"The whole spirituality of women is connected with the Animus. So you can say that in a woman, the Animus, her masculine side, extends from Devil to Holy Ghost [...]
To transform the Animus involves immense suffering, for it means nothing less than forsaking an old identity for a new one. It takes a great deal of courage. But the journey is well undertaken for the rewards are immeasurable.”
-Marie-Louise von Franz
About a year ago I began reading the work of Swiss Psychologist Carl Jung, as well as the work of many of his students, and I have come to regard him as one of the greatest men of our Age, a true astronaut into inner-space. In the eyes of many of his students, Marie-Louise Von Franz and Barbara Hannah among them, he was the type of man born once every two thousand years like Lao Tzu, who comes with a great mission from God, or the Self, in service to humanity.
“He looked at his own Soul with a Telescope. What seemed all irregular, he saw and shewed to be beautiful Constellations; and he added to the Consciousness hidden worlds within worlds.” -Coleridge, Notebooks
His insight and exploration into the personal and collective unconscious resulted in a sort of road map to Individuation, into the science of finding of one’s divine essence and living from that essence. When combined with a true initiatory path, his work is immensely valuable on the journey to Know Thyself. His teachings frame and give structure to the inner archetypal world in a way that inspires growth, maturity, and sanity.
“To become individuated, to live as a released individual, one has to know how and when to put on and to put off the masks of one’s various life roles […] But this is not easy, since some of the masks cut deep. They include judgment and moral values. They include one’s pride, ambition, and achievement. They include one’s infatuations. It is a common thing to be overly impressed by and attached to masks, either some mask of one’s own or the mana-masks of others. The work of individuation, however, demands that one should not be compulsively affected in this way. The aim of individuation requires that one should find and then learn to live out of one’s own center, in control of one’s for and against. And this cannot be achieved by enacting and responding to any general masquerade of fixed roles.” -Joseph Campbell, Myths to Live By
Some of these masks come from our Anima and Animus. According to Jung, there is an inner man within every woman and an inner woman within every man. The masculine energy of woman (which is a minority) relates to Spirit and is called the Animus and the feminine energy of man (also a minority) relates to Soul and is called the Anima. I almost made the mistake of calling them our "inner opposite" but man and woman are not opposites. We are actually more like two different kinds of alien.
Most conflicts in relationship (and arguably the world) occur when we become unconsciously possessed by our Anima or Animus because according to Jung, these energies point downward. They are unredeemed, unconscious, and at times autonomous with a mind and will of their own. Consequently, a woman’s Animus or unconscious and unredeemed masculine energy will always be inferior to the masculine energy of an actual man and vice versa- the unredeemed Anima of a man will always be inferior to the feminine energy of a woman. Animus and Anima are a sort of primitive man and primitive woman within us.
Jungian analyst Barbara Hannah describes it thus:
“The simplest definition of the Animus as we experience him in everyday life, the one that appears again and again in Jung's books and seminars, is the one that describes him as the producer of opinions in a woman, just as the Anima is the producer of moods in a man. [The] Animus represents the buried male characteristics of a woman and the Anima represents the unconscious female characteristics of a man. […] The one has to do with relationships and Eros, the other with discrimination and Logos.”
According to Hannah, Jung believed that the most meritorious thing a woman can do in life is work on and integrate her Animus, that
“The integration of the shadow is an apprentice's work, but the integration of the Animus and Anima is a masterpiece.”
Having begun this journey myself, I have found that the alchemical process set forth by Jungian psychology has led to a deepening and purification of my womanhood and this, as a result, has led to greater Joy. And I would like to share what I have learned.
So, I will speak mostly about the Animus in this article, because as a woman that is where I have experience and where I have done the most study. But aspects of the Anima will also be touched on and many truths can be applied to both.
It is necessary to first understand what negative Animus-possession looks like, because it is when we become unconsciously possessed that the Animus does the most damage.
In the words of Jungian analyst Marie-Louise Von Franz:
“On the highest level the inner man acts as a bridge to the Self. He personifies a woman's capacities of courage, spirit, and truth and connects her to the source of her personal creativity. But, like the vampire Anima in a man, the Animus in his negative form is a parasite. He personifies brutality, coldness, and obstinacy, and paralyzes a woman's growth.”
Instinctively it is easy to sense when a woman becomes possessed by her negative Animus because she is no longer a source of love or warmth. A coldness sinks into our bones and we feel dread when it happens, as if the river of life has frozen over. She is cold and cut off from feeling- her own feelings and the feelings of everyone around her. Her heart and feminine nature are suddenly unreachable and she becomes completely identified with her opinions, defending them with cruel words and cold power. Everything is black and white without nuance or shades of gray. She lectures in a loud, obtrusive voice and tends towards domination and aggression.
