Noel Tyl
Astrology => Noel Tyl Essays => Topic started by: James Williams on January 23, 2015, 12:52:12 PM
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In Noel's book, Astrology of Intimacy, Sexuality, & Relationship: Insights to Wholeness, he mentions certain expressions of the anima and animus in chapter 3, entitled "Fear and Disillusionment. Also in this chapter, he draws upon a work of one prominent Jungian analyst, John A. Sanford. Noel also makes the following comment, "As we begin to discuss some negative animus/anima projections, each of us all too vividly will meet up with parts of ourselves in the descriptions. Such study--more strongly developed than we are doing in this book--is impressively presented in many specialist texts dealing with Jungian analysis, available in bookstore psychology and self-help departments" (p. 70).
Recently, I have been re-reading certain Jungian authors, and one of them was the wife of Carl Jung himself, that is, Emma Jung. Back in 1957, Spring Publications translated into English a book of hers entitled, Animus and Anima. In this ongoing thread, I would like to share some of her insights into the negative animus, and as I do, I am thinking of a client who has her Sun in hard aspect to Neptune and Pluto, and her Mars in hard aspect to her Moon and Venus...please see page 73 and following in Noel's aforementioned book for similar examples...
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Here are some quotes on the negative or destructive animus from Emma Jung's aforementioned book...
"In a state of identification with the animus, we [women] think, say, or do something in the full conviction that it is we who are doing it, while in reality, without our having been aware of it, the animus has been speaking through us" (p. 14).
"...the animus has at its command a sort of aggressive authority and power of suggestion...the force of suggestion it exercises is due to woman's...lack of critical ability. Such opinions or concepts, usually brought out with great aplomb, are especially characteristic of the animus...Ready-made, incontrovertibly valid judgments of this kind are really only applicable in mathematics, where two times two is always four...One of the most important ways that the [negative] animus expresses itself, then, is in making judgments..." (pp. 14-15).
"The power and authority of the animus phenomenon can be partly explained by the primitive mental lack of differentiation between imagination and reality. Since what belongs to mind--that is, thought--possesses at the same time the character of indisputable reality, what the animus says seems also to be indisputably true" (p. 19).
"...the demand that is part of the nature of the animus...will obtrude itself in other ways, making claims which are not only inappropriate, as has already been said, but which produce precisely the wrong effects" (p. 39).
"...our animus may lag leadenly behind us in a lethargy, or confuse us with unruly, flickering inspirations..." (p. 40).
"But when women succeed in maintaining themselves against the [negative] animus, instead of allowing themselves to be devoured by it, then it ceases to be only a danger..."
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Let's now move on to some other well-known Jungians on this problem of the negative animus in women...
Barbara Hannah was another one of the most famous early Jungians, and in her book entitled The Inner Journey: Lectures and Essays on Jungian Psychology, chapter six is entitled "The Problem of Contact with Animus." Here are some of her thoughts, which closely parallel what Noel wrote in his aforementioned book...
"...a woman reacts with rigid opinions which go irritatingly beside the mark..." (p. 106).
"Recall that the animus has a negative and a positive aspect. If we constantly run up against the negative side, we may assume--as is usually also the case in our human relationships--that we are failing to see his point of view" (p. 118).
"It is essential...to realize that it was the [negative] animus and his opinions that spoiled the hour, against the wish of the [woman's] conscious ego, or nothing at all will be gained. The animus, it is true, will always turn the tables very neatly and--if he fails in his endeavor to make a woman blame the analyst, husband, or whoever it may be--he will attempt to throw the whole blame on the woman herself. If she believes him, she will get into a state of inferiority which is just as destructive as her emotions and rage. This blaming of a woman for all that he does himself is one of his best trump cards, for he thus binds her to his own existence and the thing for which she can really be blamed: failure to know her own animus" (pp. 121-122).
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Another well-known early Jungian was M. Esther Harding. In her book, The I and the Not I: A study in the development of consciousness, she also comments on the negative animus in women...
