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Incest (n.) need ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠never be committed to wreck a life: the unconscious passion for the mother, too weak to compel the act, is strong enough to complicate everything.

Incest (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a hazardous mask over a more dangerous passion — the inertia that wants to sink back, met in the guise of the Terrible Mother.

Incest (n.) symbolism ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠arises because regressing libido revives the parents but cannot revive the child: an adult libido, already bound to sex, imports an incompatible incestuous character into the old bond.

Incest (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠desired not for cohabitation but for rebirth — the strange wish to become a child again by entering the mother.

Incest (n.) committed ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠by the god canalizes regressive libido safely: it is the god, not the man, who possesses his mother — the Pharaoh rises as one who lives on his fathers and possesses his mothers.

Incest (n.) is, ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠when it shows up as the mother's or anima's desire, only the unconscious wanting to be noticed — reject it and Chryse becomes a venomous serpent.

Incest (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not a universal tendency; that it occasionally happens proves no more than murder proves a universal homicidal mania.

Incest (n.) as ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a fantasy may be less the repressed secret than a hiding-place — repressed religious ideas blow up everything we blame our parents for to fantastic proportions.

Incest (n.) as ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠kinship libido is the endogamous tendency which, no longer satisfied owing to the increasing strangeness of the marriage partner, regresses and activates the unconscious.

Incest (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the Freudian reading of renewal rites as regression — a neurotic misunderstanding; otherwise mankind's highest achievements would be the perverted wishes of children and "childish" would lose its meaning.

Incest (n.) as ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the alchemical brother-sister union stands for the conjunction of all opposites — and the son's death by vanishing into the body of Beya completes the spirit's descent into matter.

Incest (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the morally obnoxious form given to the conflict that surfaces when the unconscious is remembered — never lacking moral complications, which is why the king preferred to stay unconscious.

Incest (n.) as ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a fixation, once Freud laid it on the dining-room table, aroused salutary doubts about parents who live only for their children — doubts that, for reasons of health, should not be pushed too far.

Incest (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not what the regressing patient seeks in his parents — he usually feels a genuine horror of it; he seeks the innocence, security, reciprocated love and faith of childhood.

Incest (n.) appears ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠in fantasies that were perhaps never repressed at all — never conscious in the first place, they stay unconscious until the analytical method drags them into daylight.

Incest (n.) may ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠be a genuine instinct — for a thing that is not liked and desired generally requires no prohibition.

The Incest (n.) element ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠(n.) is the hiding place for all the most secret, shamefaced, grotesque and at the same time most sacred feelings that give human relationships their power — twining round parents and children like an octopus's tentacles.

Incest (n.) symbolizes ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠union with one's own being — individuation, becoming a self — which is why it exerts an unholy fascination, and why the first gods were believed to propagate incestuously.

Incest (n.) expresses ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠kinship libido, an instinct that like a sheep-dog keeps the family group intact — held in check by the pull toward strangers; the best compromise is a first cousin.

Incest (n.) turns ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠out, in a child's symptoms, often to be the parents' — a father unconsciously in love with his daughter, a mother flirting with her son — and the children act the parts allotted to them.