Analytical psychology is briefly described and an outline of the history of cultural images of predators, which is used as source material, is given. These images are psychologically interpreted using the comparative amplification method. The image of the "negative wolf" is illustrated through interpreting the myth of the Germanic cosmic wolf Fenrir.
The culturally potent image of the large predator corresponds to a basic inner unconscious reality, which is still powerful today. The symbolic predator represents the basic instinctive and creative life urge, with both its regenerative feminine side (death and rebirth, and initiational reconnection with the basis of life), and its assertive masculine side (self-assertion, development of ego and consciousness). The wolf is by far the most powerful symbolic wild animal in Europe. The wolf's negative image in the West derives from an overly one-sided emphasis on masculine self-assertion, which makes the ego become overbearing, obsessed by power and disconnected from its roots and from the whole. The feminine urge to reconnect with the instinctual basis, because it is largely disregarded, remains as raw unchannelled energy and as such breaks through unconsciously and compulsively. Both these negative sides combine to form an all-devouring force that eventually brings about radical change. The symbolic predator thus raises the question of the right form to give to creative energy, and thereby the fundamental ethical question of good and evil. Accordingly, the symbolic predator greatly influences our acceptance of biological predators. Recommendations are given for dealing with beliefs about predators.