La prostituta sagrada. Un aspecto eterno de lo femenino, una imagen provocadora del alma

Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts #32

by Nancy Qualls-Corbett

Este libro apasionante trata de las estrechas relaciones entre la sexualidad y lo sagrado. En nuestra cultura moderna, desacralizada, la sexualidad es considerada como algo contrario a la espiritualidad, pero no era así para los antiguos. Cuando se honraba bajo sus distintas formas a la Diosa del Amor, la prostituta sagrada era virgen en el sentido original de la una persona de una profunda integridad que recibía a los extranjeros de un modo radiante, confiado y sensual. Su razón de ser era conducir a la Diosa del Amor hacia el contacto directo con la humanidad. En esta unión de lo masculino con lo femenino, de lo físico con lo espiritual, lo personal era transcendido y lo divino interiorizado. Este estimulante libro, basado en las teorías de Carl G. Jung, ilustra poderosamente cómo nuestra vitalidad y nuestra capacidad para alcanzar la alegría dependen del hecho de restaurar el alma de la prostituta sagrada a su legítimo lugar en nuestra conciencia.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Feminism, Womens, Sexuality, Mythology, Spirituality

224 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1988

Reviews

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that opened such a big view that I felt changed by it. Coming from a Jungian psychology approach, the author describes the archetype that has been severely suppressed by our modern patriarchal culture, with its shameful view of the body and sexuality. She goes into the history of Goddess dominated pre-Christian religion, and the common practice of sacred prostitution, where sexuality is considered sacred and a channel through which one can access the Divine, and that the Divine is a loving source that the priestess is essentially becoming herself, and through her one can be in direct union with this source.

A far cry from our modern view of Spirit as something far removed, over us and not really a part of us. The sacred prostitute, the channel through which we are put in touch with Spirit, is all but forgotten in our modern world, and the chasm this leaves in our collective psyche has devastating results. This book goes into history, and then into the author's work in analysis with patients, and the results she achieved by working with this suppressed archetype.

Extremely interesting, and helpful for me to understand many things about myself, and the collective condition of our society.

[PJ Who Once Was Peejay · Rating 5 out of 5]

In every heart, both male and female, there is an eternal and immutable touchstone of joy. All too often that joy is lost in contemporary society, through harsh experience, or in the rush towards simplistic ideologies like "men bad, women good" (or the opposite). Nancy Qualls-Corbett attempts to show both men and women how to transcend the narrowly-defined sex roles and oppressions that have been imposed on them from childhood and to rediscover that touchstone of joy. She succeeds admirably, I think. The Sacred Prostitue is not about selling our bodies or the prostitution of pleasing and serving others to our own detriment. Rather, it is the antidote to these kinds of self-destructive behaviors. As we learn to express the source of joy in ourselves, to glorify it despite what we have been taught or bad experiences or what society may say, we liberate our lives. We transcend the old boundaries and grow. I am not talking about joy in a strictly sexual or sensual way here, and neither is Nancy Qualls-Corbett. The prostitute is a metaphor for the kind of healing that happens when we give ourselves over totally to love and the possibility of allowing joy to happen in our lives. First, we must learn to love and please ourselves, then we can learn to love and please others. And that is the true sacredness.

[Victor Smith]

I am currently working on a novel that incorporates many of the themes covered by the author in The Sacred Prostitute: sacred sexuality (hieros gamos), Mary Magdalene and comparison with the Virgin Mary, the Black Madonna, patriarchy, etc. This title contributed nicely to my knowledge of such subjects but took the concept of proper development of one's feminine side (in men as well as women) to a new level, especially relevant at this time when there is a resurgence of the ugliest in maleness with the current political situation in the US.

As noted in other reviews, it makes a strong use of Jungian psychology and relies heavily on dream interpretation. It reminded me that there is much still to be learned and gained from studying Jung and his work. Nevertheless, it served to pull together, confirm and advance many of the themes I encountered during research for my novel. Highly recommended for those seeking a more profound understanding of our combined masculine-feminine nature.

[emma forri · Rating 5 out of 5]

everyone should read this book

[Anita · Rating 2 out of 5]

This reads like a thesis paper, and there are a lot of instances in which it seems almost painfully obvious that the author is fitting her source material to her ideas. An interesting few ideas and theories about masculine and feminine development in the psyche (I think) but most interesting towards the end when Qualls discusses the Marys of Christianity and a couple other female figures.

[Amalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it !!

[Algirdas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tema įdomi, bet išpildymas labai jau sausas, nesijaučia, kad autorė pati praktiškai, o ne tik teoriškai būtų įšventinta į Afroditės kulto tarnaites.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit academic at times but a fascinating exploration of a neglected topic.

[T.R. Ormond · Rating 3 out of 5]

As its title suggests, several aspects of this book are quite fanciful. It is sometimes jarring how matter-of-factly the author presents them. I'm not sure what to make of that. Surely my lack of exposure to Jungian analyses shapes my appreciation.

With that said, this book's greatest strength lies in its connection between the sacred prostitute and the value of relatedness as an archetypal and universal principle. The development of the Church and the elaboration and fixation on the Cartesian mindset have replaced relatedness with organization, hierarchies and laws.

Also at work here is a reanimation of the concept of virginity. Qualls-Corbett presents it not as a physiological state with significance for procreation and marital relations, but as a psychological concept. Here, virginity means a sort of spiritual integrity, being "one-in-herself," being true to one's own nature and instinct, behaving in accordance with the laws of nature, "free and unfettered by man-made laws."

There are a lot of dream analyses.

