#jung’s shadow

[sihayadunee]

Mythic Symbolism in the Mayfair Witches

a mythic and psychoanalytical thread exploring themes of: alchemy, star lovers, fairytales, greek myth, three fold goddesses, and beastly grooms within the amc series ‘anne rice’s mayfair witches’

*disclaimer*

This post will be split up into multiple parts as it is very lengthy.

The point of this post is not to discuss how the show adapts the source material, but instead how the show stands on its own, utilizing psychological and mythic motifs in its plot and character journeys.

For those who want to see the show, it is available on physical DVD and Blue-Ray as well as streaming. The entire eight episode first season is available on AMC+ which you can get a free trial for through Prime Video channels.

A second season has also already been green-lit. However the first season ends on what I would consider a very satisfying note.

Part One, Part Two

————————————————————————

THE TRIPLE GODDESS: MAIDEN, MOTHER, CRONE

Aside from Rowan’s story, there are two other Mayfair women whose lives we follow. The progenitor Suzanne in the 17th century, and Rowan’s biological mother Deirdre. While together they each represent one of the goddesses, we also see each of them move through these roles in their own journeys.

The concept of the triple goddess also has strong roots in the myth of the Greek Fates and the Norns of Norse myth. Both represent the Birth/Life/Death cycle. This archetype is also strongly associated with Persephone, Demeter and Hecate, or Artemis, Selene, and Hecate.

Each of these Mayfair women has a role directly associated with life and death. For example, Suzanne is a midwife whose work, like her aunt says, is not just curing people but also helping give them a good death.

Rowan, like Persephone as Maureen Murdock puts it, is pulled out of the innocence of everyday life into a deeper consciousness of self by Hades. Or in this case Lasher.

Furthermore, Deirdre like Demeter is overcome with grief and surrenders to her sorrow, when her daughter is taken from her. However in this instance her daughter is taken away by Carlotta.

Suzanne is like Hecate as Jean Shinoda Bolen describes, a guiding companion force. When Rowan meets a crossroads in her journey at the Witching Hour, Suzanne is there to guide her as the first matriarch, as a mistress of life and death.

They each have mirroring moments in their journeys. Just like Rowan, Suzanne too was visited by a murder of crows, and the Dark Night of the Soul that Rowan is facing is likened in dialogue to the dark subconscious place Deirdre is trapped. In fact, episode two is titled The Dark Place.

Each of them share the same animus. A being known as Lasher. He is bonded to each of the “Designees”, the matriarchs of the Mayfair family. We’ll delve into him soon enough.

DREAMS AND THE SUBCONSCIOUS

When Rowan uses her powers on the crows, causing a couple of them to fall down dead, she lays them down in her jacket, and drives off to a beach. She then walks to the shore and digs into the sand until she has a hole she can bury the crows in.

After this she takes a pill to force herself to sleep, both exhausted and desperate to flee into oblivion to escape her consciousness as it begins to recognize her shadow. But now as she is laying by the ocean, she is submerged in the unconscious. 

She experiences a dream that evokes Cinderella, fairy godmothers, transformation, and spiritual death. She is wearing a shimmering blue gown, and is chasing after Ellie who is leading her somewhere. She runs after her mother, who leads her to The Mayfair House. 

Whenever we see the house, it’s presented as a piece of nature itself, overgrown, hidden among trees, and the sound of water. It is a true representation of the subconscious, the underworld.

A FALSE START AND CLEANSING FIRE

When she finally goes to New Orleans, we think she’s going to get the answers she needs and reconnect with the feminine. However forces intervene and Rowan’s first impression of her Mayfair lineage and the power she possesses is one of fear, in part thanks to Ciprien Grieve. He means well, but his actions and perspective are a literal extension of Ellie as the “too good mother”.

The organization called the Talamasca that Ciprien is part of, actually puts a spell around his building where Rowan is staying. Which acts as a wall or barrier keeping Rowan separated from her Shadow. It was made to keep Lasher out. This is when we have that cleansing flame, as Lasher sets a fire to get the alarms to go off and Rowan to leave the building. 

