Jung and the Metamorphoses

Jung elaborated A Study of the Transformation and Symbolism of the Libido between 1909 and 1912, the crucial years which resulted in his rift with Freud. His writing led him to refine his thinking and his opposition to Freud, especially in terms of the interpretation of the incest taboo and the definition of the libido. According to Jung, the archaic attachment to the mother precedes Oedipal eroticization. The libido is considered to be a form of innate, vital energy, able to take on many forms, of which sexuality is one, and subject to many metamorphoses: cultural or religious transformations which can be regarded as prerequisites to civilization, and not merely as pathological manifestations, concepts which Freud was to reject.