REDEEMING THE SHADOW OF THE SELF: A Depth Psychological, Cross-Cultural Investigation of the Foreshadow Archetype

Abstract

More than any of his other archetypal forms, C. G. Jung’s conception of the shadow has found a permanent place within popular culture. But whether it manifests bodily as a shadow-figure or permeates the conscious world in the form of a shadow-realm, the Jungian shadow is presumed to be a negative and even sinister archetypal force. In fact, it is precisely these negative qualities that are now used to identify shadow figures within myths, folk tales, works of literature, and other narratives.

This dissertation sheds light on an overlooked archetypal presence which I call the Foreshadow. The Foreshadow archetype represents the theoretical ideal of what the shadow can be: still dark, wild, and hairy, but not sinister or frightening. Through a depth psychological and cross-cultural study of figures who embody this Foreshadow archetype—including John the Baptist, Merlin, al-Khidr, Hanuman, Siddhartha, and others—this dissertation lays out a constellation of symbols and narrative elements particular to the Foreshadow, much as Jung did in Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self. Embraced by its ego-figure, the Foreshadow is what the shadow always wishes to be; not the lurking enemy of the undeveloped ego, but rather, the devoted servant of the transcendent ego, helping it along the path of individuation that leads ultimately to an era-defining symbol of the Self.