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Mother Archetype XI – Teenage Crisis – Libido

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Before wrapping up this series, a pit-stop is due. Not touching upon an important phenomenon would make this whole series incomplete. What we have been talking about in this whole series is really million shades of Libido and its dynamics. Now the question will follow naturally – what Libido is.

These days Libido, almost without exception (and sadly!), is used to refer to sexual drive. This definition in fact owes its roots to the the early years of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical theories. Interestingly, with time he changed his definition of Libido. He described it as life instinct, which is responsible for all sorts of urges and drives we feel, which also includes, obviously the sexual drive. Yet, in general use, Libido, over time, got reduced to the sexual drive.

Featured Image:
Inside the head of a teenager

SCULPTURE: Drunkness of Bacchus and Faun by Michelangelo.
Greek-Roman God Dionysus – symbol of Libido in erotic sense
(a.k.a state of mind, purpose and meaning of teenage years)

“The Dionysiac religion contained orgiastic rites that implied the need for an initiate to abandon himself to his animal nature and thereby experience the full fertilizing power of the Earth Mother. The initiating agent for this rite of passage in the Dionysiac ritual was wine. It was supposed to produce the symbolic lowering of consciousness necessary to introduce the novice into the closely guarded secrets of nature, whose essence was expressed by a symbol of erotic fulfillment.”

Jung, Carl Gustav. Man and His Symbols . Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

the image is taken from Internet

Libido Is Not (Only) Sex Drive

On the contrary, Jung introduced a broader understanding of Libido. He described it as totality of psychic energy. The laws of energy apply to it as well – it never disappears, always changes its form. As usual, in front of the lucidity of his mind, I do not know if someone can object this definition.

Usually, the widely practiced and generally accepted analytical psychoanalysis schools offer detailed description of the transfer of Libido during the first half of life – namely from mouth to anal to genital organs etc.  But they notably fail to explain the mental processes happen in the second half of life or anything that is not about erotic love. For example, the feeling of Empathy that especially gets upper hand in our mind in the second half of life. Even the love we feel for our own kids and parents. Or our mental set-up not to cease hoping for better, believe in magic, seek guidance of supernatural powers, need for spirituality etc. All these are part of life instincts and equally important urges in certain periods of human life. We know only too well that disregarding these urges may lead to tragic results and broken destinies.

To sum up, Jung, (I think) rightfully, understands Libido not as sexual force solely, but as totality of psychic energy. For him, the unconscious itself is this energy, it is part of nature. It is not a dirtbag for incompatible desires and fears only as regarded in Freudian psychoanalysis. It holds them too, but also is source of life growing germs too. He may have agreed with Freud when it is about the first half of life. He asserts that in the second half this energy gradually retreats from erotic life, diverting itself towards empathy, non-erotic love and spirituality. Not so good news, such transformations of this energy never happens slowly and quietly. They are tumultuous psychic processes and we experience them as existential crisis – namely, the second one would be mid-life crisis.

Libido and Teen Suicides

Specifically, in our Mother Archetype series, what we talked about was mostly the dynamics of Libido during adolescence, or teen years. This is one of the most transformative and most difficult to handle periods we experience as humans. This is a period, I guess both geniuses would agree on it – when Libido moves to the genital area. This is the phase of procreation and as Jung says, time to dive in and fully rejoice the carefully guarded secrets of nature. Put it plainly, walking erection and baby-making in full force. Yet this transformation doesn’t come as a prize. At this period, Libido – the psychic energy, through mental efforts of each individual, should detach itself from the safe zone of the childhood, the mother (the instinctual safe harbor and infantile bond) and channel up to the next phase.  This detachment would mean “breaking off” the shell of family protection to build an individual personality. Mythologically speaking, this process would mean to symbolically die to the previous self and reborn into a new life full of creativity and potential, but with great deal of uncertainty and doubts as well.

How would it feel?

Compare it to losing oneself in an unknown forest at night in some unknown spot on Earth and frantically trying to find the way home. Or waking up to find oneself in the middle of ocean with no land in horizon and all the while learning to swim, trying to stay afloat and finding harbor. Frustration beyond explanation, right? This is a mentally and physically quite destructive process. Rebirth and re-discovery of self should pass thru destruction, rule of thumb! Failing to go through this mental transformation is basically shrinking away from responsibilities of new life and hanging on to what becomes agonizing already. No wonder, currently we hear about so many cases of adolescence suicide, depression, obsessions with immoral behavior (a quick resort to hide from uncertainty), addictions, drugs etc. Lack of conventional wisdom, guidance and consumerism takes this whole process to a whole new painful level.

