The madwoman:
An Analysis in Judgment
Part II
Oh God I missed you!
Archetypal Insights
Men have to make a great effort to relate to two women at once, or in the
case of a married man, to be married to two women at once, and it
doesn’t matter whether a man is married or not, or even if he is
committed to lifelong celibacy, he still needs to relate to his own anima.
There are many facets to a man’s anima. He can be happily married and
yet besieged by fantasies in which he is trying to relate to other women.
Archetypal Insights
These fantasies are the other faces of the anima, and if he fails to
understand that they are interior aspects of his own personality that
must be integrated, and he begins to act out these fantasies, he can
destroy his own happiness and that of his wife and family.
The hardest thing about the anima is believing that she actually exists.
Men will deny it vehemently all the while their rigorously logical plans
are awash from feelings from below (a paradoxical pun)
Animus and Anima Reunited
Running From Judgement
The process brings us extreme feelings of vulnerability and helplessness (I
don’t know if Dan is used to feeling this way)
Humans don’t want to be guilty
The “Judge” within will refuse to let us face our own humanity (this
happens so unconsciously we don’t have time to respond differently)
Guilt can be a barrier - removes us from deeper feelings of vulnerability -
We car trying to keep our persona intact - judgment can bring about its
dismantling
Trouble in the Hen House
The Rooster
Dan will not take responsibility for the shadow inside - and will blame
the woman for seducing him somehow believing he was the victim
His feelings of loss of control bring about loss of power
Rage against the other to gain back sense of control (so he first wants the
anima - but doesn’t want all that comes with the anima (split)
The Hen
She (anima) is beautiful and alluring, obsessing us with desire, and then perhaps
scornful and rejecting, driving us to contemplate dark deeds. But her conduct is
not simply capricious.
She is not simply raising petty objections and pointing out small faults
Meanwhile, the anima turned “madwoman” inside fails to face her inner
vulnerability
Thus, Alex embraces the animus taking charge of her desires and pursues want
she wants, but her anima then kicks in and desires something completely
different (split)
The Madwoman Descends
The Judge Takes Court
The judge appears to be on high, in actuality, to judge others is a
“fallen state”.
We are actually feeling alienated/ helpless albeit (unconscious), but
instead of working out the feelings we...
ARMOUR OURSELVES THROUGH SELF JUSTIFICATION
JUDGE AS MADWOMAN
MADWOMAN TURNED JUDGE - is also judging Dan; but lost in the
chaos forgets to judge herself
And in chaos the judge’s reign can last forever
As a judge we remain immune
The Bed and the Bunny
Thoughts, Reactions, & Theory
When pushed to the limit the madwoman can become the aggressor who
devours people through demands, control, and anger in her insatiable
craving for love and power
Even in a woman who at the outside is very feminine, the animus can be
a hard, unforgiving power. Woman can suddenly become stubborn, cold
and completely inaccessible.
Typical for such madwomen is the endless repetition of thoughts like:
"The only thing in the world I want is love, but he doesn’t love me."
The animus never believes in exceptions.
Thinking the Anima Inferior
Dan has come to believe the anima is inferior (conditioned)
But there is no inferior (yin / yang) are one of a whole
His banking on her inferiority is torn asunder - maybe his invulnerability
arises because her animus is stronger than his persona of masculinity
Confessions:
What is the Matter With You?
What is the Matter With Dan?
Let’s chat about his Confession
Dan becomes increasingly distrustful, fearing he would be devoured by
judgements - and found out Guilty
Will he now stand in judgement - take responsibility or continue to
project outwards his innocence.
What about this...Do you Love Her!
Thoughts?
Murdered By the Anima or Devoured by Madness?
A Final Word from the Judge
Proper persona broken through - the killing was justified based on what?
Ultimately for both of them - the journey toward wholeness was both
stalled - (it led them to the affair)
And as they both played the shadow game - the Judge inside of both of
them severed them from the heart of the true feminine
Addiction:
Cannibalization of the Heart
Looking within, one can see the power of the madwoman - the wild
hysterical devouring frenzy that eats up the heart and soul of the
individual
He or she is left in a frozen melancholic state that petrifies both oneself
and the those around them
Its as though we are at the mercy of the madwoman’s most primeval
power that of “self-destroying madness” - which remains at the heart of
all things
But Leonard suggests that we know this “madwoman who wants to kills
us” and to stop it from “killing us” we must be willing to transform
“ourselves”
Creation and Destruction
Madwoman carries within her both the power to create and destroy
She can attack and destroy the soul or bring birth
Like Dionysius her power is balanced on a pendulum and its momentum
is madness
This madness is no sickness - but it can bring about sickness
Maybe best understood as an emotion than ripples through all lives, it is
akin to nature herself
Cannibalization
Conclusions:
MadWoman and Anima
Develop a consciousness that both includes our biological and cultural
inheritance and also transcends it, so that a new, free space of
relationship is created in culture in which to catalyze a new partnership
between women and men.
This would be a new expression of the feminine, and given how essential
it is for transforming our world, such an endeavour is nothing less than
sacred.