Into the Heart of the Feminine: Facing the Death Mother Archetype to Reclaim Love, Strength, and Vitality

by Massimilla Harris, Bud Harris

An alternate cover edition can be found here.

A Book for Women…and for Men

Imagine within each of us,
there is a deep, powerful source
for living lives of love, creativity and fulfillment…

To imagine this foundation for life and the energy it produces is to
imagine ourselves and our world filled with the influence of the
archetypal feminine – her passionate creativity, love and ageless
knowing. Personally and culturally, this force - which lives at the heart
of our lives - has been diminished and wounded until it seems to have
retreated beyond the horizon, in a world filled with rationalism
and an anxious search for the material “good life.”

This is a powerfully moving book that goes beyond gender roles into
the soul of the archetypal feminine, exploring how it has been
damaged and traumatized, and finding out how this condition affects
all of us. Written in a way that makes the material truly accessible to a wide audience, the authors' own personal and professional experiences are dynamically woven throughout the book in the form of rich and compelling stories.


Though both authors are attributed, Massimilla Harris’s voice shapes the trajectory of the book as she shares her own story of growing up in a patriarchal society and the trials she faced while encountering the Death Mother. Alongside the depth of knowledge related within the discussion of complexes, her bravery and sincerity is evident as she teaches others about the wisdom of this path. The result is an intimate tone that makes the volume accessible and inspiring, even for those unfamiliar with Jungian psychology.”
- FOREWORD REVIEW Magazine, Spring Issue 2015

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Self Help, Feminism, Spirituality

208 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2015

About the author

Massimilla Harris, Ph.D., is a Jungian with a practice in Asheville, North Carolina for the past 25 years. She holds a doctorate in Psychology and is a graduate of the C. G. Jung institute in Zurich, Switzerland. She is also an author, teacher, award-winning quilter, and certified Solisten Provider. Developed by Dr. Alfred A. Tomatis, Solisten is a special kind of music therapy that, along with Jungian analysis, enables Dr. Harris to help bring mind and body together to release their full potentials.

Reviews

[Susan Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in the tradition of Marian Woodman and Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Jungian analysts Massimilla and Bud Harris have given readers a roadmap for the most profound journey women--and men--must undertake. The journey to confront and transform the Medusa or Death Mother in ourselves, as well as in our culture.

Using the Medusa and Perseus myth, as well as rich fairy tales and personal stories, readers are given a framework for how to transform that which paralyzes us with fear and robs us of our authentic lives, into a live-giving positive feminine. It is only then that we can fully come alive and claim a new fate. A fate where we begin to live into our feminine potentials and are truly available to love not only ourselves but others.

As someone who has extensively read Jungian books and depth psychology, I consider Into the Heart of the Feminine to be a ground-breaking book. One that perhaps continues on where Marion Woodman’s work leaves off, offering the reader a path of breadcrumbs that promises to lead us out of the forest.

This book is worth buying simply for the quotes that introduce each chapter. Yet, to the receptive reader, it has so much more to offer. I truly didn’t want this insightful book to end.

Susan Gabriel
author of The Secret Sense of Wildflower
(a Best Book of 2012 - Kirkus Reviews)
and Temple Secrets

[Camille McCarthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book. It is a difficult book to read because it will bring up a lot of emotions which have probably been hidden from you for a long time. It is about trying to renew the archetypal feminine in our lives and in society, and uses the myth of Medusa to illustrate the fall of the feminine and its possible renewal and transformation in our lives. It is not about gender roles, it is about restoring emotions and creativity to a world of logic and facts. Reading this book is a very personal experience and can be painful. I would not suggest that anyone start reading this book without finishing it, because it will connect you to painful situations in your own life and the more hopeful part of the book comes towards the end when it gives some ideas on how you can transform these aspects of yourself which may have been neglected in the past.
The book is extremely well-written but the concepts are complex so it takes a lot of attention to read this book. It is not a quick read but it is well worth the effort to read this book if you are willing to look at your life and make some changes. I highly suggest it since our society needs to reconnect with the feminine and this is a very good start.

[JSDouglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Men, don’t let the title scare you off. As engaging as it is informative, Into the Heart of the Feminine is a must-read for everyone, irrespective of gender. In the patriarchal context of modern society there can be few tasks more significant than reintegrating the feminine principle, and in providing a template for the accomplishment of this task Massimilla and Bud Harris have succeeded admirably.

Having both earned doctorates at the Jung Institute in Zurich, it is to be expected that the authors have a masterful knowledge of Jungian psychology that is clearly on display in their explication of the Death Mother complex, a particularly destructive corruption of what Jung designated the Anima, or feminine archetype. What proved unexpected, however, was the level of accessibility with which they explored an idea that could have proven to be a very obtuse concept in the hands of lesser writers. By recounting their personal experiences, those of their patients (whose anonymity, it should be noted, is well protected) and the allegorical power of myths and fairytales, Drs. Harris explore the destructive capacity of the Anima within each of us when it is wounded and distorted.

