Sh sick goddess in every woman. There is a goddess in every woman. Archetypes of goddesses. A double look at female psychology

J. Bohlen. GODDESSES IN EVERY WOMAN

Introduction. THERE ARE GODDESSES IN EACH OF US!

Every woman plays a leading role in her own life story. As a psychiatrist, I have listened to hundreds of personal stories and realized that each of them has a mythological dimension. Some women turn to a psychiatrist when they feel completely demoralized and “broken,” others when they realize that they are hostage to circumstances that need to be analyzed and changed.

In any case, it seems to me that women ask for help from a psychotherapist in order to learn to be the main characters, the leading characters in the story of your life. To do this, they need to make conscious decisions that will determine their lives. Previously, women were not even aware of the powerful influence cultural stereotypes had on them; in the same way, they are now usually unaware of the powerful forces that lurk within themselves - forces that can determine their actions and feelings. It is to these forces, represented in the guise of ancient Greek goddesses, that I dedicate my book.

These powerful internal circuits, or archetypes, explain the main differences between women. Some, for example, in order to feel like an accomplished person, need monogamy, the institution of marriage and children - such women suffer, but tolerate it if they cannot achieve this goal. For them, traditional roles are of greatest importance. They are strikingly different from other types of women who value their independence above all else because they focus on what is important to them personally. The third type is no less unique - women who are attracted by the intensity of feelings and new experiences, which is why they enter into new personal relationships or rush from one type of creativity to another. Finally, another type of woman prefers solitude; Spirituality is of greatest importance to them. What is an accomplishment for one woman may seem complete nonsense to another - everything is determined by the archetype of which goddess predominates in her.

Moreover, every woman gets along some goddesses. The more complex her character, the more likely it is that different goddesses actively manifest themselves in her - and what is significant for one of them is meaningless for the rest...

Knowledge of goddess archetypes helps women understand themselves and their relationships with men and other women, with parents, lovers and children. In addition, these divine archetypes allow women to understand their own motivations (especially compulsive cravings), frustrations, and sources of satisfaction.

The archetypes of goddesses are also interesting to men. Those who want to better understand women can use the archetype system to classify women and gain a deeper understanding of what to expect from them. Moreover, men will be able to understand women with complex and seemingly contradictory characters.

Finally, such a system of archetypes can be extremely useful for psychotherapists working with women. She offers interesting clinical tools for understanding interpersonal and internal conflicts. Goddess archetypes help explain differences in character and make it easier to identify potential psychological difficulties and psychiatric symptoms. In addition, they indicate the possible paths of development of a woman along the line of one or another “goddess”.

This book describes a new approach to female psychology, based on the female images of ancient Greek goddesses that have existed in the human imagination for more than three millennia. Women's psychology of this type differs from all theories where the "normal woman" is defined as conforming to a single "correct model", personality schema or psychological structure. Our theory is based on observations of diversity normal differences in female psychology.

Much of what I know about women comes from professional experience - from the knowledge I gained as a psychiatrist and Jungian psychoanalyst, from teaching and consulting experience as a practicing teacher at the University of California and as a senior analyst at the Jung Institute in San Francisco. .

However, the description of female psychology that is given on the pages of this book is based not only on professional knowledge. Most of my ideas are based on the fact that I myself am a woman who has experienced different female roles - daughter, wife, mother of a son and daughter. My understanding grew through conversations with friends and other women. In both cases, women become a kind of “mirrors” for each other - we see ourselves in the reflection of other people’s experiences and realize the common things that connect all women, as well as those aspects of our own psyche that we were not previously aware of.

My understanding of female psychology was also determined by the fact that I am a woman living in the modern era. In 1963 I entered graduate school. Two events happened that year that would eventually spark the women's rights movement of the 70s. First, Betty Friedan published her “The Feminine Mystique,” ​​where she emphasized the emptiness and dissatisfaction of an entire generation of women who lived exclusively for other people and other people’s lives. Friedan identified the source of this lack of happiness as a problem of self-determination, the root of which is arrested development. She believed that this problem is caused by our very culture, which does not allow women to recognize and satisfy their basic needs for growth and development, to realize their human potential. Her book, which put an end to cultural stereotypes, Freudian dogma, and the media's manipulative treatment of women, offered principles that were long overdue. Her ideas provided an outlet for repressed, violent feelings, and they later led to the birth of the women's liberation movement and, finally, to the creation of the National Organization of Women.

Also in 1963, under President John F. Kennedy, the Commission on the Status of Women released a report describing inequalities in the economic system of the United States. Women received less than men for the same work; they were denied vacancies and denied promotion opportunities. This blatant injustice was yet another confirmation of how undeservedly the role of women is valued in modern society.

So, I entered the world of professional psychiatry at a time when the United States was on the verge of the birth of the women's rights movement. In the 70s my understanding of the problem increased. I became aware of the inequality and discrimination against women; I realized that the cultural standards set by men themselves rewarded women for resigned obedience or punished them for rejecting stereotypical roles. I eventually joined a handful of female colleagues from the Northern California Psychiatric Association and the American Psychiatric Association.

A double look at female psychology

I became a Jungian psychoanalyst around the same time I switched to the position of feminism. After graduating from graduate school in 1966, I studied at the C. Jung Institute in San Francisco and received a diploma as a psychoanalyst in 1976. During this period, my ideas about female psychology steadily deepened, and feminist insights were combined with Jungian psychology of archetypes.

Working on the basis of either Jungian psychoanalysis or women-oriented psychiatry, it was as if I was building a bridge between two worlds. My fellow Jungians were not very concerned about what was happening in political and social life. Most of them seemed only vaguely aware of the importance of women's struggle for their rights. As for my feminist friends in the psychiatric field, if they considered me a Jungian psychoanalyst, they probably saw in this either my personal esoteric and mystical interest, or only some additional specialization, which, although worthy of respect, has no attitudes towards women's issues. I, rushing between one and the other, over time realized what depths the merging of two approaches - Jungian and feminist - could reveal. They are combined into a kind of “binocular vision” of female psychology.

The Jungian approach made me realize that women are subject to powerful internal forces... archetypes, which can be personified by images of ancient Greek goddesses. In turn, the feminist approach helped me understand that external forces, or stereotypes- those roles that society expects women to fulfill - impose on them the templates of some goddesses and suppress others. As a result, I began to see that every woman is somewhere in the middle: her inner motivations are determined by goddess archetypes, and her outer actions are determined by cultural stereotypes.

J. Bohlen. GODDESSES IN EVERY WOMAN

Introduction. THERE ARE GODDESSES IN EACH OF US!

Every woman plays a leading role in her own life story. As a psychiatrist, I have listened to hundreds of personal stories and realized that each of them has a mythological dimension. Some women turn to a psychiatrist when they feel completely demoralized and “broken,” others when they realize that they are hostage to circumstances that need to be analyzed and changed.

In any case, it seems to me that women ask for help from a psychotherapist in order to learn to be the main characters, the leading characters in the story of your life. To do this, they need to make conscious decisions that will determine their lives. Previously, women were not even aware of the powerful influence cultural stereotypes had on them; in the same way, they are now usually unaware of the powerful forces that lurk within themselves - forces that can determine their actions and feelings. It is to these forces, represented in the guise of ancient Greek goddesses, that I dedicate my book.

These powerful internal circuits, or archetypes, explain the main differences between women. Some, for example, in order to feel like an accomplished person, need monogamy, the institution of marriage and children - such women suffer, but tolerate it if they cannot achieve this goal. For them, traditional roles are of greatest importance. They are strikingly different from other types of women who value their independence above all else because they focus on what is important to them personally. The third type is no less unique - women who are attracted by the intensity of feelings and new experiences, which is why they enter into new personal relationships or rush from one type of creativity to another. Finally, another type of woman prefers solitude; Spirituality is of greatest importance to them. What is an accomplishment for one woman may seem complete nonsense to another - everything is determined by the archetype of which goddess predominates in her.

Moreover, every woman gets along some goddesses. The more complex her character, the more likely it is that different goddesses actively manifest themselves in her - and what is significant for one of them is meaningless for the rest...

Knowledge of goddess archetypes helps women understand themselves and their relationships with men and other women, with parents, lovers and children. In addition, these divine archetypes allow women to understand their own motivations (especially compulsive cravings), frustrations, and sources of satisfaction.

