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Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts #83
Кошка. Сказка об освобождении фемининности
"The Cat" is a Romanian fairy tale of some complexity and great charm. It is the story of a princess who at the age of 17 is bewitched-turned into a cat. She must remain in that form until an emperor's son will come and cut off her head . . . . eventually a simple-minded emperor's son, searching the earth for fine linen, finds her and accomplishes the task. How and why this happens is patiently dissected by von Franz with her characteristic erudition and earthy humor.
One by one Dr. von Franz unravels the symbolic threads in this story, from enchantment to beating, the ringing of bells, golden apples, somersaults, witches, etc., and, throughout, the great themes of redemption and the union of opposites, always relating them to both individual and collective psychology.
This is Marie-Louise von Franz at her very best, theoretically lucid, sharply insightful and grounded in lived experience.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
28 people are currently reading
1055 people want to read
About the author
Marie-Louise von Franz
101 books892 followersMarie-Louise von Franz was a Swiss Jungian psychologist and scholar.
Von Franz worked with Carl Jung, whom she met in 1933 and knew until his death in 1961. Jung believed in the unity of the psychological and material worlds, i.e., they are one and the same, just different manifestations. He also believed that this concept of the unus mundus could be investigated through research on the archetypes of the natural numbers. Due to his age, he turned the problem over to von Franz. Two of her books, Number and Time and Psyche and Matter, deal with this research.
Von Franz, in 1968, was the first to publish that the mathematical structure of DNA is analogous to that of the I Ching. She cites the reference to the publication in an expanded essay "Symbols of the Unus Mundus," published in her book Psyche and Matter. In addition to her many books, Von Franz recorded a series of films in 1987 titled The Way of the Dream with her student Fraser Boa.
Von Franz founded the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich. In The Way of the Dream she claims to have interpreted over 65,000 dreams. Von Franz also wrote over 20 volumes on Analytical psychology, most notably on fairy tales as they relate to Archetypal or Depth Psychology, most specifically by amplification of the themes and characters. She also wrote on subjects such as alchemy, discussed from the Jungian, psychological perspective, and active imagination, which could be described as conscious dreaming. In Man and His Symbols, von Franz described active imagination as follows: "Active imagination is a certain way of meditating imaginatively, by which one may deliberately enter into contact with the unconscious and make a conscious connection with psychic phenomena."
Von Franz worked with Carl Jung, whom she met in 1933 and knew until his death in 1961. Jung believed in the unity of the psychological and material worlds, i.e., they are one and the same, just different manifestations. He also believed that this concept of the unus mundus could be investigated through research on the archetypes of the natural numbers. Due to his age, he turned the problem over to von Franz. Two of her books, Number and Time and Psyche and Matter, deal with this research.
Von Franz, in 1968, was the first to publish that the mathematical structure of DNA is analogous to that of the I Ching. She cites the reference to the publication in an expanded essay "Symbols of the Unus Mundus," published in her book Psyche and Matter. In addition to her many books, Von Franz recorded a series of films in 1987 titled The Way of the Dream with her student Fraser Boa.
Von Franz founded the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich. In The Way of the Dream she claims to have interpreted over 65,000 dreams. Von Franz also wrote over 20 volumes on Analytical psychology, most notably on fairy tales as they relate to Archetypal or Depth Psychology, most specifically by amplification of the themes and characters. She also wrote on subjects such as alchemy, discussed from the Jungian, psychological perspective, and active imagination, which could be described as conscious dreaming. In Man and His Symbols, von Franz described active imagination as follows: "Active imagination is a certain way of meditating imaginatively, by which one may deliberately enter into contact with the unconscious and make a conscious connection with psychic phenomena."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
September 18, 2015
A deeply insightful book that is enriched with enlightening passages that Maria-Lousie von Franz puts forth as she analyzes this Romanian fairytale 'The Cat.' One passage in particular comes to mind:
"...One should tell that to anybody who joins feminist movements, that when the feminine is liberated... it unites in peace and love with the masculine... In other words, the great hostility between the feminine and masculine principles is overcome."
So it seems that it's not about 'man' and/or 'woman,' but about masculine and feminine principles being at odds. This calls for individuals to responsibly come to terms with their inner images and how they relate as opposed to externally putting the blame onto 'men' or 'women.'
Though in different ways, men and women have equally suffered from the devaluing of the feminine principal by the patriarchal value system that now plagues society.
This is just a small taste of what's offered in the analysis of this wonderful "Tale of Feminine Redemption."
"...One should tell that to anybody who joins feminist movements, that when the feminine is liberated... it unites in peace and love with the masculine... In other words, the great hostility between the feminine and masculine principles is overcome."
So it seems that it's not about 'man' and/or 'woman,' but about masculine and feminine principles being at odds. This calls for individuals to responsibly come to terms with their inner images and how they relate as opposed to externally putting the blame onto 'men' or 'women.'
