Wells have been associated with sacred ceremonial descent, ritually lived, for millennia. Like the holes in the ground, hand-dug by men and women over time, it resembles the development of consciousness over time. Over time, archetypal patterns of descent, linking above and below, ego and Self, became more fully known by humanity and potentially available to anyone who would ‘go down all the way’ to the roots, who ‘does not neglect the work.’ (1)
All over the world, wells have been dug by hand at least since the ninth millennium BCE. (2) Human settlements have always been dependent for survival on a well with a fresh clear spring, so that social structures developed around it. We depend upon it.
The symbolism of the well and the tree have something in common. The water of the well can be drawn up from the deep to serve life and growth in the community. In the same way, a tree draws up water through its roots and fibers from the deep in order to grow.
The well conveys the idea that the nourishing wellsprings of life is available to all, no matter how desperate you are feeling. It is inexhaustible. It grows neither less nor more; it exists for one and all. Generations come and go, and all may enjoy life in its inexhaustible abundance. (2)
A well needs to be maintained, cleaned, lined and so, also, the relationship to one’s deeper self. Through Jung’s psychology, the existence and mechanisms of this psychic structure was made conscious and accessible to any individual who felt called upon to undertake the work of descent. Then the inner relationship with one’s roots may be restored and the individual may find meaningful nourishment.
Our modern world is dominated by rationality and superficiality resulting in loneliness and meaninglessness, but by restoring the relationship with one’s deeper personality one may draw from the wellsprings of Life to find meaningful containment and inner guidance from your own roots.
1. I Ching, p. 185 – 6
2. Wikipedia.org, well