The archetypes of goddesses are also interesting to men. Those who want to better understand women can use the archetype system to classify women and gain a deeper understanding of what to expect from them. Moreover, men will be able to understand women with complex and seemingly contradictory characters.

Finally, such a system of archetypes can be extremely useful for psychotherapists working with women. She offers interesting clinical tools for understanding interpersonal and internal conflicts. Goddess archetypes help explain differences in character and make it easier to identify potential psychological difficulties and psychiatric symptoms. In addition, they indicate the possible paths of development of a woman along the line of one or another “goddess”.

This book describes a new approach to female psychology, based on the female images of ancient Greek goddesses that have existed in the human imagination for more than three millennia. Women's psychology of this type differs from all theories where the "normal woman" is defined as conforming to a single "correct model", personality schema or psychological structure. Our theory is based on observations of diversity normal differences in female psychology.

Much of what I know about women comes from professional experience - from the knowledge I gained as a psychiatrist and Jungian psychoanalyst, from teaching and consulting experience as a practicing teacher at the University of California and as a senior analyst at the Jung Institute in San Francisco. .

However, the description of female psychology that is given on the pages of this book is based not only on professional knowledge. Most of my ideas are based on the fact that I myself am a woman who has experienced different female roles - daughter, wife, mother of a son and daughter. My understanding grew through conversations with friends and other women. In both cases, women become a kind of “mirrors” for each other - we see ourselves in the reflection of other people’s experiences and realize the common things that connect all women, as well as those aspects of our own psyche that we were not previously aware of.

My understanding of female psychology was also determined by the fact that I am a woman living in the modern era. In 1963 I entered graduate school. Two events happened that year that would eventually spark the women's rights movement of the 70s. First, Betty Friedan published her “The Feminine Mystique,” ​​where she emphasized the emptiness and dissatisfaction of an entire generation of women who lived exclusively for other people and other people’s lives. Friedan identified the source of this lack of happiness as a problem of self-determination, the root of which is arrested development. She believed that this problem is caused by our very culture, which does not allow women to recognize and satisfy their basic needs for growth and development, to realize their human potential. Her book, which put an end to cultural stereotypes, Freudian dogma, and the media's manipulative treatment of women, offered principles that were long overdue. Her ideas provided an outlet for repressed, violent feelings, and they later led to the birth of the women's liberation movement and, finally, to the creation of the National Organization of Women.

Also in 1963, under President John F. Kennedy, the Commission on the Status of Women released a report describing inequalities in the economic system of the United States. Women received less than men for the same work; they were denied vacancies and denied promotion opportunities. This blatant injustice was yet another confirmation of how undeservedly the role of women is valued in modern society.

So, I entered the world of professional psychiatry at a time when the United States was on the verge of the birth of the women's rights movement. In the 70s my understanding of the problem increased. I became aware of the inequality and discrimination against women; I realized that the cultural standards set by men themselves rewarded women for resigned obedience or punished them for rejecting stereotypical roles. I eventually joined a handful of female colleagues from the Northern California Psychiatric Association and the American Psychiatric Association.

The concept of archetypes was developed by Carl Gustav Jung. He viewed them as figurative schemes (patterns, models) of instinctive behavior contained in the collective unconscious. These patterns are not individual; they condition the reactions of many people in more or less the same way.

We will look at the archetypes operating in women's souls. They are personified in the images of Greek goddesses. For example, Demeter, the goddess of motherhood, is the embodiment mother archetype. Other goddesses: Persephone – daughter, Hera – wife, Aphrodite – beloved, Artemis – sister And rival, Athena – strategist, Hestia – keeper hearth and home. In reality, archetypes have no names, and goddess images are only useful when they correspond to women's sensations and feelings.

Goddesses differ in their loyalties and how they relate to others. Each of them is characterized by a special perception of the world, as well as preferred roles and motivations. For a woman to love deeply, work joyfully, be sexy, and live creatively, all of the above goddesses must be expressed in her life, each in her own time.

Let's look at three groups: virgin goddesses, vulnerable goddesses and the alchemical goddess.

Virgin Goddesses

Artemis, Athena and Hestia

WITH sincere love to you,

P.S. For any questions please contact

Annotation

Jin Shinoda Sick

Goddesses in every woman

New psychology of women. Goddess Archetypes

Translation by G. Bakhtiyarova and O. Bakhtiyarov

M.: Publishing House "Sofia", 2005

J. Bolen. Goddesses in Everywoman. S.F.: Harper&Row, 1984

Why is it that for some women the most important thing in life is family and children, while for others it is independence and success? Why are some of them extroverted, career-focused, logical and precise in detail, while others are willing to become introverted homebodies? The more diverse a woman is in her manifestations, notes Dr. Bohlen, the more goddesses manifest through her. The challenge is to decide how to either enhance these manifestations, or fight them if you don't like them.

The book "Goddesses in every woman. New psychology of women. Archetypes of goddesses" will help you with this. Every woman recognizes herself in one or more Greek goddesses... and not one will judge herself. The book will provide you with powerful images that you can use effectively to understand and change yourself. Although this book provides information useful for psychotherapists, it is written for every reader who wants to better understand those women who are closest to the reader, loved, but still remain a mystery. Finally, this book is intended for women themselves, who will be helped to discover the hidden goddesses within themselves.

J. Bohlen. GODDESSES IN EVERY WOMAN

Introduction. THERE ARE GODDESSES IN EACH OF US!

A double look at female psychology

Myths as epiphanies

Chapter 1. GODDESSES AS INNER IMAGES

Goddesses as archetypes

Family tree

History and mythology

Historical goddesses and archetypes

Greek goddesses and modern women

Chapter 2. AWAKENING OF THE GODDESSES

Congenital predisposition

Family environment and goddesses

Impact of culture on goddess archetypes

The effect of hormones on goddess archetypes

Goddesses are awakened by people and events

Goddesses activate the action

Goddesses and life stages

Chapter 3. VIRGIN GODDESSES: Artemis, Athena and Hestia

Archetype of the Virgin Goddess

Consciousness like focused light

Behavior patterns

New theory

Images of goddesses

Masculine animus or feminine archetype?

Chapter 4. ARTEMIS: goddess of the hunt and the moon, rival and sister

Goddess Artemis

Genealogy and mythology

Artemis as an archetype

Virgin Goddess

Shooter focused on target

Archetype of the women's movement

Artemis merging with nature

"Moon Vision"

Development of the Artemis archetype in oneself

Artemis Woman

Parents

Adolescence and youth

Relationships with women: sisterly

Sexuality

Marriage

Relationships with men: fraternal

Average age

Old age

Psychological problems

Identification with Artemis

Contempt for weakness

Destructive Fury: Calydonian Boar

Unavailability

Ruthlessness

Decisive choice: sacrificed or saved Iphigenia

Development ways

The Atalanta Myth: A Metaphor for Psychological Growth

Chapter 5. ATHENA: goddess of wisdom and crafts, strategist and daughter of her father

Goddess Athena

Genealogy and mythology

Athena as an archetype

Virgin Goddess

Craftswoman

Her father's daughter

Golden mean

Athena in armor

Developing the Athena archetype in yourself

Athena Woman

Young Athena

Parents

Teenage and young adult years Athens

Relationships with women are distant

Relationships with men: only heroes are acceptable

Sexuality

Marriage

Average age

Old age

Psychological problems

Identification with Athena

Medusa effect

Cunning: “get your way at any cost”

Development ways

Turn inward

Finding your inner child

Finding a mother

Chapter 6. HESTIA: goddess of the hearth and temple, wise woman and unmarried aunt

