Patricia Miller, the Life Picture Collection
Students at Emerson Elementary School, Maywood Illinois, 1963

C.G. Jung, “Do you know what primitives do during an eclipse of the sun?”

Dr. Jung: And do you know what primitives do during an eclipse of the sun?

Dr. Harding: They make a noise to drive away the demons.

Dr. Jung: Yes, in China they shoot off fireworks and guns to drive away evil spirits. But they also fall into an absolutely hopeless panic, and the the most astonishing things happen

Primitives have very strict sex taboos, but they are upset and absolute promiscuity takes place; they all out of their form, disintegrate instantly, because the unthinkable has happened.

It is as if their guarantee of life, their consciousness, had been extinguished, and they fall back into deepest unconsciousness.

So that the sun is obscured means that our patient’s consciousness is somehow obscured.

C.G. Jung
Visions Seminar
25 October, 1933
Pages 1032-1147

2 Comments

  1. That’s unusual. I never had those feelings during an eclipse maybe I’m not primitive enough

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *