The Pregnant Virgin: A Process of Psychological Transformation

Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts #21

by Marion Woodman

" The women who is a virgin, one in herself, does what she does not for power or out of the desire to please, but because what she does is true." Here is writing with a thinking heart, blending art, literature, religion and extensive case material. Continues the author's pioneering work on the feminine in both women and men.

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

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Marion Woodman was a Canadian mythopoetic author and women's movement figure. She was a Jungian analyst trained at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zürich, Switzerland. She was one of the most widely read authors on feminine psychology, focusing on psyche and soma. She was also an international lecturer and poet. Her collection of audio and visual lectures, correspondence, and manuscripts are housed at OPUS Archives and Research Center, in Santa Barbara, California. Among her collaborations with other authors she wrote with Thomas Moore, Jill Mellick and Robert Bly. Her brothers were the late Canadian actor Bruce Boa and Jungian analyst Fraser Boa.

Reviews

[Una · Rating 1 out of 5]

First quarter of the book: “Oh!!” Folding pages, scribbling notes in the margins, getting really excited that I’ll learn about psychological transformation and the concept of metamorphosis from a Jungian/feminist perspective.

Second quarter of the book: “I’m not afraid of smarty-pants densely written works! Yeah!” Getting bored slogging through what has suddenly turned into an academic mire, but soldiering forward in hopes that it will be worth the trouble.

Third quarter of book: “Oh….ugh. What the hell.” When shit gets too Jungian, shit can get too magical. The book starts relying on taking as a given a binary view of gender and ideas of “the masculine” and “the feminine” as inherent and opposing “forces” and proceeds to define the shit out of them and apply them to EV-AR-Y-THING. There’s also a heavy emphasis on the troubles of upper middle class, middle-aged white women. Wheee. Eventually the book descends into a complete mess of weirdly sexist crap with some weirdly racist shit about people in India being so exotic and free and then some half-baked dream analysis.

Last part of book: “WTF WOODMAN WHAT HAPPENED?!” *skimming while on toilet and eventually tossing on the floor in disgust and disappointment*

http://bone-map.tumblr.com/

[Katarina Karmazinova · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is transformational. To say the least. It has it all - digs into issues of masculinity and femininity, our parental attachment and the other way round, eating disorders and our inability to grow and release the child and become a woman as we lack initiation in our lives - afraid of letting go. Afraid to die. It helped me a lot to understand my dreams using the Jungian analysis, Shakespeare and parallels from not only fairy tales but also from The New Testament. I cried a lot and it moved me to many realisations. Woodman she cuts into the bone, shedding uncompromising light into dark shadows of women’s and men’s psyche. Beware if you have a fragile relationship with your controlling mother or father. I’ve been given it by a friend who said it was strong and who’s friend was prompted to break up with her man after reading it.
You’ve been warned.

[August · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite line from this book: "Naively or deliberately, to make oneself vulnerable to psychic wounding without good reason is foolish. To be wary of casting pearls before swine is not conceit but plain common sense."

~Marion Woodman "The Pregnant Virgin" 22.

[Early]

One of my favorite books of Jungian Feminine Psychology

[John B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best Woodman book.

Brilliantly written book on the domination of the masculine principle in Western culture. Jungian analyst Woodman links this principle with addictive behaviors, primarily in women (workaholism, obesity, alchohol and drugs, etc), tying her concept of positive feminine deprivation to the psychological ills of individuals, both men and women. As with most Woodman books, it is hard to read her straight through, so I concede that I spot read this book. It has some brilliant paragraphs interspersed with almost stream of consciousness dream analysis and histories of her patients.

[marie monroe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this to my feminist/artist/therapy-junkie friends. and, of course, any art therapists who would by some chance not be these things.

[Lex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Changed me to my core

[Paityn Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

"No longer who we were, we know not who we may become"

This book has lived on my shelf for the better half of 2 years and only now have I chosen to read what feels like my life in pages.

You know a book touches your soul when you cry reading the first page, and continuously throughout.

Very beautifully written and one my friends and family are sick of me referencing as I inhaled the pages. I think this is up there with one of my favourite books of all time.

[Lenka Kubelová · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book deals with femininity, more precisely with feminine consciousness which is not the same thing as motherhood and should be developed both by women and men.

The main idea is to be in the state of constant pregnancy with new possibilities.
How you can achieve this state? By having a courage to BE and a flexibility to constant BECOMMING. Loving relationship with Mother Earth helps too.

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First part deals with psychological transformation (caterpillar will change into the butterfly, symbol of psyche, which seems as Mrs. Woodman favourite metaphore), than we go through research of independence and importance of liberation from masculine paradigm to have the possibility to become really creative person. Lack of rituals in our society, role of initiation, soma, dream work, dream sisters, addiction (the book should be helpful for people suffering from addictions and eating disorders (not my case, some passages were interesting though)), Black Madonna (!), sacred marriage of virgin and whore. Last chapter becomes suprisingly personal and we go with Mrs. Woodman on her initiation journey to India. This part was for me quite a disappointment: Why this personal point of view? How can I identify with a person who moved from "a safe home of father´s house" to "a safe home of husband´s house"? And now after bunch of quite bright writing we get this wierd chapter? (Is it OK to compare? But where I can find patterns to identify when I´m surrounded with people who are moving from "a safe home of father´s house" to "a safe home of husband´s house"? Safety I have never experienced? Or THIS situation gives me an opportunity to real freedom? Just to find a right way how to deal with it???)

