1,000 arrows to 1
A Jungian exploration of the psychological orientation represented in the relationship between Apollo, the god of light, and the now-stagnant (yet eternal) tree of life
Eros operates in two realms: one that binds both mortals and immortals to their primordial animal instincts, and the other that elevates them toward the spiritual heights of the divine. The seeds of love are invisible and unconscious, yet hold an erotic power, capable of igniting the passions of anyone struck by Eros' golden arrow. Eros, who is depicted as a child, appears infantile, but his youthful image is generative, inviting the potential for rebirth. As fate would have it, not even Apollo, the God of light and reason, could escape the darkness of the unconscious depths that compel him towards beauty and love created by irrational, feminine forces in his pursuit of Daphne.
After slaying the mighty python with 1,000 arrows to establish his oracle at Delphi, Apollo returns with an inflated ego. He is convinced that his struggle with the great mother Gaea has come to a triumphant end. As a solar hero, he has domain over the Sun’s power for eternal rejuvenation.
It is when Apollo learns that Eros, the God of love, wields arrows to ignite erotic desire that he feels threatened. How could the fury of a thousand arrows compare to affections sparked by one? In response to Apollo’s taunting insults, Eros retaliates by unleashing two libidinal arrows upon fated recipients: a golden one that strikes Apollo igniting his love for Daphne, a chaste nature nymph, and a lead one that strikes Daphne, which causes her to detest Apollo’s advances.
After being struck by the lead arrow, Daphne’s instincts run her rampant through the wilderness away from Apollo as if she were his prey being hunted. In the chase, Daphne asks her father, the river God, to change and destroy her beauty, so that Apollo may lose interest in her and let her be free. In an instant, Daphne’s beauty transfigures into a laurel tree standing strong and mighty upon the sturdy ground of Gaea. Daphne’s transformation into a tree is a powerful symbol of the great mother, which embodies the unconscious and primal forces of creation.
While love’s logical opposite may be understood as hate, Apollo’s love is better understood as a psychological manifestation of the will to power, a force that signifies the abscencing of love. Love cannot endure such egoic forces that suppress the natural vulnerability and connection necessary for love to thrive. Daphne’s beauty is a distraction that presents her as an erotic lover to Apollo, but on a deeper level, Apollo’s transformative love for Daphne represents his unconscious pull toward the great mother — a creative drive that propels him towards rebirth. His inner conflict highlights a deeper psychological truth: nothing ever dies in the psyche. The death of Python set the stage for the rebirth of his experience of the great mother through his pursuit of Daphne as initiated by Eros.
Jung recalls that there is no energy unless a tension of opposites exists. A paradox emerges within the dynamic of Eros: it possesses the power to touch the divine, as seen in Apollo's overwhelming love, yet it can also manifest as vulnerability and submission, as reflected in Daphne's recoil. In the erotic interaction between Apollo and Daphne, domination and submission are alive and operative. While Apollo represents reason trying to overcome nature, Daphne embodies an erotic impulse to commune with instincts of the natural world. In Daphne’s transformation, she joins the feminine domain of Diana, Apollo’s twin, who rules over the wilderness and the hunt. Diana claims Daphne as one of her own to protect her from the rational forces that bring disorder to the natural world. Daphne's strength is revealed in her transformation into a sturdy laurel tree, embodying the enduring and unshaken presence of Mother Nature, a force that persists despite attempts to dominate her.
According to Jung, Eros thrives where spirit and instinct are balanced. Daphne's metamorphosis marked her transition to eternal life, granting her the freedom to simply be herself in the natural world. In her honor, Apollo relinquished his crown of solar light to embrace an embodied laurel crown demonstrating his enduring love and adoration. Through this act of devotion, Apollo exalts Daphne, and reaffirms that his power flows from her, the embodiment of the Great Mother. His promotion and embodiment of laurel leaves simultaneously shows his reverence for mother nature, and his heroic impulse to domesticate nature to promote culture and progress.
Note from the author: This essay was written in 2024 for a final exam at Teachers College, Columbia University in Dr. Mark Kuras class Analytical Psychology from C.G. Jung to the present