Whereas shadow masculinity destroys otherness, shadow femininity is self-destructive. A compulsive Queen can burn us out if we give too much of ourselves. Our Mother can sabotage our relationships by being too receptive or smothering. An obsessive Wisewoman can cause us to be depressed and overwhelmed by the unconscious. And if our egos obsess over the outer appearance of beauty, our Beloved can compel us to sacrifice the true beauty of our souls. But as we accept our feminine sides and partner them with our masculine sides, their union can give birth to a Spirit Warrior of perfected selfhood and completed relationships.Last night I had a dream. I feel the need to share it with you today because it illustrates the main point I’ve been trying
The title of this post is inspired by Maya Angelou’s poem, Still I Rise. Deborah, a dear friend and poetess from England, sent it to
The obvious analogy, in the psychic sphere, to this problem of opposites is the dissociation of the personality brought about by the conflict of incompatible
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16 Responses
Reblogged this on lampmagician.
Thank you, lamp magician.
Thank you Jeanie … I know I’ll be reading this again. The shadow is always there individually and collectively. Sometimes it seems overwhelming trying to keep individual opposing energies in balance with that of the collective. Whoever said it would be easy is living in la-la land. But we have to try as much as possible to bring light into the dark and not veer from the darkness in which the treasure can be found. I do not know in what tangible way I am in service to self or mankind .. I do what I can I guess. I try to be kind and compassionate, and try to see the unity in life. I purchase as wisely as possible, not buying goods that do a disservice to mother nature or the workers who produce. I give daily thanks to all that I have.
A blessed Thanksgiving to you Jeanie and family.
You’re welcome Susan, and thank you for your response. Yes, the dark shadow is always and ever in the equation for psychological and spiritual growth, but then, so is the light, or bright shadow—a composite of all our unknown positive strengths, gifts, talents, qualities, and so on. Like you, I do what I can. I believe that the best way I can be of service to self or mankind is to grow ever more conscious and loving and to keep exploring the dark so as to bring more light to myself and those with whom I have any contact. I think if we can stay mindful enough to do this day in and day out, we are giving the world the very best offering we have to give.
Wishing you and your family a blessed Thanksgiving too, Susan. I am thankful for knowing you.
Another excellent post Jeanie. I love how you so willingly share your deep knowledge and insights on these spiritual themes, enlightening us all so much further! For myself I recognise that right now in my life I am slowly moving out of the second stage of ‘Mother’ and (hopefully) moving towards the last ‘Crone’ phase although my ‘mothering’ days are not quite done yet. I sense that I will be lingering here, in this transformational place, the ‘in-between’ I call it, for some time to come. I feel somewhere between here and there. Ever waiting, ever bumping up against the Shadow, ever hopeful to move on.
Some days I feel her, the Crone, awakening within and know in those moments how entirely changed she is from my present day Mother and Maiden. Her nature and ways, absolutely not the same. Whilst reading your article I noticed that my heart fluttered as I read the portrayals of both Wisewoman and Beloved … I wonder, are they the ‘feminine’ partners of the ‘masculine’ archetypes of Magician and Lover? If so, that would make a lot of sense to me as those were the masculine energies that I felt are presently, and strongly dominant within myself.
Your descriptions are spot on (as always!) and easily recognisable. Not that long ago I remembered myself almost burning out, from ‘giving’ too much to others, most especially within my work life … giving too much to others until I became exhausted, which wasn’t helpful or in the least healthy. Something had to give and I’m pleased to say that I no longer work in this damaging way after becoming aware and attending to my individual mind-body-spirit needs … something changed, from within, and it’s not changing back! I absolutely loved your book ‘Healing the Sacred Divide’ and can feel a re-read coming on. Blessings, Deborah.
Thank you, Deborah, for sharing your insights about your journey here. I really appreciate them and know they are of enormous value to others as well.
Your question is wonderful, and I wish I’d answered in in these articles. Yes, I see the masculine and feminine archetypes as partners and manifestations of the masculine and feminine foundations of every soul. So the King and Queen are images of how we use our instinct for nurturance, the Warrior and Mother for our instinct for activity, our Scholar/Magician for our instinct for reflection, and our Lover and Beloved for our instinct for sex. The final instinct….for creativity….becomes activated and empowered as we activate and develop the other four pairs. The result is a more conscious and integrated inner Couple, which has hopes of someday attaining the hieros gamos, or Sacred Marriage, which is the ultimate goal of alchemy, psychology, and spirituality. I’m pretty sure I’ve written about this in a previous post or two, but if not, I’ll try to address it one day soon.