Goddess Hestia

Genealogy and mythology

Rituals and cult

Hestia as an archetype

Virgin Goddess

Consciousness centered within itself

Homemaker

Guardian of the Temple Fire

Wise old woman

Self: inner focus, spiritual enlightenment and meaningfulness

Hestia and Hermes: archetypal duality

Hestia and Hermes: Mystically Connected

Development of the Hestia archetype

Hestia as a woman

early years

Parents

Youth and youth

Relationships with women

Sexuality

Marriage

Relationships with men

Average age

Old age

Psychological problems

Identification with Hestia

Underestimating Hestia

Development ways

Making a socially adaptive mask

Finding Assertiveness: Through Artemis, Athena, or the Animus

Binding to a single center: remaining faithful to Hestia

Chapter 7. VULNERABLE GODDESSES: Hera, Demeter and Persephone

Quality of consciousness: similar to a scattered beam of light

Vulnerability, the role of the victim and distracted consciousness

Patterns of life and behavior

Evolving Beyond Vulnerable Goddess Archetypes

Chapter 8. HERA: Goddess of Marriage, Guardian of Debt and Wife

Goddess Hera

Genealogy and mythology

Hera as an archetype

Ability to make commitments

Holy Alliance

Rejected Woman: Negative Image of Hera

Development of the Hera archetype

Hera as a woman

early years

Parents

Youth and youth

Relationships with women: devalued

Relationships with men: expectation of fulfillment

Sexuality

Marriage

Average age

Old age

Psychological problems

Identification with Hero

Frustrated expectations

In the grip of archetype and culture

The oppressed or the oppressor

Medea syndrome

Paths of development of the archetype

Expansion beyond Hera

Marriage as a developmental experience

Turning rage and pain into creative work: Hephaestus' decision

Assessing the possibility of reconciliation: reality versus myth

Possibility of a new cycle

Chapter 9. DEMETER: goddess of fertility and agriculture, teacher and mother

Goddess Demeter

The Abduction of Persephone

Demeter as an archetype

Motherhood instinct

food giver

Maternal strength

Generous mother

Grieving mother: depression

Destructive mother

Development of the Demeter archetype

Demeter as a woman

Young Demeter

Parents

Youth and youth

Relationships with women

Relationships with men

Sexuality

Marriage

Average age

Old age

Psychological problems

Identification with Demeter

Maternal instinct

Nurturing addiction

Passive-aggressive behavior

Depression: empty nest and emptiness

Development ways

Become a good mother to yourself

Development beyond Demeter

Recovery from depression

Chapter 10. PERSEPHONE: girl and ruler of the underworld, receptive woman and mother’s daughter

Goddess Persephone

Genealogy and mythology

Persephone as an archetype

Cora - the archetypal Girl

Mother's daughter

Anima woman

Woman-child

Guide to the Underworld

Symbol of spring

Development of Persephone

Persephone Woman

Young Persephone

Parents

Youth and youth

Relationships with women

Relationships with men (those who choose girls)

Sexuality

Marriage

Average age

Old age

Psychological difficulties

Identification with Persephone-Kore

"Wolf pits" for Persephone: characteristic flaws

In the Underworld: Psychological Illness

Development ways

Transformation into a passionate, sexy woman

Unlocking the Capacity for Ecstatic Religious Experience

Development of the potential of a medium or psychic

Guide to the Underworld

Chapter 11. ALCHEMICAL GODDESS

Aphrodite

Quality of consciousness: like footlights

Aphrodite Consciousness, Creativity and Communication

Those who support the dream

Pygmalion effect

Chapter 12. APHRODITE: goddess of love and beauty, creative woman and lover

Goddess Aphrodite

Genealogy and mythology

Aphrodite and mortals

Aphrodite as an archetype

Mistress

State of being in love

Aphrodite's Awakening

Instinct for procreation

Creation

Development of Aphrodite

Aphrodite Woman

Young Aphrodite

Parents

Youth and youth

Relationships with men

Marriage

Relationships with women: the lady who is not trusted

Average age

Old age

Psychological difficulties

Identification with Aphrodite

Aphrodite Rejected

Negative sides life in the present

Victims of love

"Curse" of love

Jin Shinoda Bolen - THE GODDESS IN EVERY WOMAN

NEW PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMAN. ARCHETYPES OF GODDESSES

Several goddesses coexist in every woman. The more complex her character, the more likely it is that different goddesses actively manifest themselves in her - and what is significant for one of them is meaningless for the rest... Knowledge of the archetypes of goddesses helps women understand themselves and their relationships with men and other women, with parents, lovers and children. In addition, these divine archetypes allow women to understand their own motivations (especially compulsive cravings), frustrations, and sources of satisfaction.
In this book I will describe the archetypes that operate in women's souls. They are personified in the images of Greek goddesses. For example, Demeter, the goddess of motherhood, is the embodiment of the mother archetype. Other goddesses: Persephone - daughter, Hera - wife, Aphrodite - lover, Artemis - sister and rival, Athena - strategist, Hestia - homemaker. In reality, archetypes have no names, and goddess images are only useful when they correspond to women's sensations and feelings.

The concept of archetypes was developed by Carl Gustav Jung. He viewed them as figurative schemes (patterns, models) of instinctive behavior contained in the collective unconscious. These patterns are not individual; they condition the reactions of many people in more or less the same way.

All myths and fairy tales are archetypal. Many images and plots of dreams are also archetypal. It is the presence of universal human archetypal patterns of behavior that explains the similarity of the mythologies of very different cultures.

Goddesses as archetypes

Most of us have heard about the Olympian gods at least in school and seen their statues or images. The Romans worshiped the same deities as the Greeks, but called them by Latin names. According to myths, the inhabitants of Olympus were very similar to people in their behavior, emotional reactions and appearance. The images of the Olympian gods embody archetypal patterns of behavior that are present in our common collective unconscious. That is why they are close to us.

The most famous are the twelve Olympians: six gods - Zeus, Poseidon, Hermes, Apollo, Ares, Hephaestus, and six goddesses - Demeter, Hera, Artemis, Athena, Aphrodite and Hestia. Subsequently, the place of Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, in this hierarchy was taken by the god of wine Dionysus. Thus, the balance was upset - there were more gods than goddesses. The archetypes I am describing are the six Olympic goddesses - Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Artemis, Athena, Aphrodite and, in addition to them, Persephone, the myth of which is inseparable from the myth of Demeter.

I have classified these goddesses as follows: virgin goddesses, vulnerable goddesses, and alchemical goddess.

Virgin goddesses stood out as a separate group back in Ancient Greece. The other two groups are defined by me. Each of the categories under consideration is characterized by a special perception of the world, as well as preferred roles and motivations. Goddesses differ in their loyalties and how they relate to others. For a woman to love deeply, work joyfully, be sexy, and live creatively, all of the above goddesses must be expressed in her life, each in her own time.

The first group described here includes the virgin goddesses: Artemis, Athena and Hestia.

Artemis (to the Romans - Diana) is the goddess of hunting and the Moon. Artemis's domain is a wilderness. She is an unmissable shooter and the patroness of wild animals.

Athena-Pallas (Minevra)

Athena (to the Romans - Minerva) is the goddess of wisdom and crafts, the patroness of the city named after her. She also patronizes numerous heroes. Athena was usually depicted wearing armor because she was also known as an excellent military strategist.

Hestia, the goddess of the hearth (to the Romans - Vesta), is the least known of all the Olympians. The symbol of this goddess was fire that burned in the hearths of houses and temples.

Virgin goddesses are the embodiment of female independence. Unlike other celestials, they are not prone to love. Emotional attachments do not distract them from what they consider important. They do not suffer from unrequited love. As archetypes, they are expressions of women's need for autonomy and focus on goals that are meaningful to them. Artemis and Athena represent determination and logical thinking, and therefore their archetype is achievement-oriented. Hestia is the archetype of introversion, attention directed into the inner depths, into the spiritual center of the female personality. These three archetypes expand our understanding of feminine qualities such as competence and self-sufficiency. They are characteristic of women who actively strive for their own goals.

The second group consists of vulnerable goddesses - Hera, Demeter and Persephone. Hera (to the Romans - Juno) is the goddess of marriage. She is the wife of Zeus, the supreme god of Olympus. Demeter (to the Romans - Ceres) is the goddess of fertility and agriculture. In myths, special importance is attached to Demeter in the role of mother. Persephone (to the Romans - Proserpina) is the daughter of Demeter. The Greeks also called her Kora - "girl".

These three goddesses represent the traditional roles of wife, mother and daughter. As archetypes, they focus on relationships that provide experiences of wholeness and well-being, in other words, meaningful connection. They express women's need for strong connections and affection. These goddesses adjust to others and are therefore vulnerable. They are suffering. They were raped, kidnapped, suppressed and humiliated by the male gods. When their attachments were disrupted and they felt hurt in their feelings, they showed symptoms similar to those of mental disorders ordinary people. And each of them eventually overcomes her suffering. Their stories enable women to understand the nature of their own psycho-emotional reactions to losses and find the strength to cope with mental pain.

Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty (among the Romans - Venus) is the most beautiful and irresistible alchemical goddess. She is the only one who falls into the third category. She had many affairs and, as a result, many offspring. Aphrodite is the embodiment of erotic attraction, voluptuousness, sexuality and the desire for a new life. She enters into love affairs of her own choosing and never finds herself in the role of a victim. Thus, she combines the independence of virgin goddesses and the intimacy in relationships characteristic of vulnerable goddesses. Her consciousness is both focused and receptive. Aphrodite allows relationships that equally affect both her and the subject of her hobbies. The Aphrodite archetype encourages women to seek intensity rather than consistency in relationships, to value the creative process and to be open to change and renewal.

Family tree

To better understand the essence of each of the goddesses and their relationships with other deities, we must first consider them in a mythological context. Hesiod gives us this opportunity. "Theogony", his main work, contains information about the origin of the gods and their "family tree".

In the beginning, according to Hesiod, there was Chaos. Then Gaia (Earth), gloomy Tartarus (the immeasurable depths of the underworld) and Eros (Love) appeared.

The mighty, fertile Gaia-Earth gave birth to a son, Uranus - the blue boundless Sky. She then married Uranus and gave birth to the twelve Titans - the primitive natural forces that were worshiped in Greece in ancient times. According to Hesiod's genealogy of the gods, the Titans were the first supreme dynasty, the ancestors of the Olympian gods.

Uranus, the first patriarchal or paternal figure in Greek mythology, hated his children born from Gaia and did not allow them to leave her womb, thereby dooming Gaia to terrible torment. She called on the Titans to help her. But none of them, except the youngest, Kronos (for the Romans - Saturn), decided to intervene. He responded to Gaia’s plea for help and, armed with the sickle he received from her, began to wait for Uranus in ambush.

When Uranus came to Gaia and lay down with her, Kronos took a sickle, cut off his father’s genitals and threw them into the sea. After this, Kronos became the most powerful of the gods. Together with the Titans, he ruled the Universe. They gave birth to many new gods. Some of them represented rivers, winds, rainbows. Others were monsters representing evil and danger.

Kronos married his sister, the Titanide Rhea. From their union the first generation of Olympian gods was born - Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus.

And again the patriarchal ancestor - this time Kronos himself - tried to destroy his children. Gaia predicted that he was destined to be defeated by his own son. He decided to prevent this and swallowed all his children immediately after their birth, without even finding out whether they were a boy or a girl. So he swallowed up three daughters and two sons.

Having become pregnant once again, Rhea, mourning the fate of her own children, turned to Gaia and Uranus with a request to help her save her last child and punish Kronos. Her parents advised her to retire to the island of Crete and, when the time for childbirth came, to deceive Kronos by giving him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes. In a hurry, Kronos swallowed the stone, thinking it was a baby.

The rescued child's name was Zeus. He later overthrew his father and became the ruler of all gods and mortals. Raised in secret from Kronos, he subsequently tricked him into throwing back his brothers and sisters and, together with them, began a long struggle for power over the world, ending with the defeat of the Titans and their imprisonment in the dark abysses of Tartarus.

After the victory over the Titans, the three god brothers - Zeus, Poseidon and Hades - divided the Universe among themselves. Zeus took the sky, Poseidon the sea, Hades the underworld. Although the earth and Olympus were supposed to be common, nevertheless Zeus extended his power to them. The three sisters - Hestia, Demeter and Hera - according to patriarchal Greek beliefs, had no significant rights.

Thanks to his love affairs, Zeus became the father of the next generation of gods: Artemis and Apollo (sun god) - children of Zeus and Leto, Athena - daughter of Zeus and Metis, Persephone - daughter of Zeus and Demeter, Hermes (messenger of the gods) - son of Zeus and Maya, Ares (god of war) and Hephaestus (god of fire) are the sons of the legal wife of Zeus, Hera. There are two versions of the origin of Aphrodite: according to one of them, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione, in another case it is stated that she preceded Zeus. Thanks to his love affair with the mortal woman Semele, Zeus also became the father of Dionysus.

To remind the reader who is who in Greek mythology, brief biographical notes on the gods and goddesses are provided at the end of the book, arranged in alphabetical order.

History and mythology

The mythology dedicated to the Greek gods and goddesses we describe is a reflection of historical events. This is a patriarchal mythology that exalts Zeus and heroes. It is based on the clash between people who professed a belief in the maternal principle and invaders who worshiped warlike gods and created religious cults based on the masculine principle.

Maria Dzhimbutas, a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles and an expert in European mythology, writes about the so-called "Old Europe" - the first European civilization. Scientists estimate that the culture of Old Europe was formed at least five (and possibly twenty-five) thousand years before patriarchal religions arose. This matriarchal, sedentary and peace-loving culture was associated with the land, the sea and the cult of the Great Goddess. Information collected bit by bit during archaeological excavations shows that the society of Old Europe did not know property and social stratification, equality reigned in it. Old Europe was destroyed during the invasion of semi-nomadic, hierarchically organized Indo-European tribes from the north and east.

The invaders were warlike people of patriarchal morals, indifferent to art. They treated with contempt the more culturally advanced indigenous population they enslaved, professing the cult of the Great Goddess, known by many names - for example, Astarte, Ishtar, Inanna, Nut, Isis.

She was worshiped as the life-giving feminine principle, deeply connected to nature and fertility, responsible for both the creative and destructive manifestations of the life force. The snake, dove, tree and Moon are sacred symbols of the Great Goddess. According to historian-mythologist Robert Graves, before the advent of patriarchal religions, the Great Goddess was believed to be immortal, unchanging and omnipotent. She took lovers not so that her children would have a father, but solely for her own pleasure. There were no male gods. In the context of a religious cult, there was no such thing as paternity.

The Great Goddess was dethroned during successive waves of Indo-European invasions. Authoritative researchers date the beginning of these waves between 4500 and 2400 BC. BC. The goddesses did not disappear completely, but entered the cults of the invaders in secondary roles.

The invaders imposed their patriarchal culture and their warlike religious cult on the conquered population. The Great Goddess in her various guises began to play a subordinate role as the wife of the gods whom the conquerors worshiped. The powers that originally belonged to the female deity were alienated and transferred to the male deity. For the first time, the theme of rape appeared in myths; myths arose in which male heroes killed snakes - a symbol of the Great Goddess. The attributes of the Great Goddess were divided among many goddesses. Mythologist Jane Harrison notes that the Great Goddess, as in a broken mirror, was reflected in many lesser goddesses: Hera received the rite of sacred marriage, Demeter - the mysteries, Athena - the snake, Aphrodite - the dove, Artemis - the function of the mistress of the wild.

Goddess Aphrodite

According to Merlin Stone, author of When God Was a Woman, the final overthrow of the Great Goddess occurred later, with the advent of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The male deity took the dominant position. Female goddesses gradually moved into the background; women in society followed suit. Stone notes: "We are surprised to discover the extent to which the suppression of women's rituals was actually a suppression of women's rights."

Historical goddesses and archetypes

The Great Goddess was worshiped as the Creator and Destroyer, responsible for fertility and cataclysms. The Great Goddess still exists as an archetype in the collective unconscious. I often sensed the presence of a fearsome Great Goddess within my parents. One of my patients, after giving birth, identified herself with the Great Goddess in her terrifying aspect. A young mother experienced psychosis shortly after the birth of her child. This woman was depressed, hallucinating and blaming herself for consuming the world. She paced around the hospital room, unhappy and pitiful.

When I approached her, she told me that she “ate greedily and destroyed the world.” During pregnancy she identified herself with the Great Goddess in her positive Creator aspect, but after giving birth she felt that she had the power to destroy everything that she had created, and did so. Her emotional conviction was so great that she ignored the evidence that the world still existed as if nothing had happened.

This archetype is also relevant in its positive aspect. For example, the image of the Great Goddess as a life-giving force takes possession of a person who is convinced that his life depends on maintaining a connection with a certain woman who is associated with the Great Goddess. This is a fairly common mania. Sometimes we see that the loss of such a connection is so devastating that it leads a person to commit suicide.

The Great Goddess archetype has the power that the Great Goddess herself possessed during the times when she was actually worshiped. And therefore, of all the archetypes, it is this one that is able to have the most powerful impact. This archetype is capable of causing irrational fears and distorting ideas about reality. The Greek goddesses were not as powerful as the Great Goddess. They are more specialized. Each of them had its own sphere of influence, and their powers had certain limits. In female souls, the Greek goddesses are also not as powerful as the Great Goddess; their ability to emotionally suppress and distort the perception of the surrounding reality is much weaker.