Though in different ways, men and women have equally suffered from the devaluing of the feminine principal by the patriarchal value system that now plagues society.
This is just a small taste of what's offered in the analysis of this wonderful "Tale of Feminine Redemption."
June 15, 2019
Хареса ми, защото Мари-Луиз фон Франц поднася на читателя достъпно и увлекателно някои основни идеи на аналитичната психология, които, взети директно от първоизточника Юнг, на моменти могат да се сторят на човек твърде заплетени и неразбираеми; изобилстващи от неясни препратки и завъртяни понятия. Темата за женското начало също е вълнуваща сама по себе си. Пътищата през фолклора и традициите, по които тръгва изследователят на женската страна, на анимата, извеждат до още много други любопитни колективни и индивидуални психологически феномени. Колкото и да не са обективни, доказуеми, научни, богатствата на колективното несъзнавано не спират да ме изумяват; и в конкретния случай е много интересна предложената от фон Франц връзка между Дева Мария и нейната сянка - Котката.
"Избавлението на женския принцип не означава избавление на плътта, а възстановяване на божествеността на плътта, на свещения, архетипов, богоподобен аспект на плътта"
"Избавлението на женския принцип не означава избавление на плътта, а възстановяване на божествеността на плътта, на свещения, архетипов, богоподобен аспект на плътта"
April 18, 2022
I loved this book. I found it captivating, easy to read, full of symbols and very wise. I will definitely go back to it from time to time, my guess is that I will find other valuable insights. I felt sorry finishing it, but couldn't stop reading :) I totally recommend it, a good read for both men and women!
September 19, 2025
sabedoria e perturbation. esse levei tanto pra terapia pqp
November 17, 2024
I picked up this book after having several dreams about cats. It has a gentle, therapeutic effect, offering a few nudges, light-bulb moments in between. Lovely and subtle transformative read.
"the cat aspect of the feminine principle, is the real total aspect. The Virgin Mary does not have that basket, the cat has it. She really is the potential totality, and in that, greater than everything else."
I especially liked this part on the process of humanizing one's anima:
"So in order to humanize their anima they must not expect the magic of life from their partner. They must find it in themselves and know that this is the divine aspect of the inner anima. They must separate it from the human anima with which he relates to the woman. Then he is capable of relating to the woman as she is and no longer possessed by a subhuman or superhuman anima. By cutting off the head and the tail, he cuts off, so to speak, the subhuman and superhuman aspects of the anima. He brings her to human size and then he can integrate his feelings and express them in relationship with his partner."
"the cat aspect of the feminine principle, is the real total aspect. The Virgin Mary does not have that basket, the cat has it. She really is the potential totality, and in that, greater than everything else."
I especially liked this part on the process of humanizing one's anima:
"So in order to humanize their anima they must not expect the magic of life from their partner. They must find it in themselves and know that this is the divine aspect of the inner anima. They must separate it from the human anima with which he relates to the woman. Then he is capable of relating to the woman as she is and no longer possessed by a subhuman or superhuman anima. By cutting off the head and the tail, he cuts off, so to speak, the subhuman and superhuman aspects of the anima. He brings her to human size and then he can integrate his feelings and express them in relationship with his partner."
March 19, 2024
I’m tempted to stomp off into the woods, at once, to find my cat. But then she would already be lost. The path forth is the one between the opposites, resisting the seduction of the physical and the spiritual, the white and the black. A palace of cats, and a Bastet to match, would be nice, but not necessary. All that matters is that one walks.
And a word of warning for travellers of the middle way, Jung’s word -
”The past is like an enormous sucking wind that sucks one back all the time. If you don’t go forward you will regress… the past is a tremendous power.”
Safe travels!
And a word of warning for travellers of the middle way, Jung’s word -
”The past is like an enormous sucking wind that sucks one back all the time. If you don’t go forward you will regress… the past is a tremendous power.”
Safe travels!
February 1, 2017
Solita analisi inconcludente in stile junghiano di una fiaba per di più narrata male (nel senso che il narratore si è molto probabilmente concesse delle libertà narrative che però sono sue individuali, perché palesemente non rispettano la struttura del mito) che però la cristianissima von Franz la prende come oro colato e ci spende su ore ed ore di analisi (che si attorciglia attorno a a se stessa poi).
October 20, 2019
Хаотична, повтаряща се вон Франц. Изданието на Леге Артис изобилства от грешки, май изобщо не е минало през редактор, да не говорим, че книжното тяло направо се разпада.
