Aspects of the Feminine

This book contains both essays from Jung (e.g., "The Worship of Woman and the Worship of the Soul," "Marriage as a Psychological Relationship," "Anima and Animus," "Psychological Aspects of the Mother Archetype," etc.) and excerpts from other writings. Here are some representative quotations from the book: "Experience shows that when the libido is retained, one part of it flows into the spiritualized expression, while the remainder sinks into the unconscious and activates images that correspond to it..." "Disregarding the fact that the 'normal' person does not exist, we find, nevertheless, sufficient similarities even among individuals of the most varied types to warrant a discussion of the 'average' problem." "The same is true of the woman: she too has her inborn image of man... Since this image is unconsious, it is always unconsciously projected upon the person of the beloved ... I have called this image the 'anima' ... Woman has no anima, no soul, but she has an animus..." "To a woman it is generally more important to know how a man feels about a thing than to know the thing itself... So it is naturally woman who is the most direct exponent of psychology and gives it its richest content." "(A) man, in his love-choice, is strongly tempted to win the woman who best corresponds to his own unconscious femininity---a woman, in short, who can unhesitatingly receive the projection of his soul." "I do not expect every reader to grasp right away what is meant by animus and anima. But I hope he will at least have gained the impression that it is not a question of anything 'metaphysical,' but far rather of empirical facts which could equally well be expressed in rational and abstract language." "The archetypes most clearly characterized from the empirical point of view are those which have the most frequent and the most disturbing influence on the ego. These are the shadow, the anima, and the animus."

Male dominated society from the beginning of humankind has ignored the divine goddess giving all to their male gods. When so called pagan religions were wiped out it caused the loss of the divine goddess image. Still she crops up in Mother Mary within the Catholic church. Jung was right on in his observation of society in regard to the loss of the goddess image.

This is a relatively short book that covers the evolution of Jung's thought on such topics as the relationship between the worship of women and the soul, marriage and the contrasexual images that live inside of every man and woman. This book also contains basic information on what is an archetype and an essay on the mother archetype and as well as the mother complex. The third section contains an essay on the psychological aspects of Kore and another on the Shadow and Syzgy. The most useful and interesting parts of the book for me were in the first section. In particular, I got a lot out of the essay entitled, "The Love Problem of a Student" and "Anima and Animus." The Anima/Animus lecture in particular had some very useful insights that help one to understand relationship and these archetypes as a means for the Self to connect to the soul in a similar way that the persona helps a person connect outwardly. Jung is often difficult to follow and he can meander a lot. However, this essay format makes difficult concepts more digestible. Also, they are arranged in a logical way that allows you to follow the development of Jung's thought on these topics without wading through a lot of unnecessary reading.

This volume is a selection of writings from the Collected Works of Carl Jung (1875-1961), a selection focusing on the "feminine". In Jung's psychology, the "feminine" can mean several things, including: (1) the consciousness of real females; (2) an aspect of the Unconscious in males called the "anima"; and (3) an archetype of the creative matrix of existence in all human beings. The writings in this volume discuss principally the second and third of those. These selections are in chronological order, so one can trace the development of Jung's ideas. Several mention the interactions of "anima" and "animus" (the unconscious contrasexual elements, in men and women respectively, which play a vital role in both romance and spiritual unfolding) - indeed, that is the main subject of the earlier selection from "Relations of the Ego and Unconscious" (1928) as well as the closing selection from "Aion" (1959). The long central selection, "Psychological Aspects of the Mother Archetype", and "The Psychological Aspects of the Kore" both use mythology to illustrate what Jung saw as fundamental psychological issues for all human beings. This book would be disappointing for someone looking specifically for writings on women's issues; however, anima & animus are central ideas in Jung's conception of gender relations, and his clearest expositions of those subjects are collected here. Furthermore, this book would be of great interest to anyone looking at larger issues of how the "feminine" is conceived across cultures and across time.