Wise Old Man and Wise Old Woman

Lore & Background

In Carl Jung's thought, the individuation process involves a sequence of archetypes, with the Wise Old Woman and Man occupying a higher position than the anima or animus. They are what Jung termed mana or supraordinate personalities, standing for the wholeness of the self. Marie-Louise von Franz described how, after wrestling with the anima or animus problem, the unconscious appears in a new symbolic form representing the self: for a woman, a superior female figure such as a priestess, sorceress, earth mother, or goddess; for a man, a masculine initiator like a guru, wise old man, or spirit of nature.

Reader's Guide

The Wise Old Man and Wise Old Woman are significant as representations of the self, the innermost nucleus of the personality, in Jungian individuation. They correspond to the same-sex parent imago—the father-imago for the man and the mother-imago for the woman. Making these archetypes conscious is seen as a liberation from the parental imago and a first perception of one's own individuality. Jung noted that all archetypes have both positive and negative aspects: the wise old man has a dark, chthonic counterpart, and the priestess or sibyl has a counterpart in the witch or terrible mother. However, Jung emphasized that both celestial and chthonic aspects are of equal value, as the self is a union of opposites—bright and dark yet neither. Coming to terms with these mana figures means overcoming psychic splitting and accepting the twisted side of the Great Mother or the father containing both the Twisted King and the Whole King.

Did You Know?

• The Wise Old Woman is a symbol for the wisdom of the eternal female nature.
• The Wise Old Man is described as a masculine initiator and guardian, such as an Indian guru.
• Jung considered the Wise Old Woman and Man to be mana or supraordinate personalities standing for the wholeness of the self.
• All archetypes, including these, have both favourable and unfavourable, light and dark aspects.