November 23, 2021
Did you know, Marie, that your moon was right in the cat-snake constellation? Mine too
January 27, 2025
This was my first Marie-Louise Vin Franz book; she was a Jungian analyst and closely worked with Jung, with her work primarily concerning archetypal fairytale interpretations. I’m always pleasantly surprised at how a good symbol interpretation can take you into the depths of nuance and meaning that fuel the elements of an age-old story, maybe even one you thought you understood: there is always more for a Jungian analyst. In “The Cat”, she explores a Romanian fairytale and untangles various components of the story including that of a somersault, ringing of bells, going out to sea on a boat, and of course the likeness of a cat. Most notably, she writes about the story arch of redemption and relates this to individual and collective psychology, which really is the thread that demonstrates the value of analyzing a story to such depths the most.
Some quotes I liked:
“I was always amused in my youth how the cat was a flatterer. For instance, when it asked for food or when it wanted to be stroked, it just came and rubbed itself this way and that with its tail up, and sometimes I didn’t have time and said “Go away. I have to read.” Then the cat said “Okay” and began to rub itself against the chaise as if to say “If you don’t stroke me, I stroke myself,” “That’s okay too.” A dog would be hurt in his deepest heart and look at you reproachfully; you couldn’t do such a thing to a dog. But a cat, “Oh never mind.” It never gives it soul into our hands. It’s friendly and makes use of us, but remains independent. You often see cat dreams in women who have no independence, who are too doggishly attached to their husbands and children, and then I always stress what a cat does. A cat goes it’s own way.”
(On the symbolism of “the nut”): “First the unconscious is difficult to penetrate, to get at its core, then you are nourished by it.”
(On the internal conflict and resistance, specifically in the lead up to a psychological evolution): “He loves her much too much in her cat state, so she really has to prepare him psychologically, prepare the weapons and then make him suffer by her illness, till she thinks now maybe he is desperate enough to do what she asks”
“[in a story], if something turns human then one can integrate it.”
“Eve stole an Apple, and thereby brought to mankind the possibility of consciousness and the certainty of death. Life becomes real only when it is delineated by death.”
“It is always male heroes in fairytales who are physically tortured and, as far as I know, always in service of redeeming the feminine. You see, this compensates masculine consciousness which believes in action. The man has to suffer, which means he has to take a passive feminine attitude, just stand and suffer and not burst into action. For a virile man, this is very difficult to passively suffer, simply to endure, because his natural temperament says “I must do something about it. I must break out of this situation. Where is my enemy? Let me fight the enemy.” I notice when I say to men, “Well, you can’t do anything. You have to suffer the conflict,” there’s always the question, “Yes, but can’t I do *something*?” I say, “You can do nothing. Just nothing.” That’s terribly hard. But that is how the feminine side in a man is redeemed and the feminine principle in general as well.” This quote continues to talk about women in their masculine (animus) asking for psychiatric pills to fix things. Interesting passage.
Some quotes I liked:
“I was always amused in my youth how the cat was a flatterer. For instance, when it asked for food or when it wanted to be stroked, it just came and rubbed itself this way and that with its tail up, and sometimes I didn’t have time and said “Go away. I have to read.” Then the cat said “Okay” and began to rub itself against the chaise as if to say “If you don’t stroke me, I stroke myself,” “That’s okay too.” A dog would be hurt in his deepest heart and look at you reproachfully; you couldn’t do such a thing to a dog. But a cat, “Oh never mind.” It never gives it soul into our hands. It’s friendly and makes use of us, but remains independent. You often see cat dreams in women who have no independence, who are too doggishly attached to their husbands and children, and then I always stress what a cat does. A cat goes it’s own way.”
(On the symbolism of “the nut”): “First the unconscious is difficult to penetrate, to get at its core, then you are nourished by it.”
(On the internal conflict and resistance, specifically in the lead up to a psychological evolution): “He loves her much too much in her cat state, so she really has to prepare him psychologically, prepare the weapons and then make him suffer by her illness, till she thinks now maybe he is desperate enough to do what she asks”
“[in a story], if something turns human then one can integrate it.”
“Eve stole an Apple, and thereby brought to mankind the possibility of consciousness and the certainty of death. Life becomes real only when it is delineated by death.”
“It is always male heroes in fairytales who are physically tortured and, as far as I know, always in service of redeeming the feminine. You see, this compensates masculine consciousness which believes in action. The man has to suffer, which means he has to take a passive feminine attitude, just stand and suffer and not burst into action. For a virile man, this is very difficult to passively suffer, simply to endure, because his natural temperament says “I must do something about it. I must break out of this situation. Where is my enemy? Let me fight the enemy.” I notice when I say to men, “Well, you can’t do anything. You have to suffer the conflict,” there’s always the question, “Yes, but can’t I do *something*?” I say, “You can do nothing. Just nothing.” That’s terribly hard. But that is how the feminine side in a man is redeemed and the feminine principle in general as well.” This quote continues to talk about women in their masculine (animus) asking for psychiatric pills to fix things. Interesting passage.
