The Mother Archetype: Dreams of "The Mother"

One of Carl Jung's predominant archetypes was that of the "Mother".

He writes in The Collective Works of Carl Jung:

"We have evolved in an environment that included a mother or mother-substitute. We would never have survived without our connection with a nurturing-one during our times as helpless infants. It stands to reason that we are "built" in a way that reflects that evolutionary environment: We come into this world ready to want mother, to seek her, to recognize her, to deal with her."

The mother archetype is our built-in ability to recognize a certain relationship, that of "mothering." Jung says that this is rather abstract, and we are likely to project the archetype out into the world and onto a particular person, usually our own mothers. Even when an archetype doesn't have a particular real person available, we tend to personify the archetype, that is, turn it into a mythological "story-book" character. This character symbolizes the archetype.

The mother archetype is symbolized by the primordial mother or "earth mother" of mythology, by Eve and Mary in western traditions, and by less personal symbols such as the church, the nation, a forest, or the ocean. According to Jung, someone whose own mother failed to satisfy the demands of the archetype may well be one that spends his or her life seeking comfort in the church, or in identification with "the motherland," or in meditating upon the figure of Mary, or in a life at sea.

Ah yes, "Mother".

For me personally this archetype has been so important that I have not been able to think of much else. I suspect the resolution of my feelings about mother and motherhood will take several years, if not longer to process, to sort out and to make peace. I am sure that many of you have similar feelings about the "Mother" archetype, motherhood, mothering and your own mothers. So for now, I will take care of myself and honor the past dreams that I have had of my own mother. This includes the struggles that I have had in mothering myself, and the dream of the "Great Mother" from last summer.

Last year, my mother became very ill. She had been sick on and off for some time but this was different. This was the first signs of the decline. My life which had been busy supporting her needs for a few years, had taken a darker turn, now demanding more of me than I imagined. My work and own health were effected greatly and I eventually left my job.

During this time of great stress, I began to read more about ancient mythology. And, I was once again inspired by the works of Carl Jung, who I had largely not considered in the work I was doing as a clinical therapist working with children. After reading about The Goddess Nut (as seen above in my book) I fell asleep on my sofa in the afternoon and I had the following dream:

"There is a lake nestled in a woods -the water is salt water and I walk into the water with two native( first nations) people- a male and female in dark hooded clothing.This is peaceful and I am delighted that I see this lake in my dream. The man and the woman seem to be supportive and safe but we don't speak-there is an understanding they are "my guides", In the water, I see a whale in the water, it swims by and I am not afraid-the dream pans to an underwater view and I can see my legs through the green water.

Then I see a large, long, thin woman in the water and she reaches up to pull me in. (I am really frightened) and resist going under the water as she grabs at me with large crab like hands. I bite deeply into her little finger."

It was the great Mother herself ! Dark, mysterious from the dark depths of my unconscious, the goddess of the night. I was disturbed by this dream and the power she had over me..."I loved my mother", I thought. Nut indeed, I was resentful and feeling overwhelmed and wrapped around her little finger. She has always had me wrapped around her finger. Then, I began to think about myself and my own resistance to motherhood. I have always felt afraid, deep down, that I would be engulfed or swallowed up by motherhood. My mother was a very powerful woman and I was often engulfed by her darker side.

I then realized that although the great mother was formidable, she also reminded me that I too can be strong and powerful, the goddess I am. I didn't need to be biting towards my mother or myself. I could walk into the depths of my imagination and enjoy the peace of my spirit. I do not need to walk alone in my life there will always be my guides, there will always be my protectors. I am complete.

Its interesting to note that Carl Jung had a great fear of his own "dark mother". He saw two distinct people or archetypes in her, and this fear of the feminine aspects of himself propelled him to become the brilliant psychologist and scholar that he was. Like Jung, we all face the mother archetype within ourselves and in others each day. By looking for the goddess behind the mother, helps us to balance the feminine and masculine aspects of our psyches. We need to embrace both the nurturing and the powerful aspects of our feminine selves in order to reconcile to the masculine aspect of who we are.