"A woman who acts by means of an identification to her [negative] animus instead of in her own feminine way will be argumentative, dogmatic, opinionated...The woman dominated by her animus is so well known in literature and also so frequently met with in life that I hardly need to describe her further" (p. 111).
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...and to conclude I'll include some more comments on the negative animus in women by Jungian analyst and Episcopalian priest, John A. Sanford, whom Noel, as mentioned above in my first post in this thread, cites in chapter 3 of his aforementioned book.
"It is the [negative] animus who is behind the autonomous, critical, and opinionated thoughts that intrude into a woman's consciousness...the animus is the master of opinions in a woman" (p. 43).
"...other people cannot stand the [negative animus] woman because of the blunt and critical judgments she passes...The opinions of the animus have a peculiarly irritating effect on other people because, in spite of their seeming logic, they do not fit...Yet neither can they be reasoned with, for the animus has an absolutist attitude, and his opinions are not amenable to discussion or qualification...she becomes identical with banal statements, sweeping judgments, or generalizations" (p. 44).
"The animus often keeps other people from reaching and experiencing the warm, feeling side of a woman because they cannot get through the animus and his opinions" (p. 45).
"As Barbara Hannah notes, the Reverend Jabes Branderham is an apt personification of the capacity of the animus to go on and on reciting the list of 'sins' that he claims people have committed. The negative animus can dredge up the most remarkable incidents to add to his unending list of sins and failures, and in addition to acting as prosecutor, appoints himself judge as well. He has no mercy in his pronouncements, and there is no end to the list of faults he can find" (p. 47).
This book that Noel and I are quoting from by Sanford is entitled, The Invisible Partners: How the Male and Female in each of Us Affects Our Relationships.
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...and here's a short youtube video on the negative animus from my most favorite Jungian, Dr. Marie-Louise von Franz...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3uBwDVqfMs&list=PL_oVZUIMhZs1Nbyn1CbPHSCTUDhYjf46I&index=16
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James: Two favors, please.
1. Your posts focus on the feminine projection of the animus, and particularly relies on examples of the inner b_tch. Do your sources discuss the obverse side of the coin, the male projection of the inner a__hole?
2. Could you discuss Noel's thesis that the anima/animus manifests our need fulfillment efforts by joining with people who possess some astrological element we may lack. See Astrology of Intimacy, p. 78, et seq. Can you say something about the phenomenon in individuals where their elements are in relative balance.
Thank you.
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Hi Lopaka,
1. Yes, all of the sources I cited above do discuss also the negative anima...
2. I'm still working on this one, as I'm not familiar with the work of Banzhaf and Theler...perhaps others here--and/or Noel--would like to say something about this...
:)
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...and here is a link on it by some of what Jung wrote about it...very informative and instructive... :)
http://carljungdepthpsychology.blogspot.com/2012/02/zyzygy-anima-and-animus-carl-jung.html
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Quite a bit in that last blog. I have not even read the entire thing, much less digested it.
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...yes, not to be eaten in one session! ;D
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Hi James, speaking of animus/anima projections, a week ago I got the book "Your Hidden Face: Projection In The Horoscope" by Tim Lyons and he goes into Jung's anima/amimus in great detail....also quotes Emma Jung and Marie Von Franz and Jung himself among others.
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Thank you Halina...will definitely check it out! :)
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Good James, it has 394 pages.....chapters include...Gender-Based Projections.....Aspects & Projections....Houses As Indicators Of Projection.....Perception, Projection and the Signs....The Foci of Security: Saturn & Moon....Collective Projection....Projection & USA Foreign Policy....etc.
He gathers reference from Marie Louise Von Franz(thanks for the U Tube Video), Sigmund Freud, Alice Freud, Chogyam Trungpa, Noel Tyl, Habegger,
and many more.
