Instead of giving birth to the ego/hero, the negative elementary feminine swallows him back, devours him. The movement along this axis is always from light into darkness, and negative elementary figures become increasingly bestial and monstrous. Here we find sea monsters (e.g., the whale that swallows Jonah), the octopus, the spider that ensnares, cocoons and devours its prey, big cats, boars that castrate with their tusks, birds of prey. Negative mouth symbolism is very prominent in these figures in the form of teeth and fangs. In this image of the sea monster Scylla, who devoured sailors, we can see the motif of the castrating “toothed vagina” (vagina dentata) in the ravening dogs that emerge from her genitals.

detail of vase painting depicting Scylla, c. 340 BCE; Getty Museum

detail of Greek coin from Agrigentum depicting Scylla, 5th century BCE; Amsterdam, Allard Pierson Museum

The Sphinx, with the head of a woman, the wings of an eagle, and the body of a lion, is shown here devouring/castrating a hapless Theban youth.

cup with painting depicting sphinx and victim by Kleomelos, c. 500 BCE; Getty Museum

This statue of a sphinx is less monstrous, but her effect on the young male victim is still deadly.

reconstructed marble sphinx group (Roman copy of Greek original); Vienna Ephesus Museum

A classic example of the negative elementary figure can be found in the fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel.” The witch, who is old and ugly, uses a house made of candy to entrap the children. She imprisons Hansel in a cage and feeds him in order to fatten him up for the kill; she starves Gretel and works her nearly to death, until Gretel shoves her in the oven intended for Hansel.

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