The coniunctio is an a priori image that occupies a prominent place in the history of man's mental development. If we trace this idea back we find it has two sources in alchemy, one Christian, the other pagan. The Christian source is unmistakably the doctrine of Christ and the Church, sponsus and sponsa, where Christ takes the role of Sol and the Church that of Luna. The pagan source is on the one hand the hieros-gamos, on the other the marital union of the mystic with God. [The Psychology of the Transference," CW 16, para. 355.] [Read more]
Jung, C. G. (1966). The psychology of the transference (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In H. Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung: Vol. 16. Practice of psychotherapy (2nd ed., pp. 163-323). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1946) https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400851003.163
Jung, C. G. (1970). The collected works of C. G. Jung: Vol. 14. Mysterium coniunctionis (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (H. Read et al., Eds.). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1955-56) https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400850853
Jung, C. G. (1969). The transcendent function (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In H. Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung: Vol. 8. Structure and dynamics of the psyche (2nd ed., pp. 67-91). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1958) https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400850952.67
Jung, C. G. (1968). Concerning rebirth (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In H. Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung: Vol. 9 pt. 1. Archetypes and the collective unconscious (2nd ed., pp. 113-147). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1950) https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400850969.113