Note 433 — Chapter V · SYMBOLISM OF THE MOTHER AND OF REBIRTH

The horns of the dragon have the following attributes: “They will prey upon woman’s flesh and they will burn with fire.” The horn, a phallic emblem, is in the unicorn the symbol of the Holy Ghost (Logos). The unicorn is hunted by the archangel Gabriel, and driven into the lap of the Virgin, by which was understood the immaculate conception. But the horns are also sun’s rays, therefore the sun-gods are often horned. The sun phallus is the prototype of the horn (sun wheel and phallus wheel), therefore the horn is the symbol of power. Here the horns “burn with fire” and prey upon the flesh; one recognizes in this a representation of the pains of hell where souls were burnt by the fire of the libido (unsatisfied longing). The harlot is “consumed” or burned by unsatisfied longing (libido). Prometheus suffers a similar fate, when the eagle, sun-bird (libido), tears his intestines: one might also say, that he was pierced by the “horn.” I refer to the phallic meaning of the spear.