Of the seven Greek goddesses who represent the main, most common archetypal models of female behavior, the most influential are Aphrodite, Demeter and Hera. They are much more closely associated with the Great Goddess than the other four goddesses. Aphrodite is a weakened version of the Great Goddess in her guise as the goddess of fertility. Demeter is a smaller copy of the Great Goddess as Mother. Hera is only an echo of the Great Goddess as the Lady of the heavens. However, as we will see in the following chapters, although each is "less" than the Great Goddess, together they represent those forces in the soul of a woman that become irresistible when they demand their due.

Women who are influenced by any of these three goddesses must learn to resist, since blindly following the commands of Aphrodite, Demeter or Hera can adversely affect their lives. Like the goddesses of ancient Greece themselves, their archetypes do not serve the interests and relationships of mortal women. Archetypes exist outside of time, they do not care about a woman’s life or her needs.

Three of the remaining four archetypes - Artemis, Athena and Persephone - are daughter goddesses. They are one more generation removed from the Great Goddess. Accordingly, as archetypes, they do not have the same absorbing power as Aphrodite, Demeter and Hera, and influence mainly character traits.

Hestia, the eldest, wisest, and most revered goddess of all, completely eschewed power. She represents the spiritual component of life that every woman should honor.

Greek goddesses and modern women

Greek goddesses are female images, which have lived in the human imagination for more than three millennia. They represent women's aspirations and embody behaviors that have historically been denied to women.

Greek goddesses are beautiful and strong. They follow exclusively their own impulses, not knowing the dictates of external circumstances. I argue in this book that as archetypes they have the power to determine both the quality and direction of a woman's life.

These goddesses are different from each other. Each of them has its own positive and potentially negative properties. Mythology shows what is important to them, and in a metaphorical form tells us about the capabilities of women similar to them.

I also came to believe that the Greek goddesses of Olympus, each unique and some even hostile to each other, represent a metaphor for a woman's inner diversity and inner conflicts, thereby demonstrating her complexity and versatility. All the goddesses are potentially present in every woman. When several goddesses fight for dominance over a woman, she must decide for herself which aspects of her essence will be dominant and at what time, otherwise she will swing from one extreme to another.

The Greek goddesses, like us, lived in a patriarchal society. Male gods ruled the earth, sky, ocean and underworld. Each goddess adapted to this state of affairs in her own way - some by separating from men, some by joining men, some by withdrawing into themselves. Goddesses who valued patriarchal relationships were vulnerable and relatively weak compared to the male gods who dominated the community and could deny them their desires. Thus, the Greek goddesses embody the life models of women in a patriarchal culture.

A HEROINE IN EVERY WOMAN

There is a potential heroine inside every woman. She introduces a woman leader through her life story, a journey that begins with her birth and continues throughout her life. As she follows her unique path, she will undoubtedly encounter suffering; feeling lonely, vulnerable, indecisive and facing limitations. She can also find meaning in her life, develop character, experience love and reverence, and learn wisdom.

She is shaped by her decisions through her capacity for faith and love, her willingness to learn from her experiences and make commitments. If, when difficulties arise, she evaluates what can be done, decides what she will do, and behaves according to her values ​​and feelings, then she is acting as the protagonist of her personal myth.

Although life is full of circumstances beyond our control, there are always moments of decision, nodal points that determine further events or change human character. As the heroine of her own heroic journey, a woman must begin from the position (even if at first “as if”) that her choices matter. In the process of life, a woman becomes a person who makes decisions, a heroine who shapes her future self. She either develops or degrades through what she does or does not do, and through the positions she takes.

I know that my patients were shaped not only by external events, but also internal ones. Their feelings, their internal and external reactions, determined their path and who they became, much more than the degree of misfortune and adversity they faced. For example, I have met people who experienced childhoods of deprivation, cruelty, callousness, beatings or sexual abuse. However, they did not (as might be expected) become like the adults who mistreated them. Despite all the bad things they experienced, they felt compassion for others - both then and now. The traumatic experience left its mark, they were not unscathed, but despite this, the ability to trust, love and hope survived. When I figured out why exactly these events happened, I began to understand the difference between the heroine and the victim.

As children, each of these people saw themselves as the protagonist of a terrible drama. Everyone had an inner myth, an imaginary life, imaginary comrades. The daughter, beaten and humiliated by her rude father and unprotected by her depressed mother, recalled telling herself as a child that she had nothing to do with this uneducated, uncouth family, that in reality she was a princess being tested by these ordeals. Another girl, beaten and suffering sexual harassment(and who, as an adult, completely refuted the idea that those beaten in childhood subsequently beat their own children), ran away into an imaginary bright life, completely different from reality. The third imagined herself as a warrior. These children were thinking about the future and planning how they could leave their family when they were old enough. Meanwhile, they themselves chose how they would react. One said: “I wouldn’t let anyone see me cry.” (She ran into the foothills and cried when none of her abusers could see her.) Another said: “I think my mind left my body. It was like I was in a different place every time he touched me.”

These girls were the heroines and the ones who decided. They maintained their dignity despite being treated poorly. They assessed the situation, decided how they would act in the present, and made plans for the future.

As heroines, they were not strong or powerful demigods like Achilles or Hercules, heroes of Greek myth who were stronger and more protected than mere mortals. These children, as precocious human heroines, are more like Hansel and Gretel, who had to use their minds when they were abandoned in the forest or when the witch fattened Hansel up for a roast.

IN real stories In women's lives, as in heroine myths, a key element is the emotional or other connections that a woman makes along the way. A female heroine is one who loves or learns to love. She either travels with someone else or seeks such a union in her quest.

Path

On every road there are critical forks in the road that require decisions. Which way to choose? Which direction to follow? Should we continue a line of behavior consistent with one principle or follow something completely different? To be honest or to lie? Go to college or go to work? Give birth to a child or have an abortion? End a close relationship or leave? Should I marry or say no to this particular man? Should you seek medical help immediately if you notice a breast tumor or wait? Just quit school or work and look for something else? Have an affair and risk marriage? Give in or persist in achieving something? What choice should I make? Which path should I take? What's the price?

I remember a powerful lesson in economics in college that would serve me well in psychiatry years later: the true value of anything is what you give up to get what you want. This is not the generally accepted way. Taking responsibility for making a choice is a decisive and not always easy moment. A woman’s ability to choose is what defines her as a heroine.

In contrast, the non-heroine woman follows someone else's choices. She gives in sluggishly rather than actively decides. The result is often an agreement to become a victim, saying (after the fact), "I didn't really mean to do it. It was your idea," or "It's all your fault we're in trouble," or "It's your fault we ended up here." , or “It’s your fault that I’m unhappy.” And she may also feel tormented and deceived and make accusations: “We always do what you want!”, Not realizing that she herself never insisted on her own or did not express her opinion at all. Starting with the simplest question: “What do you want to do tonight?”, to which she invariably answers: “Whatever you want,” her habit of giving in can grow until control of her life simply passes into the hands of others.

There is also another unheroic model of behavior when a woman lives, as if marking time at a crossroads, not having clarity in her feelings, experiencing discomfort in the role of the one who decides, or not trying to make a choice due to an unwillingness to give up other opportunities. She is often a bright, talented, attractive woman who treats life as a game, refusing intimate relationships that might become too serious for her, or a career that requires too much time or effort. Her stop at not making a decision in reality represents, of course, the choice of non-action. She may spend ten years waiting at a crossroads until she realizes that life is passing her by.

Therefore, women need to become heroic makers of choices, instead of being passive beings, victims-sufferers, pawns moved by other people or circumstances. Becoming a Heroine - Inspirational new opportunity for women guided from within by archetypes of vulnerable goddesses. Asserting oneself is a heroic task for women who are malleable like Persephone, who put their men first like Hera, who take care of someone else's needs like Demeter. To do this, among other things, means for them to go against their upbringing.

Moreover, the pressure to become the heroine-who-decides comes as a shock to many women who mistakenly believed that they already were one. Being women of the type of virgin goddesses, they can be psychologically “closed in armor”, like Athena, independent of the opinions of men, like Artemis, self-sufficient and lonely, like Hestia. Their heroic task is to dare intimacy or become emotionally vulnerable. For them, the choice that requires courage is to trust someone else, to need someone else, to accept responsibility for someone else. These women may find it easy to take risky business decisions or speak publicly. Marriage or motherhood requires courage from them.

