20/12/2025
🌿An image is the psyche’s first whisper.
A symbol is what forms when we stay in relationship with that image.
In Jungian psychology, images arise from the unconscious — softly, often without words.
They become symbols only when we allow them time, attention, and safety to work on us.
This is why in sandplay, dreams, and creative work, we do not rush to explain.
We allow meaning to emerge.
From image → to symbol
From experience → to integration
From unconscious → to conscious
🌀
A Jungian reflection
Teaching Explanation👷♂️
This image illustrates how unconscious material becomes meaningful in Jungian psychology. On the left, an image emerges from the personal unconscious — concrete, sensory, and closely connected to lived experience, emotion, and memory. Images arise spontaneously and do not yet carry conscious meaning. Through a living relationship with consciousness — time, attention, and containment rather than interpretation — the image may gradually develop into a symbol. On the right, the symbol represents an image that now holds both personal significance and archetypal depth, mediating between the personal and collective unconscious and organising psychic experience. Importantly, the symbol does not replace the image; it grows from it and transforms it, allowing integration to occur without forcing insight.