February 2, 2025
I was torn between 4 and 5 stars on this book. On the one hand, it was an immensely enjoyable read. von Franz knows so much about fairy-tales and mythology, and history, and she weaves all of this through an incredibly rich and fascinating analysis of a short fairy-tale about a girl who receives a curse to turn into a cat on her 17th birthday. von Franz goes through the fairy-tale from start to finish, analyzing the symbols along the way. People who are really into analyzing literature will love this book.
My only complaint is that it ends a bit abruptly and, I think, it loses the forest for the trees a bit. The subtitle of the book is, "A tale of feminine redemption." She does talk about this a bit when she comes to the relevant symbol in the story, but it doesn't really get much more emphasis than any other symbol. It's not like a proper essay, where there is one major point and the analysis goes to support it; instead, 'feminine redemption' is just one point among several other major points.
I think the book would have benefited heartily from a conclusion that returned to this--discussed directly how femininity gets redeemed. She ends up saying very little about this directly; you have to draw some inferences from what she does say. So that is my complaint about it. I guess she could say, "Hey it's good to do a little thinking yourself, Peachy." But it seems to me this is such an important part of the story--and emphasized in the subtitle of her book-- I think it should've received more discussion. More minor symbols were discussed at nearly the same length, or even longer. Analysis should not just be discussing what the symbols mean but also observe the importance of the symbols in the story (or dream), and dutifully give more attention--I believe-- to the more important symbols.
That said, it is a short, fascinating book, and one can easily get through it in a day. There's a lot of richness to it that makes it well worth anyone's time if they are interested in Jung, psychoanalysis, interpretation of symbols, femininity.
My only complaint is that it ends a bit abruptly and, I think, it loses the forest for the trees a bit. The subtitle of the book is, "A tale of feminine redemption." She does talk about this a bit when she comes to the relevant symbol in the story, but it doesn't really get much more emphasis than any other symbol. It's not like a proper essay, where there is one major point and the analysis goes to support it; instead, 'feminine redemption' is just one point among several other major points.
I think the book would have benefited heartily from a conclusion that returned to this--discussed directly how femininity gets redeemed. She ends up saying very little about this directly; you have to draw some inferences from what she does say. So that is my complaint about it. I guess she could say, "Hey it's good to do a little thinking yourself, Peachy." But it seems to me this is such an important part of the story--and emphasized in the subtitle of her book-- I think it should've received more discussion. More minor symbols were discussed at nearly the same length, or even longer. Analysis should not just be discussing what the symbols mean but also observe the importance of the symbols in the story (or dream), and dutifully give more attention--I believe-- to the more important symbols.
That said, it is a short, fascinating book, and one can easily get through it in a day. There's a lot of richness to it that makes it well worth anyone's time if they are interested in Jung, psychoanalysis, interpretation of symbols, femininity.
May 17, 2024
Man I really wanted to rate this at three stars- I really hate rating books this way actually, but if you have read any review of mine, you already know that. I gave this two stars because I found it difficult to keep up with the Jungian psychology and related terms. The tale of the cat is used to explore Jungian psychology and having read Women Who Run With Wolves I was able to follow and be interested in the interpretation of the fairytale, however, this is really the only strictly Jungian psychology text that I have read. I think the author's intended audience are people who are familiar with Jungian psychology and its overarching concepts. She writes simply and for the most part it wasn't difficult to get through the book- forget that it took me so long to actually finish it, I got through it in just two sittings which is an achievement for a non-fiction book. Clarissa Pinkola Estes' book is so evocative and I suppose that is the difference between this author's retelling and analysis of a fairytale. Whilst reading it I found myself thinking a lot about psychology as a "science" and from this text alone it is hard for me to buy in on a lot of the assertions made about the archetypes, anima and the masculine and feminine without 'evidence'. At the same time, being so direct and matter of fact about the concepts she is trying to explain instead of being emotional in tone, images and words meant that this work did not really resonate with me. If I come across an introductory text to Jungian psychology that sparks my interest I may revisit Marie - Louise von Franz's work, but to be honest with you I don't believe that I am interested in the subject to read more on it, I was sort of hoping that this book would get me into Jungian psychology... that explains the why I rated it at two stars but I verily believe that those who are well read on the subject may get more out of it. I wonder if the ideas in this book would correspond with the current discussions on 'feminine' and 'masculine' energy, not that I have looked into that at all but I do wonder sometimes where everyone is getting these ideas from.
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September 17, 2025I admire MLVF
That I discovered the book was a work of synchronicity itself.
While this work is targets the anima, in men more than it speaks to the animus, in woman - there are overall key takeaways that I believe will change my feeling and thinking in some way.