The heroine-who-decides must repeat Psyche's first task of "sorting the grains" whenever she finds herself at a crossroads and must decide what to do now. She must stop to sort out her priorities, motivations, and potential options in the situation. She needs to consider what choices exist, what the emotional cost might be, where decisions will take her, what intuitively matters most to her. Based on who she is and what she knows, she must make a decision when choosing a path.

Here I again touch on a theme that I developed in my first book, The Tao of Psychology: the need to choose the “path with the heart.” I feel that everyone should weigh everything and then act, look closely at every life choice, think rationally, but then base their decision on whether that choice is in their hearts. No other person can tell you if your heart is affected, and logic cannot provide the answer.

Often, when a woman is faced with such “either/or” choices that significantly affect her future life, someone else puts pressure on her: “Get married!”, “Have a child!”, “Buy a house!”, “Change jobs!”, “Stop it!”, “Move!”, “Say yes!”, “Say no!”. Very often a woman is forced to subject her mind and her heart to oppressive ideas created by someone else's intolerance. To be the one who decides, a woman needs to insist on making her own decisions at the right time for her, understanding that it is her life and she will be the one who will live with the consequences of these decisions.

In order to develop clarity and understanding, she also needs to resist the inner urge to make rash decisions. The initial stage of life may be dominated by Artemis or Aphrodite, Hera or Demeter with their characteristic strength or intensity of response. They may try to supplant Hestia's feeling, Persephone's introspection, Athena's cool thinking, but the presence of these goddesses provides a more complete picture and allows a woman to make decisions that take into account all aspects of her personality.

Journey

When a woman goes on a heroic journey, she faces challenges, obstacles and dangers. Her answers and actions will change her. She will discover what is meaningful to her and whether she has the courage to act on her own ideas. Her character and capacity for compassion will be tested. Along the way, she encounters the dark, shadowy sides of her personality - sometimes at the same time as she becomes convinced of her strength and her self-confidence grows, or at the same time as she is overcome by fear. She will probably experience some losses and experience the bitterness of defeat. The heroine's journey is a journey of self-discovery and development in which the various aspects of a woman's personality are combined into a single whole that retains all its complexity.

Revival of the power of the snake

Every heroine must gain the power of a snake. To understand the essence of this task, we need to return to the goddesses and women's dreams.

In many statues of Hera, snakes are entwined around her mantle. Athena was depicted with snakes entwined around her shield. Snakes were symbols of the pre-Greek Great Goddess of Old Europe and serve as a symbolic trace of the power that the female deity once possessed. In one of the earliest images (Crete, 2000-1800 BC), a bare-breasted female goddess holds a snake in her outstretched hands.

The snake often appears in women's dreams as a mysterious, frightening symbol, which the dreamer, who senses the possibility of asserting her own strength in life, carefully approaches. Here is a description of the dream of one thirty-year-old married woman: “I am walking along a path; when I looked ahead, I saw that I had to pass under a huge tree. A huge snake was peacefully coiled around the lower branch. I know that it is not poisonous and I don’t care threatens - in fact, she is beautiful, but I hesitate." Many dreams similar to this one, where the dreamer feels awe or is aware of the power of the snake rather than afraid of danger, are memorable: “A snake coiled around my table...”, “I see a snake curled up on the balcony...”, “In there are three snakes in the room..."

Whenever women begin to assert their power, make important decisions and realize their strength, dreams with snakes usually appear. Often the dreamer will sense the gender of the snake, and this helps clarify the type of force symbolized by the snake.

If these dreams coincide with the dreamer’s real life, she has the opportunity, from a position of power or independence, to cope with questions such as those that arise after choosing a new role: “Can I be effective?”, “How will this role change me? ", "Will people like me if I am decisive and strict?", "Does this behavior threaten my close relationships?" The dreams of women who have never before experienced a sense of their own power most likely indicate that such women should approach the Force carefully, as if approaching an unfamiliar snake.

I think of women gaining a sense of their own power and authority as "reclaiming the power of the snake" - a power that was lost to female deities and mortal women when patriarchal religions stripped goddesses of power and influence, presented the snake as a symbol of evil, discarded her from Eden and made women inferior creatures. Then I imagine an image, the personification of a new woman - strong, beautiful and capable of raising and raising children. This image is a terracotta sculpture beautiful woman or a goddess rising from the ground and holding in her hands a sheaf of wheat, flowers and a snake.

Ursa Power Resistance

Unlike the male hero, the heroine-accomplisher may be threatened by the irresistible pull of the instinct of motherhood. A woman who is unable to resist Aphrodite and/or Demeter may become pregnant at the wrong time or under unfavorable circumstances. If this happens, she may deviate from her chosen path - instinct takes her prisoner.

I knew a young woman, a graduate student, who forgot all her goals when she felt caught up in the urge to get pregnant. She was married and about to get her doctorate when she became obsessed with having a child. Those days, she had a dream: a huge bear was holding her hand in her mouth. She unsuccessfully tried to free herself and called some men for help, but they were of no use. In this dream, she wandered until she came to a sculpture of a mother bear with her cubs, which reminded her of the sculpture at the San Francisco Medical Center. When she put her hand on the base of the sculpture, the bear let go.

As she pondered this dream, she felt that the bear symbolized her instinct of motherhood. Real mother bears are excellent mothers, selflessly feeding their vulnerable offspring and fiercely protecting them. Then, when the time for independence comes for the grown cubs, the mother bear firmly insists that the reluctant cubs leave her, go out into the world and take care of themselves. This symbol of motherhood held the dreamer tightly until she touched the image of the Mother Bear.

The dreamer accepted the message of the dream. If she is able to promise to maintain her desire to have a child by the time she completes her dissertation (only two years from now), her obsessive desire getting pregnant might go away. Indeed, after she and her husband decided to have a child and she made an internal commitment to getting pregnant soon after finishing her dissertation, the obsession disappeared. She was able to concentrate on her studies again. When she established a connection with the image, instinct lost its grip. She knew that in order to make a career and at the same time raise a real family, she had to resist the power of the bear until she was awarded her doctorate.

Archetypes exist outside of time, without interest in the realities of a woman's life or her needs. When the goddesses awaken in a woman, like a heroine, she must say in response to their demands: “yes,” or “no,” or “not now.” If she hesitates to make a conscious choice, instinct or an archetypal pattern will take over. A woman, captured by the instinct of motherhood, needs to resist the power of the "bear" and at the same time honor her.

Banishing Death and the Forces of Destruction

Each heroine of myths invariably acts on her path against something destructive or dangerous that threatens her with destruction. This is also a common theme in women's dreams.

A female lawyer dreamed that she was leaving the church of her childhood and then two wild black dogs attacked her. They jumped on her, trying to bite her neck: “It was perceived as if they were going to bite through the carotid artery.” When she raised her hand to block the attack, she awoke from her nightmare.

Since she started working at the agency, she has become increasingly bitter about the treatment she receives. Men usually assumed she was just a secretary. Even when others knew about her real role, she often felt unimportant and thought that she was not taken seriously. She, in turn, became critical and hostile towards her male colleagues.

At first it seemed to her that the dream was an exaggerated reflection of the perception of herself as constantly “under attack.” Then she began to wonder if there was something in herself similar to these wild dogs. She analyzed what was happening to her at work and was amazed and frightened by the sudden understanding that came to her: “But I’m turning into an evil bitch!” She remembered the feeling of grace that she experienced in church during the happy times of her childhood, and realized that she was now completely different. This dream served as an impetus. The dreamer's identity was threatened real danger self-destruction by her own hostility, which she directed at others. She became cynical and angry. In reality, as in the dream, it was she who was in danger, and not the people to whom she directed her bitterness.

Likewise, the negative or shadow aspects of the goddess can be destructive. Hera's jealousy, vindictiveness, or rage can become toxic. A woman obsessed with these feelings and aware of her condition oscillates between vindictiveness and horror at her feelings and actions. When in it the heroine fights with the goddess, dreams may appear in which she is attacked by snakes (indicating that the power they represent is dangerous to the dreamer herself). In one such dream, a poisonous snake darted towards the dreamer's heart; in another, a snake sunk its poisonous teeth into a woman's leg, preventing her from walking. In real life, both women were trying to cope with infidelity and faced the danger of giving in to toxic, angry feelings (like the wild dog dream, this dream had two levels of meaning: it was a metaphor for what was happening to and in her).