And the first thing she intends to do, is find the Mayfair House which as we know is her subconscious…

End of Part Two

[pendwelling]

Beware of His Holiness' Final Bosses!!! 🌷🌕

(Count Lancelot, the Guardian of Sérénité's Lake; and Juliette's Gatekeeper, the Golden Tulip~)

+ sans Jibril's cape vers. and a better look at Yeseo's outfit before Jibril and Losna's overprotectiveness jumped in to hide him from sight 😫😔 I went overboard with his clothing design haha but I swear.... it's for practicality....... Yeseo has these wings you see............... I'm not just doing this for self-indulgence.........

[burnt-by-marigolds]

Why I think it's important that Astarion embraces the shadows

You know it's funny, at first I thought I was trapped by the shadows – cursed to live in them forever. But in time, I realised that darkness is as much a part of me as my fangs. This is only a curse as long as I refuse to embrace the shadows. So I decided I would.

I love how the choice between ascending and forgoing the ritual is designed: ascension grants an immediate reward (and thus presents an alluring temptation), but requires mass slaughter; letting go of the power comes at a personal cost, but saves lives and gives victims a second chance. If it was any other way, there would be no story in this choice; no dilemma, no conflict, nothing memorable.

I also think it’s crucial how in the spawn route, we see Astarion not only in high spirits (When I look at my future, anything and everything feels possible now), but also grieving. While he doesn’t regret his choice, he does feel sorry for his personal loss – which is natural and valid. And while I love that we can promise him to look for another way to walk in the sun again (after all, the Forgotten Realms are full of wonders – and the whole Multiverse even moreso), I also consider the narrative of him coming to terms with his condition (without giving up hope) much more real – and very important, at least to me.

I’d like to talk about two layers here: the more literal one, and the more metaphorical one.

The more literal one is pretty straightforward: we all have our limits in life. Some of them, we’re born with; some come up along the way; and other still are forced onto us. My first thought is neurodivergency or chronic illnesses, but I’m sure other people can name many more examples. You take medications or you go to therapy (pursuing the sun), but at the same time you just have to accept these things are a part of your reality, beyond your control. 

The more metaphorical layer makes me think of the Jungian shadow.

As some of you probably know, the Jungian shadow is the suppressed part of the psyche. It’s the facts about ourselves that are too painful or uncomfortable to acknowledge, facts we are unaware of, or facts we don’t like about ourselves and associate with shame. They make us behave in certain ways, often without us understanding why. And the more we sweep all of this under the rug of unconsciousness, the stronger the shadow becomes, constantly holding us back or making us repeat certain patterns (sometimes maladaptive) over and over.

(I’d like to emphasise that the shadow isn’t inherently “evil” – for example, we may suppress a trait or a behaviour because it’s culturally viewed as unacceptable, not because it’s objectively bad. The shadow is simply what lies uncovered, and may encompass useful and positive things as well.)

You probably already see where this is all going.

When Astarion says he has accepted the shadows as a part of him, he basically says he has learned to love himself just the way he is, without the need to become some better, idealised – and unattainable – version of himself. He has learned he is enough even with all the “less savoury” aspects – and it's clear it makes him feel free and more in control of his life.

Don’t hate me, but I think it’s more important than him literally walking in the sun. And let me reiterate – the point isn’t to forsake the sun entirely. Searching for it is an important endeavor – it symbolises making the word a better place. But I do believe accepting the shadow(s) is crucial to healing and an important first step towards any other goals.

This is who I am. In all my glory, for better and for worse.

[shisasan]

There is a difference between understanding the subconscious and fully integrating it into the Self. Awareness alone doesn’t set us free.

[dailyasiandramas]

dailyasiandramas’ sunday throwback ★ [WEEK 29]

ALCHEMY OF SOULS 환혼 Written by Hong Jung Eun and Hong Mi Ran Dir. Park Joon Hwa and Bae Hyun Jin

[theoccultmentor]

The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are

- Carl Jung

[funeral]

The human psyche is so vast, and the ego frame so small, that we can never know ourselves fully. Safe to say, insofar as we are human, we carry the full range of human possibilities, traits, tendencies, self-delusions, and wholly unknown continents within each of us. Much of this dissociated material constitutes what Jung called the shadow, those parts of our personality that are unknown to us, but which play out in the world surreptitiously, or those parts that when brought into consciousness are disappointing, contrary to our professed values, or stretch our self-concepts beyond the comfortable.