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Gets me to my current question of INNER FREEDOM. What is it? How do you maintain it? Some books recommendations on this topic?

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marion Woodman's The Pregnant Virgin: A Process of Psychological Transformation (Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts, 21) describes the process of becoming conscious. In this study, the term virgin refers to a woman's singularity onto herself. Actions are based upon her desires, goals and decisions. The term "pregnant" in the title speaks to her potential for reaching actualization of her conscious self. Inner work demands becoming free of addictions to food, works, drugs, or drink. Woodman uses the metamorphosis of a caterpillar that becomes a butterfly. The period of solitude within the chrysalis is the time when old ideas and constructs are dismantled thus freeing the woman to come into her own self knowledge. This is a fascinating study that underscores the importance of maturation at deeply spiritual and psychological levels which lead to actualization.

[Rachael Maier · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend gave me this book for my birthday in October last year. From the first page I read, I knew it was going to serve up super relevant messages for me.

It’s a dense read, so I picked it up and put it down intermittently over the course of 4 months, only reading a page or two at a time. And amazingly, with each reading, the messages were right on time. It’s hard to ignore what’s being said with that much synchronicity.

It’s not an exaggeration to say this book changed me. All the ways in which it has may not be completely visible or conscious immediately, but given my experience with this book, I trust it will all be revealed in time.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little dry, but an interesting look at the internal stories that can create patterns of neurosis and the myths that help us break free

[Barbara]

Exceptional work that I still refer to young woman struggling with identity issues.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of interesting and varying ideas, but the detailed analysis of dreams fills me with suspicion.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read three books at once, this being one of them, and by some divine intervention, they were read together to bring about the becoming of some harmony in myself.
All dealt with the subject of Something/Someone bigger than I, chasing that Something/Someone, and then it being a rediscovery of yourself magnified infinitely. I would say that the theme is the Circle; for life living demands a linear trajectory but the Within de profundis beckons the turns and twists that brings it all back to the Soul…the Soul has the answers. I wish I could put this more eloquently, but just like the Library of Babel, Joanna’s outer traverses returning her to the beautiful longings within herself, and the Virgin awaiting in all of us to colour our lives once more…truly living is a search, a constant innocence and never completely knowing, and vibrating in that ingenue essence to never solely seek a destination in remembrance of the Destiny. Life is poetic, mysterious, deep, only a journey, and everything circles back; there will be answers to answers and so on. We embody the constant change of God/Goddess (Divine Creator, to me), and that should cause the feet to dance instead of the heart to worry. I recommend reading these books together:
The Pregnant Virgin by Marion Woodman
Ficciones by Jorges Luis Borges
Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector

Why? They circle one another. I have no other answer, besides the one I cannot put it words. I probably gave each 5 stars in compliment to one another.

[Passingtime · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very difficult to read for a non-spiritual person.

Other times she makes more concise points about our psyche and vulnerabilities, albeit no idea being too insightful, other times she gets too deep in the spiritual gibberish that the initial argument becomes convoluted.

Perhaps this is a book enjoyed for people with time for meditative leisure.

[Debby Friday · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marion Woodman is just THAT girl. This is a book about the inner processes of psychological transformation in women and it goes crazy. Psychoanalysis is hard to write about in a way that doesn’t just slog on but Woodman has mastered this craft. Her writing is beautiful, point blank and many of her books have helped me so much. I always wished I could have met her before she passed.

[Siggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this a bit new to psychoanalysis as a whole but I’m very spiritual so I liked Jungian analysis more than something literal. The writer of this is very talented and while it’s definitely not life changing I would recommend it. Their writing style with all the references is really great and reminds me of Hilton Als.

[Dara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in one day. I couldn't put it down. I think it is a book every woman should read, but certainly anyone struggling with addictions to food, drugs, work, etc. If you are looking to change, grow and become more conscious, this book is for you.

[Joanna Bz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Książka-proces. Czuję się jak po mocnej terapii. Woodman zabiera w podróż. I wcale nie jest to łatwa wycieczka. I nie wchodzi się łatwo. Aż w zmęczeniu i jednoczesnym zachwycie dotarłam do ostatniego rozdziału, z którego podkreśliłam i sfotografowałam absolutnie każdą stronę.

[Miloš · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Rođenje - to je smrt života koji smo poznavali;
Smrt - to je rođenje života koji tek treba da živimo".

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was on my mom's bedside table growing up and I loved the cover. She mailed it to me this spring and I liked it.

[Viktorija Marinković Uma Vid · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was a great reading and deeply transformational!

[Fizza · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts off very well, with an insightful narrative..

Until it dribbles off to the same old regressive setbacks. Not really my cup of tea.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love anything Marion woodman does

[Rama · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is about the 5th time I’ve read this book. Each time with fresh perspective.

[Nico Belazaras · Rating 2 out of 5]

instead of interpreting symbolisms it gives you more symbolisms.

[Demeter Chanter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being in a chrysalis is a lonely place to be and this book has accompanied me along the way.

[Evie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, Marion, another stellar Jungian. This book was helpful when I was having problems in my marriage, and when I later divorced. Oh, yeah, when I was writing my dissertation.

[Paola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Per tutte le donne crisalide...