To round up Jung’s thoughts on it, the individual, who manages successful transformation (and we are talking about a process that lasts for years), would return to make part of the community not as a shadow of someone, but as “citizen” – equal member of the city, motherland, tribe, community whatever one belongs to.

For the myriad forms of transformation in boys and girls, check out the Mother Archetype to find your own type.

The next and last post will be about Incest – why sexual relationship between the same blood relatives is taboo and self-occurring source of guilt and shame. Why are we built in this way? Is Incest a problem or solution?

Mother Archetype I
Mother Archetype II – Son Lover of the Mother Goddess
Mother Archetype III – Don Juanism
Mother Archetype IV – Homosexuality and Impotence
Mother Archetype V – Exaggerated Maternal Instinct
Mother Archetype VI – Home-Wrecker With a Mission
Mother Archetype VII – Shadow Daughter
Mother Archetype VIII – Mom Hater
Mother Archetype IX – Part Human, Part Supernatural
Mother Archetype X – Motherland
Mother Archetype XII – Incest: Problem or Solution?

Mother Archetype X – Motherland

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I first wrote this post back in October, 2020 on my Instagram. At the time, including the summer of 2020, I was writing about the Mother Archetype. Due to a strange, bittersweet coincidence, I happened to deeply feel the bond we associate with “Mother” and our “birth place / motherland”.

War, re-discovered patriotism and suffering

Whoever has followed the series, already, knows, both phenomena are different manifestations of the Mother Archetype. The war of over 25 years ago, due to which I had become refugee and had eventually cooled into a frozen conflict, haphazardly reignited. I was totally consumed and shattered by the events. So much that couldn’t pull myself together to log into my site for months. I mean, even months after the war ended in 44 days.

Efesina Diana, Roma @museicapitolini

In the background of this war and crippling pandemic, fashion seemed so superfluous. I kept asking and still ask myself why I dedicated this blog exclusively to fashion. And again, after putting my life on hold for months, the blog is the first place I log in to have a sense of purpose and continuity. In these moments of deep perplexity, this site feels like a tie that bonds me to the physical life. It pushed me to channel my efforts in one direction when I was crumbling into million pieces couple of years ago. Now this is my refuge again to hold on to reality, and not roll back into that darkness of nowhere.

Honestly, I understand I have complicated relationship with fashion. It is both superfluous and the most natural way of self-expression, the undeniable connection with the other world. It is Godly, but without God. I better stop and share the post that I consider worthy to stay. As mentioned, it points out a very important connection between mother, city and country of birth – the motherland. This connection is often an overlooked root of patriotism and admiration for heroism.

Statue of Queen Tuya, Roma, @musei_vaticani

The original post with slight modification:

In these troubling times for my motherland, Jung’s writings on the Mother Archetype make more sense than ever to me. Living the experience is important to realize why we call our country of birth Motherland, why we can’t detach ourselves from it, our decisions, choices, even random tweets in the background are conditioned by our attitude towards the Mother Archetype. To break down a bit, by our attitude to our own mother, motherland, our city of birth, our own identity, alma mater, and even death.

As for this specific connection between the Mother Archetype and the “Motherland”, Jung refers to mythical monuments as a visual guide. He explains this intricate web of emotions and psychic processes as below. Very obvious, all the monuments share two not so little details – all are women and all carry City Walls on their heads instead of crown.

“The symbol-creating process substitutes for the Mother the City…. what was natural and useful to the child [ref. mother attachment] is a psychic danger for the adult, and this is expressed by the symbol of incest…: the infantile attachment [to mother] is a crippling limitation for the adult, whereas attachment to the city fosters his civic virtues and at least enables him to lead a useful existence.”

Therefore certain mythical female statues have city walls on the heads instead of crown. These monuments symbolize the transfer of attachment from actual mother to the motherland / “mothercity”. This is an indication of healthy dynamics of psychic growth. Does it explain why patriotisms and martyrdom are so revered?

Right here, these thoughts make me wonder. What Jung would have to tell about, from what I see, another round of failed globalism. This archetype gives us a pretty much rounded answer to why globalism is such a difficult process. No matter how amazing it sounds in theory, the process has more layers than we realize. But, I’ll just leave it there and come about to our series.

