Von Franz on Fairy Tales

I’ve been re-reading “The Interpretation of Fairy Tales” by Marie Louise Von Franz. Not an easy read-- but hearty food for the soul. Here’s an excerpt:

“…all fairy tales endeavor to describe one and the same psychic fact, but a fact so complex and far-reaching, and so difficult for us to realize…that hundreds of tales and thousands of repetitions…variations are needed until this unknown fact is delivered into consciousness…. This unknown fact is what Jung calls the Self, which is the psychic totality of an individual….Different fairy tales give average pictures of different phases of (this psychic reality).”