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The group, because it threatens the subject’s individuality, arouses a particular type of anxiety among its members, as illustrated by Freud’s porcupine parable. But the group also attempts to overcome this anxiety by defensive measures, among which the group illusion is the most powerful and most frequently noted.To illustrate one aspect of the struggle between these two movements within the group, the author evokes the mythic figure of Cassandra, positing that she incarnates the depressive side of the group illusion.Three clinical vignettes from one group dynamics session illustrate the various stages of the development of anxiety within the group and, in particular, the sudden appearance of Cassandra.