When injured, the Anima’s capacity to nurture is corrupted and literally sucks the vitality out of its victims, male and female alike. This concept is presented in the early pages of Into the Heart of the Feminine with an oddly apt analogy to the Remora fish (picture included) attached to a human host. However, what is truly of value and significance in this book is not its deft capacity to distill complex problems into simple images and stories. Instead, the invaluable virtue of this work is to offer solutions and guidance to the reader who has walked through life with a metaphorical parasite on his or her back.

By approaching the subject of the Death Mother through the myth of Medusa, the reader is invited to embody the courage of Perseus in confronting the wounded Anima, not adversarially, but through cunning and the support of invaluable allies. In this capacity, Into the Heart of the Feminine succeeds in offering the reader tangible hope and crucial guidance in overcoming what to many seems like an insurmountable obstacle. It is difficult to overstate the value of this message to both individuals who have struggled with a wounded Anima and to society as a whole.

Personally, I found this book to be touching, uplifting, and enlightening. I will be purchasing multiple copies for those people near and dear to me, if only to avoid the risk of loaning out my copy to someone who could value it as much as I do and might therefore neglect to return it. I can't recommend this work highly enough.

[Sydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be rich with insight and appreciated the wisdom and healing offered through recognition of the Death Mother complex. The author's use of the myth of Medusa and fairy tales as a road map to improved well being is inspiring.

I do have one criticism. For some context let me tell you that as a social worker who's life work and practice revolves around healing body shame and embracing body diversity, I believe our current societal obsession and fear of fatness is unhealthy and pathological. Given that, it is important for me to share that I felt the author too often referred to the construct of being 'overweight' as a pathology, a symptom of being trapped in a Death Mother complex. This is problematic in my view because I believe it contributes to the notion of larger bodies as intrinsically bad and unhealthy. Certainly our relationship with food can be impacted by our mental health and chronic overeating can be an indication of inner healing that needs to be done. But the many suggestions in this book of being ‘overweight' as a pathological/unhealthy state negates the reality that not all people in larger bodies chronically overeat and neither do all who are coping with unhealthy eating patterns live in larger bodies. It feeds into the unhelpful notion that we can make assumptions about people’s emotional and physical wellbeing simply by considering the size of their bodies.

I think this is especially important to acknowledge considering the rejection of patriarchy and binding patriarchal notions that we are urged to do by the author in this book. I hope those who read this book will be willing to consider how the ideas we have about body size and health, held as ‘incontestable truths’ are shaped by patriarchal forces and are a very effective tool in keeping us in the grip of the Death Mother Complex.

[James]

From Asheville's own Jungian Analysts, Bud and Massimilla Harris....
I HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone who had a mother... and, yes, even for orphans who have never known their personal mothers as our entire culture lives under some measure of a "mother" complex.
Our society is in transition.
The entire concept of the FEMININE is in transition.
Consequently, the entire concept of MASCULINITY is in transition.
If you're more interested in exploring how this affects you and me and ALL of us
than you are in laying blame, I strongly recommend THIS work ...just as I recommend
Bud's work "Resurrecting the Unicorn: Masculinity in the 21st Century".

[Dawn Stowell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't recommend this enough. Insightful and powerful!! This offers remedies to heal intergenerational trauma.

[Karyla Gaines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Into The Heart of the Feminine, has taken me on a profound journey that leads me to honor the feminine in my personal life. I also have a new cultural understanding of how the rejection of the feminine has affected, and is affecting, our world and history. One would think I would have found meaning solely through living this life as a woman, having understanding of what it is to live in a world with the added burdens that come with this package. However, as I read through this book, I felt as if Dr.’s Massimilla and Bud Harris, were carrying me through my life as an observer, year by year, assisting me in deep reflection of who I am now as well as the roles I have played along the way. What I discovered was how much I have denied the heart of the feminine in my life, which has a deep tap root throughout my family lineage. As I read through the pages I recalled significant events, witnessing how little I nurtured and protected myself through learned passivity and a fear of asking questions.

I was able to understand that my favorite childhood fairytale – Cinderella – was actually a driving force preventing me from experiencing my authentic self. Until I read this book, I was unaware of how often I had given up, blindly accepting my family’s expectations. I somehow believed it would be easier than pleasing my own hearts calling. I liked to blame my failing on being the victim of my family of origin, always feeling there was never enough for me in this life, feeling insecure and defensive. Now, after reading this precious book, I can step out of my story; accept the way it was, and move on to create a new life with my own voice. I love that Dr. Massimilla Harris explained the importance of being heard as well as being able to express our hearts in our own voice. I hadn’t realized how important it has been in my own life to be heard and understood. And, it is a larger cultural issue as well, that the voice of the feminine, even for men, be heard.