Read other posts of the series:
Mother Archetype I
Mother Archetype II – Son Lover of the Mother Goddess
Mother Archetype III – Don Juanism
Mother Archetype IV – Homosexuality and Impotence
Mother Archetype V – Exaggerated Maternal Instinct
Mother Archetype VI – Home-Wrecker With a Mission
Mother Archetype VII – Shadow Daughter
Mother Archetype VIII – Mom Hater
Mother Archetype IX – Part Human, Part Supernatural
Mother Archetype XI – Teenage Crisis – Libido
Mother Archetype XII – Incest: Problem or Solution?

Mother Archetype IX – Part Human, Part Supernatural

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Jung’s warning was not to limit or reduce the phenomena of mother to human proportions. It would strip off the multilayered meaning and misplace that huge burden on the shoulders of a fragile human being. This archetype is bigger and beyond us. It carries both the wisdom and wicked of the nature and the memory of evolution. It is part of us, but also not us. We project this archetype on anything that nourishes and provides safe nest – such as House, Home, City, Church, Mosque and all other homes of God, land, cave, moon and sometimes even tree. She is the dwelling of spirit.

Basically, she is a forming agent of our identity and sense of belonging. But anything that traps us in our shell is also Mother. In negative aspect, it chains our arms to our old-identities. But it doesn’t end here. Just like nature she represents deep layers of obscurity, darkness and ambiguity, even death. The negative symbols portraying the Mother are depth, darkness, night, death, coffin, sea dragons, monsters etc. All are the characters we over and over see in myths and fairy tales, maybe sometimes in our dreams and definitely in religious texts. The wrath or kindness of this archetype very much depends on our attitude towards it.

Ironically, our professional success, bank account etc. doesn’t concern her. The evolution of our soul is what is in her agenda. The more we fail to realize it, the more hostile this force becomes towards us. Then the more miserable our life becomes. Naturally, sense of meaninglessness and depression follow next. Yet, coming in terms with it may mean major transformation in our mind, behavior and life. Easier to say, in fact this is our fear – letting go old attachments and identities and being born into new unknown skin.

Read other posts of the series:
Mother Archetype I
Mother Archetype II – Son Lover of the Mother Goddess
Mother Archetype III – Don Juanism
Mother Archetype IV – Homosexuality and Impotence
Mother Archetype V – Exaggerated Maternal Instinct
Mother Archetype VI – Home-Wrecker With a Mission
Mother Archetype VII – Shadow Daughter
Mother Archetype VIII – Mom Hater
Mother Archetype X – Motherland
Mother Archetype XI – Teenage Crisis – Libido
Mother Archetype XII – Incest: Problem or Solution?

Photo: Unsplash.com

Mother Archetype II – Son Lover of the Mother Goddess

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As we said in the previous post, first we’ll talk about mother complex in sons, later in daughters (at infancy daughter-father relationship is the topic!). In the first years of infant’s life Mother is the safe heaven (warm container and nourisher). In the dark layers of our mind this tender bond of early childhood is registered as a perfect union. Jung has collected many examples – paintings, carvings etc. and labeled this relationship as “Son Lover of the Mother Goddess”. When we say lover, obviously we understand a sexual relationship. Yet in that dark land sexuality means more than just a sexual union (that too). Sex is the most representative example of instinctuality. Symbolically, it means a very strong bond – like one can’t exist without the other (by the way, many times it has the same meaning in dreams too – just a tip, if you ever happen to have that sort of dream, do not take it literally).

This perfection lasts until when? Puberty!  Intense changes start to take place in the psychic landscape of a son and a long lasting drama ensues. We all know how turbulent this period is for both boys and girls. Always, the least wanted kid at school has the “coolest parents” and life can’t be more miserable – we all have been there, right? Interestingly, this drama is even nastier inside our head, what gets to the surface is in fact just a tip of the iceberg. Again because this is never only about just a mother and her son.

Jung, C.G, (1956) Symbols of Transformation, pp205

Destined to separate

Did we say in the previous post that the psyche was like the Great Mother to our fragile rational mind? Now we are getting into a bit of dark forest. Let’s put it this way – in the early years of life human baby lives mostly an instinctual life (in other words, without the conscious mind) and develops cognitive mind slowly (and laboriously), right? As baby grows along the years of childhood, the conscious mind grows too. Putting it in a fancy word, at some point, plateau is hit. “The container”, the Great Mother (the unconscious) can’t hold it any more. Or, let’s say, the fruit is ripen now and the tree brunch can’t hold it any more, it is destined to fall, to get separated from the mother tree. I think I am getting too poetic here. Let’s come back to our topic.

