ABSTRACT
Using a specifically Jungian understanding of the purpose of myth, this chapter explores the psychological territory of the ancient Sumerian story Inanna and Ebih and Netflix Originals drama series House of Cards, examining their similarities and what they might tell about a woman’s path to autonomy and leadership. The shift in consciousness that both these particular stories call to mind can be related to another Jungian concept, that of individuation, which is the process of becoming oneself, that is “whole, indivisible and distinct from other people or collective psychology. In comparing an ancient myth with a modern television drama, the chapter brings into focus a powerful and terrifying aspect of the feminine that is rarely directly apprehended in contemporary culture: the female acquisition of power through aggressive means for its own sake.