Danger to the dreamer, coming in human form in the form of attacking or threatening men or women, usually comes from hostile criticism or its destructive side (while animals seem to represent feelings or instincts). For example, a woman who returned to college while her children were still in elementary school dreamed that a “huge matron jailer” was blocking her way. This scene appears to represent both her mother's negative judgment of her and the maternal role with which she was identified; the dream expressed the opinion that this identification is like imprisonment.

Hostile judgments from internal subpersonalities can be truly destructive, for example, “You can’t do this because you are bad (ugly, inept, unintelligent, untalented).” They essentially say, “You have no right to strive for more,” and present messages that can frustrate a woman and undermine her good intentions or self-confidence. These aggressive critics usually appear in dreams as men threatening her. Internal criticism often corresponds to the opposition or hostility that a woman encounters in the world around her; critics parrot unkind messages from her family or culture.

From a psychological point of view, every enemy or demon that the heroine encounters in a dream or in myth represents something destructive, crude, undeveloped, distorted or evil in the human soul that seeks to take over and destroy it. Women who dreamed of wild dogs or poisonous snakes realized that while they were struggling with dangerous or hostile actions directed at them by other people, they were equally threatened by what was happening inside them. The enemy or demon may be a negative part of their own soul, a shadow element that threatens to destroy what represents the compassionate and competent part within them. An enemy or demon can also be in the soul of other people who want to harm, subjugate, humiliate or control it. Or, as often happens, she is threatened by both.

Experiencing loss and grief

Loss and grief are another theme in women's lives and heroine myths. Somewhere along the way someone dies or has to be abandoned. The loss of close relationships plays a significant role in the lives of women, because most of them define themselves through their close relationships, and not through their own achievements. When someone dies, leaves them, moves away, or becomes a stranger, then this is a double loss - both of the close relationship in itself, and of the close relationship as a source of self-determination.

Many women who were dependent parties in intimate relationships find themselves on the heroine's path only after suffering through the suffering of loss. The pregnant Psyche, for example, was abandoned by her husband Eros. In her quest for reunification, she completed tasks that ensured her development. Divorced and widowed women of any age can make the decision to become independent for the first time in their lives. For example, the death of her beloved ally prompted Atalanta to return to her father's kingdom, where the famous running competition took place. This corresponds to the intention of those women who begin to pursue a career after the loss of a close relationship.

Metaphorically, psychological death occurs whenever we are forced to let something or someone pass and cannot help but grieve the loss. It may be the death of some aspect of ourselves, an old role, a former position, beauty or other fading qualities of youth, a dream that no longer exists. It could also be a close relationship that ended in death or separation. Will the heroine in the woman awaken or will she be devastated by the loss? Will she be able to grieve and move on? Or will he give in, become bitter, plunge into depression, and stop his journey at this point? If she goes further, she will choose the path of the heroine.

Passing through a dark and narrow place

Most heroic journeys involve passing through a dark place - mountain caves, the underworld, labyrinths - and ultimately suddenly emerging into the light. They may also include crossing a deserted desert into a lush land. This part of the journey is similar to experiencing depression. In myth, as in life, the heroine needs to keep moving, to act, to do what needs to be done, to stay in contact with friends or cope alone, without stopping or giving up (even when she feels lost), to maintain hope in the darkness.

Gloom is those dark, repressed feelings (anger, despair, resentment, resentment, judgment, vindictiveness, fear, pain due to betrayal, guilt) that people must overcome if they strive to get out of depression. It is a dark night of loneliness, when in the absence of light and love, life seems like a meaningless cosmic joke. Grief and forgiveness usually represent a way out. Now life energy and light can return.

Death and rebirth in myths and dreams provide a metaphor for loss, depression and recovery. In retrospect, many such dark periods are seen as rites of passage, times of suffering and testing through which a woman learns something valuable and develops. Or, like Persephone in the underworld, she may be a temporary captive in order to later become a guide for others.

Transcendental challenge

In heroic myths, the heroine who sets out on a journey, overcomes unimaginable dangers and defeats dragons and darkness, at some point becomes stuck, unable to move forward or backward. Wherever she looks, incredible obstacles await her. To open her path, she has to solve a certain problem. What should she do if her knowledge is clearly not enough for this or if her uncertainty about her own choice is so strong that a decision seems impossible?

When she finds herself in an uncertain situation, where every choice seems potentially disastrous or, at best, hopeless, her first test is to remain herself. In crisis situations, a woman is tempted to become a victim instead of remaining a heroine. If she remains true to the heroine in herself, she is clear that she is in a bad place and may fail, but continues to believe that one day everything can change. If she turns into a victim, she begins to blame other people for her troubles or curse fate, drink or take drugs, and attack herself with derogatory criticism. In this case, she finally submits to circumstances or even thinks about suicide. Having relinquished her powers as a heroine, the woman becomes inactive or hysterical, panicked, or acts so impulsively and irrationally that she ultimately suffers complete defeat.

In myth and in life, when the heroine is in a difficult situation, all she can do is remain herself and stick to her principles and commitments until someone or something unexpectedly comes to her aid. To remain in a situation, waiting for the answer to come, is to enter a state that Jung called the “transcendental function.” By this, he meant something that emerges from the unconscious to solve a problem or show the way to a heroine (ego) who needs help from something that is outside of her (or him).

For example, in the myth of Eros and Psyche, Aphrodite gave Psyche four tasks, each of which required her to do something about which she had no idea. Each time, at first Psyche felt depressed, but then help or advice came - from ants, green reeds, an eagle, a tower. Likewise, Hippomenes, in love with Atalanta, had to compete with her in a race in order to win her hand in marriage. But he knew that he could not run the race fast enough to win, and so he would lose his life. On the eve of the competition, he prayed for help to Aphrodite, who, as a result, helped him win. In the classic Western, a brave but outnumbered troop suddenly hears a bugle and realizes that cavalry is rushing to the rescue.

These are all archetypal situations. A woman, as a heroine, must understand that help is possible. When she is in a state of internal crisis and does not know what to do, she should not retreat or act out of fear. Waiting for a new understanding or change in circumstances, meditating or praying - all this means coaxing from the unconscious a decision that will help to transcend the limits of a hopeless situation.

A woman who dreamed of a bear experienced a deep personal crisis, feeling an urgent need to have a child in the midst of working on her doctoral dissertation. The instinct of motherhood, which gripped her with irresistible force, had previously been suppressed and now demanded that she give it its due. Before the dream, she was caught in an either/or situation from which there was no satisfactory outcome. In order to change the situation, she had to feel the solution, and not logically construct it. It was only after the dream had affected her on an archetypal level and she fully realized that she had to hold on to her desire to have a child that she was able to calmly delay conception. This dream was the answer of the unconscious, which came to the rescue in solving her dilemma. The conflict disappeared when the symbolic experience gave her a deepened and intuitively felt sudden understanding.

The transcendental function can also be expressed through the synchronicity of events - in other words, very significant coincidences arise between the internal psychological situation and current events. When you encounter such things, they are perceived as a miracle. For example, several years ago a patient of mine started a self-help program for women. If she had raised a specific amount of money by a certain deadline, the fund would have provided her with the missing funds to guarantee the continuation of the program. When the deadline approached, she still did not have the required amount. But she knew that her project was necessary and did not back down. Soon a check arrived in the mail for the exact amount she needed. She was unexpectedly returned, with interest, a debt from two years ago, which she had long since dropped.

Of course, in most cases of predicament we do not receive such clear answers. More often we perceive certain symbols that help us clearly understand the situation and then resolve it.

For example, my previous publisher insisted that this book be revised by someone else who would shorten it significantly and present the ideas presented here in a more popular form. The message “What you are doing is not good enough” that I had been receiving for two years was hitting me hard mentally, and I was tired. Part of me (like a pliable Persephone) was willing to let someone literally rewrite the book as long as it got published. And I, wishful thinking, began to think that perhaps this would be for the better. A week before the book was due to be handed over to another writer, I received word.

An author from England, whose book was rewritten by the same writer under similar circumstances, visited my friend to tell him about his experiences. He expressed what I had never put into words, but nevertheless intuitively knew: “The soul has been taken out of my book.” When I heard these words, I felt that a revelation had been sent down to me. The same thing should have happened with my book. This gave me the freedom to act decisively. I hired an editor myself and completed the book myself.

