Animus Aeternus: Exploring the Inner Masculine

Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts #49

by Deldon Anne McNeely

"The animus is the deposit, as it were, of all woman's ancestral experiences of man-and not only that, he is also a creative and procreative being." -C.G. Jung Inextricably enmeshed in the life of every woman is a constellation of autonomous energy that Jung called animus, her masculine side. As a woman develops psychologically, animus changes, appearing and reappearing as child or adult, lover or enemy, king or slave, animal or spirit. All these manifestations of animus energy are reflected in her experience of masculinity, both in herself and in others. Animus Aeternus weaves developmental theories from depth psychology with the poetry of women-including Sylvia Plath, Adrienne Rich, Emily Dickinson, Teresa of Avila and Edna St. Vincent Millay-to trace the history and meaning of this lifetime companion, illustrating how animus participates in a woman's life, whether we are conscious of it or not. Like dreams and active imagination, poetry speaks in images from the soul. In choosing women's poetry as well as their dreams to illustrate the essence of animus, the author adds the immediacy of soul-made truths to the lucidity of her conceptual matrix. Deldon Anne McNeely received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Louisiana State University and is a member of the International Association for Analytical Psychology. A senior analyst of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts, she is a training analyst for their New Orleans Jungian Seminar. Publications include Becoming: An Introduction to Jung's Concept of Individuation; Touching: Body Therapy and Depth Psychology; Animus Aeternus: Exploring the Inner Masculine; and Mercury Rising: Women, Evil and the Trickster Gods.

Genres: Psychology

195 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1991

Reviews

[Kai Hodge · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much poetry I found it to be not only confounding but very distracting. I tried to stay on track but the constant poems threw me off . Very deep content going into dreams omens and meanings how it goes into the psyche. I enjoyed lear about the outward projections of the Animus may be I'll re read this

[Grady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry and Jungian Psychology

This review is from: Animus Aeternus: Exploring the Inner Masculine (Paperback)
Deldon Anne McNeely takes the reader by the hand and enters a realm of Jungian psychology - the archetypes of animus and anima - and shares the empowerment of women who embrace the masculine aspect of their psyche in poetry. Her developmental statements seem rather cursory unless the reader is well versed in Jungian thought. But the end result of the book is to examine extended poems by Sylvia Plath, Adrienne Rich, Teresa of Avila, Emily Dickinson, Mary Oliver, Edna St. Vincent Millay and others whose works demonstrate the aspect of animus in the generation of the poetic expression.

McNeely divides her book into chapters whose headings will give an idea of the spectrum of her thoughts: Unisex or Syzygy, Animus and Ego, Animus Types, Anger and Creativity, In the Mother-World, In the Father-World, Equal Partner - each of these chapters opens a vast discussion of the meaning of animus as it is expressed in the poets' works McNeely shares. This is not light reading: if the reader is not familiar with Karl Jung and his development of thought then there may be other books that will be useful before tackling this one. The time is worth it as McNeely addresses important issues that hep to understand the Feminine - from a fresh stance.

Grady Harp