MERMAID

A magical water spirit who has much in common with the spirits of the forest, but who lures young men into the depths, where they drown.

The dreamer will recognize in the mermaid his desire for and fear of the feminine. Also addressed is a man s desire to identify with femininity and his fear of doing so.

The water spirit mermaid is enticing men to follow her into her kingdom, where, “under a glittering surface, are hidden inexplorable depths,” according to C. G. Jung, who saw the realm of the water spirits as a symbol of the unconscious. So the mermaid is a symbol of life and inner maturity, a spirit who “walks” along boundaries. Young men dream about mermaids when they reach manhood; young girls, when they become women. In another sense, the mermaid is without a soul and therefore is after the soul of humans. According to Jung, the water spirit is at the instinctual stage, the pre-stage of the feminine being, or anima.

Also, the mermaid is a being in need of liberation: since she lives in water, she is drowning in her emotions—and she has no sexual organs.

Male water spirits seldom appear in dreams.

(They are usually cruel, ugly, old, and comparable to goblins.)

(1) For a woman, it might express doubts about her femininity, or fears of (sexual) frigidity. In such a case, it may be that your partner is not right for you.

(2) In a man’s dream it might represent an idealized image of women (which may inhibit relations with actual women). Are you frightened of sex?

(3) For a man, it might represent the siren, which might actually symbolize the anima as the part of the psyche that will take you - safely - into the depths of your unconscious, and thereby heighten your self- knowledge.

(4) It may also, for a man, express fears of being ‘drowned’ by the feminine or by the unconscious.

See also Seduction, and Introduction, page 49.

The mermaid is a mythological creature with the torso of a woman and the lower half of a fish. In this way, she is an archetypal figure that embodies the feminine principle coupled with the capacity to connect to the unconscious mind and the emotional realms. In modern media, the mermaid has been transformed into something lovely and beguiling; however, her origins are dark and are associated with peril, death, and seduction.

A dream that features a mermaid should be considered aspirational, and you must keep in mind all of her qualities, light and dark, when formulating an interpretation. In any case, such a dream is connecting you to the spiritual side of your nature.