The setting sun in a stormy sky as an image for the animus.
The element of the animus as life force in matter is fire.

The Animus - male spirit and drive in body and matter

Drive and propulsion in the body

In human traditions, the animus represents the driving force in matter and in the body and is thus an extremely important figure. As a divine impulse and life drive, he appears in very different guises. He appears as the stormy god of the air or the wind, as a flaming heavenly bull, as a drive out of pain and impulse (DEVIL) or as a drive out of love (CHRIST). 

Context: Animus and Anima in juxtaposition

C.G. Jung coined the terms anima and animus. Animus and Anima are ARCHETYPES which , as male and female spirit respectively, move matter in different ways.

Archetypal animus figures in traditions

The positive animus in the three aspects of God

The loving and acting father

The Father is full of love and warm-heartedness (because he has integrated these qualities with his daughter, the VIRGIN). He therefore also sees every need, and in his wisdom he also sees the way out. That is why he sends his strong son to help.

The obedient son: redeeming prince and saviour

The redeeming prince is the obedient son of the loving father who gives himself completely and thereby puts his whole existence on the line. In this way he proves to be a Christ figure, for he reconnects the woman with her very own power of love (see . The woman as goddess and the man as her heroic king).. This redemptive power of the hero is the theme of countless traditions. She rescues the woman and the great feminine, the people from bondage under a tyrannical ruler (as a negative animus as in The Lord of the Rings or The Last Unicorn) or from captivity in negativity (in the "underworld" or in a castle overgrown with thorns as in Sleeping Beauty).

The creative word: powerful encouragement and impulse-giving energy

Words and signs of understanding, comfort and encouragement point in a positive direction and can thus lay the foundation for a new, constructive reality. Faith, hope and love have the power to move mountains and initiate a new creation.

The animus as the good or the evil drive

The animus can appear in the energy of the raw drive or as a drive from love and thus negative or positive. In its negative form it is the drive out of lack, the naked drive ("ANIMAL") or the drive out of negativity such as fear, pain, lack and feeling of deficit, the whip in the neck that mercilessly drives to peak performance ("DEVIL"). In its positive form, it is the passion for good, the drive from love, trust and mercy ("CHRIST").

Power or love? Drive or consciousness?

As a life instinct, however, it is first of all value-neutral. It means life force that rises to consciousness. Once it has achieved this, the human being is challenged to decide: Does he want to live power or love? Does he want to take or give? Does he want to realise his ego and live his urges or does he seek a higher goal and a greater truth? (S. Life and the Serpent: Ascent and Descent.).

The evaluation, the judgement as a consequence of "evil" and a means of power of the ego

The evaluation "good or bad" is already the consequence of the "fall" from wholeness. It emerges with negative energy (devaluation) when the problem is already in the room. On its stage enters the ego The "problem" comes into play, which is immediately on the spot with rejection and condemnation.

Neutrality and solution orientation!

So that one can set out on a constructive path with one's loving consciousness, it is better to renounce judgement. In this way, the ego with its addiction to negativity is given no room and instead a solution or redemption can be sought. Reflecting on difficult circumstances and experiences is only justified if it is possible to recognise what should be done better in the future. (S. How do I concretely steer my life in a positive direction?).

The Animus as the inner man of the woman

Drive and relationship to the body

The animus as the drive in her body is strongly determined by the mental, inner image that the woman has of masculinity. This is shaped first by her father, second by the experiences she has had with her body and men, and last but not least by "inherited" ideas from her mother and by social consensus. This inner image decisively influences her encounters with men (figure: woman's relationship triad).

• In its positive form (drive of love) the animus moves the woman to give herself body and soul for the life of others (see Woman as a life-giving vessel).
• In its negative form it drives her into aggressive, dominant and power-oriented behaviour or activates her pain and death instinct (see The Pain Body of Women).

[More s. The Animus as the inner man of the woman.]

