Kore

1. Etymology

Kore (Greek) names the personification of feminine innocence (e.g., Persephone). Psychologically, in man or woman, it refers to an archetypal image of potential renewal. Related: mother–maiden dyad; Demeter–Kore.

2. Plain summary

The Kore’s phenomenology is bipolar—associated with the mother–maiden dyad. In a woman’s unconscious products it can image the supraordinate personality or self. In a man, Kore is an aspect of the anima and shares that inner symbolism.

Clinically the Kore often appears as an unknown young girl exposed to danger, sacrifice, nekyia, or descent; the tortures may be carried out by an “Earth Mother.” Modern case material may sharpen the vaguely flower-like Kore into a more delineated figure. Demeter and Kore together extend feminine consciousness “upwards and downwards”—older/younger, stronger/weaker—widening a narrowly time-bound conscious mind toward a more comprehensive personality.

Examples (exhaustive house list for this Index lemma — common Kore motifs named across Jung’s essays and standard Jungian lexica; not a claim that Jung’s CW contains only these):
Persephone / feminine innocence; potential renewal; bipolar mother–maiden; woman’s self image; man’s anima aspect; unknown young girl; danger / sacrifice / nekyia; Earth Mother; Demeter–Kore extension of feminine consciousness; immortality-feeling via generational ties.

3. Academic elucidation

In analytical psychology Kore is maiden-archetype of renewal within the mother–daughter dyad—CW 9i Kore essay. Descent Press keeps Sharp in §4; Samuels: no dedicated kore head. Prefer CW 9i ¶¶311, 316.

4. Lexicon

Sharp (1991)

Kore. In Greek mythology, a term for the personification of feminine innocence (e.g., Persephone); psychologically, in man or woman, it refers to an archetypal image of potential renewal. … The phenomenology of the Kore is essentially bipolar … associated with the mother-maiden dyad. … Demeter and Kore, mother and daughter, extend the feminine consciousness both upwards and downwards…

(Sharp, 1991) — cites CW 9i ¶¶311, 316 ("The Psychological Aspects of the Kore") in Sharp’s lemma.

Samuels, Shorter & Plaut (1986) — no dedicated kore head

(No dedicated Samuels head.) Related under anima / archetype / mother / myth

5. CW concordance — sample, not exhaustive

See also: anima; self; child; mother-complex; feminine; archetypal-image.

References

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.