[Reginald · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall Impression: "The Sacred Prostitute," through a psychoanalytic paradigm, exposes the reader to interesting ideas about why sexuality and spirituality seem like opposites to contemporary religions/people (especially when taking into account ancient religious practices of sacred prostitution) and how one's relationship with the archetype of the sacred prostitute can be identified by observing one's life (both internal and external). The greatest strength of this book lies in its use of concrete examples (such dreams provided by anonymous clients + historical events) to illustrate the potency of one's experience with this archetype—Qualls-Corbett imitates Jung's style of writing to great effect here. However, this book contains quite a few explanations that will prove highly dissatisfying for readers who do not have previous exposure to Jungian dream interpretation or have already bought into feminist ideology. Qualls-Corbett intentionally sacrifices a logical explanation of the sacred prostitute in order to seduce the reader to embrace that image, and this leads to occasional confusion for the reader. Furthermore, Qualls-Corbett seems to single out Christianity for its apparent rejection of the sacred prostitute—a move that seems partially justified, at best. Still, the book provides interesting enough illustrations and supporting evidence of Jungian concepts to justify its inadequacies. I also personally learned a great deal from a few sentences from this book, sentences which will inform my future reading and help me re-evaluate my paradigm on these matters.

Rating: Worth a skim.

[Reyhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

İyi yazılmış bir kitap değil, çevirisi daha da kötü. Ancak içerik neglected olduğundan değerli bulup bitirdim. Belki dört sene önce alıp bu birkaç haftada okuduğum, zamanını bekleyen bir kitap.

Hatırlanacaklar:
-Bekaret kelimesini literally "birinin olmamak" olarak tanımlaması, kendinin olmak, owning yourself.
-Bedenine özen göstermeyi, iyi beslenmeyi, hareket etmeyi dişilliğe saygıyla bağdaştırması
-Hem kadında hem erkekte psyche'nin developmental stage'lerini açıklaması
-"Yabancı" imgesi
-İmgelerin yaşamsal oluşu ve bu imgeyle barışmak için dünyaya karışmak, eyleme geçmek gerekmesi, ancak "yabancı"nın desteğiyle ona yaklaşabilme
-Bu imgeyi kendimizde bulmak kadar yabancının bizde o imgeyi görmesi
-Zaten kemiklerimizde bildiğimiz, rüyalarımızda gördüğümüz, içimizde uğuldayan pek çok diğer şeyler

[Bruna Sardenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interessante reflexão a respeito do arquétipo da prostituta sagrada, amplamente discutido pela autora teoricamente e com exemplos práticos da clínica cotidiana. Ela chama a atenção para a dissociação entre espiritualidade e sexualidade encontrada no estágio atual da civilização, patriarcal e branca.
Apesar de conter elementos da psicologia junguiana com os quais discordo, como a defesa do fortalecimento do ego em análise, considero uma leitura importante, tanto para psicólogos como para leigos.

[Richa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for people exploring relationships, betrayal, abandonment, ghosting, twin flame, achieving wholeness through relationships, for ones who do not feel confident or ashamed of sexuality due to societal programming or any other reason, knowing oneself more, respecting oneself more and thus knowing and respecting other. For understanding how we grow up and at the same time never grow up psychologically and how relationships could be a way for this integration of self.

[Kandachamy Vijayakumaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sought some historical information about the devadasi system in India but was disappointed to fine none. However, the book gave some valuable insights form the western (Egyptian, Greek and Christain etc.) views on the eternal loving essence of femineity. The innumerable examples of analyses of dreams are a special aspect of this book.

[Holly Mcentee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This showed up in my Little Free Library, and given some things I'm facing in my life I thought I'd see if the book contained any insights. It's dated, and did not reveal much I haven't already read elsewhere (and I was struck by the absence of Lilith in the author's weighing of women figures in christianity). But hey, why not. I'll put it back in my LFL for someone else.

[Georgia Gerberus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seminal work on reframing the value of sexuality as rational discourse.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sex sex sex, Hoo-ha

[Joana Silva]

Leitura indispensável para sair da mentalidade a mulher é santa ou prostituta, induzida no crescimento da sociedade patriarcal.

[dddddddddddd dddddd · Rating 5 out of 5]

eye opening. understood so much about myself and women around me

[slvlInftsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly a beautiful piece of writing omfg. I love this. I dnf, but I am rereading u. Bc when I read u I loved u and all that u taught.

[Carolina Benevinuto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the overfocus on dream analysis, I just needed to read certain passages of this book during this time of my life.
Precious words.
Much needed wisdom.

[Ieva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mind-changing!

[Fiona Montgomery · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was too story-telling and personal inference. I would have wanted it to connect more to the art she was portraying.

[Courier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fundamental reading for the ex-religious, currently spiritual, sexually repressed.

[phoenix xavier]

thank u to my good friend marissa for letting me borrow this and read it throughout my time in italy, fascinating combination of feminism, theology, and sociology !

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

A very interesting, historical feminist text. I was not very familiar with Jungian Psychology before reading this, and it was fun learning more about it from a historical, sociological, political, and religious point of view. This is (obviously) outdated, but still an interesting and important read relating to the absence of femininity in Western Christian Religion.

It is also clear and evident that that text is void of other perspectives that are not 'female' or 'male' experiences. Therefore, reading the book as someone who is non-binary was difficult at times given the emphasis on opposites e.g. sun and moon, male and female.

[Galina Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

Felt more like a graduate work than a serious study - too little data on the archetype in diffirent cultures. And at times it didn't feel like an original book. But still some interesting ideas made me like it.

[Early]

It has been a long time since I was reading Marion Woodman and Nancy Qualls-Corbett but do know I enjoyed the read at the time.

[Kendra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat academic, and lots of stories of other people's dreams and what the meanings might stand for. Based on Jung's psychology, and the Feminine. Interesting read.

[Ahmed Saad · Rating 5 out of 5]

this's how fiction took place back then