Peace,

Colleen

The False Face: Masks, Dreams and the Iroquois People

"A dream is a piece of reality...whose meaning is pregnant but uncertain, and whose fate in the world of the waking-ego lies in our own hands. If we treat it with respect, it serves us. There is never any doubt as to its underlying concern for our ultimate welfare." James Hall

When I came across this website I was so excited to see the information provided on dreams and the Iroquois and its reference to Six nations and the Iroquois. The title of the page was "THE IROQUOIS DREAM EXPERIENCE and SPIRITUALITY " Immediately, I began deliciously devouring the stories, histories and connections to depth psychology and the dreams, practices and rituals of the First Nation's people. I felt that I was in my element, and my sense of purpose was full throttle. The stories and myths grabbed my fascination immediately and I realized how the "Great Spirit", the Creator brought this wonder to me. Thank you!!!

My first impression and connection was to the first mask. At once, my mind began thinking of the look of my new blog and its layout and how that intriguing picture would be "perfect". I didn't see the irony in this reaction until I later read the description of the mask "First Mask: False face"

Yes, there it was and it was undeniable. The persona, or the false face smiling back at me, laughing at me, the mask ridiculing me out of my awareness.

As a person who had to hide a key element of my ancestry while living a family life filled with much denial and shame, the mask or the face I project to the world has taken me along way. The lies I have told myself and others in order to be accepted, to "fit in" and to succeed, have been a heavy burden. The hurts I have caused and endured in order to "save face" have cost me in so many ways. Pretending, denying and blindly accepting non-truths in order to be accepted, liked, to succeed and "keep the peace" have caused me great damage over the years. And what for? The illusion of social acceptance, the illusion of being worthy and "good enough".

The Iroquois mask "The False Face" reminds me of the ridiculousness in believing or taking too seriously the masks I wear, and the importance of remembering that any mask is not secure or permanently fixed to the soul. It can come off at any time.

Mitakuye Oyasin,

Colleen

Here is a link to this wonderful website:
http://www.webwinds.com/yupanqui/iroquoisdreams.htm

The Dream and the Shadow

"Where love rules, there is no will to power, and where power predominates, love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other." Carl Jung, On the Psychology of the Unconscious

The Shadow, is a psychological term introduced by the late Swiss psychiatrist, Dr. Carl G. Jung. It is everything in us that is unconscious, repressed, undeveloped and denied. These are dark rejected aspects of our being as well as light, so there is positive undeveloped potential in the Shadow that we don’t know about because anything that is unconscious, we don’t know about.

The Shadow is an archetype. An archetype means is that it is typical in consciousness for everyone, our racial and instinctual memories of our species. Everyone has a Shadow. We all have a Shadow and a confrontation with the Shadow is essential for self awareness. We cannot learn about ourselves if we do not learn about our Shadow so therefore we are going to attract it through the mirrors of other people.

The shadow is therefore all that is halved in the unconscious and not made whole. It is the source of all our misery and social disease. Whether it is the darkness of unquestioned individuality, selfishness, violence and hostility or the ever obsessive need to be a self sacrificing martyr to others, its danger lies in its unrealized "other half". It is by nature incomplete and therefore, always searching for its other side. In not finding its other, lost in unconscious unawareness, it projects itself outward unto others. When a person can not find his other in himelf first, he looks to others to have that unconscious need met. However, over and over again he finds only his shadow-half looking back at him. He then wonders why the world is such a dark place?

The Shadow Dream

Most often, when Shadows appear to us in dreams, they hold the key to our repressed memories, which enable us to uncover unwanted habits and allow us to heal. For example a shadow will come to us most often as someone of the same sex in dreams. He/She will be our old childhood friend or co-worker who is completely opposite from us; they are incompetent, loud, rude, obnoxious, sexual or docile. The traits they carry which we reject as bad or "other" (not of us) are actually traits which we fear or need within ourselves; they can also be traits which we show outwardly to our family and friends but are not aware of it. Traits which hurt our relationships and ourselves. This is an example of Projection : when we displace onto, or see in others what we deny as part of ourselves. For example, accusing your spouse/partner of not being more supportive when in fact it's you who needs to show more support. Or, wondering why he/she doesn't love you more when in fact you don't love yourself enough or give yourself more worth.

