ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors know from the analysis of dreams and of neuroses that the mother's body is often represented by certain recurrent symbols. Two representations are most frequently met with: one is the lonely house in a garden or in a wood where one feels one has lived in former times. The other is a secret room with a narrow portal in which one would like to take refuge from danger. The psychological phenomena are, incidentally, familiar to every psycho-analyst. They present a few examples, but for the sake of brevity will omit the full analytical material for their interpretation. The examples represent more or less easily recognisable 'womb phantasies'. They are quoted, however, not for the purpose of swelling the numbers of phantasies, but in order to compare them with corresponding phenomena to be found in folk psychology.