Screenshot: Lucasfilm
“When a woman gets possessed by the animus, the feminine character of her face changes, her eyes and the expression of her mouth become hard. I notice that when I get in the animus I pull up my shoulders like somebody who is preparing for battle. When I do that, I say to myself, ‘Oh, oh, stop and relax.’” -Marie-Louise von Franz
The strange thing about Animus opinions is that while they always seem logical (hence why women are easily possessed by them) they are at the same time irrelevant (and unfair) to the situation at hand. Imagine a woman getting on a soap box to deliver a judgement with full conviction and not realizing that her judgement comes from a wounded place with blind spots.
A good example would be to imagine a couple on Valentine’s Day. Even if a man puts forth a good faith effort to show love to a woman, if she has her own secret expectations of what she “deserves” (a.k.a. Animus opinion) and he falls short of that, she will unfairly condemn him. Even if he gives her a beautiful gift and plans a nice evening, the Animus can say to her “He did not intuit your desire for that particular pair of earrings! You dropped hints all week! He must not actually love you.” Which while true in the sense that he did not hear her hints, it is ultimately a misuse of logic. The absence of a pair of earrings does not equate to an absence of love. If she identifies with it, Animus opinion and possession will prevent her from seeing the reality of his care and effort. This is a sort of cartoon-like example, but the Animus is very good at sneaking into many of life's crevices.
“Jung has often described how irritating a woman's opinions are to a man, how they always go beside the mark, how they are never the actual, original, individual thoughts of that woman but are generally collective truths that just make nonsense of the specific individual situation and thus destroy human contact. It is as if they blow from somewhere into the head of the woman and then take possession of her.” -Barbara Hannah
If a woman were to be triggered by this statement, I would encourage her to observe herself honestly the next time she argues with her spouse or partner. Unresolved hurt feelings open the door for Animus attacks.
Generally speaking, the negative Animus seeks to isolate woman by spinning a web of opinions, creating a veil of distortion between her and objective reality. Unable to see reality objectively, she accepts his collective truths and moral decrees as justification to burn bridges and nurture grudges. As a woman and Kabbalist I feel that many of the vices of Geburah on the Tree of Life are related to Animus-possession.
By contrast, the negative Anima of man “loves to involve a man with a lot of women so as to prevent him from finding the real amor sapientia, real love which would de-potentiate the Anima in her possession him.” (1) She uses mood to cloud his mind and judgement.
“Women would be well advised to remember how much more they can contribute to certain situations by keeping the Animus still and themselves quiet until, remaining in that stillness, they are able to hear the voice of God, or the Self, for here we shall find that the unconscious is able to approach us when it wishes. As Jung once told me, if one can be quiet for a time, then there is a good chance of one being able to say something really worthwhile. The feminine, as he said, overcomes by taking on and holding out suffering; the masculine overcomes by being active and killing the dragon. Logos is an active principle, Eros is receptive and passive.” -BH
On the more extreme side of Animus-possession, I think of female scientists involved in unethical experimentation upon humans and animals and their ability to totally detach from their feeling nature in the face of horrific acts. Many horrible things have happened in laboratories but as a lighter example, my first job as a teenager was in a lab researching the toxic effects of certain caterpillars upon horses. I was asked to pluck their hairs for analysis. I watched my mentor do it, saw the caterpillar writhe in pain, and refused to go through with it. At the time I felt really silly and embarrassed but now I am glad I honored my feeling. According to Marie-Louise Von Franz, it is more damaging for a woman to engage in such things than a man because her primary principle is Eros -relatedness- whereas man’s primary principle is Logos, or discrimination. So in performing such an act she would be violating her very nature. By refusing to pluck the caterpillar hairs, in a small way, I honored the Eros principle. It is true that sometimes hard things must be done in the name of science. But also, is it? Life is paradox..
