The Anima and the Animus

The Anima and the Animus
by Debbie Luke

The anima and the animus are archetypes. The terms come from the Latin, meaning “soul”. Archetypes are patterns of behavior that only take on meaning when they are applied to an individual’s understanding of the self. Jung said that “every man carries a woman within himself”. Goethe called this “the eternal feminine”.

The anima/animus exist in the subconscious, many times appearing in dreams, many times influenced by the relationship the person had with their father or mother, ie, if a person had an overbearing mother, their dreams may contain negative female antagonists.

In many fairy tales, the animus takes the part of male antagonists-perhaps robbers or other villains who force the female protagonist out of her comfort zone and into a series of challenges that build her assertiveness and independence, helping her discover her dormant strengths and talents.

The anima has the effect of helping the male protagonist develop receptiveness, creativity, the capacity for personal love, recognition of feelings, and developing and trusting intuition.

At the most basic and simplistic level what happens is that men begin to develop their capacity for relationship and must come to terms with emotions, vulnerability and needs, while women begin to become more decision and action oriented and in the process claim their independence, courage, power and wisdom. At midlife women are called to decide and do while men are called to nurture.*

These characteristics are analogous with the concept of yin and yang energy. Integrating both aspects brings wholeness to the individual.

* www.lessons4living.com