Interesting Notes:
- „Yes. If one does not constantly walk forward, the past sucks one back. The past is like an enormous sucking wind that sucks one back all the time. If you don't go forward you regress. You have constantly to carry the torch of the new light forward, so to speak, historically and also in your own life“
- „The redemption of the feminine means not the redemption of the flesh; it means the redemption of the divinity of the flesh, of the divine, archetypal, godlike aspect of the flesh, and the implications of that are very difficult and complicated to explain in practical language.“
„The same is true if a woman has for some reason to redeem her own femininity. Then her animus, her masculine side, will say, "What can I do? What shall I do?" instead of redeeming the feminine through suffering. Jung once went so far as to say, "If a woman asks, 'What can I do?' she is already in the animus and I won't answer." ... A woman caught in a masculine attitude wants to take action; she wants to fight, to do something, and in that she is moving away from her femininity. So if it is a question of redeeming her femininity, she has to learn to suffer without always thinking, "What can I do?" or "What must I do?“
Now, it is not a first read I would recommend to someone starting out with Jungian theory, but it surely builds on it in a fascinating manner. I am impressed..
That I discovered the book was a work of synchronicity itself.
While this work is targets the anima, in men more than it speaks to the animus, in woman - there are overall key takeaways that I believe will change my feeling and thinking in some way.
Interesting Notes:
- „Yes. If one does not constantly walk forward, the past sucks one back. The past is like an enormous sucking wind that sucks one back all the time. If you don't go forward you regress. You have constantly to carry the torch of the new light forward, so to speak, historically and also in your own life“
- „The redemption of the feminine means not the redemption of the flesh; it means the redemption of the divinity of the flesh, of the divine, archetypal, godlike aspect of the flesh, and the implications of that are very difficult and complicated to explain in practical language.“
„The same is true if a woman has for some reason to redeem her own femininity. Then her animus, her masculine side, will say, "What can I do? What shall I do?" instead of redeeming the feminine through suffering. Jung once went so far as to say, "If a woman asks, 'What can I do?' she is already in the animus and I won't answer." ... A woman caught in a masculine attitude wants to take action; she wants to fight, to do something, and in that she is moving away from her femininity. So if it is a question of redeeming her femininity, she has to learn to suffer without always thinking, "What can I do?" or "What must I do?“
Now, it is not a first read I would recommend to someone starting out with Jungian theory, but it surely builds on it in a fascinating manner. I am impressed..
May 4, 2023
I read this again, it was even more profound the second time. Some of the quotes are absolute gems. I shall share some of my favorites.
"So, the linen has on the one side the idea of innocence and a strange connection with the possibility of being contaminated or bewitched. Thus the anima fantasy of our drunken emperor, which confirms what we thought about him, is mainly too pure. It is too far from reality, too fine, too ideal, too beautiful, not contaminated with evil, and that fits with the Inquisition and the persecution of the witches and so on. If you could have talked to the persecutors, they would have said a woman must be pure, a woman must be chaste, a woman must obey her husband – some absolutely demanding, inhuman ideal of femininity, and any woman who doesn't fit into that is a witch. That also shows
that the more one has such a fantasy, a wrong fantasy of purity, the more can the devil and death and evil get into it. You have that not only in the medieval church; you could say the same for instance about the nineteenth century in higher English and Anglo-Saxon circles. It is the ideal of the lady. A lady doesn't curse or get angry and a lady doesn't even know that she has a belly and genitals. One doesn't speak about such things; the word ''belly'' is forbidden. A lady doesn't use that word and on and on and on. That's linen. That's an anima fantasy of men, and most painful for women if they have to perform according to such a pattern. But many of us perhaps will also still have been taught that we ought to be ladies. A most depressing affair.
And behind it is a lecherous old man, an evil drunkard, who, when he has a beautiful daughter-in-law, knows nothing more intelligent than to just go and stretch his paws out after her. That fits the lady fantasy of such gentlemen. They are full of dirt themselves and, as you see, at the end of the story he behaves absolutely like a dirty old man, but he has these sentimental lady fantasies. I think that needs no comment. The pure, ideal lady fantasy predominated during late Christian development. At the same time, there was a whole underground culture of prostitution where those men lived the other side of their anima. They married a lady and then they went to a brothel! Because with a lady it was obviously not interesting. So there is this absolute split of the feminine image in our civilization and in a man's anima. It splits the anima in men and splits the women because the women cannot be themselves. They have to perform according to such collective ideas."
