The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype () is a depth psychology study of the Great Mother archetype, as it appears throughout history, mythology, religion, and culture, by the psychologist Erich Neumann. The dedication reads, "To C. G. Jung friend and master in his eightieth year". Although Neumann completed the German manuscript in Israel in 1951,Liebscher (2015) article, p. ix. The Great Mother was first published in English in 1955.Neumann 1955, 1991. p. iv.
Summary
Great Round of female archetypes
Neumann’s Great Mother presents a diagrammatic model ("Schema III"), known as the Great Round, to illustrate the dynamic nature of the feminine archetype in psychological development.Neumann, TGM (1955, 2d ed. 1963), Schema III is between pp. 82 & 83, discussed at pp. 64-81. This structure is not a religious typology but a depth psychology schema representing the evolutionary and ambivalent nature of the feminine archetype in mythology, culture, and the psyche.Neumann (1955, 2d ed. 1963), p.18: The Great Round derives or evolves from the uroboros, a circling snake eating its tale. This round shape, as if it envelops us, acts as a symbol of the primordial unconscious. Our initial ego consciousness is surrounded by the uroboros, which is experienced only darkly at the shifting edge of our fragile first awareness. In its nascent formative stages the Great Round includes "positive and negative, male and female, elements of consciousness, elements hostile to consciousness, and uncosciousness elements" which are "intermingled" and undifferentiated" (p.18 quote). From this origin the feminine archetypes stationed on its rim are eventually seen or constructed, and articulated as consciousness develops. Cf., Ch. 12, pp. 211-239.
At the outer rim of the Great Round, Neumann places archetypal figures drawn from mythology and world religions, representing universal psychological forces rather than fixed deities of any single tradition.Neumann, Origins (1949, 1954), the mandala at maturity: "the Great Round of the uroboros arches over" the entire span of life, over its beginning and its end. In the second half of life, "the uroboros symbol will reappear as the mandala" (pp. 36-37). To illustrate, Neumann presents six archetypes in his mandala diagram Schema III. Several figures each are opposites of the Mother archetype and of the Anima archetype respectively (these axes intersect forming an X at the center), the two Feminine figures above and below signify positive and negative transformation:Neumann, TGM (2d ed. 1963), Schema III displayed between pp. 82 and 83. The complex geometrics of this diagram Neumann discusses at pp. 63, 64-74 and 77-78. Cf., Schema I p.18/19, and Schema II p.44/45. The many archetypes arrayed in Schema III (here reduced to six figures) are specifically mentioned at pp. 75-83. Neumann presents these archetypes more generally in Part II, pp. 85-336.
Mary
Isis Sophia
X
Lilith Kali
the witches
A mandala, as symbol of a numinous nature, impresses beholders with the "transcendental order of the unconscious" and fosters "ritual circumambulation".Frey-Rohn (1969, 1974), p.271 (quote). The lower quadrant although described as "negative" in a developmental sense, cannot be an absolute moral judgment, e.g., both Kali and Lilith can embody creative and destructive forces simultaneously. Neumann also cautions that each archetype in the Great Round is fluid and multidimensional, shifting depending on psychological context and personal integration.Neumann, TGM (1963), pp.75-76 (an archetypal phenomena may "shift into its opposite"), 78 ("madness may be regarded as sacred" understood as an "initiation"); 81 ("one and the same deity appears simultaneously at different poles" as positive and negative); 83 ("living reality" is "so complex" and "unpredictable" as to defy "schematization"). Cf., p.63.In Neumann's Origins (1949; 1954), the archetype is discussed from another perspective, following developmental stages, e.g., the uroboros, creation myth, dragon fights of the hero. Cf., specifically his chapter III, "The Great Mother" (pp. 39-101).Neumann presents a rich array of 185 photographic Plates of Feminine archetypes at the end of his The Great Mother (1955, 1963), following p.380. His source was the Eranos seminar journals. The often ancient art includes sculptures, reliefs, masks, paintings, drawings, and ceramics.
Anticipating criticism, Neumann explicitly warned that this schema is reductionist, meant for conceptual clarity rather than rigid classification.Cf., Jung, Types (1921, 1971), "The worship of the woman and the worship of the soul" pp. 221-240, at 235. Each of these figures is to be regarded as ambivalent, overlapping, and transformative, as archetypal structures are not fixed but evolve over time.Neumann, TGM (1955, 2d ed. 1963), p.82/83: "Schema III". Analysis of axis M [Mother] and axis A [Anima], pp. 64-81. Also addressed are the vertical axis F+ and F- (p.77), related to Schema I (p.18/19). As ego consciousness advances, for good or ill, it moves from Schema III's center (more detailed than shown here) to the periphery (p.78). The general chronology is the uroboros, the stage of the Great Mother, then the dragon fight (p.82). Neumann describes these figures as dynamic energies that can shift or reverse into their opposites, depending on psychological and cultural influences.Neumann (1955, 2d ed. 1963), pp. 65-66. Neumann’s analysis is both historical and psychological, incorporating traditional mythological interpretations while exploring their manifestation in individual and collective psychology. He argues that in-depth psychological work involves integrating these archetypal forces, rather than abstractly repressing or idealizing them.Neumann (1955, 2d ed. 1963), at pp. 74-79: the negative pole of the Anima axis "can shift into the positive" (p.74). As ego consciousness at the polar points may become unable to differentiate, a figure "may shift into its opposite" (p.76). Cf. p. 293 (magic of "priestess and witch"). Cf. p. 305 (the archetype may "guide" or "beguile").Neumann (1955, 2d ed. 1963), p.77: Schema III can be viewed as a globe, with mother axis and anima axis continuing as meridians.Articles on Ishtar, Isis, the Greek, the Canaanite-Hebrew, Mary, Sophia, Kali, Kuan-yin and other figures were edited by Olson (1993).