"It happens that natural scientists get into the demonism of thinking like nature… physicians for instance, must acquire some of that demonic mind, because they deal too much with the cruelty of nature. In the first semester when corpses are dissected, either the student walks out and says he can’t become a doctor, or he has to acquire something of the demonic coldness of nature […] I think to a certain extent, it is a woman’s task to hold on to the personal side against the cold spirit of natural science. A doctor has to expose himself and say that he cannot be sentimental but has to face such things and be detached. A surgeon cannot operate if he is sentimental about the person on whom he is operating. But the woman has to put the emphasis upon and hold to the human side, where things and diseases are unique, and the feeling reaction remains unique, where one does not in a cold, statistical way write off the other human being. If a woman starts to think like that, it is always from the animus, and it has a very destructive effect. She should preserve the personal atmosphere between human beings. To create the human atmosphere of eros is one of her tasks, and to that belongs the necessity of not investigating too deeply into those shadowy things, into the impersonal, cold cruelty of nature." -MLVF
According to Jung, highly intellectual women are ridden harder by their Animus because in his positive aspect he is actually the source of woman’s intellect. So, typically they have more work to do in his transformation. Intellectual pursuits relieve some of the pressure of the Animus in a healthy way, so long as those pursuits don’t harm the Eros principle.
“Certainly a woman should be educated and have a career, but she should not be possessed by it. She should not be carried away by it. Otherwise she loses her feminine identity. But if she keeps her feminine identity, then her career adds a spiritual dimension of activity, intelligence, and willpower to her personality, all positive qualities.” -Marie-Louise von Franz
It should be mentioned that, especially in modern society, all women experience Animus-possession. According to Jungian Analyst Massimilla Harris in her book "Into the Heart of the Feminine: Facing the Death Mother Archetype to Reclaim Love, Strength, and Vitality," the women’s lib movement served to free the Animus in women, which evolution required. Women can now flex their masculine energy out in the world and be self-reliant. But the pendulum has swung too far, and the shadow side of this (among other things) is that women are now expected to do it all: work full time, raise children, run a household...
"Many successful women, through their depression and lack of fulfillment, are mourning for their lost femininity. These women are examples of how, if we as women, live too much in the spirit of the patriarchal world, we can become successful, while unconsciously ignoring, denigrating, or failing to realize our feminine selves. In these cases we have identified with our Animus."-Massimilla Harris
With so little time left for stillness, creativity and self-care, important feminine qualities get sacrificed and as a result, women lose the ability to hold the right energetic container for their families.
In the words of Marie-Louise Von Franz:
“A woman’s task is to create a certain atmosphere, for she is mainly responsible for the ambiance in the home, for the invisible feeling tone and the phantasies she has about her family. If that feeling tone is right, she can nourish the right attitude and adaptation of her family.”
The woman is the energetic container for her family. With that in mind, what are the implications for a family where the mother is stressed out and overworked? What sort of tone is she creating in her home and by extension, the world? From that tone her family must either be nourished, or not. Healthy families contribute to a healthy society.
But the power of women who heal themselves goes even further. In the words of Barbara Hannah,
“If we succeed in casting out our individual Animus when, as a ‘worker of wickedness’ he poisons us in these outer ways we have been considering, then a lot more is tossed out with him, namely all of the other ‘workers of wickedness.’ This seems to give us a gleam of hope that our individual efforts may also have some effect on the wickedness endemic to the whole world. Casting out this collective Animus may be the way, above all, that women can help to withstand the clash of the opposites. Holding out these opposites is the conditio sine qua non that might even avert the ever-present threat of war. Too few people realize the danger that Animus-possessed women promote in our contemporary situation.”
In other words, women who transform and integrate their masculine energy become capable of “holding the tension of opposites” (a Jungian concept I urge everyone to explore) and actually pave the way for world peace. As within, so without.
Now let’s consider what a positive and integrated Animus might look like and how one might achieve this.
“If you think of the French saint Joan of Arc, for instance, she was guided by the archangel Michael, who advised her in her political and heroic career. That is the positive animus, whom I would call an innermost instinctive awareness of the inner truth, a basic inner truthfulness which guides the spiritual woman in her individuation toward becoming her own Self.” -MLVF
“It is only when Eros reigns (along with the help of the Self) that a woman has any hope of dealing with her Animus.” -Barbara Hannah
Firstly, women must remain true to their primary principle of Eros, or relatedness. To honor our feeling and intuition about the way we all connect to one another and never sacrifice the feeling nature to some higher ideal (i.e. in the name of science, religion, etc.) If something feels wrong, women must honor that feeling and take right action.
(It is important to note that “feelings” are not the same as “emotions.” We should never be led by our emotions. For deeper understanding on this I recommend taking a class called Releasing your Negative Emotions with the Modern Mystery School. Feelings are more concerned with an inner alignment to one's Individuality or Self, whereas emotions are more related to the negative ego.)
Interestingly, the famous theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli, who Einstein declared as his “spiritual heir,” came increasingly to value feeling as much as thought toward the end of his life saying,
“Feeling goes as deep as thought. Amo, ergo sum is at least as well founded as cogito, ergo sum. The strongest of all sensations is the experience numinosum.”
