Motif

1. Etymology

Motif in Sharp’s lexicon is a cross-reference: see archetypal-image. Recurring image-patterns in dreams, fantasy, and myth.

2. Plain summary

Descent Press does not treat motif as a free-floating literary ornament. Sharp points readers to archetypal-image—the living Index lemma where Jung’s image-language is worked. Mythological motifs in analysis convey vital meaning; they are not mere labels for behavior (Samuels under myth).

Examples (exhaustive house list for this Index lemma — common motif usages named across Jung’s essays and standard Jungian lexica; not a claim that Jung’s CW contains only these):
Sharp redirect to archetypal-image; recurring image-pattern; dream / fantasy / myth neighborhoods; dual-stamp path to AIM; avoid motif-as-label misuse.

3. Academic elucidation

In analytical psychology motif is index hub for archetypal-image—not a separate Sharp essay. §5 holds dual-stamps from archetypal-image.

4. Lexicon

Sharp (1991)

Motif. See archetypal image.

(Sharp, 1991)

Samuels, Shorter & Plaut (1986) — no dedicated motif head this vessel pass:

(No dedicated Samuels head.) Motif language appears under myth (mythological motifs in analysis)

5. CW concordance — sample, not exhaustive

By means of “active imagination” we are put in a position of advantage, for we can then make the discovery of the archetype without sinking back into the instinctual sphere… The dynamism of instinct is lodged as it were in the infra-red part of the spectrum, whereas the instinctual image lies in the ultra-violet part…
(Jung, 1947/1969, CW 8, p. 274, ¶414)

An archetypal content expresses itself, first and foremost, in metaphors. If such a content should speak of the sun and identify with it the lion, the king, the hoard of gold guarded by the dragon, or the power that makes for the life and health of man, it is neither the one thing nor the other, but the unknown third thing that finds more or less adequate expression in all these similes, yet—to the perpetual vexation of the intellect—remains unknown and not to be fitted into a formula.
(Jung, 1940/1968, CW 9i, p. 157, ¶267)

Neighbor note (not a motif leaf stamp): CW 9i ¶260 names “motifs,” “primordial images,” types/archetypes in the Child Archetype essay — see myth MYTH-1 neighborhood.

See also: archetypal-image; myth; image-primordial; complex; dream (no polished leaf — prose).

References

Jung, C. G. (1968). The psychology of the child archetype. 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. 9, Pt. 1, p. 157, ¶267). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1940)

Jung, C. G. (1969). On the nature of the psyche. 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. 8, p. 274, ¶414). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1947)

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.