The Fear of the Feminine

<p>These essays by the famous analytical psychologist and student of creativity Erich Neumann belong in the context of the depth psychology of culture and reveal a prescient concern about the one-sidedness of patriarchal Western civilization. Neumann recommended a cultural therapy that he thought would redress a fundamental ignorance about feminine and masculine psychology and he looked for societal healing to a matriarchal consciousness that forms the bridge between the feminine and the creative.<br><br><br> Brought together here for the first time the essays in the book discuss the psychological stages of woman's development the moon and matriarchal consciousness Mozart's <i>Magic Flute</i> the meaning of the earth archetype for modern times and the fear of the feminine. In Mozart's fantastic world Neumann saw a true <i>Auseinandersetzung</i>--the conflict and coming-to-terms with each other of the matriarchal and the patriarchal worlds. Developing such a synthesis of the feminine and the masculine in the psychic reality of the individual and of the collective was he argued one of the fundamental future-oriented tasks of both the society and the individual.</p>