The integration of the animus - confrontation with the shadow

Hated and repressed characteristics

In order to overcome the negative drive of lack, pain and the feeling of deficit, the person has to deal with his or her shadow. With repressed painful experiences and memories that shaped the negative identity, the associated resources are also relegated to a "shadow existence" in life. Denied as "weaknesses" or "mistakes", rejected or even hated, they emerge at most when the person is under stress. Then they flood him with even more negative energy.

The acid test: overcoming the ego, the dark ruler in the shadows

Overcoming theego is man's acid test, for coming to terms with the inner identity of power is tantamount to dying within. How exhausting and existential this struggle can be is vividly expressed in the epic The Lord of the Rings(Wikipedia link). It depicts the struggle against the dark ruler and the almost impossible destruction of the Ring of Power where it was forged: in the FIRE of passion and suffering.

Saving fatherly love

The shadows are integrated by the person's attentive perception of him/herself in the difficult and meeting him/herself with understanding (father) love (see as an example The Escaped Prisoner).

[S. The Integration of the Animus]

The Collective Dimension: The Animus as Satan or Redeemer

The first traditions: not evaluation, but development

Sumer: The God of Earth and Saving Father

In the Sumerian tradition the "god of the earth", who is the god of wisdom and the loving father, disposes quite also of demonic energies, "monsters" (see The ENKUM). This can be explained by the fact that he as god of the "earth" has dominion over the forces in matter. Son and daughter still have to learn to use them wisely. It is also the loving father who raises the goddess of love from the dead on the third day.

Babylon: The evil and the good drive

In the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh, Shamash, the bull of heaven first appears as a wild and libidinous force. Later he appears as a redeeming force that can bring Gilgamesh safely across the waters of death. (The mirroring of the syllables SHA-M-ASH can be interpreted as a reversal of direction and "conversion": from power to love; see notes on the Sumerian language). In other words, Gilgamesh, as a model for man on the way to kingship in life, first lives out his drives (power), but then in the course of his life learns the better way of service, the drive out of love ("Christ").

Jewish-Christian tradition and collectiveredemption

From Satan/Devil to Messiah/Christ

Judeo-Christian tradition anticipates the collective redemption of humanity from negativity, bondage and death into freedom of the spirit, to eternal life in the power of love.

The DEVIL/SATAN, the drive out of pain, lack and feeling of deficit pulls everything down into negativity and death (see The Negative Animus as Devil or Pain Body). But it will have to give way to the power of love, when the drive out of love and passion for the good will take over. This will be installed by the Messiah / Christ, the anointed one in the name of the loving Father.

From bondage to the promised land

Collective redemption is needed because the Great Feminine, life itself and with it human beings and all creation, is "enslaved" in negativity, disease and death. (S. The Great Feminine in the Underworld.)
The bondage under the rule of power will be replaced by the kingdom of love, because love is stronger than death and overcomes it.

[S. The Collective Dimension of the Animus or: Did the Devil Create the Existing World?
and The Feminine in the Underworld and Collective Redemption].

We continue with:

The negative animus as devil or pain body
The animus as the inner man of the woman
The integration of the male parts (animus)
The escaped prisoner (free text on the integration of the animus)
Did the devil create the world? (The collective dimension of the animus)

Back to:

Animus and Anima

Archetypes

"I am the Father" (free text)
Christ / Messiah, the anointed one
The woman as goddess and the man as her heroic king
The great feminine in the underworld
The two trees in paradise
The Anima - Inspiration and Motivation (Soul)
Animus and Anima in the couple relationship
The whore and the beast, the collective dimension of animus and anima

Further texts:

Power over matter
How do I concretely steer my life in a positive direction?
Life and the snake: ascent and descent
The Ego
The drive
The Integration of the Shadow
The wholeness of the twelve

Mentioned traditions:

The Sumerian tradition
- (6) The ENKUM Monsters (Disillusionment)
- Inanna's way through the underworld
The Babylonian Gilgamesh epub
- The Celestial Bull
Sleeping Beauty
The Lord of the Rings
The last unicorn