Elijah occupies a remarkably generative position in the depth-psychology corpus, functioning simultaneously as prophetic archetype, psychic interior figure, and cross-traditional mediator. Jung’s encounters with ‘Elijah’ in the visions documented in The Red Book represent the figure’s most intensive psychological elaboration: there, the old prophet appears paired with Salome as a personification of Logos alongside Eros, inhabiting the land of the dead and serving as Jung’s interlocutor during the descent into the unconscious. In the Collected Works, Jung reads Elijah through a wider comparative lens — as the theios anthropos who transcends Christian, Jewish, and Islamic boundaries, overlapping with Khadir/Khidr in Sufi tradition and with Hermes-Mercurius in alchemy, appearing under the Latin alias ‘Elias artista.’ Von Franz extends this identification to Merlin, linking the prophet’s fiery translation to the shaman-sage archetype. The Philokalia tradition treats Elijah as an exemplar of contemplative ascent and detachment from material things, a figure whose cave at Horeb becomes the hidden sanctuary of wisdom. Henry Corbin, engaging Ibn Arabi, situates Elijah’s connection with Khadir as the paradigm of the invisible spiritual master. Across these positions, the central tension is whether Elijah names an autonomous psychic reality — a genuine interior guide — or a culturally projected archetype of the numinous wise man.
The old man said he was Elijah and I was quite shocked, but she was even more upsetting because she was Salome. I said to myself that there was a queer mixture: Salome and Elijah, but Elijah assured me that he and Salome had been together since eternity.
Jung’s seminar account of his foundational vision establishes Elijah as the Logos-figure permanently paired with Salome (Eros), together constituting a primordial coniunctio deep in the unconscious.
, The Red Book: Liber Novus, 2009thesis
Elijah is an angelic being fortified with divine power, having the magic name of Eli-YHWH, delivered from corruptibility, omniscient and omnipresent, he represents the ideal compensation not only for Christians but for Jews and Moslems also.
Jung characterizes Elijah as a universal theios anthropos whose symbolic breadth — encompassing pre-Yahwist, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic registers — makes him the archetypal figure of transcendent humanity.
, Collected Works Volume 18: The Symbolic Life, 1976thesis
Elijah is identical with the figure of Khadir or Khidr in Islamic tradition. Three days before the appearing of the Messiah, Elijah will manifest himself on the mountains of Israel.
Jung grounds Elijah’s cross-traditional identity in the explicit equation with Khadir and in eschatological Jewish tradition, situating the prophet as a messianic harbinger who transcends any single faith.
, Collected Works Volume 18: The Symbolic Life, 1976thesis
Near the steep slope of a rock I caught sight of two figures, an old man with a white beard and a beautiful Jung girl. I summoned up my courage and approached them as though they were real people, and listened attentively to what they told me. The old man explained that he was Eli—
The autobiographical account of the descent vision introduces Elijah and the girl (Salome) as the first personified inhabitants of the unconscious depths, anchoring the figure’s role as inner guide in Jung’s personal myth.
, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, 1963thesis
First she divided herself into a serpent and a bird, then into a father and mother, and then into Elijah and Salome—How are you, my good fellow?
The soul’s self-division into Elijah and Salome is presented as a structural differentiation of the psyche into its Logos and Eros poles, marking the depth of individuation.
, The Red Book: Liber Novus, 2009thesis
Elijah said: ‘You should recogni—‘
Elijah functions as an active interlocutor in Jung’s inner drama, offering didactic recognition to the visionary ego — confirming his role as the wise guide of the unconscious.
, The Red Book: Liber Novus, 2009supporting
Merlin also possesses traits which link him with Elijah. The saga relates that a cleric named Helyas wrote down Merlin’s prophecies; this Helyas is none other than Elijah, the same who appears in alchemistic tradition as Helyas artista.
Von Franz draws the line of archetypal identity from Elijah through the alchemical ‘Helyas artista’ to Merlin, establishing the prophet as a structural precursor of the shamanic sage-magician in Western tradition.
, C.G. Jung: His Myth in Our Time, 1975supporting
Elijah climbs before me into the heights, to a very high summit; I follow. On the peak we come to some masonry made of huge blocks… The prophet stands on this stone and says: ‘This is the temple of the sun. This place is a vessel, that collects the light of the sun.’
Elijah leads the visionary Jung to a solar sanctuary, then shape-shifts into Mime at the wellsprings — illustrating his function as psychopomp who mediates between celestial illumination and chthonic wisdom.
, The Red Book: Liber Novus, 2009supporting
his connection with the prophet Elijah, and in turn the connection between Elijah and the Imām of Shī’ism.
Corbin situates Elijah as the structural link between Khadir, the invisible Sufi master, and the hidden Imam of Shi’ism — making him the hinge figure between prophetic tradition and esoteric gnosis.
, Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi, 1969supporting
Elijah and Khidr at the Kountain of Life
Corbin’s placement of Elijah and Khidr at the Fountain of Life identifies the pair as twin guardians of immortality and hidden spiritual knowledge in Islamic esotericism.
, Alone with the Alone: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi, 1969supporting
everyone who like Elijah truly seeks God will not only arrive at Horeb — that is, not only will he through ascetic practice attain the state of virtue — but will also enter the cave at Horeb — that is, as a contemplative he will enter into that hidden sanctuary of wisdom found only by those who have attained the state of virtue.
The Philokalia interprets Elijah’s cave at Horeb as an allegory for the intellect’s hidden sanctuary of contemplative wisdom, placing the prophet at the apex of the ascetic-contemplative path.
, The Philokalia, Volume 4, 1995supporting
Elijah himself advanced freely towards God, Unencumbered by attachment to any created thing. His desire being undivided and his will unmixed, he made his dwelling with Him who is simple by nature, carried there by the interdependent cardinal virtues, harnessed spiritually to one another like horses of fire.
The Philokalia presents Elijah’s fiery ascent as the model of undivided desire and unified will — the psychological integration that permits unencumbered movement toward the divine.
, The Philokalia, Volume 2, 1981supporting
Luke implies this identification when, at the transfiguration, God tells Peter, John, and James to ‘listen to’ Jesus, who is standing in the presence of Moses… Jesus’ discussion with Elijah and Moses as Jesus’ ‘departure [exodos], which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem’
The New Testament treatment of Elijah at the transfiguration is read as a typological axis linking Moses, Elijah, and Jesus — establishing the prophet as an eschatological witness to redemptive completion.
, Theology of the New Testament: A Canonical and Synthetic Approach, 2005supporting
It was like a voyage to the moon, or like the feeling of a descent into empty space. First the picture was of a crater… and my feeling association was that of one dead, as if oneself were a victim.
Hillman recounts Jung’s descent into the unconscious as the site of his foundational visions — the immediate context in which Elijah appears as interior personification — framing the encounter as the origin of Jung’s mature psychology.
, Healing Fiction, 1983aside
Elias, see Elijah… Elijah/Elias, 136n, 167; Apocalypse of, 71, 101
The index reference confirms the alchemical cross-referencing of Elijah with Elias artista across Jung’s Collected Works, marking the figure’s recurrence in his alchemical scholarship.
, Collected Works Volume 3: The Psychogenesis of Mental Disease, 1907aside