Aspects of the Feminine

This volume is a selection of writings from the Collected Works of Carl Jung (1875-1961), a selection focusing on the "feminine". In Jung's psychology, the "feminine" can mean several things, including: (1) the consciousness of real females; (2) an aspect of the Unconscious in males called the "anima"; and (3) an archetype of the creative matrix of existence in all human beings. The writings in this volume discuss principally the second and third of those. These selections are in chronological order, so one can trace the development of Jung's ideas. Several mention the interactions of "anima" and "animus" (the unconscious contrasexual elements, in men and women respectively, which play a vital role in both romance and spiritual unfolding) - indeed, that is the main subject of the earlier selection from "Relations of the Ego and Unconscious" (1928) as well as the closing selection from "Aion" (1959). The long central selection, "Psychological Aspects of the Mother Archetype", and "The Psychological Aspects of the Kore" both use mythology to illustrate what Jung saw as fundamental psychological issues for all human beings. This book would be disappointing for someone looking specifically for writings on women's issues; however, anima & animus are central ideas in Jung's conception of gender relations, and his clearest expositions of those subjects are collected here. Furthermore, this book would be of great interest to anyone looking at larger issues of how the "feminine" is conceived across cultures and across time.