The Wisdom of the Serpent: The Myths of Death, Rebirth, and Resurrection

by Joseph L. Henderson, Maud Oakes

The tribal initiation of the shaman, the archetype of the serpent, exemplifies the death of the self and a rebirth into transcendent life. This book traces the images of spiritual initiation in religious rituals and myths of resurrection, poems and epics, cycles of nature, and art and dreaming. It dramatizes the metamorphosis from a common experience of death's inevitability into a transcendent freedom beyond individual limitations.


"This is a classic work in analytical psychology that offers crucial insights on the meaning of death symbolism (and its inevitably accompanying rebirth and resurrection symbolism) as part of the great theme of initiation, of which [Henderson] is the world's foremost psychological interpreter. This material is really the next step after the hero myth that Joseph Campbell has made so popular, and provides an understanding of how not to use the hero myth in an inflated way as a psychology of mastery, but as an attainment progressively to be died beyond. [Henderson] is helped by the presence of Maud Oakes, who is a trained anthropologist with exquisite taste in her choice of mythic materials and respect for their original contexts."--John Beebe

Genres: Mythology, Psychology, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Seekers of Unity · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had way high expectations for this book and was way disappointed. It turned out just to be an anthology and almost none of their own analysis and a poor anthology at that. Poor work Jungians.

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[Airic Easm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Considering the amount and depth of lore of the world this coffee arm chair reader is great to get a sense of different anthropologies mythic heritages.

[Tacitus · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Wisdom of the Serpent by Joseph Henderson

Joseph Henderson was a psychiatrist trained in Jungian analysis. I don't know much about the thought of Jung and his school, but one of their interests seems to be how myths serve as representations for psychological transitions that occur at different stages in life. It is a fascinating thesis, but perhaps, one more rich in speculations than in specific applications. The book is divided in two parts: in the first, Henderson tries to categorize myths into their psychological functions. For example, a myth of death and rebirth may serve as a pattern of initiation of an immature ego to a mature self serving a purpose in the community. The second part is a collection of myths categorized by the authors according to the function they serve. I found the book difficult reading, and I would imagine anyone not already familiar with this kind of thinking would find it a poor introduction. The second part can be read as a interesting collection of myths on death and rebirth, but without a good understanding of the first part, their connection to psychology will remain nebulous.

[Bookcel8132 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jungians are insane.