This message was loud and clear. Further events developed quite favorably. Grateful for the lesson, I remembered an ancient Chinese saying expressing a belief in synchronicity and transcendental function: “When the student is ready, the teacher will come.”

Creative insight is also transcendental. In the creative process, when a solution exists but is not yet known, the artist-inventor-scientist believes that there is an answer and remains in his situation until a solution arrives. A creative person is often in a state of increasing tension.

Everything that could be done has already been done. The individual then relies on an incubation period, after which something new is inevitable. A classic example is the chemist Friedrich August Kekule, who discovered the structure of the benzene molecule. He puzzled over the problem, but could not cope with it, until he dreamed of a snake holding its tail in its mouth. Intuitively, he realized that this was the answer: carbon atoms could be connected to each other in closed chains. He then conducted research and proved that his hypothesis was correct.

From victim to heroine

As I contemplated the heroine's journey, I learned and was very impressed by how Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) transforms alcoholics and alcoholics from victims to heroines and heroes. AA activates the transcendental function and, in essence, teaches lessons on how to become the arbiter of one's own choices.

The alcoholic begins by admitting the fact that she is in a hopeless situation: it is unthinkable for her to continue drinking - and at the same time she cannot stop. At this point of despair, she joins a community of people helping each other on their shared journey. They explain to her how to call on a power much greater than herself to get out of a crisis.

AA emphasizes the need to accept what cannot be changed, change what can be changed, and be able to differentiate between the two. According to AA rules, a person in a dangerous emotional state, who cannot clearly see his future path in life, plans his actions no further than one step. Gradually, one step at a time, the alcoholic becomes the master of her destiny. She gains the ability to make choices and discovers that she can be competent and compassionate in helping others.

The female heroine goes on a journey in search of her own identity. Along the way, she finds, loses and rediscovers what makes sense to her, until she adheres to the values ​​​​she has acquired in life in any circumstances that challenge her. She may again and again encounter something stronger than herself, until eventually the danger of losing her individuality is overcome.

I have a painting in my office of the inside of a nautilus shell that I painted many years ago. It emphasizes the spiral structure of the shell. Thus, the picture serves as a reminder that the path we choose also often takes the form of a spiral. Our development is cyclical - through behavioral patterns that again and again bring us back to our Nemesis - to what we must certainly meet and overcome.

It is often the negative aspect of the goddess that can overwhelm us: the susceptibility to depression of Demeter or Persephone, the jealousy and suspicion of Hera, the promiscuity of Aphrodite, the lack of scrupulousness characteristic of Athena, the ruthlessness of Artemis. Life gives us multiple opportunities to face what we fear, what we need to realize, or what we need to overcome. Each time our spiraling cycle of development brings us to the place of our main problem, we achieve greater awareness, and our next response will be wiser than the last, until eventually we can peacefully move past the nemesis in harmony with our deepest values.

End of the journey

What happens at the end of the myth? Eros and Psyche are reunited and their marriage is celebrated on Olympus. Psyche gives birth to a daughter named Joy. Atalanta chooses apples, loses the competition and marries Hippomenes. Note that, having demonstrated courage and competence, the heroine does not ride off at sunset alone on horseback, like the archetypal cowboy hero. There is nothing of the conquering hero in her. Reunion and home is how her journey ends.

The journey of individuality - the psychological search for wholeness - ends with the union of opposites in the internal marriage of the "male" and "female" aspects of the personality, which can be symbolically represented by the Eastern symbols - Yang and Yin, united in a circle. To put it more abstractly and without defining gender, the result of the journey to wholeness is the acquisition of the ability to work and love, to be active and receptive, independent and loving part of a couple. All of these are components of ourselves, which we can come to know through life experiences. And these are our potential capabilities with which we set off on our journey.

In the final chapters of Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring, the final temptations to wear the ring were finally overcome and the One Ring was destroyed forever. This round of the fight against evil was won, the hobbits' heroic task was completed, and they returned home to the Shire. Thomas Eliot in Four Quartets writes:

We will not stop our search
And at the end of our wanderings we will arrive
To where we came from
And we will see our land for the first time.

In real life, such stories do not end very effectively. A recovering alcoholic can go through hell and return to appear to others as an unremarkable sober woman. The heroine, who has repelled hostile attacks and proven her strength in the fight against goddesses, in everyday life often gives the impression of a completely ordinary woman - like the hobbits who returned to the Shire. However, she does not know when the new adventure designed to test her essence will announce itself.

Here you can download the full text of the book:

Gene Shinoda Bohlen is a psychiatrist, Jungian analyst in private practice, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California Medical Center, and an internationally renowned lecturer and author of several books.

FIND YOURSELF AMONG THE GODDESSES!!! - Natalya Vinogradova

They say that with men, each of us should be a goddess. That’s right, psychologists say. They described the types of our relationships with the stronger sex using... ancient Greek mythology. Which goddess are you like?

Demeter is a mother woman.

You strive for constant care of your loved ones;
- you perceive a man as a child;
- inclined to make decisions for all family members;
- you think that your family can’t cope without you.

In ancient Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of fertility and agriculture. This is the type of woman-mother, sensitive and caring. She sees her happiness in her family: she strives to warm everyone with warmth, to “take her under her wing.” But sometimes such excessive care turns into intrusiveness and even imperiousness. Demeter perceives her beloved man as her child. She tries to make decisions for her husband and take the blow on herself in difficult situations. She has a hard time with a man who is looking for fun outside the walls of the house.

Advice. For harmonious relationships with loved ones, give them freedom. Your guardianship can be a burden. Believe that your family is capable of solving their problems themselves: this will help save your time and energy.

Persephone - woman-daughter

You perceive your loved one as a father;
- ready to dissolve in him, sacrificing her interests;
- you often lack affection and care;
- you have a tendency to withdraw into yourself and become fixated on anything.

Sincere, receptive, understanding, Persephone is ready to sacrifice any interests for the sake of her “daddy.” Her secret desire is to be near her beloved all her life, completely giving herself to him. If necessary, she will study and work, but not because she herself wants it - her chosen one likes it. If she fails to meet her one and only, Persephone suffers, feeling deprived and abandoned.

Advice. It is important for you to learn to stop being self-sacrificing and look for other ways of self-realization: work, sports, hobbies. By completely devoting yourself to a man, you will cease to be valuable as a person - and he will lose interest and respect for you.

Hera - wife with a capital letter

You are considered wise and fair;
- you can find a common language with almost anyone;
- for your husband you are a partner and adviser;
- loyalty for you is the highest value.

Like the ancient Greek goddess Hera, who was subordinate to her husband Zeus, a woman of this type is ready to serve her husband faithfully. A wise and experienced wife, she will help him advance in his career and self-realization. This does not mean that Hera does not think about herself. She is a wife, which means she should always be beautiful and well-groomed. Hera is smart, well-read, and fun to be with. She also comprehensively strives to develop children, for whom the mother is an indisputable authority. The only thing Hera will not forgive is betrayal or deception, for she herself remains faithful to her husband and considers it the key to family happiness.

Advice. You're used to keeping your feelings to yourself. And sometimes you feel a lack of warmth from your chosen one. Don't be afraid to talk to him about it, because your inner harmony- this is his happiness.

Hestia - mistress of the house

Since childhood, you have dreamed of a strong family;
- you feel safe only in your home;
- I don’t agree that being a housewife is not a profession;
- you know how to meet and see off.

Her house is always clean, warm and cozy, and on weekends it smells like pies. Hestia is the true keeper of the hearth. Calm and reasonable Hestia would never exchange her fortress for the outside world - cruel and full of surprises. Noisy parties, long journeys, crazy ideas - pleasure is not for her. She does not need to realize herself in her career: Hestia’s work is in the family. A man with such a woman will feel comfortable and calm, although he may get bored.

Advice. Don't focus on the house. Leave your fortress more often to gain impressions and see the world. Find friends with whom you are interested, look for yourself in creativity, read more - diversify your life.

Athena - general in a skirt

It is important for you to have a career;
- you know how to solve problems “like a man”;
- you strive to lead the stronger sex;
- you respect leaders - the same as yourself.

The goddess of war, Athena, was born from the head of Zeus. She is a good strategist and expert