The Anima of Man: His Inner Woman and Soul

By Anne on 16 April 2021

The Anima of the Man

The inner woman: relationship aspect and motive

The anima of the man corresponds to his inner woman and general idea of femininity. As motivation and the ability to relate on the soul-spiritual level, it shapes the way in which the man interacts with his environment and especially with women.

(Cover image: from Robbie Williams video clip for the song "Angels".)
[Basis for this post: The Anima - inspiration and motivation of the soul.]

The anima: soul-spiritual motivation

The feminine has a strong motivating aura for the man, which moves him to literally go beyond himself. It is an attraction that gives direction and meaning to his life and inspires his willingness to give of himself.

The Anima as Inner Woman: Relational Ability

Relationship aspect and magic

The anima of the man corresponds to his own idea of femininity and thus represents his "inner woman". This is closely linked to his soul. As an inner image, it is shaped first by the mother, then also by the sister and other women. In addition, there are social ideas and ideals of femininity, which have a significance that should not be underestimated. They all form the inner woman of the man, which enables him to relate on an immaterial level.

The inner woman as a spiritual greatness: MAGIC!

As an inner image or imagination, detached from physicality, the anima belongs to the realm of the mind, visions, illusions or dreams. From here she acts as a "goddess", "angel" or "feeling" and influences the man's thoughts and actions, often without him being aware of it. Instead, "it" then simply feels "right" to him or he "feels the magic" when he perceives certain circumstances that correspond to this inner image.

The Anima as Archetype: a Goddess or Magician

Because she belongs to the realm of the spiritual, the ARCHETYPE of the Anima has a supernatural radiance, something "numinous", as C.G. Jung expressed it.
In the dimension of the collective she appears as VIRGIN, SEA VIRGIN, as SNAKE or WHORE, as celestial GODDESS OF LOVE or LORD OF THE UNDERWORLD and in many other forms, as for example the harpy or fate deity/oracle, as flame beast or turtle.

The song "Angels" by Robbie Williams as an illustration

Robbie Williams has created a video clip to his song "Angels", which shows the anima fantasies of a man very vividly. (The black and white photos in this article are taken from this clip).
The song lyrics alone speak volumes: "... and when love is dead, I'm loving angels instead!" ("When love, in other words the relationship is dead, I'm loving angels instead! ").
Robbie's Anima comes down from heaven as an angel or goddess - in a helicopter (!) and gives him this longed-for feeling of security in love.

[S. Robbie Williams: "Angels."]

From the video clip for Robbie Williams' song "Angels

Black - White: Whore or Saint

The inner image of women determines how a man meets women, namely whether he devalues them as "whores" and wants to consume them or whether he respects them and even reveres them as "saints".

The Anima of Man - Love or Power

The woman as a projection surface for the anima of the man

As long as men do not know their own soul, they project their inner image of women onto the women they meet. In doing so, they perceive in them above all what is familiar to them, in other words, what corresponds to their anima. Thus they make the woman either their angel or their whore, white or black.

[S. The Projection of the Shadow.]

From black and white to all the colors of the rainbow: relationship

But when the man has developed his soul by integrating his anima with his female parts, he also learns to deal with women as a real counterpart. Thus his relationship possibilities expand into all colors of the rainbow.

[S. The Integration of the Anima.]

Femininity in black and white in the painting by Hilma af Klint (Swan No. 17)

This picture by Hilma af Klint (right) illustrates this. The circle symbolises the unity of male and female. In this picture, however, it is divided into two halves.

The left half, the "female" side, is black and white and thus contains only the colors of the spirit.
The right, the "male" side, holds the three primary colors (also the blue of the female soul!) and thus the whole color spectrum of life.

[P. Swan no. 17 by Hilma af Klint, picture description and interpretation.]

White - the positive anima of the man as a virgin

Pure love and devotion as a complement

In her positive form as "Goddess of Love" and VIRGIN, the Anima inspires the man to devotion to a higher ideal: to the relationship, the woman, the family or the vocation.
Moreover, the feminine power of gentle and tender love complements his masculine strength, leading him to wholeness.

[S. The Way of the Man and the Masculine into the Spirit.]

Black - the negative anima of man as a whore or a snake

Binding to body and matter

In its negative form as WHORE the anima seduces the man to lust, power and consumption, and as SNAKE it paralyzes him and blinds his senses.
Thus the negative anima keeps him bound to physicality and imprisoned in matter and prevents him from finding the way into the vastness and freedom of the spirit.

[More s. The negative anima as WHORE or SNAKE.]

The Anima as a WHORE: "My soul goes astray ..."

The negative anima as the inner woman also seduces the man to cheat on the inside and to dream of sex instead of doing hard relationship work. (These are symbolized in traditions by thorns, thistles and hard bread, see The Curse on Adam or also Sleeping Beauty).
As a consequence, he will demand eroticism from his partner, which does not correspond to her need for emotional closeness, or in a next step even cheat on her.

The Anima as a Serpent: Cunning and Paralysis

In the form of the snake, the inner woman tempts the man to use cunning in order to assert his egoistic interests (above all sexual intercourse).
But in the partnership confrontation, when he faces the angry wife, the inner serpent paralyzes him so that he can no longer stand his ground. Instead, he withdraws and follows his libido to a younger woman whom he can manipulate better (so already in the Sumerian tradition of Inanna, where the husband of the goddess lets himself be transformed into a snake, see The shepherd is beaten).

[S. The Negative Anima of the Man Without a Soul; Anima and Animus in Partnership and Negative Couple Dynamics].

Inability to relate: the "son of a bitch".

As a substitute partner of the mother - a kingdom for nothing?

