In this essay I discuss the contributions of Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling (1775-1854) to the development of modern ideas about the nature of mythology. Schelling is mainly known today for having pioneered the dialectical method that Hegel and his followers later elaborated further. But in fact, Schelling did far more than merely pave the way for Hegel. He was one of the first thinkers in the West to formulate a comprehensive and systematic philosophy of mythology. He did this, moreover, without falling into the rationalistic trap (as Hegel apparently did) of attributing cognitivistic intentions to the early makers of myths. Schelling raised the key critical question: why should we assume that the goal of knowing or understanding the universe was ever a paramount motivation in the minds of religious people? This assumption, if unfounded, could dangerously skew one's interpretation of the meanings of ancient myths and rituals.
Among Schelling's most important contributions was his formulation of a sophisticated theory of the unconscious. I show how the notion of a pre-rational genesis of unconscious motivations led Schelling to his conception of a primordial, irrational power deep within the human psyche. This seminal idea was later to have important consequences for twentieth-century ideas about the nature of religious psychology - consequences which influencd Freud, Jung, Kerényi, and others, and which continue to have repercussions up to the present day.