The first thing we have to do in order to begin to see our Shadowsides, is to take 100% responsibility for our lives. This is a very difficult thing to do and no one does this overnight so we have to be patient with ourselves.Being in the human experience, we have all had many painful, difficult experiences where it clearly looks like it is the other persons fault, or bad luck in life or whatever else we want to call it. So taking total responsibility for what appears to come to us is no easy task but it is well worth the effort because when we take responsibility for what happens to us, we can then learn and grow from our experiences and make new choices for ourselves. Changing our attitude from blame to responsibility will change what happens next in our world. Our destiny is of our own making and what goes on inside of us will be reflected outside of us all the time.

Shadow dreams do not imply that we are to become the image that we dream of, but more to look at what the image represents in our daily lives and how our shadow may be unconsciously wreaking havoc. For example, a shadowy corporate executive as murder in a dream may well represent how we abuse our power in daily life, abuse our financial responsibility etc. Each person may look to their own shadow dreams for personal meaning.

I am very fond of this ancient axiom given to us by the alchemists of long ago: “As above, so below, as within, so without, so that the miracle of the one can be established.” What it is saying is that what is within us, will also be oustide of us. Inner states of consciousness will be reflected in outer situations time and time again. If we are willing to look at the significance of these repeating patterns, we will see the syncronicity of events and situations and ultimately once integrated, the miracle of the whole is established as we become one with ourselves.

Peace,

Colleen

The Imagination and the Dream

"Without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of the imagination is incalculable." Carl Jung

The concept of "imagination" was central to Carl Jung's exploration of the human unconscious. Although he didn't dedicate a tremendous amount of his work to theories of imagination, he recognized that through the tool of imagination, one could access the unconscious through dreams. Jung developed a technique called "Active Imagination". This was a focused practice, using meditation techniques allowing the unconscious to come into consciousness. Active imagination is a method for visualizing unconscious issues by letting them act themselves out. Active imagination can be done by visualization , which can be considered similar to shamanic journeying. Active imagination can also be done by automatic writing, or by artistic activities such as dance, music, painting, sculpting, ceramics, jewellery, etc. Doing Active imagination permits the thought forms of the subconscious to act out whatever messages they are trying to communicate to the conscious mind.

So it is through one's own imagination that the dream is possible. Through the dream and its symbols, images, impressions, feelings, and missing pieces the individual discovers who
he/she is and understands the deeper meanings of personal experience.

Jung and Dreams

Jung believed that the human psyche was divided in two parts—the conscious and the unconscious mind. According to Jung, the center of the human psyche should not be considered the person’s ego. Instead, the center is the Self, which contains more than the conscious content. The Self is the completion of the human psyche, after someone has developed all of his or her psychological functions.


The unconscious mind is divided in personal and collective distinctions. The personal part contains someone’s individual experiences, while the collective part has general content existent in all human beings. The collective part is represented in dreams by the archetypes, which are symbols that appear in everyone’s dreams, in all historical times and civilizations.

The main dream symbols that appear in everyone’s dreams according to Jung’s statements are:

1. The Persona—This is the image that the individual presents to the world, like a social mask. The persona would reflect the person’s social position, profession, and status quo.

2. The Shadow—This is the part of the human psyche that is not developed yet. The shadow contains positive and negative characteristics, depending on someone’s personal evolution.

3. The Animus or Anima—This is the image of the ideal type of man for a woman, or the ideal type of woman for a man. The animus, or anima, is an idol, but could represent a real person of the person’s environment.


Carl Jung concluded that each dreamer who decides to discover the content existent in his or her own psyche through the interpretation of dreams would make a trip to the Self. For Jung, The Self was all the individuals potential that was possible, complete.

Jung was convinced that the scope of dream interpretation was larger than Freud's objective understanding of biological processes and unresolved conflicts , instead reflecting the richness and complexity of the "entire", the personal and collective. Jung believed the psyche to be a self-regulating organism in which conscious attitudes were likely to be compensated for unconsciously (within the dream) by their opposites.

