> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.descentpress.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Possession - URL: https://www.descentpress.com/index/possession/ - Published: 2026-09-05T04:40:52.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-10T01:58:49.000Z - Description: Possession names identification of consciousness with an unconscious content or complex. Most common forms: by the shadow and by contrasexual complexes (anima/animus). - Author: Jae Botávn - Tags: #index, #Import 2026-09-04 23:45 ## 1\. Etymology **Possession** names **identification of consciousness with an unconscious content or [complex](https://www.descentpress.com/index/complex/)**. Most common forms: by the [shadow](https://www.descentpress.com/index/shadow/) and by contrasexual complexes ([anima](https://www.descentpress.com/index/anima/)/[animus](https://www.descentpress.com/index/animus/)). --- ## 2\. Plain summary Shadow-possession: standing in one’s own light, falling into one’s own traps, preferring unfavorable impressions. Anima/animus possession: figures lose charm when turned toward the world—anima fickle/moody/daemonic; animus obstinate/dogmatic/domineering—retaining value in the introverted state as bridges to the unconscious. Samuels: ego taken over by complex or archetypal content—coup d’état; will constrained; one-sidedness. Historical line via Charcot/Breuer/Freud on hysterical “possession” and medieval demon analogies; Jung sought meaning and teleology beyond only dethroning the occupying agent. Engage Freud at his best as Jung recounts—no caricature. **Examples (exhaustive house list for this Index lemma — common possession motifs named across Jung’s essays and standard Jungian lexica; not a claim that Jung’s CW contains only these):** consciousness identified with unconscious content; [shadow](https://www.descentpress.com/index/shadow/) possession; [anima](https://www.descentpress.com/index/anima/)/[animus](https://www.descentpress.com/index/animus/) possession; introverted bridge vs world-turned loss of value; ego coup / will constrained; medieval demon analogy; teleological question; dual-stamp [inflation](https://www.descentpress.com/index/inflation/). --- ## 3\. Academic elucidation In analytical psychology possession is **ego-identification with autonomous content**—CW 9i ¶¶222f. Descent Press keeps Sharp and Samuels (p. **110**) in §4\. Prefer CW 9i ¶¶222f. --- ## 4\. Lexicon **Sharp (1991)** > Possession. A term used to describe the identification of consciousness with an unconscious content or complex. The most common forms of possession are by the shadow and the contrasexual complexes, anima/animus. … In the state of possession both figures lose their charm and their values; they retain them only when they are turned away from the world, in the introverted state… (Sharp, 1991) — cites CW 9i ¶¶222f in Sharp’s lemma. **Samuels, Shorter & Plaut (1986)** — *possession* p. **110** > possession … an ownership, a take-over or occupation of the EGO-personality by a COMPLEX or other archetypal content … the ego is the subject of a coup d'etat. … Jung … posed the question whether one might not be able to discover individual implication and, eventually, MEANING to falling victim to a neurotic possession. (Samuels, Shorter, & Plaut, 1986/2013, p. **110**) --- ## 5\. CW concordance — sample, not exhaustive > There are still other factors which may take possession of the individual, one of the most important being the so-called "inferior function." … The darkness which clings to every personality is the door into the unconscious and the gateway of dreams, from which those two twilight figures, the shadow and the anima, step into our nightly visions or, remaining invisible, take possession of our ego-consciousness. A man who is possessed by his shadow is always standing in his own light and falling into his own traps. > (Jung, 1940/1968, CW 9i, p. 123, ¶221) Sharp ¶¶222f → vessel ¶221–223. > Possession caused by the anima or animus presents a different picture. … In the state of possession both figures lose their charm and their values; they retain them only when they are turned away from the world, in the introverted state, when they serve as bridges to the unconscious. > (Jung, 1940/1968, CW 9i, p. 124, ¶223) --- **See also:** [shadow](https://www.descentpress.com/index/shadow/); [anima](https://www.descentpress.com/index/anima/); [animus](https://www.descentpress.com/index/animus/); [inflation](https://www.descentpress.com/index/inflation/); [complex](https://www.descentpress.com/index/complex/); [ego](https://www.descentpress.com/index/ego/); [identification](https://www.descentpress.com/index/identification/). ## References Jung, C. G. (1968). Concerning rebirth. 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, pp. 123–124, ¶221, ¶223). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1940) 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. ---