ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a number of insights about the archetypal nature of money. It argues that there is a "natural" attraction to money and its meaning for the individual and society and explores far too simplistic to blame the investment bankers and their greed solely for this rather complex psychological development within the society. The chapter also describes the idea of "money as a phantastic object" firstly by examining its archetypal roots. It discusses the money as a symbol of the self as well as the importance of money in relationships and the symbolic function of money. This interconnecting capacity has a very important effect which also explains part of the attraction: money can help to create identity, but also a phantastic object. The alienation of money and the delinking from every real value alleviates the use of money as a phantastic object.