Eventually, to grow further the conscious mind seeks to differentiate and separate itself from the dark mass/the unconscious. Obviously, the Great Mother gets mad and fights back. But it doesn’t end there. The fragile conscious, on one hand wants to stay in that safe heaven. While leaping into unknown territories, a.k.a life ahead feels dreadful, staying in is now more harmful bordering on neurosis. One hand pushes forward, another hand pulls back – and a bloody battle ensues within the unconscious content. That irritability and confusion the teenagers feel is just a shadow of the bloody battle going deep inside. However, if this process doesn’t happen, it is worrisome too….Stay for more…

Read other posts of the series:

Mother Archetype I
Mother Archetype III – Don Juanism
Mother Archetype IV – Homosexuality and Impotence
Mother Archetype V – Exaggerated Maternal Instinct
Mother Archetype VI – Home-wrecker with a mission
Mother Archetype VII – Daughter in Shadow
Mother Archetype VIII – Mom Hater
Mother Archetype IX – Part Human, Part Supernatural
other Archetype X – Motherland
Mother Archetype XI – Teenage Crisis – Libido
Mother Archetype XII – Incest: Problem or Solution?

Symbols of sexuality – 3. The ax and the door

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I got carried away for a couple of days. In the midst of travels, the intolerable summer heat and some new project ideas, I even do not know what I am doing these days. But now I am back at it, our symbols of sexuality. I’ve promised to post four articles, each featuring a variation of the symbols of sexuality.

Here comes the third symbol – The ax and the door – more specifically, the act of breaking a door with an ax. By now, I guess there is no need to say which one is which, right? The ax obviously is phallic.

The reason I’ve picked this symbols among zillion other symbols is its nature. It is violent, is not like the “traditional” cup-spoon or that romantic deer hunt. It talks about a sexual act or sexual urges that are quite violent. All I am saying is if this symbol happens in your dreams, better to stop and reflect – why so much aggressiveness? From where it comes and why? What I’ve locked in the dark maze of memory? Most importantly, what should come to light from the depth of dark wells so that they do not roar so loudly. I guess, I’ll stop here before it gets complicated.

Heads up – the fourth article will be little different. Until now, we’ve looked at only one side of the coin – the sexuality aspect of these symbols. In the last post we’ll see the other side of the coin – the theological twist (you probably wonder from where to where, huh?) – stay tuned!

Other symbols of sexuality – click to decipher them:
The cup and the spoon
The deer hunt

Symbols of sexuality – 2. Deer hunt

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Here comes the second most classic symbol of sexuality – the Deer Hunt.

Heads up to everybody! From now on when you see a hunting scene, especially in the artworks from middle ages (especially, miniature paintings), do not be fooled. Many times it is not really about a hunting scene. Well, not in a sense that we generally understand it. It actually talks about the intercourse! Well, you can call it a different kind of hunting.

The subtle difference of this symbol is in its reference to qualities rather than an action – a hunter obviously stands for the male principle, which conquers the female principle in the form of a deer. The deer here symbolizes the feminine grace and shyness.

Click to decipher another symbols of sexuality
The cup and the spoon
The ax and the door

To put it in another way, this variation has more romantic air than the first one. While the cup-spoon makes direct reference to the act, this one talks more about feelings and emotions.

In fact, I ca’t get rid of my prejudice about this expression. In my native language there is a “teenagerish” expression that is a perfect sample (Jeyran ovuna cixmag). I shivered out of disgust every time I heard it. I literally hated that expression and found it very low. During my studies I was astonished to find out that this “lowness” was in fact a universal and classic symbol. I can’t say I like it now. Yet this was one of the very first things that made me wonder more about the dark alleys of our psyche and look for more similarities in the unconscious images and expressions.

Click to decipher another symbols of sexuality
The cup and the spoon
The ax and the door

Symbols of sexuality – 1. Cup and spoon

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The topic of this week is the Symbols of sexuality. During the week I’ll publish four very short, kind of fun posts, each dedicated to one symbol. The first symbol will be the Cup and spoon. I am most definitely not the one to pick this example as it comes from Russian and I don’t speak it well. But I assure you I understand this example quite well.

