C.G. Jung, on Merlin

(That the uncarved side of the Bollingen Stone was planned to be “Le Cri de Merlin” shows the importance of Merlin in Jung’s thinking…)

It might be said that the secret of Merlin was carried on by alchemy, primarily in the figure of Mercurius.

Then Merlin was taken up again in my psychology of the unconscious and remains uncomprehended to this day.

That is because most people find it quite beyond them to live on close terms with the unconscious.

Memories, Dreams, Reflections

Page 277

The magician has preserved in himself a trace of primitive paganism; he possesses a nature that is still unaffected by the Christian dichotomy and is in touch with the still pagan unconscious, where the opposites lie side by side in their original naïve state, beyond the reach of “sinfulness” but liable, if assimilated into conscious life, to beget evil as well as good with the same daemonic energy…

Therefore, he is a destroyer as well as a saviour.

 This figure is therefore pre-eminently suited to become the symbol carrier for an attempt at unification.

Collected Works 6

Paragraph 316

Marie-Louise von Franz pursues the connection between Jung and Merlin in her biography, exploring the complexities of Merlin’s character—who combines elements of alchemical Mercurius and Anti-Christ, thus reconciling the opposites of the Christian era that preoccupied Jung all his life, and whose voice (like Jung’s) we can hear only in the wind blowing through the oaks in the deeps of the forest.

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