As I continued to turn the pages, I resonated with the personal stories of the authors and case studies. They offered me a way to understand that there is a bigger life for us. Once we step out of denial and understand that it is in accepting the trials in life as part of a story – my personal story – only then can transformation occur. The value of accepting the reality of my life just as it is, and as it was, is the catalyst. Now, I can see the brightness and value of life. As they suggest, by building up strength through self-care, nourishing self-love, and learning to protect the life created with one’s own hands, we can become genuinely secure and step forward into a passionate life of our own making.

I am forever grateful to Dr.’s Massimilla and Bud Harris for this generous and thought provoking writing. I can feel their passion for the subject in every word. Thank you, with all my heart.

[Sim Cozart,DDS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep within each of us is the potential to energize our lives. And somehow we all feel that. What we don't always understand is how to recognize and develop that sometimes hidden potential and bring it into full expression to enable us to live more deeply fulfilling lives. Recently, Dr. Massimilla Harris and Dr. Bud Harris published a book, Into the Heart of the Feminine, which serves as a guide in our search. These two Jungian analysts use their personal and professional experiences to give us examples of ways to search for and express this potential. Through classic fairy tales, use of mythological figures and dreams, they indicate how to discover the creative feminine and initiating masculine energies that can change our lives. Ironically, the time to initiate this personal journey is often during times of feeling depressed or worthless. During those times, we can often find insights into the strong negative controlling forces that have overwhelmed our lives,then confront those forces, transform those forces and use that transformative energy to change and strengthen our lives.

[Debbie Tallarico · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brave and important book exploring the heart-wrenching and terrifying myth of Medusa. The authors succeed in bringing psychological truth and meaning from this story and proceed to walk the reader through the steps needed to heal one's own relationship to this archetypal energy. It is personal and courageous. I recommend it for anyone resonating with the theme.

[Kaeru Kurisu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book resonated. At times, it was difficult to read because it triggered more challenging emotions in me. I laughed with the book, I cried with the book. Could be said that the book filled its purpose very well. This was my first reading experience of anything Jungian, and although the book wasn’t introducing that much of the Jungian teachings overall, I think I managed to get a grasp of it. It left me with a desire to learn more about Jungian teachings and also the feminine. Despite book being about ’the feminine’, I think it provides wisdom and insightful views of the bigger picture — about how things can be perceived, no matter what is the gender of the reader. I enjoyed the lil quotes in the beginning of the chapters, and the pages of this book are left with a ton of my markings whilst I read it. It’s easily a book I’d recommend to a friend who’s interested in the topic of healing and the journey of self-development. If I had to imagine what’s the key thing I’d remember about this book in 5 years of time…I’d say it’s the myth of Medusa. This book states that stories and their symbolism have a narrative value in our lifes. And after reading the explanation of the myth of Medusa, I think that’s a story that has a soul-puncturing value for us to utilize in our daily lives.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jungian theory, like cognitive theory, psychiatry, somatic experiencing & somatic theory, prayer, psychoanalysis, hypnotherapy, trauma informed theory, internal family systems, etc., etc., all are to their purveyors necessarily the way of obtaining normalcy, stasis, healing, wholeness, salvation, and they all fail as a result. It's not that this book is so bad. It's just that it is not all it's cracked up to be, like all of the theories mentioned above and the many others not mentioned. It has some interesting points and concepts to contemplate but I find that in order to benefit from any of the foregoing I have to fit myself into their paradigm. So if that works for you, good for you. I mean that. For me, it's just one more concept to throw into my toolbox to pull out if I need it.

[Mephistopheles · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good book exploring the death mother and the medusa complex. Much of it resonated deeply. What did not resonate was the failure to consider the rape at the heart of the Medusa myth and the cause of the deep wounds to the feminine. I don't buy the 'two energies, male active, female receptive, we are too active and thinking in modern society and that is what makes us patriarchal' explanation. It has never rang true to me, and seems shallow and facile. Aside from that, the book offers a lot of depth.

[Teri Stich · Rating 3 out of 5]

meh probably would have appreciated this 30 years ago, but now not so much

[Manca Švara · Rating 5 out of 5]

“What happens to us, both women and men, when the feminine principle in our culture is being denied and denigrated and our greatest value of love is being sacrificed to overriding patriarchal values, such as success and productivity? Then we all experience the emptiness and sadness Singer is talking about. We are liberating our empowerment, yet at the same time, we are denying our inherent abilities to like, nourish, and take loving care of ourselves and to make the love of ourselves, others, and life the dominant value we try to live by.”

[Strivetoengage · Rating 4 out of 5]

I posted my review of this useful book on my blog: https://strivetoengage.wordpress.com/...

