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Homosexuality is one of those topics in analytical psychology whose examination tends to resemble the often-told story of the three blind men and the elephant; unable to see the whole creature, the blind men seize various parts of it and declare each to be the whole of the animal. To avoid this situation, in which a universal and, at least recently, highly visible form of human interaction such as homosexuality is reductively treated as if it were nothing but a mother complex, a puer identification, or the anima at work, a comprehensive review of Jung's writings on the topic is in order.
A review of what Jung wrote on the subject is not an enormous task. Fifteen references within the Collected Works, five references in his professional and personal correspondence, and two references in his autobiography do not indicate an enormous amount of attention to investigating the psychological and social consequences of homosexual behaviour (see Appendix). As mentioned above, some writers have seized upon this lack of volume and declared it the whole of Jung's work: ‘Jung did not have much to say,’ they declare.
Our intention, however, in consulting Jung's writings on homosexuality is not to review a major theory of homosexuality, never Jung's goal in writing about homosexuality anyway. Rather, we look to his writings on homosexuality as one way of discerning how Jung provided for the growth and understanding of homosexual individuals in his capacity as an analyst and in his life.
There seem to be, in particular, five major attitudes Jung takes towards homosexuality, some clearly defined in his writings, some merely implied but apparent in the course of various discussions. All five attitudes are certainly different in emphasis, but no one seems to stand