James Hollis, Hauntings: Dispelling the Ghosts Who Ruin Our Lives

[thasa]

Colorful bunch 🌈

My fav is so hype in December 2024, Sonic Movie 3 x Squid Game 2

[wolha]

ALCHEMY OF SOULS: LIGHT AND SHADOW 환혼 : 빛과 그림자 2022—2023, dir. Park Joon-Hwa, Bae Hyun-Jin

[punkpandapatrixk]

👑Your Destined Person’s Anima vs Persona ♦︎ Timeless Pick A Card

According to Carl Jung, the anima is a man’s feminine (Yin) aspect, and thus unconscious in him. Correspondingly, the animus is a woman’s masculine (Yang) aspect, and thus unconscious in her. The anima is the Masculine’s hidden psychology, essentially.

In the grand scheme of the Cosmos, the Yin is the dark, the magnetic, the VOID—the empty space where all creations are first dreamt. In this dark space, it is up to the Masculine individual whether or not he wants to succumb to the allure of Lilith the Destroyer. In Jungian psychology, apparently, they have this thing called The Devouring Mother LMAO

All things considered, in the name of character development, it is up to the man—if he ever so chooses, which, one must first always make a choice for things to go a certain way—to make the unconscious conscious.

When the Yin and the Yang in a person are united and fully realised, that person becomes what we call Divine~ Man or woman, this person then becomes a more complete Human being. He or she then becomes the master of his/her own Destiny~⛵️

GNOSIS: A Man's Anima Reveals Itself In Sexual Fantasies as explained by Marie-Louise von Franz (entertain the comments section, peeps~)

SONG: Say You Love Me by EXO KAI

MOTHA: Kim Kardashian plays a SAVAGE version of herself in AHS Delicate 😩 by Offensive Tea

deck-bottom: XVIII The Moon Rx, Red Geographer (Marco Polo) & Priestess of Illumination

[PAC Masterlist] [Part 1] [Part 3]

[Patreon] [Paid Readings] [buymeaboba]

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

Pile 1 – Evil Fuck vs King

‘Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.’ – Carl Jung

VIBE: Reason by EXO KAI

anima – XV The Devil

Look, babe, we keep it real in this household, OK? XD We don’t know if your Destined Person has Mars/Pluto in the 8th or 12th House—or possibly—Neptune itself in the 5th or 8th House, but essentially, your DP is a person who’s deeply fascinated by SEX and all the taboos surrounding it. They could struggle with having a lot of improper thoughts, quite often, at inappropriate times and places, deep inside.

Your Destined Person most likely watches a lot of porn or indulges themselves in those types of activities/media, and on top of that, prooobably has some mummy issues. At the very least, they could have a strange/unhealthy relationship with their mother figure or have a difficult time accepting/integrating the Yin aenergy inside of them.

Overall, this strange combo of Scorpion/Neptunian qualities in them lends to your Destined Person’s macabre fascination with all things ‘dark and sexual’. Be that as it may, this doesn’t automatically mean that your Destined Person is simply a depraved piece of fuck. Don’t be surprised to know that things changed drastically for them by the time they graduated their 1st (or 2nd if they’re slow LOL) Saturn Return~

persona – 9 of Cups

There is something about the way sexuality is expressed in this Human world that feels strangely fascinatingly depraved, which is genuinely incredibly foreign to your Destined Person’s Soul XD If they’ve felt inexplicably drawn to it, it’s because they want to UNDERSTAND fully what makes ‘sex’ in the Human world so…icky and disrespectful. 9 of Cups here is literally indicating that your Destined Person’s Soul is incredibly pure and altruistic.