Yes, burnout is a particularly self-destructive consequence of obsessing over the feminine principle and not matching it with an equally strong and healthy masculine side. Growing toward balance and partnership between the two is what makes individuation and wholeness possibilities for those of this who seek them. I, too, have found ‘giving too much’ to be problematic. Yet the same time, there’s also been a shadow part of my personality that is unwilling to give enough in certain areas of my life. Perhaps we all tend to give only what we want to give, and withhold what we don’t without even realizing it. And this surely has much to to with which archetypes we’ve developed more fully and which we have not. As you know, the same is true of our MBTI personality profiles: our weakest functions contain our shadow. Fortunately, my inner work has helped me see my shadow a bit more clearly with every passing year, and I’ve slowly felt an inner change toward more balance as a result. Still not there, but still working at it.
I’m so glad you loved Healing the Sacred Divide and that it made sense to you.
Wishing you love and Thanksgiving blessings,
Jeanie
Thank you so much Jeanie for going into more detail about these archetypal energies, much appreciated. I love the notion of bringing about the ‘Sacred Marriage’ which I’m sure would look completely different to my previous ego’s perspective. With the help of your articles I now recognise more clearly the work I am required to undertake, in order to further develop my inferior function and meet the challenges that the work will bring.
Giving too much, not giving enough … I see we are forever brought back to remembering to hold ‘the tension of the opposites.’ The work, I fully grasp, will be rich and life-long. For myself, I offer others a two-way relationship. Many have been surprised that this therapist refuses to do all of her client’s psychological work alone … the result of which has been remarkable as I watch clients and loved ones finally becoming the authors of their own lives.
Since starting my poetry blog, a little over three months ago, I have been fortunate to meet a small handful of wonderful, like-minded souls. Such treasure in one’s life … and on the subject of social media, I’ve just read on Twitter that you’ve uploaded a new YouTube video so am off to watch that now! I hope the day finds you well. Blessings, Deborah.
Dear Deborah,
I love your dedication to understanding and developing your inner life, and to helping your clients take responsibility for doing the same for themselves. This is surely our only hope for healing in this broken world.
Yes, the first video in a five part series about the Dream Theatres of the Soul was posted on YouTube yesterday and now the other four are up too. Here’s the link to my playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMS7ZEV9HgLz1wuOVOCkDrLx6YR7ZfQSU. I hope you enjoy them.
Interacting with you and the other like-minded souls who comment here is a treasure for which I am especially grateful , not just during this Thanksgiving holiday, but every day. These dialogues present such enriching and affirming experiences.
Blessings, Jeanie
As always, wonderful and insightful explanation for concepts that could be hard to understand! Thanks much. With aloha.
Many thanks, Fran. With aloha, and best wishes for a blessed and bountiful Thanksgiving.
Wonderful, Jeanie. As usual you make me think. It’s been interesting to return to feminine archetypes and myths I studied many years ago. First, Inanna and Ereshkigal. First time around about a dozen years ago, I identified with Inanna. Now I value and see new resonances with the Dark Feminine. She calls me.
My mythology class began more than 25 years ago with Greek mythology. We first studied Eros and Psyche and then all the Olympian goddesses, plus Hecate and Hestia. This grounded us as we explored Goddesses from Mesopotamia, Turkey, Eastern Europe, and Egypt. We are slow and thorough, combining study with Jung, painting, movement, dream, and ritual. As we’ve return to Artemis in recent months, I find her to be the very goddess I need as a Crone. She is sometimes called Artemis-Hecate. I didn’t understand why when I was younger. Now I see she stands with Hecate at the wild gate between the upper world and the great unknown. A mature Artemis energy knows the Dark Powers, such as wrath and death, and uses them wisely.
So which do I most identify with? It depends entirely on what time in my life? At the moment, I’m linked to Hecate, Artemis, and Ereshkigal.
Thank you, Elaine,
Your mythology class sounds just amazingly wonderful. What a rich mine you’ve been exploring! I read Jean Shinoda Bolen’s book on Artemis this summer and once again find that she speaks strongly to me too. And yes, especially in her Artemis-Hecate mode. I like her fierce truth-telling and passion to be who she is and give the best of what she has. I like her strength. Her determination. Her perseverence……… So much to admire about her.
The posting Jeanie, the comments and your replies are wonderful. Highly expansive. I very much appreciate spending time here.
Thank you, Steven. I’m so glad you liked it. Understanding our feminine sides feels terribly important to me.
Did you study under Jean Shinoda Bolen? I find your work to be similar.
Hi Julie, Yes, my work is strongly influenced by Jean Shinoda Bolen, Carol Pearson, and Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette’s books. But there are a lot of other Jungian influences as well: Marion Woodman, Robert Johnson, etc. My hope for my new book,The Soul’s Twins, is that it will help people realize that all the archetypes, especially those associated with the feminine and masculine principles, universal: in every psyche regardless of gender. Seems like if we can get that into our heads maybe we can make a dent in harmful gender stereotypes! Thanks so much for writing. Best, Jeanie