Jung believed that archetypes such as the animus, the anima the shadow and others manifested themselves in dreams, as dream symbols or figures. Such figures could take the form of an old man, a young maiden or a giant spider as the case may be. Each represents an unconscious attitude that is largely hidden to the conscious mind. Although an integral part of the dreamer's psyche, these manifestations were largely autonomous and were perceived by the dreamer to be external personages. Acquaintance with the archetypes as manifested by these symbols serve to increase one's awareness of unconscious attitudes, integrating seemingly disparate parts of the psyche and contributing to the process of holistic self understanding he considered paramount.

Jung also believed that material repressed by the conscious mind, postulated by Freud to comprise the unconscious, was similar to his own concept of the shadow, which in itself is only a small part of the unconscious.

He cautioned against blindly ascribing meaning to dream symbols without a clear understanding of the client's personal situation. Although he acknowledged the universality of archetypal symbols, he contrasted this with the concept of a sign — images having a one to one connotation with their meaning. His approach was to recognise the dynamism and fluidity that existed between symbols and their ascribed meaning. Symbols must be explored for their personal significance to the patient, instead of having the dream conform to some predetermined idea. This prevents dream analysis from devolving into a theoretical and dogmatic exercise that is far removed from the patient's own psychological state. In the service of this idea, he stressed the importance of "sticking to the image" — exploring in depth a client's association with a particular image. This may be contrasted with Freud's free associating which he believed was a deviation, from the salience of the image. He describes for example the image "deal table". One would expect the dreamer to have some associations with this image, and the professed lack of any perceived significance or familiarity whatsoever should make one suspicious. Jung would ask a patient to imagine the image as vividly as possible and to explain it to him as if he had no idea as to what a "deal table" was. Jung stressed the importance of context in dream analysis.

Jung stressed that the dream was not merely a devious puzzle invented by the unconscious to be deciphered, so that the 'true' causal factors behind it may be elicited. Dreams were not to serve as lie detectors, with which to reveal the insincerity behind conscious thought processes. Dreams, like the unconscious, had their own language. As representations of the unconscious, dream images have their own primacy and logic.

Jung taught that dreams may contain ineluctable truths, philosophical pronouncements, illusions, wild fantasies, memories, plans, irrational experiences and even telepathic visions. Just as the psyche has a diurnal side which we experience as conscious life, it has an unconscious nocturnal side which we apprehend as dreamlike fantasy. Jung would argue that just as we do not doubt the importance of our conscious experience, then we ought not to second guess the value of our unconscious lives.

Dream:

It was very early here in Vancouver and I woke before 5 am with a powerful dream of the dragonfly..Actually, this very large dragonfly was on my head in my dream woke me up!! In the dream, It was supposed to be both a guide and pet belonging to a young guest staying at my house. I was very happy that this young person was staying with me ( the son of my ex husband. I haven’t seen my ex husband for many years). However, the dragon fly was frightening me because it wanted to be on my head and it was making a buzzing sound. However, it was telepathic and it knew that although I was very frightened I meant it no harm. Before it landed on my head I looked at it and the dragonfly was “otherworldly” and beautiful and I knew it would not hurt me. This was a very spiritual transaction or communication, and I can’t describe the experience fully in words. The dragonfly was a beautiful azure blue. A male colleague I knew from work a few years ago, was also there in my living room as a supportive friend-he is a psychologist from China. The room was filled with large books and different shelving arrangements. The situation, circumstances were all pieces from my past and all from different aspects of my life over the last 25 years. When I woke I was crying and had a flood of emotion and nostalgia for my past.....

I had this dream a couple of months ago but it's imagery is still fresh in my mind. The effect has been for me to reflect on the nature of life, birth, children , learning and growing, fears, the realm of spirit, the realm of nature, the mystery of the dragonfly and simply staying still, mindfully. Trust.

Perhaps today, I will spend time in my garden and prepare it for the coming summer. I will wear a favorite blue top and listen to sounds that speak of the sound of water. Perhaps, I will enjoy the awareness of letting go of fear and being still within myself, free from my anxieties and worries about the future. The Dragonfly is a mysterious insect to me-there it sits so quietly on the water and yet it is a fierce protector of its environment. Feeding from the dangerous mosquitos that breed off the water it visits and protects. Here is a link to an interesting interpretation of the symbolism of the dragonfly.

A link to an inspiring website

http://symbolic-meanings.com/

Peace,

Colleen