The Role of the Animus in Archetypal Dreamwork

The process of working through one's dreams inevitably leads to an awareness of what is variously termed the false or shadow self. This false self consists of beliefs and values that a person clings to and that are at odds - incongruous - with the True Self. Another term for the energies that are destructive to a dreamer's true nature is pathology. Most of us become divorced from a deeper sense of ourselves during childhood; and it is here that the pathology takes hold, filling the empty spaces that are left behind in our psyches and serving to re-define who we are in the world. In order to return to a state of psychological and spiritual health, to that child's place of trusting in the Creator, we have to follow through with a process whereby the false self - and all of the pathology that's bound up with it - literally dies. The chief agent of this transformation is recognized by Archetypal psychology as the Animus.

The terms "Animus" and "Anima" were originally coined by the Swedish psychologist Carl Jung to denote the masculine aspects of a woman's psyche and the feminine aspects of a man's psyche, respectively. However, some modern schools of thought within the field of Archetypal psychology define the Animus - and his role - in a vastly different way. While he does exhibit masculine qualities, appearing invariably as a man or male animal in dreams, he serves as initiator for men and women both. Also, he is not a "part" of the dreamer but rather a kind of mediator between the Divine or archetypal world and human consciousness. If the spiritual impetus of dreamwork is to establish a relationship with the Creator of God the Father, then the Animus epitomizes the essence of a statement attributed to Jesus Christ, that one does not come to the Father but by Him.