His example charts include: Emily Dickinson, William Butler Yeats, Alice Sheldon, F. Lee Bailey, Thomas Mann, Henry Kissinger, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Mohandus Ghandi, Herman Melville, Jerry Rubin, Bob Dylan, Hillary Clinton, Ken Starr, George H. Bush, United States Chart, Invasion of Mexico, World Trade Center Attack, Afghanistan War, Iraq War, and Adolf Hitler.
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Thank you Halina...
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Outstanding James...
Thank you for your posts.
I was recently reading John Steiner's (psychoanalyst London) paper Seeing and Being Seen: Narcissistic pride and narcissistic humiliation. And his description of analysis with a client was remarkable.
"If humiliation is too painful and separateness becomes unbearable, the patient
may be able to recreate a sense of proximity by using the eyes to obliterate the
awareness of separateness. The mechanism relies on the ability of the eye to take
over some of the functions which previously relied on the proximity senses, and
which are associated with part object relationships. In particular, projection and
introjection now come to be mediated by the eyes, and gaze becomes capable of
penetrating and can be used not only to observe the object as a whole but also to enter
the object and identify with it. The excitement associated with entry transforms the
child’s position from that of an observer into that of a voyeur and the identification
can lead to a further transformation in phantasy from a watcher at a distance to that
of a participator in bodily contact. It is as if vision is then used as a proximity sense
enabling a part object relationship to be re-established."
The above quote and entire paper reminded me of the Sanford book you referenced in your post.
The catalyst for me to investigate this business of projection was sparked by a conversation I was having with a colleague. He had met Warrne Buffett who was giving a lecture where he attended college, earning his MBA. After the lecture students were given the opportunity to meet WB. My colleague said that his 'gaze' was penetrating. He felt disarmed and that WB was looking into his soul, and sizing him up somehow. He felt extremely intimidated because this 'aggressive WB' was so contrary to the 'affable WB' presenting to the group. Immediately I thought to myself, 'how narcissistic'. I think I Googled some combination of 'gaze' 'narcissism' and 'eyes' which turned up Steiner's paper. Interestingly, Neptune is in WB's 8th house if I recall (rectified by Hiroki). All this stuff seems so deeply unconscious and related to the 12th house... the rabbit hole...
Klein may have embodied this animus concept. "Strongly opinionated, and demanding loyalty from her followers, Klein established a highly influential training program in psychoanalysis. She is considered one of the co-founders of object relations theory." Although object relations theory is arguably distinct from the Jungian thought construct of anima/animus I can 'see' how they are related. But nevertheless, this poise served Klein who obviously was fighting to 'be seen' in a man's world.
I think this challenge for women continues in today's world where women more or less compete in masculine terms... I am thinking of Danika Patrick and any number of athletes who carry the animus projection to extreme... slowly by slowly we evolve... when will the matriarchal re-emerge? Not any time soon... and certainly not in the upcoming election...
"Initially, man must have learned to identify the circle from the pupils of maternal eyes, and then from reading eyes of others. Above, over seeing all, there were the moving disks of the godly Sun and the Moon." (NT Solar Arcs page 1)
Just a few thoughts... hope it isn't too far askew and off topic... in any event I enjoyed your commentary...
All the best,
HVA
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Apologies: "Klein" is Melanie Klein... John Stein is considered post-Kleinian.
Best,
HVA
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Thank you HVA, very much appreciated!
Several Jungians have referenced Melanie Klein over the years, and rightly so!
:)
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Additionally, Barbara Hannah has written a two-volume compilation on the animus, which is most likely still the best in existence...eventually, more astrologers will add to Noel's work (see above) on this topic...
The Animus: The Spirit of Inner Truth in Women
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James, I believe the Hubers get into the animus/anima discussion....forget which of their books it was in. Which planet corresponds to animus in women....is it Mars?
Which planet corresponds to anima in males,,,is it Venus?
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Hi Halina, yes, you are correct. I will have to look through the Huber books again to see what they wrote on the animus and anima...