And that is exactly why they are endlessly perplexed by the darkness—the sickness is more like it—surrounding SEX in this wicked world which they realised is almost completely deprived of Love. The sheer lack of a soulful cosmic connection in most sexual activities in this world puzzles the living shit out of your Destined Person!

It may take some maturing from your Destined Person until they finally understand that this dark fascination is actually quite common for people with their kind of natal configuration or let’s say, psychology. Their Saturn Return phases will play (or have played) a critical role in their awakening to a Higher Truth that eventually liberates them from the chains of a strange addiction to… yeah…

Divine Human – Queen of Pentacles Rx

At some point in Life—most likely after their, at least, first Saturn Return—your Destined Person understood why some things simply don’t add up for them when it comes to how Humans connect with each other to enjoy these…worldly pleasures; which then led to a great spiritual liberation from all the deceits they’d been told about sex and sexuality in this…mortal world.

Your Destined Person is somebody who’s quite inexplicably cosmic, you know. Either they feel to you like an alien or a fairy. They simply can’t fit into the expectations of ‘normalcy’ in most of Human societies. The depraved things people so take for granted, none of that feels ‘normal’ to your Destined Person. This is someone who’s actually incredibly decent and polite.

Your Destined Person is not the type that wants to hurt you in intimate situations. They probably don’t even prioritise the sensual sensations more than how they connect with you on an emotional level. This is a person who wants to ‘fill you up’ spiritually through a divine sexual activity, which, now that you know, explains why they’ve had to learn to unlearn the lies of sex and sexuality in their younger years ^^v

WHAT IS LOVE🔻💜

honey? – Priestess of Solitude

poison? – Priestess of Faith

Access full reading + cards on Patreon🌸

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

Pile 2 – Many Dreams vs Unworthiness

‘One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.’ – Carl Jung

VIBE: Amnesia by EXO KAI

anima – Knight of Pentacles

There is a chance that your Destined Person has some significant Virgo-Pisces bullshit going on in their birth chart. This is the axis of sacrifice and self-undoing of the zodiac wheel and this in itself could cause a person to ‘self-sabotage’ out of a fear of becoming happier than everybody else. It sounds crazy, right? But people with a harshly afflicted Virgo-Pisces connection tend to be somewhat of a martyr.

In practice, where your Destined Person is concerned, this affliction plays itself out in the form of endless rumination, as well as a sense of not being worthy of what they’re actively daydreaming about. This is almost giving me that main character from the movie Parasite. This guy dreams and plans a lot, but fucks everything up in the end because he’s simply not…capable enough?

OK, that’s a bad example but this aenergy is almost similar to how the guy is portrayed by the very end of the film XD This afflicted Piscean aenergy especially, is making your Destined Person, most likely subconsciously, afraid of letting themselves happy. So then, as a means to reaffirm this ‘belief’ their brains ‘course-correct’ by fucking up whatever nice bit of Reality they’ve manifested…

persona – 5 of Swords Rx

After experiencing the same kind of bullshit for some time, could be a number of years for some, too, your Destined Person could’ve become dejected. This is a very normal human response, right? They could’ve developed some kind of inertia within themselves. Always frozen mid-air when thinking of actually jumping into the next breakthrough or any other sense of adventure. They tend to not take action towards liberating themselves from either boredom or a dead-end of a situation.

A lot of people who interact with them regularly probably only know them as a mild-mannered person who’s quite pleasant to talk to. But deep inside, your Destined Person is raging chaos, waiting to murder someone. They’re sometimes possessed by this strong feeling of wanting to destroy something massive or ruin another person’s Life completely. All because they’re superbly frustrated by the lack of action or excitement in their own everyday Life…

At minimum, this is a person who could struggle quite a bit with regulating envy or jealousy upon seeing another person’s success, freedom and happiness, but most of all, another person’s sense of advancement in Life. This isn’t to say that your Destined Person is simply an evil fuck of a devil incarnate; actually, quite far from it! It’s just that this person has dealt with, really, quite a bit of systemic letdowns from the Universe itself…

