Incest

1. Etymology

Incest, psychologically, names the regressive longing for the security of childhood and early youth. Related: regression; mother; drive for wholeness; transference.

2. Plain summary

Jung reads incest images in dreams and fantasies symbolically—not concretely—as need for a new adaptation more in accord with instinct. That reading differed so radically from the psychoanalytic view that it figured in his break with Freud.

So long as the child is in unconscious identity with the mother, development of consciousness separates from mother, family, and instinct-world—yet longing for the lost world remains, and difficult adaptations tempt regression that throws up incestuous symbolism. When the drive for wholeness appears, it may begin disguised as incest symbolism—nearest feminine counterpart sought outside unless sought in oneself.

Samuels: incest fantasy as metaphor for growth; taboo prevents physical expression and has its own psychological purpose; adult incestuous regression can aim to regenerate spiritually—regression more than ego defence.

Examples (exhaustive house list for this Index lemma — common incest motifs named across Jung’s essays and standard Jungian lexica; not a claim that Jung’s CW contains only these):
regressive longing for childhood security; symbolic not concrete; break with Freud; unconscious identity with mother; separation / longing; difficult adaptation → regressive symbolism; wholeness disguised as incest; transference neighborhood; taboo’s psychological purpose; regenerative regression.

3. Academic elucidation

In analytical psychology incest is symbolic regression / wholeness-disguise—Symbols of Transformation and Transference territory. Descent Press keeps Sharp and Samuels in §4. §5 holds sample CW stamps at CW 5 ¶351; CW 16 ¶471. Prefer CW 5 ¶351; CW 16 ¶471.

4. Lexicon

Sharp (1991)

Incest. Psychologically, the regressive longing for the security of childhood and early youth. Jung interpreted incest images in dreams and fantasies not concretely but symbolically… Whenever [the] drive for wholeness appears, it begins by disguising itself under the symbolism of incest…

(Sharp, 1991) — cites CW 5 ¶351; CW 16 ¶471 in Sharp’s lemma.

Samuels, Shorter & Plaut (1986) — incest p. 74

incest Unlike Freud, Jung did not view the incest impulse from a literal perspective… he saw incest FANTASY as a complicated METAPHOR for a path of psychological growth and development… The incest taboo prevents physical expression… and has its own psychological purpose…

(Samuels, Shorter, & Plaut, 1986, p. 74)

5. CW concordance — sample, not exhaustive

The wicked Set lured Osiris into the chest by a ruse, in other words the original evil in man wants to get back into the mother again, and the illicit, incestuous longing for the mother is the ruse supposedly invented by Set. It is significant that it is “evil” which lures Osiris into the chest; for, in the light of teleology, the motif of containment signifies the latent state that precedes regeneration.
(Jung, 1912/1967, CW 5, p. 341, ¶351)

Whenever this drive for wholeness appears, it begins by disguising itself under the symbolism of incest, for, unless he seeks it in himself, a man’s nearest feminine counterpart is to be found in his mother, sister, or daughter.
(Jung, 1946/1966, CW 16, p. 263, ¶471)

See also: mother; regression; wholeness; transference; fantasy; dreams; anima; individuation.

References

Jung, C. G. (1966). The psychology of the transference. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol. 16, p. 263, ¶471). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1946)

Jung, C. G. (1967). Symbols of transformation. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol. 5, p. 341, ¶351). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1912)

Samuels, A., Shorter, B., & Plaut, F. (1986). A critical dictionary of Jungian analysis. Routledge.

Sharp, D. (1991). Jung lexicon: A primer of terms & concepts. Inner City Books.