The Cup and Spoon is one of the classic symbols of sexual act. This is a common expression in spoken Russian and refers to a “romance with probable sexuality involved”. When one thinks hard about its meaning, it may not even come to mind. But this “folk” metaphor definitely pops up in casual talks (definitely in Russian). If it occurs in dreams, it has the same meaning. Because metaphoric expressions in our spoken language and dreams originate in the same “land”.

Click to decipher another symbols of sexuality
The deer hunt
The ax and the door

Now, back to the Chashka-Lojka (cup-spoon) – now wondering why this kind of cheesy expression has a sexual connotation? Funny enough, here is a very short answer – any object that is sharp and can penetrate obtains phallic nature in our psyche.  Any object that is affected by penetration or is recipient symbolizes female genital organs.

Here we’ve solved the mystery of Chashka-Lojka (cup and spoon) – the symbol of sexual act with the Chashka taking up a feminine and the lojka a masculine nature.

Click to decipher another symbols of sexuality
The deer hunt
The ax and the door

The “A La Gucci” Great Hermaphrodite and Why We Hit Mid-Life Crisis

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What is in there for me: What is behind the mid-life crisis? Why suicides and divorces surge in the second half of life? What keeps us from being happy? Ultimately, are we all hermaphrodites? Too many questions for a short post, but believe me, you’ll at least get a hint.

The full post starts here.

A year ago Alessandro Michele dressed The “A la Gucci Great Hermaphrodite” with a red Gucci T-shirt for GucciCuise18. As usual, the reactions were everything from revulsion to admiration. I am not about that. What I want to talk about is how Gucci, unknowingly or maybe knowingly tapped on a symbol that holds so much for our mental well-being – The Great Hermaphrodite.

The Great Hermaphrodite. We are psychologically wired to recognize and integrate the “opposite gender” within. Only then we tend to find meaning in our lives. This process is symbolized as the Great Hermaphrodite in alchemy. Photo: The Internet
The Great Hermaphrodite. We are psychologically wired to recognize and integrate the “opposite gender” within. Only then we tend to find meaning in our lives. This process is symbolized as the Great Hermaphrodite in alchemy. Photo: The Internet

Read about Why sexuality and spirituality in fact are two sides of the coin in the depth of our mind
Read about Yayoi Kusama’s overly sexual art and how her uncontrollable energies took her on this journey

Ops, We all are hermaphrodites…but without Gucci

It is a rather complex symbol. I’ll start from where we all know. Everybody knows that due to our biological structure, men carry small amount of female hormones, and women small amount of male hormones.

Now, let’s look at the psychological side of it. As usual, the resonance goes very far in the depth of our mind – it means in every man there is a small, hidden woman and in each woman some hidden man. That small woman inside man is called Anima (man’s soul). It is one of the unconscious forces of very strong power because it is deeply hidden.  Animus is on the contrary the man inside woman.

“The other side” within

Attention, now we are not talking strictly about genders now. Below the threshold of the consciousness, there is no duality. Now we are talking about the qualities that are ascribed to the feminine nature (receptivity, passivity, sentimentality etc) and the masculine nature (reasoning, action, penetration etc). The Anima is responsible for all of the female tendencies in man’s psyche and is an aspect of personality that normally is concealed from everybody, even the owner himself.

The Cycle of Life – sexuality and “the other”

Accept or not, during the first half of life sexuality is central to our being. Strictly talking about men, at this period, they keep polishing their “manly characters”, ego, thirst for power etc. But as we step into the second half of our lives and slowly leave sexuality behind, our nature changes. A spontaneous desire is born inside for spiritual growth and maturity. The female aspects within are what guide the man to learn to control his animalistic instincts and lead him to maturity. The same tendencies happen with women too, but everything reversed.

Divorce, suicide and more – even Gucci can’t help

At this period, when internal tendencies change towards spirituality and maturity, we still like to cling on to our previous life style and desires. That’s when a separation in our psyche starts to take place. Dressed in Gucci, or no Gucci, we constantly feel something is missing. That’s when, instead of opening up to the hidden tendencies, we start to blame our partners. The wider this psychological divergence, the more serious are the consequences (anything from depression to divorce to suicide).

In short, we are psychologically wired to recognize and integrate the “opposite gender” within. Only then we tend to find meaning in our lives. This process of integration of the psychic polar opposites is what symbolized as the Great Hermaphrodite in alchemy. In many other cultures it is also known as the Sacred Union or Sacred Marriage.

Read about Why sexuality and spirituality in fact are two sides of the coin in the depth of our mind
Read about Yayoi Kusama’s overly sexual art and how her uncontrollable energies took her on this journey