The origins and history of consciousness draw on a wide range of global mythology to demonstrate how individual consciousness undergoes the same archetypal developmental stages as human consciousness as a whole. Erich Neumann was one of the most creative students of C. G. Jung and a renowned practitioner of analytical psychology. In this influential book, Neumann shows how the stages begin and end with the symbol of the uroboros, the self-devouring snake. The intervening stages are reflected in the universal myths of world creation, the great mother, the separation of the world parents, the birth of the hero, the dragon fight, the rescue of the captive, as well as the transformation and deification of the hero. Throughout this sequence, the hero represents the developing self-consciousness.