Divine Human – Page of Pentacles Rx

Life rarely feels fair when someone’s Virgo-Pisces axis has harsh afflictions. Then again, this is quite literally your Destined Person’s ultimate test of strength and of character. That’s precisely why their Soul chose to be born with such afflictions in the first place. To see how their Human Avatar would navigate this type of crazy in their psyche~★ I promise you that you aren’t destined to marry an actual psychopath LMAO But, let’s see…

In the beginning, your Destined Person could’ve struggled with looking into the depths of their own disturbed psychology. This could be a fear from within themselves and so they refused to do so, but especially if your Destined Person is an XY, this could also be their environment/society’s wrong reinforcement when they say, ‘Boys will be boys, riiight?’ as a means to excuse your Destined Person’s refusal to learn and grow from their failures and mistakes *smh*

Whether XY or XX, your Destined Person’s mother could’ve been a pick-me or straight up a narc; and due to this lack of proper guidance, structure and discipline in your Destined Person’s childhood, they could’ve grown up to embody somewhat of a dark triad personality. In actuality, your Destined Person wasn’t allowed the chance to grow up emotionally or psychologically—honestly, whoever their mother figure was, she failed them.

WHAT IS LOVE🔻❤️

honey? – Priestess of Abundance

poison? – Priestess of Love

Access full reading + cards on Patreon🌸

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

Pile 3 – Lazy Escapism vs Mahoroba

‘People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls.’ – Carl Jung

VIBE: Blue by EXO KAI

anima – 7 of Wands Rx

Your Destined Person is out with lanterns looking for themselves~ Doesn’t this picture make you think that? ^^ Your Destined Person is a walking paradox to say the least; they are the type that may not always be honest with even themselves. I sense it is because they feel this burden from all around them to be the highest-achiever or the best-mannered or whatever else. Other people have put such high expectations on them that they originally thought they too had to think precisely that way.

In the beginning, your Destined Person might not have known who they were at the core of their Soul. They had only known themselves through the lens of other people’s perception and expectations. Though they might have thought this normal when they were small, at some point in Life—possibly when Saturn made its last aspect at around age 21—your Destined Person was nudged by the Cosmos to go on a Soul-search.

During this time—and all through their first Saturn Return—your Destined Person realised for real for the first time that they are quite a rebellious spirit, and when met with the wrong situations, can honestly be quite vengeful XD At this point, they may have developed some bitter feelings about how they had allowed others to murky their own perception of themselves! This Soul-search could’ve been quite world-shattering for your Destined Person…

persona – 3 of Swords

Most people don’t seem to notice this but a self-denial kind of issue is actually really quite painful on an emotional and psychological level. Like this feeling of not knowing themselves, not embracing their inner child, not allowing themselves more freedom, all of this, upon being realised, broke your Destined Person’s heart so horribly. It was such a deep psychological issue that they may not have found any person to confide in.

Some of their friends, even closest friends, might’ve perceived that your Destined Person was distant from them. They sometimes felt standoffish or simply…well, distant. Not quite there with the rest of them or they could also have avoided hanging out too much with even those closest to them. They became somewhat of a loner. To process their feelings, your Destined Person often disappeared into the dreamscape.

In many ways, I think your Destined Person became quite deluded, if not delusional XD The dreamscape, their escapism, provided so much more comfort and excitement than real life. In the daydreams, they could be so much more real than what they’re allowed to be in the real world… So when you realise the reason, it’s really quite sad and poignant.

Divine Human – 6 of Pentacles

Your Destined Person is truly a Divine Human in that they do truly have such a generous, charitable heart. If this is your main pile, a common ground here is that your Destined Person is so much more kind and gentle than appearances may give—even if they’re already perceived as kind and gentle~ It’s almost unbelievable that someone as pure as this still exists in today’s world, especially if your Destined Person is an XY LMAO

This person, all they wanna do in Life is to be good and to love people and share good times and promote good deeds. Alas, that was very childish of them tsk tsk tsk… It took them a real smacking on the head to realise they’ve been victim to so much gaslighting practically their entire Life. Because in this wicked world, ‘goodness’ is weaponised by bad people to victimise actually good people.