[Constance · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book transformed my life

[Jungone · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first time I read Into the Heart of the Feminine I couldn’t put it down. It was a page-turner, like a thriller, but for different reasons. It was because I saw myself in the book over and over and over again. I discovered the reason why I feel certain things like scarcity, paralysis—being unable to do things I want to do, becoming silent. The list goes on and on. It was comforting to me to learn that these feelings and ways of behaving aren’t me. It’s not my fault. It is because of the Death Mother complex inside of my psyche. I cannot begin to tell you what a relief this knowledge was for me. All along I always wondered, “What’s wrong with me?” And now I know it’s not my fault. The HUGE sense of relief followed by hope, were the two main feelings I felt as I read Into the Heart of the Feminine. Another profound thought for me was that as each of us complete the work required to heal this wound in ourselves, we help those around us and we help the entire world. The ripple effect.

In the book, Massimilla and Bud clearly outline the aspects of the Death Mother complex and how it affects individuals, both men and women, our children, and society as a whole. The book is easy to read and the concepts are made easy to understand. Massimilla and Bud use personal and professional examples along with an in depth analysis of the Medusa myth and two fairy tales to further expand on the variety of ways the Death Mother presents herself in our lives.

I am eternally grateful to Massimilla and Bud for writing this book. Into the Heart of the Feminine is written to connect with the average person, to have as many people as possible read, understand and apply the concepts presented. It is written in plain, easy to understand language. There are thought provoking questions at the end of several chapters to help you begin the journey. As I often find when reading books on Jungian psychology, the books are typically filled with terminology and concepts that are way over my head, which leads me to put the book down in frustration, never getting beyond the first couple of chapters. This not the case with Into the Heart of Feminine.

I’ve now completed my second reading of Into the Heart of the Feminine with my eyes opened even wider. The concepts have become clearer, making even more sense than after my first reading. It is impossible for me to convey the importance of this little book—small in size extremely large in content. All we have to do is look around us in our communities, country and the world to see the impact of the Death Mother complex. As Carl Jung said, “Where love rules, there is no will to power, and where power predominates, love is lacking.” As we heal the wounded feminine within ourselves, transforming the Death Mother within each of us, we heal the world. That is a beautiful and worthy goal.

[Susanne MacGuire · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has genuinely been a surprise to me. I started out thinking that I would be reading a good introduction to the feminine archetype, but what happened was a much deeper engagement with the subject matter. "Into the Heart of the Feminine" leads to the heart of the mother and all of the complicated aspects of that relationship. The story is told at several levels - conceptual, experiential, symbolic - and I found myself responsive to all. In the personal anecdotes and case histories I saw glimpses of my own story and felt challenged to stop reading for awhile and consider the role of the negative and positive feminine in my life. Always good to know one is not alone on one's journey. But in addition, the twin gifts of myth and fairy tale provide their own powerful sources of illumination - older cultural perspectives of wisdom for understanding our predicament and providing sources of support and healing. Very thought provoking and engaging book.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Occasionally a book comes along that impacts and changes your life. This book did that for me, and I suspect it will for many others. It addresses the Death Mother complex, an extreme form of what the Swiss psychologist called a negative mother complex. However, the book it is not abstract Jungian discourse. The authors share their own personal woundings to illustrate this complex and how to heal it. A strength of the authors' exploration of the Death Mother is they show it arising from more than parental wounding. It results from the patriarchal complex of our culture that suppresses feminine values our culture so desperately needs. A compelling aspect of the book is the use of myths and fairy tales to illuminate and address complexes. It elegantly shows how the myths of Medusa and Perseus speak to the Death Mother complex and how to deal with it. The book also includes helpful exercises for the same purpose.

[Linda S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! This book is a treasure if you seek self-knowledge! Have you ever wondered why? Why do you act and react the way you do to people and situations? The authors, Massimilla and Bud Harris, explain it’s because your inner feminine has been deeply wounded. And it speaks to all of us because no mother (of father for that matter) is perfect. And the ways the mother isn’t perfect will have consequences for her children. These are the consequences that, while deeply hidden in our unconscious, structure our lives without our conscious knowledge. This book will help you to finally look at these unconscious aspects and bring them to awareness…and then there is real hope that your life can change for the better.

A great read also for students of Jungian psychology as it clearly examines the negative/death mother complex.

[Carol Watt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was warmly written, immediately accessible, deeply relatable, and transformative by nature. I took Into The Heart Of The Feminine and Marion Woodman's The Pregnant Virgin on a solo trip to Delphi, both of which were carefully and very specifically chosen to enhance my inner work along the way. I couldn't have chosen better. Each book profoundly enhanced the work central to the other. Although I just finished Into The Heart Of The Feminine last night, it's my intention to read the whole book through again so that I can really work with the concept and lived experience of the Death Mother complex that's been so wonderfully outlined and expressed by Bud and Massimilla Harris.