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The God of the frogs or toads, the brainless, is the uniting of the Christian God with Satan. His nature is like the flame; he is like Eros, but a God; Eros is only a daimon. ~Jung’s Soul, The Black Books, Vol. V. Page 274
In 1917, Jung wrote a chapter on “The sexual theory” in The Psyholog}’ of the U11co11scio11s Processes, which presented a critique of the psychoanalytic understanding of the erotic.
In his 1928 revision of this chapter, retitled “The Eros theory,” he added: ”
‘The Erotic’ belongs on the one hand to the original drive nature of man. On the other hand it is related to the highest forms of the spirit. It only thrives when spirit and drive are in right harmony. … ‘Eros is a mighty daemon,’ as the wise Diotima said to Socrates. He is not all of nature within us, though he is at least one of its essential aspects” (CW 7, § 32-33).
In the S)’111positt111, Diotima teaches Socrates about the nature of Eros. She tells him,
” ‘He is a great spirit, Socrates. Everything classed as a spirit falls between god and human.’
‘What function do they have?’ I asked. ‘They interpret and carry messages from humans to gods and from gods to humans.
They convey prayers and sacrifices from humans, and commands and gifts in return for sacrifices from gods.
Being intermediate between the other two, they fill the gap between them, and enable the universe to form an interconnected whole.
They serve as the medium for all divination, for priestly expertise in sacrifice, ritual and spells, and for all prophecy and sorcery.
Gods do not make direct contact with humans; they communicate and converse with humans (whether awake or asleep) entirely through the medium of spirits'” (trans. C. Gill [London: Penguin, 1999 J, pp. 202e- 203a) .
In Memories, Jung reflected on the nature of Eros, describing it as “a cosmogonos, a creator and father-mother of all consciousness” (p. 387).
This cosmogonic characterization of Eros needs to be distinguished from Jung’s use of the term to characterize women’s consciousness. See Book 2, p. 183 , n. 182. ~The Black Books, Vol. V. Page 394