A total mindfuck, yeah, took them a while. As they grow older, your Destined Person learns to balance between what is ‘fake short-term good’ and what’s ‘divinely good in the grand scheme of the Cosmos’. All in all, whether or not they have the technical knowledge, your Destined Person is actually a WITCH. Some of the most powerful witches out there—an alchemist of the highest order😉

WHAT IS LOVE🔻💚

honey? – Priestess of Inspiration

poison? – Priestess of Energy

Access full reading + cards on Patreon🌸

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

[PAC Masterlist] [Part 1] [Part 3]

[Patreon] [Paid Readings] [buymeaboba]

[sihayadunee]

Mythic Symbolism in the Mayfair Witches

a mythic and psychoanalytical thread exploring themes of: alchemy, star lovers, fairytales, greek myth, three fold goddesses, and beastly grooms within the amc series ‘anne rice’s mayfair witches’

*disclaimer*

This post will be split up into multiple parts as it is very lengthy.

The point of this post is not to discuss how the show adapts the source material, but instead how the show stands on its own, utilizing psychological and mythic motifs in its plot and character journeys.

For those who want to see the show, it is available on physical DVD and Blue-Ray as well as streaming. The entire eight episode first season is available on AMC+ which you can get a free trial for through Prime Video channels.

A second season has also already been green-lit. However the first season ends on what I would consider a very satisfying note.

Part One, Part Two,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

SEPARATION OF THE FEMININE AND THE ILLUSION OF SUCCESS

Our heroine Rowan was adopted, and we do come to learn the way she was separated from her birth mother. But from the start, despite having a loving adoptive mother, Rowan expresses nonetheless that she is searching for “home”.

This becomes more apparent later, as we see Rowan admit she wants to understand her genetics, where she comes from. Who she really is. Something that has been one way or another discouraged by her archetypal “too good” mother Ellie.

Rowan has compensated for this void and lack of control in her life, through success in her career. This is where we see how she has identified with the masculine and begun to traverse the male dominated medical field. She is confident in her ability to play the game until she comes out on top.

The dragon among her trials, is when Rowan learns that her mother Ellie’s cancer has returned. Her boss Dr. Keck appears seemingly as an ogre guarding her bridge toward finding a solution. Which leads her ultimately toward experiencing the illusory boon of success.

She goes to see Daniel Lemle about the position at his company. He is enthusiastic about the aspects of Rowan Dr. Keck was critical of, and to have her on his team and her mother submitted to the trial. This is that male validation she has been yearning for. However as she gets to know him and his style further, her enthusiasm wavers.

Once again she is encouraged to “run with the boys” to be a “killer”. And if she does this, she will succeed in retrieving the healing elixir for Ellie. However this means replacing an existing candidate in the trial with her mother.

This is something that morally she can not do. Fed up and in grief, this moment shatters her composure so thoroughly that the power inside of her which she has all along been struggling with (and that her ordinary world was not capable of addressing) lashes out at Lemle to his demise.

SPIRITUAL ARIDITY AND THE BLACKENING

Earlier when she is having a tryst with Max the bartender, we see how her intomacy is intentionally distant. She yearns for home, for companionship, but also doesn’t want to deal with the vulnerability that comes with it.

She compares the true love Max seeks, to something she experienced as a child with her literal and metaphorical shadow. She says it knew her thoughts and her secrets and had always loved her. But in the current state she is now, she looks back on this and dismisses it though the thought of it makes her wistful.

Rowan has ignored her shadow since she was young. Following her guilt and the passing of her mother, that’s now becoming impossible to keep doing. After Rowan flees her counselling session, dishonest with and in fear of herself, she is faced with a murder of crows perched by her car.

In alchemy, the crow is associated with the stage of Nigredo, calcination, or the Blackening. This is a stage of cleansing through the burning of ingredients into ash, often associated with death. To Jung this is the Dark Night of the Soul. Robert Bly also ties crows to the Shadow and the need to face it. We see crows and smoke heavily featured in promotional material for the show.