Amo, ergo sum means, “I love, therefore I am.” Eros = relatedness = Love.
The goal therefore becomes to “move our Animus to sacrifice his autonomy and his autocratic power over us and to lower himself to become a function between conscious and unconscious, subservient to the voice that comes from behind and above him, the voice of the uniter of opposites, whether we call it God or the Self.” (1)
To achieve this we must become aware of when he shows up, which requires constant attention and the use of Eros, or the feeling function. Every time we succeed in noticing the Animus (or Anima for men), we contribute to the building of a new psychic form, an alchemical container. This form facilitates the transformation of the Animus into a bridge to the Divine, thereby strengthening our connection to God, or the Self.
To women, Barbara Hannah gives this advice:
“Obviously it would be very difficult to describe such a form, because expression by word is Logos and thought, so that one is trying to describe Eros in terms of its exact opposite, and that is an impossible task. I can only give you a hint or two from my own experience (myself and other women) and leave you to decide whether these agree with or contradict your own experience. Although I recognized that the concept of the Animus really fit the facts, I must admit that I wasted a lot of time, years in fact, trying to chase him intellectually. Of course, he was always too clever for me and fooled me again and again. At last I realized that there was a certain Eros reaction -how can I describe it?- perhaps a feeling of frustration, of unreality, of not having my feet on the earth, of being out of relation with my surroundings. Whenever the Animus spoke or thought [through me], I then had a feeling of it not being my "own" voice or thinking. I learned to recognize this condition and slowly to know it beyond any doubt, and then for the first time I had the beginning of a form with which I could approach the unconscious.”
It could be argued that it is easier for men to notice and avoid possession by their Anima. When a man notices a dark mood come over him, he can go within, find the source of the mood, and then debate his Anima with logic and reason that the mood is unwarranted, thereby building his alchemical container over time. He can say to that mood, in Jung’s words, “You have no right to exist. I shall put you in a test tube and you shall be analyzed.” And voila, his mind is no longer blindfolded by his mood. All solved within the realm of Logos and easily explained with words.
It is not so with woman’s confrontation of the Animus. A woman can’t use reason against her Animus because reason is Logos, and that is his primary principle, not hers. He will always win in the realm of reason. Women must rely on Eros, feelings, and as Barbara Hannah says, we can hardly even use words to explain it. Only when we successfully define the feeling of Animus possession within ourselves can he become imprisoned and begin his alchemical transformation. Only then may we find our feminine voice, strong and untainted by the harshness of the negative Animus.
“Through consciousness a woman may find she can protect herself from the rape of the Animus. To do so, she has to remain true to her own feelings, however insecure they may be. She may listen to his arguments (his logic is excellent!) and them firmly respond "Yes , that is true. You argue well, but you are without feelings. Those arguments have nothing to do with my essence. These are my feelings, even if you think I am making a fool of myself. These feelings are my truth." The feminine Ego can be terrorized by the masculine invasion and it's only defense is authentic feeling.” -Marion Woodman
The key is to become aware of the Anima/Animus in the beginning moments of their attempted possession of us. They should be treated as autonomous beings in their own right, inhabitants of the archetypal world within both our personal and our collective unconscious. For men, it is noticing the beginning of a dark mood, finding the source of that mood, and then using logic and reason to neutralize it. For women, it is paying attention to the feeling of Animus-possession, and then honoring the Eros truth of a situation rather than the Animus’s opinion of it. The fruit of this success is the ability to experience reality objectively without a veil of distortion, which leads to an authentic life. With consistent effort over time, an alchemical container builds up within our psyche, allowing the space for their transformation. Once transformed, they become a bridge to the Self- a bridge to God. They become a conduit for the Divine.
References
Hannah, Barbara (2011). The Animus: The Spirit of Inner Truth in Women, Volume 1. Chiron Publications.
Harris, Massimilla, and Bud Harris. (2015). Into the Heart of the Feminine. Daphne Publications
The Innermost Kernel: Depth Psychology and Quantum Physics. Wolfgang Pauli's Dialogue with C. G. Jung: Suzanne Geiser, p. 347
Von Franz, Marie-Louise. (1993). The Feminine in Fairytales. Shambhala Publications.
Von Franz, M.-L., & Boa, F. (1994). The way of the dream: Conversations on Jungian dream interpretation. Shambhala Publications.
Woodman, Marion. (1982) Addiction to Perfection. Inner City Books.