The Mountain Archetype

From the beginning of recorded history, the mountain has played a prominent role in religion. The research for this book shows, for example, that many religions started on mountains. In addition, mountains were considered gods or the homes of the gods. Mountains also appear in contemporary dreams and visions. In psychology we understand numinous mountain experiences differently than they were understood in the past: We speak of projection onto mountains of contents from within the psyche. This book examines the mountain motif — how it has appeared throughout history in religion, myth, and dreams, and how our attitude towards it has changed.