"Naturally those miraculous beds in the Grail legend have mainly to do with the love problem. If the knight sits on a bed and a lion attacks him, that would mean that the moment he touches the bed there is a sex problem. He's overwhelmed by his greed, by animal greed, overwhelmed by his instincts. He loses control, and that would be the lion. The bed is where all our instinctual life fulfills itself – birth, death, love-making, where we get in touch with our instincts and with the unconscious. Under the bed, a place where one never likes to sweep, if people are not very clean there are always clouds of dust. So the place under the bed is generally the place where demons of the personal unconscious live. I've often found in dreams that devils live under the bed and lizards too, spiders and mice and so on, and they have always to do with the personal unconscious, what is right under the surface. As soon as you relax, the mice under the bed begin to scratch. That means all your obsessive complexes begin to bother you.
The table with the candle indicates the beginning of some light on the situation. There are many other fairy tales where the hero is tortured in darkness in order to redeem the anima, but this is not one of them. There is some light. So, that is again teasing him, as with the meat and the precious jewels. Because he needs light he gets it, but he needs meat and that he does not get. It's again giving him the sublime when he is really in dire need of satisfying his physical needs.
That happens often in reality. I remember a case of a young man who wanted to have an affair and he always picked very pious, well-educated girls who were afraid of mama and teased him. They were always very nice and went out with him, went to dinner and so on, but when he wanted to bring up his dire needs, then they took off. It happened five times, with five different girls, and I finally said, "Why do you pick such girls? I mean, there must be something behind that because there are enough others nowadays."
The poor man felt absolutely as if the unconscious was teasing him most cruelly. When one doesn't understand a motif, one always has to ask what is the conscious attitude of the person the unconscious teases in such a way, and just what does it compensate? He was certainly ambivalent and neurotic. He despised the flesh. He wanted the fleshly woman, but due to his education he despised it. He had a split anima. He had an anima who was partly romantic and was therefore attracted to unawakened, goody-goody girls because he himself was a goody-goody little boy.
Of course, he had urgent fleshly needs, but he disapproved of them. He would be the kind of man who when he seduced a girl would despise her for it. Many men do that. They have their way with a woman and then think, "Oh, she's only a whore." So in a way he did not value the flesh in the right way. He wanted it but he did not value it. He did not have the right attitude toward it. He was still caught in the Christian prejudice against the flesh. It is not enough for a man to say, "I'm not going to believe in that Christian idealistic thing. I'm going to have a real woman, a concrete woman, in bed," for if he secretly still despises her body, her physical being, then he is caught in the old prejudice. Then, if he is not meant to make that mistake, the unconscious just teases him all the time until he realizes what he is doing, that he is behaving in a split manner. He wants it but despises himself for that, or after having had the woman, hates her and begins to doubt her. "She must be a prostitute, probably she goes with other men too,'' and on and on, all this aftermath. With such a split attitude, he naturally falls in with split women; they go together like clockwork.
So in our story the split isn't yet healed and that's why this teasing goes on."
Another gem, a fabulously profound, though brief, book.
"So, the linen has on the one side the idea of innocence and a strange connection with the possibility of being contaminated or bewitched. Thus the anima fantasy of our drunken emperor, which confirms what we thought about him, is mainly too pure. It is too far from reality, too fine, too ideal, too beautiful, not contaminated with evil, and that fits with the Inquisition and the persecution of the witches and so on. If you could have talked to the persecutors, they would have said a woman must be pure, a woman must be chaste, a woman must obey her husband – some absolutely demanding, inhuman ideal of femininity, and any woman who doesn't fit into that is a witch. That also shows
that the more one has such a fantasy, a wrong fantasy of purity, the more can the devil and death and evil get into it. You have that not only in the medieval church; you could say the same for instance about the nineteenth century in higher English and Anglo-Saxon circles. It is the ideal of the lady. A lady doesn't curse or get angry and a lady doesn't even know that she has a belly and genitals. One doesn't speak about such things; the word ''belly'' is forbidden. A lady doesn't use that word and on and on and on. That's linen. That's an anima fantasy of men, and most painful for women if they have to perform according to such a pattern. But many of us perhaps will also still have been taught that we ought to be ladies. A most depressing affair.
And behind it is a lecherous old man, an evil drunkard, who, when he has a beautiful daughter-in-law, knows nothing more intelligent than to just go and stretch his paws out after her. That fits the lady fantasy of such gentlemen. They are full of dirt themselves and, as you see, at the end of the story he behaves absolutely like a dirty old man, but he has these sentimental lady fantasies. I think that needs no comment. The pure, ideal lady fantasy predominated during late Christian development. At the same time, there was a whole underground culture of prostitution where those men lived the other side of their anima. They married a lady and then they went to a brothel! Because with a lady it was obviously not interesting. So there is this absolute split of the feminine image in our civilization and in a man's anima. It splits the anima in men and splits the women because the women cannot be themselves. They have to perform according to such collective ideas."
