The Origins and History of Consciousness draws on a full range of
world mythology to show how individual consciousness undergoes the same
archetypal stages of development as human consciousness as a whole.
Erich Neumann was one of C. G. Jung's most creative students and a
renowned practitioner of analytical psychology in his own right. In this
influential book, Neumann shows how the stages begin and end with the
symbol of the Uroboros, the tail-eating serpent. The intermediate stages
are projected in the universal myths of the World Creation, Great
Mother, Separation of the World Parents, Birth of the Hero, Slaying of
the Dragon, Rescue of the Captive, and Transformation and Deification of
the Hero. Throughout the sequence, the Hero is the evolving ego
consciousness.
Featuring a foreword by Jung, this Princeton Classics edition introduces
a new generation of readers to this eloquent and enduring work.