Creation Myths

By Marie-Louise von Franz

Creation myths are the deepest and most important of all myths because they are concerned with both the basic patterns of existence and the ultimate meaning of life. In this book, an eminent Jungian analyst examines the recurring motifs that appear in creation myths from around the world and shows what they teach us about the mysteries of creativity, the cycles of renewal in human life, and the birth of consciousness in the individual psyche. Among the topics discussed are:
-- why the creative process is often accompanied by anxiety,
-- depression, loneliness, and fear of the unknown
-- the meaning of creation motifs such as the egg, the seed, the primordial being, the creative fire, the separation of heaven and earth, and the four stages of creation
-- creation symbolism in the alchemical opus of medieval tradition
-- how creation-myth motifs appear in the dreams of people who are on the verge of a leap forward in consciousness

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1570626065
• ISBN13: 9781570626067
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: Shambhala
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Very readable!

Although this is a transcription from lectures it deserves the highest grade because M-L von Franz here combines here erudition and interpretative faculty to produce very thought-provoking interpretations of creation myths from all over the world. Von Franz introduces her own theories within the framework of Jungian psychology. C.G. Jung said that M-L von Franz was the one theorist that had accomplished the most congenial development of his own ideas. This book is no exception. It conveys some new ideas, while keeping the reader fascinated from cover to cover. Von Franz subdivides the myths into different categories like: "the first victim", "the two creators", "germs and eggs", etc. and interprets the different categories accordingly. She explains that the incipient of many creation stories seem to be a state of pre-conscious wholeness which is broken in two when "subject" and "object" are created. The book can be read by the layman without foreknowledge of Jungian psychology, but is equally interesting to the professional as creation myths often appear in the individual's unconscious. It also serves as a good mythological reference as particularly interesting creation myths are picked out. This is a fine piece which does not reduce the creation myths into grey two-dimensionality, but holds their mystery in high esteem. /Mats W

Insight into the Creative Process

Marie-Louise von Franz is the most pre-eminent of Carl Jung's disciples, and one of the most respected expositors of Jungian psychology. This Jungian analysis of creation myths is one of her masterpieces. In the Jungian view, creation deals with the threshold between the conscious and the Unconscious. When we create a new "world" for ourselves (by a change in job, relationship, residence, life-status, etc.), we are at this inner threshold. This book uses images from ancient mythological systems to illustrate how a psychologically healthy person approaches the creative process. Although the theme may initially seem esoteric, the author is discussing issues that strike us all at our core.