"Naturally those miraculous beds in the Grail legend have mainly to do with the love problem. If the knight sits on a bed and a lion attacks him, that would mean that the moment he touches the bed there is a sex problem. He's overwhelmed by his greed, by animal greed, overwhelmed by his instincts. He loses control, and that would be the lion. The bed is where all our instinctual life fulfills itself – birth, death, love-making, where we get in touch with our instincts and with the unconscious. Under the bed, a place where one never likes to sweep, if people are not very clean there are always clouds of dust. So the place under the bed is generally the place where demons of the personal unconscious live. I've often found in dreams that devils live under the bed and lizards too, spiders and mice and so on, and they have always to do with the personal unconscious, what is right under the surface. As soon as you relax, the mice under the bed begin to scratch. That means all your obsessive complexes begin to bother you.
The table with the candle indicates the beginning of some light on the situation. There are many other fairy tales where the hero is tortured in darkness in order to redeem the anima, but this is not one of them. There is some light. So, that is again teasing him, as with the meat and the precious jewels. Because he needs light he gets it, but he needs meat and that he does not get. It's again giving him the sublime when he is really in dire need of satisfying his physical needs.
That happens often in reality. I remember a case of a young man who wanted to have an affair and he always picked very pious, well-educated girls who were afraid of mama and teased him. They were always very nice and went out with him, went to dinner and so on, but when he wanted to bring up his dire needs, then they took off. It happened five times, with five different girls, and I finally said, "Why do you pick such girls? I mean, there must be something behind that because there are enough others nowadays."
The poor man felt absolutely as if the unconscious was teasing him most cruelly. When one doesn't understand a motif, one always has to ask what is the conscious attitude of the person the unconscious teases in such a way, and just what does it compensate? He was certainly ambivalent and neurotic. He despised the flesh. He wanted the fleshly woman, but due to his education he despised it. He had a split anima. He had an anima who was partly romantic and was therefore attracted to unawakened, goody-goody girls because he himself was a goody-goody little boy.
Of course, he had urgent fleshly needs, but he disapproved of them. He would be the kind of man who when he seduced a girl would despise her for it. Many men do that. They have their way with a woman and then think, "Oh, she's only a whore." So in a way he did not value the flesh in the right way. He wanted it but he did not value it. He did not have the right attitude toward it. He was still caught in the Christian prejudice against the flesh. It is not enough for a man to say, "I'm not going to believe in that Christian idealistic thing. I'm going to have a real woman, a concrete woman, in bed," for if he secretly still despises her body, her physical being, then he is caught in the old prejudice. Then, if he is not meant to make that mistake, the unconscious just teases him all the time until he realizes what he is doing, that he is behaving in a split manner. He wants it but despises himself for that, or after having had the woman, hates her and begins to doubt her. "She must be a prostitute, probably she goes with other men too,'' and on and on, all this aftermath. With such a split attitude, he naturally falls in with split women; they go together like clockwork.
So in our story the split isn't yet healed and that's why this teasing goes on."
Another gem, a fabulously profound, though brief, book.
October 4, 2022
primeiramente a ideia do livro: análise de um conto sobre gatos ! e a simbologia dos gatos ! nota 1000. foi o primeiro livro que li da marie louise von franz, mas já esperava muito, por ser coleguinha do jung. tinha tempo que eu queria ler ela, não sabia por onde começar até descobrir esse livro (por uma mulher que lia ele esperando o metrô.. e eu não tinha conseguido ler a autora, só o nome). o livro sobre gatos da nise me levou até esse e uma coisa foi se ligando com a outra. bem sincronidades do jung. finalmente posso referenciar uma mulher em vez do homenzarrão do jung. ela traz assuntos que eu quero me aprofundar muito dentro dos meus estudos: contos de fadas, simbolismo, análise de sonhos, mitologia, culturas diversas. tô muito instigada, obrigada marie-louise !!!!
obs; fiquei encucada com umas questões racistas culturais mundiais da época .. foda cara. sempre que eu acho que alguém que já morreu pode ser foda, a pessoa escreve uma coisa racista ..
obs; fiquei encucada com umas questões racistas culturais mundiais da época .. foda cara. sempre que eu acho que alguém que já morreu pode ser foda, a pessoa escreve uma coisa racista ..
March 9, 2019
Von Franz excavates so much meaning that one can apply to one's own life from her analysis of this fairy tale. There are insights about alcoholism, marriage, symbolism of cats, Christianity, the importance of knowing the folklore of a culture.
Above all, there are rich insights about anima and animus, which are so relevant to today's Me Too movement, among other things:
"What we now have to try, for the first time in history, to establish a real relationship between men and women beyond the bl ind attraction through the projection of animus and anima."
"...One should tell that to anybody who joins feminist movements, that when the feminine is liberated... it unites in peace and love with the masculine... In other words, the great hostility between the feminine and masculine principles is overcome."