The bulk of the season then goes on to follow Rowan as she begins her descent to the goddess and encounters the literal personification of her shadow, of her animus. Progressively fulfilling stages in the alchemical process…

End of Part One

[my-drama-heart2406]

It's always funny whenever I see new people starting to watch Alchemy of Souls. They're always like, "Oh my God! This show is actually so good. Who knew, right?"

WE DID!!! Did you guys think we all were on something for 3 yrs straight?!

[carpethedamndiemdejavu]

[shisasan]

Carl Gustav Jung, Man and his Symbols First published: 1964

[writing-for-life]

Exploring Dream’s Psyche

Jungian Archetypes

I know I’ve written about a Jungian take on some aspects of The Sandman before (about The Corinthian and also Fiddler’s Green here, about Gault here), but since we’re currently rereading/rewatching Lost Hearts and this week’s host @sweet-like-cinnamon-5 gave this prompt, I simply have to get back into it:

In both comics and show, Morpheus has to track down the Major Arcana who escaped during his imprisonment: The Corinthian, Fiddler's Green (aka Gilbert), and Gault (Brute & Glob in the comics). What's fascinating is how neatly these three map onto key Jungian archetypes, and in doing so, reveal fractured aspects of Morpheus' own psyche.

To make it very clear: I think Jungian psychology is great for storytelling and how we, as humans, connect via story, but as a practising therapist, I’m not super keen on the principles of psychoanalysis per se. With that out of the road:

Carl Jung believed archetypes were universal, inherited patterns of thought or imagery present in the collective unconscious (sound familiar?)…

The Corinthian: The Shadow

This one feels almost too on the nose, right? The Corinthian, with his penchant for murder and being the embodiment of humanity's darkness, is a classic Shadow archetype. In Jungian terms, the Shadow represents the unknown, repressed, or undesirable aspects of our personality. It's everything we don't want to admit about ourselves—our fears, base instincts, destructive urges, selfishness. More importantly: We often project it onto others (the Corinthian inspires people to be like him, after all).

But the Corinthian also represents something inherent to Morpheus: He is the darkness Dream tried to rigidly control (and perhaps deny). He's the failure of Morpheus' function—a nightmare only meant to reflect darkness in dreams, not being darkness in the waking world. His very existence outside the Dreaming during Dream's absence signifies Morpheus’ own darker potential and its consequences when left unchecked. The Corinthian is the embodiment of fear and predation that Dream intended to keep contained within nightmares.

Throughout the series, we see the Corinthian functioning as Morpheus' dark reflection, indulging in exactly the kind of unchecked power and cruelty that Dream tries to restrain in himself (not always successfully 😬). The Corinthian feeds on eyes (symbols of perception and understanding, “the mirror to the soul”), so I’m often wondering if this also suggests both the darkness Dream sees within himself and a distorted view of himself?

When Morpheus finally confronts, unmakes (and later on remakes—that’s the truly important part) the Corinthian, he's not merely capturing an escaped nightmare. In TKO, he is basically reintegrating his own Shadow, acknowledging these darker impulses as part of himself rather than an external threat: You only become whole by acknowledging your darkness, not by repressing it.

Fiddler's Green: The Animus & The Wise Old Man

Fiddler’s Green is not a nightmare, but a dream. Specifically a place, an idyllic location representing solace and belonging. His desire to experience life as a human (Gilbert) is contextually really important. While he isn’t a perfect fit for one single archetype, he touches on a few. He could represent aspects of the Self—wholeness and the regulating centre of the psyche (“the heart of the Dreaming”). A desire for integration and completeness, if you will.

Gilbert/Fiddler's Green also represents the Wise Old Man archetype, which often appears as a mentor or guide figure representing wisdom, insight, and moral qualities. In deeper Jungian theory, this archetype closely connects to the already mentioned Self—the archetype of wholeness. Gilbert’s yearning for knowledge, human experience and connection also taps into the higher aspects of the Animus, which are word and meaning (in the sense of seeking knowledge of and connection to the outer world/experience, though typically Animus is the male aspect in a female psyche), and I wrote about this before. And Fiddler's Green also embodies a deep, perhaps unacknowledged, yearning within Morpheus:

He represents the desire for peace, belonging, connection, and perhaps a simpler existence away from the lonely burden of being Dream of the Endless. Gilbert's warmth, loyalty, and appreciation for humanity stand in stark contrast to Dream's initial aloofness and rigid adherence to duty. Gilbert’s temporary escape into humanity mirrors a buried desire within Dream himself for something more or different than his function.

