ABSTRACT
Jung believed working with the anima-animus was the magnum opus of the individuation process. Yet, contemporary analytic psychology has seen little significant movement behind the veils of these concepts that explores the depths of how these archetypes are embodied, embedded, and lived out phenomenologically. This chapter contains a memoir of the author’s relationship with a man she categorizes as a false bridegroom. The violence that can hide behind initial anima-animus projections and the shadow side of collective romantic ideals are exposed. The author concludes that, in relationships, betrayal trauma and deception contain the same seeds of a psychic violence toward women and the feminine that is seen in the demon lover complex: a violence that undermines a woman’s perception, sense of worth, sense of self, and safety in the world. The personal material is amplified to the archetypal level through the myth of Ariadne and Theseus—the hero and the anima woman.
The author shows how these anima-animus dynamics also hold the keys to a deeper movement toward individuation and initiation in the psyche. Referring to literature on shamanism the author explores the relationship to the inner “ally” figure and how this inner spiritual union can offer protection and a reparative experience of love.
The chapter concludes with an archetypal dream the author had of an old Roma woman—a dream that eventually led her to play the role of Salomé in a contemporary theatre production.