The man's anima, as mentioned, is first shaped by the mother. If this power lives instead of love, then her love is never unconditional, but always has a price. (This is the meaning of the whore: she sells her love in her own interest.)
For if there is a lack of love in the parents' relationship, the mother will not be fulfilled and is tempted to make her son her substitute partner and king instead. She can mold him to her liking from the beginning and thus take masculine energy from him. This happens, for example, by spoiling him - for nothing - as her king and thus binding him to herself.

The Stolen Heart of the Son

What the son does not know is: The price for his supposed "royal dignity" was immeasurably high. Because the mother took his soul, his heart for herself and so "stole" it. Thus, the young man has never experienced true love and therefore does not know it.

Money and consumption as a surrogate mother

Rather, the son has received kingship and power far too early and for nothing concrete, and later considers it normal to be served and to be able to take. But no intact woman would give him her kingdom for nothing, that is, admire and serve the young man who is spoiled for success without further ado. Therefore, he will have to buy love in turn. And so he strives for money and power in order to be able to continue to take and consume without having to give something of himself (which he does not have, namely his heart).

[More s. Abuse - the Stolen Life and The Liberation from the Mother]

Anima as a goddess (watch advertisement)

The Cursed Prince: Healing Through Pure Love

Through pure unconditional and devoted love, he is "redeemed" again, as in the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" is expressed.

A perfect complement for male strength

It is the encounter with pure, unconditional love that has a redeeming effect. Thus the positive anima of the man as a virgin is able to release him from the attachment to body and matter and to lift him into the freedom of the spirit. (For sex and power are not the issue).

The Daughter-Lover and the Awakening of the Soul

The man integrates his positive anima through love for his daughter. By watching this delicate creature he loves grow up, his own initially small soul also develops and reaches maturity.

Therefore, the partnership in the form of a father-daughter relationship also represents the redeemed relationship ("white"; in contrast to the mother-son relationship, "red", in which power is the subject; see. Partnership - the human equation).

The integration of the anima: the inner virgin

The sacred wound: acknowledging weakness and failure

Victory over the ego: inner dying

The man who has chosen to live love instead of power is led on the hero's path, which includes, to overcome the ego, the identity of power. Thus he wins the king's daughter or virgin and her kingdom, which is pure love and kingship in one's own life.ymbolise.

From negative to positive anima - from power to love

It is a struggle that does not come without existential wounding. For wounding and the experience of weakness brings the man into contact with his feminine parts. As the "sacred wound of the king", it leads him to wholeness by gaining love and warmth and letting go of his identity of power.

[p. The Sacred Wound.]

The trial by fire and the way home

In the relationship, this often means that the man leaves his partner internally and integrates his soul on his way with the help of a (younger) lover. Thus, the hero's external relationship with the woman as the "goddess of the vine" is also a central theme of the first traditions.
The hero's dying in this case means that he lets go of this love and returns to his wife. The latter is heroine in that she has faithfully waited for her husband in spite of everything (like Penelope for Odysseus). And she too "dies" inwardly, by letting go of her anger, forgiving him and accepting him again. (In this way, both overcome their drive, the physical as well as the emotional).

The Virgin as Victory Prize and the Holy Wedding

Confrontation with the partner as a foaming dragon and reconciliation

In the traditions, the hero's failure is his last test before he wins the virgin and the kingdom. These symbolize the inner woman, his soul, and kingship in life (meaning self-efficacy, free from drives). This failure is often accompanied by a (courageous) confrontation with the betrayed, disappointed and therefore angry wife of the gods, represented for example by the dragon or raging bull. This one also finds through reconciliation and forgiveness back to pure love, namely to her inner virgin.

Holy wedding and a kingdom in the traditions:

Sumer: The goddess of the vine helps the angry Inanna to reconcile with her beloved husband (see Inanna and the Goddess of the Vine).
Babylon: Gilgamesh gets a second chance at the end (s. Gilgamesh's way home).
Jewish tradition: Moses as blood bridegroom and circumcision.
Odysseus: The return to his beloved wife Penelope after his odyssey is his true victory.
The last unicorn: The prince, killed by the flame beast, is brought back to life by the unicorn (the unicorn symbolizes the body of the virgin).
The Lord of the Rings: Arwen, the bride of the hero Aragorn, is growing weaker, dying. For his sake she has given up her immortal soul (her virginity), but he must first overcome the evil ruler of the Force. Will he succeed before she dies and all Middle-earth perishes?
Ironman and St. George: In these fairy tales, the hero wins the maiden and an eternal kingdom after many battles and victories.

Wholeness and new land

Thus, the hero wins the maiden and her kingdom, and the two live happily ever after, for they have attained wholeness and will die no more.
This couple, who overcame the storms of life and found new land, is represented in the Gilgamesh epic by Utnapishtim and his wife, who survived the great flood. As Noah (= rest) and his family they have entered the Jewish tradition.

The words of wisdom of the Virgin:

"Let it be" - Let it be! (Beatles' song lyrics with translation and notes)

Mentioned traditions:

The Sumerian mythology of Inanna, the goddess of love
- The Galla
- The shepherd is beaten
- Inanna and the goddess of the vine
The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic (Summary)
- The Goddess of Love as a Whore
- The Immortality Herb and the Way Home

The biblical account of the Fall of Man
Moses as blood bridegroom and circumcision
The harlot and the beast in the Bible
King Oedipus

The Last Unicorn
The Lord of the Rings
Eisenhans - The Wild Man
Saint George

Further texts:

Virgo - Miracle-working love and potential
Archetypes
Partnership - the human equation
The Goddess and her Hero King
The sacred wedding
Kingship in life
The hero's path
The sacred wound

The way of the man and the masculine into the spirit
The liberation from the mother

Abuse - the stolen life
The Ego
The drive

Man's anima: his inner woman and soul