Up: [[Analysis]] Created: 2023-08-23 Updated: 2024-02-27 # Original Meaning In ancient Egypt, when a new temple was going to be built, the first step was for the Pharaoh to *set the bounds*, marking off the space. In ancient Rome, the temenos was the actual furrow that was plowed around the site where the temple was going to be built. In both countries, therefore, temenos meant **a sacred boundary around a temple**. # Meaning in Analysis The analyst's consulting room is a temenos, a safe place marked off from ordinary life. But temenos applies to more than just a physical space. In analysis it's an archetypal image for the protected space in which inner work can take place. #Art ![[Temenos.webp]] # Other Temenos Images - A garden, divided into four equal quadrants with a fountain or statue in the middle, is a common image of Temenos and is the one Jung described. - A mandala - The custom of carrying a bride over the threshold is a mark of the temenos of that space.