Mandrake

The mandrake is a mysterious, human-like root with magical properties, around which much superstition has formed. It is associated with fertility, death, and witchcraft. Edward Edinger sees it as the original human or the Self, buried in a stage of participation mystique, or "the Self buried in one's central complex" (1995, p. 117).

The Swedish word alruna derives from the words "all" and runa, the latter meaning "secret"; it might possibly be understood as "all-knowing." The English word "mandrake" may originate from "man-dragon."

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