The Seba library treats Urania in 7 passages, across 5 authors (including Jung, Carl Gustav, Hillman, James, Neumann, Erich).
the Urania type of mother-image predominates in masculine psychology, whereas in a woman the chthonic type, or Earth Mother, is the most frequent.
Jung establishes ‘Urania type’ as a technical term for the celestial, spiritualizing mother-image characteristic of masculine archetypal psychology, in structural contrast to the chthonic Earth Mother.
, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, 1959thesis
filling this consumer world with the golden glow of Aphrodite Urania, that otherworldly radiance which was always the main purpose of my being and the main significance of my smile.
Hillman, speaking in Aphrodite’s voice, identifies Aphrodite Urania as the celestial, Platonic dimension of erotic divinity whose otherworldly radiance redeems even consumerism from mere carnality.
, Mythic Figures, 2007thesis
images into spiritual value, as if a lifting improvement to the higher realm of Aphrodite Urania, succeeds only in losing the very sensate attraction of the goal as a pleasurable pull toward beauty.
Hillman argues that premature sublimation toward Aphrodite Urania’s spiritual register destroys the sensuous, pleasure-laden reality of beauty that alchemical psychology requires.
, Alchemical Psychology, 2010thesis
Aphrodite Urania is designated as ‘the eldest of the Moirai’ (Pausanias, 1, 19, 2). Their kinship with the Erinyes appears in the cult also.
Neumann cites the ancient identification of Aphrodite Urania as eldest of the Moirai, anchoring her within the archaic layer of fate-goddesses and chthonic underworld powers.
, The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype, 1955supporting
Urania I shall need / Thy guidance, or a greater Muse, if such / Descend to earth, or dwell in highest heaven.
Wordsworth’s Prospectus invokes Urania as the Miltonic heavenly Muse needed to guide a poetry of human depth that must descend below the veil of heaven.
, Natural Supernaturalism: Tradition and Revolution in Romantic Literature, 1971supporting
Aphrodite, 81, 172, 273, 274, 275, 307, Pls. 137, 153; A. Urania, 231
Neumann’s index records Aphrodite Urania as a discrete entry within his comprehensive mapping of the Great Mother archetype, locating her among transformative feminine forms.
, The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype, 1955supporting
in Aphrodite Urania sets her foot on a turtle
Burkert notes the iconographic motif of Aphrodite Urania standing on a turtle, situating this heavenly Aphrodite within the sacrificial and ritual anthropology of Greek cult.
, Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth, 1972supporting