When I searched all the Jung writings foe the mention of solstice, the word “solstice” appeared three times, none of which were particularly definitive. (See quotations at end of post).
In lieu of what Jung had to say directly about winter solstice, I thought I would ask ChatGPT
“Briefly, what would be the Jungian symbolism of solstice.”
(I have had ChatGPT hallucinate quotations that Jung never said, and the responses are often too lengthy. Nevertheless, this is what Mr. Chat had to say):
ChatGPT said:
From a Jungian perspective, the winter solstice symbolizes the archetypal journey into darkness and the promise of renewal. As the longest night of the year, it represents a descent into the unconscious and an encounter with the shadow—the hidden, repressed aspects of the psyche. This period invites introspection, stillness, and the courage to face one’s inner darkness as a precursor to transformation.
The return of the light after the solstice mirrors the process of rebirth and individuation, a core Jungian concept. It signifies the emergence of new consciousness, the integration of the shadow, and alignment with the Self, the unifying archetype of wholeness. The solstice marks a turning point, reminding us that growth often begins in the quiet and fertile darkness of the soul.
Culturally, the solstice reflects the collective unconscious through rituals and myths celebrating light’s return, such as Yule or Saturnalia. These archetypal patterns express humanity’s shared longing for hope, renewal, and connection to cosmic rhythms. Fire, evergreen trees, and circular dances are enduring symbols of continuity and transformation.
Ultimately, the winter solstice serves as a gateway for psychological growth and spiritual alignment. By embracing the darkness and honoring the light’s return, we participate in a universal cycle of death and rebirth, mirroring the natural world and the depths of our psyche.
Caveat — The Image
At the risk of offending many artists and Jungians, I though I would also ask an A.I. image generator to generate an image of Jung’s view of the solstice, based on the style of the Red Book. (The final image took many tweakings on Photoshop, but there you have it. In its own way of course, it is a type of active imagination, and play….)
C.G. Jung’s Mention of Solstice, from Civilization in Transition, v. 10
WOTAN AS A RESTLESS WANDERER
Wotan is a restless wanderer who creates unrest and stirs up strife, now here, now there, and works magic. He was soon changed by Christianity into the devil, and only lived on in fading local traditions as a ghostly hunter who was seen with his retinue, flickering like a will o’ the wisp through the stormy night
In the Middle Ages the role of the restless wanderer was taken over by Ahasuerus, the Wandering Jew, which is not a Jewish but a Christian legend. The motif of the wanderer who has not accepted Christ was projected on the Jews, in the same way as we always rediscover our unconscious psychic contents in other people. At any rate the coincidence of anti-Semitism with the reawakening of Wotan is a psychological subtlety that may perhaps be worth mentioning
The German youths who celebrated the solstice with sheep-sacrifices were not the first to hear a rustling in the primeval forest of the unconscious. They were anticipated by Nietzsche, Schuler, Stefan George, and Ludwig Klages.
The literary tradition of the Rhineland and the country south of the Main has a classical stamp that cannot easily be got rid of; every interpretation of intoxication and exuberance is apt to be taken back to classical models, to Dionysus, to the puer aeternus and the cosmogonic Eros. No doubt it sounds better to academic ears to interpret these things as Dionysus, but Wotan might be a more correct interpretation CW10 ¶ 375
From Symbols of Transformation, CW 5
The symbol for that portion of the zodiac in which the sun re-enters the yearly cycle at the time of the winter solstice is Capricorn, originally known as the “Goat-Fish” (`goat-horned’):
The sun mounts like a goat to the tops of the highest mountains, and then plunges into the depths of the sea like a fish.
The fish in dreams occasionally signifies the unborn child, because the child before its birth lives in the water like a fish; similarly, when the sun sinks into the sea, it becomes child and fish at once. The fish is therefore a symbol of renewal and rebirth
This interpretation is still a bit mythological; to be more accurate, the fish signifies an autonomous content of the unconscious. Manu had a fish with horns. Christ was a fish. Joshua ben Nun was called “son of the fish.” The “two-horned” (Dhulqarnein = Alexander) turns up in the legend of Khidr CW5 ¶ 290
Set dismembered the body of Osiris and scattered the pieces. We find this motif of dismemberment in numerous sun-myths as a contrast to the putting together of the child in the mother’s womb:
Actually Isis collected the pieces of Osiris’ body together with the help of the jackal-headed Anubis. Here the dogs and jackals, devourers of corpses by night, assist in the reconstitution or reproduction of Osiris. To this necrophagous function the Egyptian vulture probably owes its symbolic mother significance
In ancient times the Persians used to throw out their corpses for the dogs to devour, just as, today in Tiber, the dead are left to the vultures, and in Bombay, where the Parsis expose their corpses on the “tower of silence”.
The Persians had the custom of leading a dog to the bedside of a dying man, who then had to give the dog a morsel to eat. This custom suggests that the morsel should belong to the dog, so that he will spare the body of the dying man, just as Cerberus was pacified with the honey-cakes which Heracles gave him on his journey to hell
But when we consider the jackal-headed Anubis (fig. 258.32a) who rendered such good service in gathering together the remains of Osiris, and the mother significance of the vulture, the question arises whether this ceremony may not have a deeper meaning. This problem has been taken up by Creuzer, who comes to the conclusion that the deeper meaning is connected with the astral form of the dog ceremony, i.e., the appearance of the dog-star at the highest point of the solstice CW5 ¶ 354
