• Sim-seong Yeon-gu
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.31-66
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• 2015

A study on a Russian fairy tale entitled "Seven Stars" was conducted from the perspective of analytical psychology. The plot goes as follows. Once upon a time, a village in Russia was suffering from severe drought. Villagers were dying of thirst, and crops were withering day by day. One night, a little girl left their house carrying a wooden dipper to find water for her sick mother by herself. However, water was nowhere to be found. She felt tired and fell asleep. When she woke up, the moon was already over her head, and the dipper had been filled with water. On her way home to give the water to her mother, she found a dog lying on the ground. The dog was also dying of excessive thirst, so she gave the dog a handful of water. Then the wooden dipper suddenly turned into a silver dipper. When she had finally arrived home and her mother has drunk the water, the silver dipper changed into a golden dipper. At that moment, an old man showed up and asked for water. The little girl gave him water. When the old man stared at the water, she realized that there were seven diamonds twinkling like stars in the dipper. The water never ran out. Surprisingly enough, the seven diamonds suddenly soared up into the sky and eventually formed a constellation of the Big Dipper. The water was shared with the other villagers who, then, recovered their strength. The severe drought came to an end, and the villagers danced together with joy. In this fairy tale, the severe drought symbolizes devastation caused by a unidirectional stream of consciousness while the little girl represents a new function, which shows the value of women who can heal and restore from that devastation. Symbolized in a fairy tale character such as 'a daughter' or 'a little girl', the new function eventually reaches up to the value which leads and affects the group as well as individuals. To conclude, this new function represents the unconscious process whose role is to revitalize the maternity and resolve the problems posed to a group as well as individuals.

• Sim-seong Yeon-gu
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.145-186
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• 2015

This thesis discusses and analyzes Jeju island's shamanistic myth "Samgong Bonpoori" from the perspective of analytical psychology. Similar to the "I live on my fortune"-type folktales discovered in the Korean mainland, "Samgong Bonpoori" is such a widespread myth that similar folktales are found not only in East Asian regions, including Korea, Japan, and China, but also in Ireland. The essence of the story is as follows; One day, a father asked his three daughters whose fortune they lived on. The first two daughters claimed that they owe their lives to their parents. However, the youngest daughter, Gameunjang-agi, replied, against his expectation, that "I live on my own fortune," and showed her fortune and virtue were physically embodied in the line drawn from her genitals to navel. Her answer enrages his father so fiercely that she was expelled and forced to embark on a journey with no one but a black cow carrying food to accompany her. In retaliation for telling lies against her, Gameunjang-agi transformed her two sisters into a centipede and a mushroom, while her parents were turned into beggars afflicted with blindness. Afterward, Gameunjang-agi wandered around the country and eventually found love with a Chinese yam digger. Not long after, they got married, and as a couple, they stumbled upon roots of gold in fields, which brought them an incredible amount of wealth. After this miracle has happened, Gameunjang-agi began to wonder about the status of her parents and decided to organize a party for all the beggars and the blinds in the country. She eventually found her parents and got a chance to reconcile with her sisters. The story ends with her parents regaining their eyesight and Gameunjang-agi reestablishing herself as the "Goddess of Providence." "Samgong Bonpoori" is a myth about a God. A God is ontologically a supremely perfect being; however, in this thesis, it will be discussed as a part of a folktale. Gameunjang-agi can be seen as the anima archetype of the father, which reveals the process of a paternal consciousness being transformed over time. At first, her parents deny Gameunjang-agi. However, after years of suffering from blindness, they regain their eyesight and finally recognize their daughter. This signifies that Gameunjang-agi is a being that has come into the world for a certain "purpose." Gameunjang-agi embodies the creative function of "femininity" that can renew the existing collective consciousness embedded in the patriarchal system. Such recognition of femininity matters to men to a great degree as well as to women. Without knowing their true nature (femininity), the two sisters submit themselves to their parents and conventional values. Not until they suffer from being transformed and captured into small and insignificant beings, a centipede and a mushroom, which symbolize their shadow, they fail to develop their self-awareness. Meanwhile, by reconciling with her parents and sisters--playing a significant role in reuniting the family--Gameunjang-agi turns out to be a figure that can reveal what it truly means to have self-awareness and achieve Self-realization. In conclusion, this story illustrates that recognition of femininity matters to men to a great degree as well as to women, and women's Self-realization plays a critical role in revitalizing the collective consciousness embedded in the patriarchal system.