and the rest of the Boy Detectives' Club as they solve the various cases they are given, all while combating a hidden threat from the shadows—"The Fiend with Twenty Faces." -- -- 100,358 6.23
Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo "Shounen Tanteidan" yori -- -- Shin-Ei Animation, TMS Entertainment -- 24 eps -- Original -- Sci-Fi Mystery Psychological Drama -- Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo "Shounen Tanteidan" yori Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo "Shounen Tanteidan" yori -- Kogorou Akechi is the founder of a private investigation firm known as the Boy Detectives' Club. Together, this group takes on cases both great and small. One of their junior members, Kensuke Hanasaki, is out solving a case one day when he happens upon Yoshio Kobayashi, a mysterious amnesiac boy with an inability to die. After seeing his abilities in action, Kensuke offers Yoshio a deal: join the Boy Detectives' Club and help them solve cases, and in exchange he will find a way to help Yoshio die. -- -- The apathetic Yoshio accepts this deal begrudgingly, unaware of how different his life will become. Although he does not have much use for people, he gradually begins to acknowledge the group as he spends more time with them while solving cases. -- -- Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo "Shounen Tanteidan" yori follows Akechi and the rest of the Boy Detectives' Club as they solve the various cases they are given, all while combating a hidden threat from the shadows—"The Fiend with Twenty Faces." -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 100,358 6.23
Uchi no Ko no Tame naraba, Ore wa Moshikashitara Maou mo Taoseru kamo Shirenai. -- -- Maho Film -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Fantasy Slice of Life -- Uchi no Ko no Tame naraba, Ore wa Moshikashitara Maou mo Taoseru kamo Shirenai. Uchi no Ko no Tame naraba, Ore wa Moshikashitara Maou mo Taoseru kamo Shirenai. -- Eighteen-year-old Dale Reki is a skilled, kind, and respected traveller, acknowledged as one of the leading adventurers in the city of Kreuz. One day while on the hunt for magical beasts, he comes across a sweet devil girl named Latina. She is alone, dressed in rags, and bears the devils' symbol of a criminal: a broken horn. Concerned for her wellbeing, Dale decides to ensure Latina's safety by bringing her to his home, eventually leading to him adopting her. -- -- Latina is sweet, innocent and compassionate, charming Dale beyond his expectations. He begins to enjoy the life of parenthood— experiencing the trials that come with raising a child and coping with the heartache he feels whenever his busy lifestyle as an adventurer parts him from her. -- -- Although work and life as a new parent become reassuring constants for Dale, the mysteries surrounding the girl remain. Why was Latina alone in the forest, and why does she harbor the symbol of a criminal? At the same time, Latina also begins to learn about the world and herself as she adjusts to her new life with Dale. -- -- 138,657 7.05
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