Gault: The Anima & The Mother

Gault, the shapeshifting nightmare who yearns to be a dream and to “inspire rather than frighten”, is a significant change from the comics (more on that later). The Anima is (in a male psyche, according to Jung) the inner feminine aspect, related to emotion, intuition, creativity, connection to the unconscious, and relationship. The Mother archetype, when developed positively, stands for benevolence, nurturing, caring. She protects and provides. But by wishing to be a dream with all of these qualities rather than a nightmare, she holds up a mirror to Morpheus: His own disconnect from his emotions and his mother wound—empathy, the desire to nurture creativity and hope (instead of just reflecting fear), adaptability (she's a shapeshifter!), and the willingness to challenge rigid rules for compassionate reasons. Her rebellion isn't just defiance; it's a plea for a different kind of D/dreaming. She challenges Morpheus' rigid definition of his own purpose and hence the purpose of his creations.

The Dreaming as Dream's Psyche

So in short: The three major arcana don't exist in isolation. They function within the Dreaming, which can also be understood as the externalised landscape of Morpheus' psyche. Each represents aspects of Dream that he must reconcile and (re)integrate:

The Corinthian: Dream's capacity for cruelty and punishment

Fiddler's Green: Dream's wisdom and connection to humanity

Gault: Dream's potential for transformation and growth

What makes these characters particularly fascinating is that they aren't merely psychological projections. They have independent existence and agency. It’s somewhat mindbending to think that Dream must engage with parts of himself that have developed autonomy.

Okay, quick detour. In the original Sandman comics (The Doll's House arc), the rogue nightmares hiding out in Jed Walker's mind were Brute and Glob. They are crude, bullying types, lesser nightmares who essentially created a fantasy world inside Jed's head as their own little kingdom. They represented brute (ha!) force, manipulation, and a fairly simplistic form of rebellion against Dream's authority.

Replacing Brute and Glob with Gault is a huge thematic shift. Instead of two fairly thuggish, self-serving entities, the show gives us Gault: a character with complex motivations driven by a desire to be better. It forces Morpheus to confront not just rogue creations, but the nature of his own role. Gault challenges his rigidity and purpose. She introduces themes of change, empathy, and the potential for even nightmares to evolve, mirroring Morpheus' own needed evolution. Bringing her back from the darkness and her eventual transformation become a significant sign of his growth and changing perspective, something the defeat of Brute and Glob wouldn't have offered in the same way.

Back to all three: The Corinthian, Fiddler's Green, and Gault aren't just obstacles for Morpheus to overcome; they are external manifestations of internal conflicts and aspects of his own being. By confronting his Shadow (Corinthian), acknowledging his yearning for connection/peace (Fiddler's Green), and engaging with his transformative(!)/empathetic potential (Gault), Morpheus begins the long journey of reintegrating his fractured psyche, even if that has consequences we’d rather not think of 🥺 The change from Brute & Glob to Gault significantly deepens this psychological exploration in the Netflix adaptation.

In a Nutshell: This is a Journey of Individuation

Jung described the process of "individuation"—the integration of conscious and unconscious elements into a whole. Throughout The Sandman, we witness Dream's steps toward this psychological integration.

The Corinthian, Fiddler's Green, and Gault represent crucial aspects of this journey—the Shadow that must be confronted, the (highly developed) Animus that guides with wisdom, and the (highly developed) Anima that points toward possibilities for growth. By engaging with these externalised aspects of himself, Dream begins his own process of individuation, moving from rigid adherence to cosmic law toward a more integrated understanding of himself and his role…

[theoccultmentor]

I would rather be whole than good

- Carl Jung