AxisPositive PoleNegative PoleMother Axis (Nurture vs. Devouring)Isis (life, birth, rebirth)Kali (destruction, death, chaos)Anima Axis (Spiritual vs. Instinctual)Sophia (wisdom, vision, inspiration)Lilith (ecstasy, madness, impotence)Feminine Axis (Aware vs. Asleep)Mary (spiritual transformation)Witches (ensnaring, stupor) Kali, the terrible Mother (sickness, dismemberment, death, extinction);Jung, "Archetype" article (1938; 1969), p. 82 {¶158}, mentions that Kali, here being a symbol of her ferocious negative aspect, is more. "In India 'the loving and terrible mother' is the paradoxical Kali." and the Gorgon.Neumann (1955, 2d ed. 1963), Gorgon: Schema III & pp. 166, 169-170. Lilith,Cf., Neumann, Roots (; 2019), "Lilith" at pp. 157-163, notes at 169-171. "Lilith's essential characteristic as a demon is not her devouring of children, however, but her profound hostility toward men" (p.160).Hurwitz (1992), of two sections: historico-religious and psychological. the negative Anima (ecstasy, madness, impotence, stupor, ecstasy); and Circe.Neumann (1955, 1963 2d ed. 1963), pp. 80-81: analogous figures (e.g., Astarte and the Lorelei) as "alluring and seductive figures of fatal enchantment"; Circe in Schema III, e.g., Circe connived to drug men, turning them into beasts (pp. 273-274). the witches, negative change,Neumann (2d ed. 1963), p.66 (holding fast, ensnaring), p.149 (death, distress, hunger; vampires, ghouls);Jung, Symbols (1912, 1976), pp. 181-182, e.g., the Sphinx. as in a fairy-tale witch;Neumann, "Stages" article (1953; 1994), p. 22. A fairy-tale witch "casts a spell over the daughter and imprisons her." also: the Furies.Neumann, TGM (1955, 2d ed. 1963), p.80. Isis, the good Mother (fruit, birth, rebirth, immortality); also: Demeter and Ishtar (Inanna).Neumann, (1955, 2d ed. 1963), p.80; Demeter, pp. 307-309.Perera (1981): Inanna and Ereshkigal. Sophia,Neumann, "Moon" article (1950, 1994), pp. 116-117: "When the moon-spirit... in female form as Sophia" appears to matriarchal consciousness "the female Self has become visible to the woman's ego." Involved is "the transformation of the archetypal Feminine itself... its inherent spirit character [which] stands in opposition to the earth-unconsciousness of the archetypal Demeter" who refuses to surrender the daughter. the positive Anima (wisdom, vision, inspiration), the Muse; also: Maat.Neumann, TGM (1955, 2d ed. 1963), Schema III: the Muse, "the original seeress" and "the inspiring anima of the poets" (p.296). Maat, the Egyptian goddess of justice (p.80). Mary (enlightenment, beatific ascent, compassion); also: Kwan-Yin (Avalokiteśvara).Neumann (1955, 2d ed. 1963), p. 80. Mary's maternity is likened to the "Jewish figure of the Shekinah"; Mary also shares attributes of the positive Anima, with the "virginal Athene". Kwan-Yin, the bodhisattva.Jung, Types (1921, 1971),"The worship of the woman and the worship of the soul" pp. 221-240, at 221-223: Dante, in "the birth of modern individualism" elevates the woman, and his own anima, into the "mystical figure of the Mother of God" as "source of wisdom and renewal", and so works the transformation "of his own being"; at 235: Mary "in the heritage of the Magna Mater".
These female figures are not of precise attributes, nor rigid, fixed characteristics, but are changeable,Cf., Jung, Symbols (1912; 1950, 1967), p. 236 {¶352}: the good mother in confusion might be seen by the child as a "most frightful danger" of the "Terrible Mother". Cf. Jung's 1938 article (1969), p.82 re Kali. as explained both objectively by religious history,E. O. James, The Ancient Gods (NY: Putnam 1960), pp. 85-87, e.g., Isis "the Goddess of many names". A specific deity was often 'compromised' by the henotheistic assimilation of a wide range of other numinous powers. A local figure became goddess of a city, then a region, latter of an empire. Neumann used art of ancient goddesses in developing archetypes.Mircea Eliade (1978; 1982), A History of Religious Ideas (Paris: Payot; Univ. of Chicago), syncretism: pp. 208-209, 277-298. Isis at 291, 294; Thoth and Hermes at 295-296.Robert Wright, Evolution of God (Boston: Little, Brown 2009): Sargon fused Inanna of Sumer and Ishtar of Akkad as one goddess (pp. 84-85); Hammurabi favored Marduk, who then absorbed many gods (87-88). and subjectively by archetypal psychology.Jung, "Archetype" article (1938; 1969, in CW, v.9i).Neumann, TGM (1955, 2d ed. 1963), e.g., p.38: In Hansel and Gretal the witch appears in an attractive gingerbread house, "but who in reality eats little children". The Terrible Mother may prompt the transformative 'fight with the dragon': "Perseus must kill [her] before he can win Andromeda". Circe, "the enchantress who turns men into beasts, meets the superior Odysseus [and] invite him to share her bed" (p.35), as ambivalent (cf., pp. 73-74). Circe and Medea, each was "originally a goddess, but has become a 'witch' in the patriarchally colored myth" (quote at p.288, cf. p.81). Hence, there is overlap in the Great Round positions.
The Development of Feminine Archetypes and Consciousness