Anima / Animus

These are terms that Jung created to describe the opposite-gender self that lives within each of us.

The anima is the feminine component dwelling inside a male’s unconscious mind. The animus is the masculine component dwelling inside a female’s unconscious mind.

In dreams, this opposite-gender self can be a helper or an antagonist. These dream figures can appear as translations of persons we meet with whom we have a tremendous sense of romantic love or platonic camaraderie. One of Jung’s interpreters held that the anima/animus character was only understandable to those who have known true love.

However, our opposite-gender selves may reveal to us negativity in ourselves or negativity we perceive in dealings with the opposite sex. It is important to note that sometimes, when you dream about a person of the opposite sex, they may be representing your own inner self. Carefully consider all persons of the opposite sex in your dreams as a possible appearance of your own anima / animus.

What do these strangers teach you about how you view the opposite sex-do you fear, lust for, or despise these strangers for any apparent reason?

Hmmm, I wouldn’t know about that. Or maybe I would.

Considering I dress like a woman, think like a man, work like a horse and laugh like a hyena

In all seriousness, although I appear to be in all manner of speaking an extremely feminine woman– my bedroom is a pink Pollyanna paradise and I always wear makeup and heels and cater to men’s whims– there is a highly strong, aggressive and independent masculine side to my nature, and people tell me all the time I think like a man.

Still, masculine as my thought process and opinions may be, I remain incredibly attracted to Alpha-Type male chauvinist pigs who strut their stuff in the good old-fashioned James Bond way, 1950s style. I firmly believe men should be men and women should be women. Dogs should be dogs and cats should be cats, and so on and so forth.

As Terri brilliantly put it, “If I want a dog, I get a dog, not teach my cat to bark.”

Let every seed bring forth after its own kind. You cross a horse and a donkey and you get a mule. Mules can’t reproduce, and they ain’t too bright either. Word has it they’re very stubborn too.

Ta da.

proserpine

He replied, Well, I’ve spent my whole life, breaking colts, working cows, going to rodeos, fixing fences, pulling calves, bailing hay, doctoring calves, cleaning my barn, fixing flats, working on tractors, and feeding my dogs, so I guess I am a cowboy.

She said, I’m a lesbian. I spend my whole day thinking about women. As soon as I get up in the morning, I think about women. When I shower, I think about women. When I watch TV, I think about women. I even think about women when I eat. It seems that everything makes me think of women.

The two sat sipping in silence.
A little while later, a man sat down on the other side of the old cowboy and asked, Are you a real cowboy?

He replied, I always thought I was, but I just found out I’m a lesbian.

I’d say maybe we are influenced by the planets whirling around. But I am also influenced by my gender, loved-ones dying, wars, and anything else going on around me. There are a plethora of stimuli contributing to the nature of my existence, so I cannot see why this deserves special merit. It could be a planet appears to be moving backwards in the sky which effects my day…or the fact that I didn’t get much sleep the night before because the stupid naval base is running some loud tests and now I have to drink caffeine for the first time in months.

I also became extremely pissed off when I read Kurt Cobain’s suicide note the other day, in which he attributed part of his problems with being a Pisces! I love a man who is Pisces. If this f**ked up science is going to have a beautiful and wonderful human being thinking he is a wacked-out maniac on the verge of self-destruction just for being born, then I will go to war with the science itself for trying to kill him. How dare it! If he is a jacked-up Pisces, then I am Santa Claus. Kurt only wrote one long paragraph, about to blow his head off, and he thought the word Pisces belonged there.