The Origins and History of Consciousness draws on a full range of world mythology to show how
individual consciousness undergoes the same archetypal stages of development as human
consciousness as a whole. Erich Neumann was one of C. G. Jung's most creative students and a
renowned practitioner of analytical psychology in his own right. In this influential book
Neumann shows how the stages begin and end with the symbol of the Uroboros the tail-eating
serpent. The intermediate stages are projected in the universal myths of the World Creation
Great Mother Separation of the World Parents Birth of the Hero Slaying of the Dragon Rescue
of the Captive and Transformation and Deification of the Hero. Throughout the sequence the
Hero is the evolving ego consciousness.