Above all, there are rich insights about anima and animus, which are so relevant to today's Me Too movement, among other things:
"What we now have to try, for the first time in history, to establish a real relationship between men and women beyond the bl ind attraction through the projection of animus and anima."
"...One should tell that to anybody who joins feminist movements, that when the feminine is liberated... it unites in peace and love with the masculine... In other words, the great hostility between the feminine and masculine principles is overcome."
September 19, 2025
Apparently this quaint fairytale was so unique and poignant it compelled MLVF to write an entire book about it. It's full of nuggets of wisdom from the iconic author. And the fairytale, despite its obscure elements, maps quite cleanly onto the psyche's/soul's progression towards anima/animus integration.
I got a little emotional reading the description of 'cutting the cat's tail' to reveal the true mature feminine. A part of me clearly isn't ready to let go of the idealised images just yet. But then again, even the hero needed to spend several years with the cat before he was ready to be asked to cut the tail off, and even then he didn't want to.
I suppose my emotional reaction is a sign of a fairytale effectively working on and working through someone. The whole process is all here in the story!
I got a little emotional reading the description of 'cutting the cat's tail' to reveal the true mature feminine. A part of me clearly isn't ready to let go of the idealised images just yet. But then again, even the hero needed to spend several years with the cat before he was ready to be asked to cut the tail off, and even then he didn't want to.
I suppose my emotional reaction is a sign of a fairytale effectively working on and working through someone. The whole process is all here in the story!
November 28, 2025
adored this book, very nonsensical at first kinda ironic thats the whole point. Definitely the type of book you have to slow down and read it’s more heavily symbolic and dense in the sense of interpretations. You will be having to probably re read a sentence a few times to fully understand the writers point. Nonetheless, very rewarding for the mind once you do. Very insightful book overall about love, romance, choice and projection.
A book about the psyche and self is what I would simplify it too. But it’s far from simple
A book about the psyche and self is what I would simplify it too. But it’s far from simple
August 17, 2024
Très intéressantes analyses comme à l'habitude de l'autrice, notamment sur la "conscience collective" et tous les symboles énoncés particulièrement dans les cultures chrétiennes et chrétiennes orthodoxes. À prendre des pincettes sur certaines interprétations qui frisent l'essentialisme et peuvent être biaisées par l'époque cependant. Contes atypiques originaux c'est rare de lire une princesse décapiter un agresseur sexuel par exemple...
November 22, 2024
Тази жена е като наркотик. Изровила съм де що има всичко нейно, до което съм могла да се добера и с всяка следваща книга, нейно интервю или мисъл се доближавам все повече до едно чисто и опростено разбиране за душевността.
Хората са се вълнували винаги от едни и същи неща, във вълшебните приказки, които анализира, всеки може да открие по нещо, което ще излезе от дълбините на несъзнаваното. Във всяка нейна книга имам поне няколко "аха" момента.
Брилянтна!
Хората са се вълнували винаги от едни и същи неща, във вълшебните приказки, които анализира, всеки може да открие по нещо, което ще излезе от дълбините на несъзнаваното. Във всяка нейна книга имам поне няколко "аха" момента.
Брилянтна!
December 31, 2017
Really really cool to learn all the symbols behind everything from the annunciation to somersaults. Showing the movements in femininity as Christianity took its course, and showing the folktale's redemption of the feminine, it seems relevant to today. Also reading the story is sometimes kinda funny because it is weird.
August 19, 2023
Solo es libre aquel que logra vencer los opuestos, quién encuentra la llave para redimirse y se adentra en las profundidades del inconsciente para dejar de ser como un pez que arrastra la corriente. Para dejar de ser víctima y victimario.
Ojalá que personas como Marie-Louise estuvieran al alcance de todos aquellos que necesitan encontrar su camino.
Ojalá que personas como Marie-Louise estuvieran al alcance de todos aquellos que necesitan encontrar su camino.
January 23, 2022
Only Marie Louise von Franz could take a short Romanian fairytale and write a 121 page book about it! If you’re into depth psychology, the genius of von Franz needs no introduction. If you aren’t, books by von Franz aren’t the place to start. They’re too deep.
November 8, 2024
I genuinely appreciated the retelling of the fairytale using Jungian concepts. It facilitated my comprehension of intricate ideas in a simplified manner. It effectively elucidated the maturation process for both men and women.
December 11, 2021
Excelente lectura, profunda y muy completa.
July 6, 2023
This is a great book, it's well documented and the analysis is detailed, it goes in-depth. However, this is a book for a niche audience.
March 1, 2024
Brilliant.
November 8, 2024
Phenomenally insightful
April 22, 2025
DNF na pola, mnogo suvoparno i bez emocija, kao da soremam ispit.
November 16, 2025
This is a marvelous book with the rich details of a fairy tale with quite some unique motifs amplified. It’s also a very approachable book that explores and explains with great clarity.
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