Fish

The fish is what the unconscious brings up into the light. Early Christians used the fish (ichthys) as a secret symbol of Christ; Chinese tradition treats the fish as an emblem of abundance (because the character for fish, yú, is a homophone for ‘surplus’). Jung devoted a late essay to the fish as a symbol of the Self emerging — the word ‘Aion’ in his writing refers to the astrological age of Pisces, the fishes. A dream of catching a fish is classically the retrieval of something long held in the depths; a dream of fish swimming past, the contents of the unconscious not yet ready to be caught. Notice the number and color of the fish, and whether the water is clear or murky.