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Abstract

Archetypal psychologist James Hillman revisions C. G. Jung鈥檚 depth psychology for a postmodern western culture, and in that re-visioning offers a critical analysis of psychoanalytic methods within modern psychology and the logos of western culture. Although Jung is recognized as returning soul to psychology, Hillman returns soul-making and charts pathways for re-remembering Aphrodite and return to the Feminine. In his 1979 publication The Thought of the Heart, Hillman writes of Jung discovering 鈥渢he woman within鈥� (Jung qtd. in Hillman 53) as psyche or soul, and describes Jung鈥檚 response as resisting, silencing and contradicting her voice. Jung鈥檚 initial response correlates to a 鈥渧irginal resistance,鈥� identified by archetypal psychologist Patricia Berry as protecting undifferentiated impersonal values (Echo鈥檚 Subtle Body 102-103,109).

Therein resides this study鈥檚 focus and inquiry: Whence comes western culture鈥檚 resistance to the feminine? The hubris of western culture鈥檚 resistance to psyche, soul and anima, critiqued throughout Hillman鈥檚 writings on soul-making, imaginational intelligence and re-visioning psychology, is viewed herein as a vehicle of distress explored via depth and archetypal frames from a Feminist perspective.

Utilizing archetypal psychology鈥檚 healing fiction amidst the relevant mythic background of Oedipus, this study examines the psychology underlying western culture鈥檚 resistance to the Feminine that moves the feminine from sacred to profane into alterity. Applying Hillman鈥檚 theory of healing fiction and soul-making as praxis for return to anima consciousness, this study correlates Berry鈥檚 concept of virginal resistance to western culture鈥檚 coagulated values, theorizes the hubris within socio-cultural regulatory practices as camouflaging western culture鈥檚 desire for the Feminine, and associates the hubris of Oedipus to the 鈥渉euristic method鈥� of western culture (Hillman, 鈥淥edipus Revisited鈥� 160).

The production piece that accompanies this dissertation is a canvas for improvisation as 鈥淎 Continuum in 8-Scenes.鈥� The canvas, designed for exploratory development by an actor-ensemble trained in improvisation and physical theatre, utilizes elements from Commedia dell鈥橝rte and slapstick to initiate a frolicking funny fanfare through 2500 years of recorded history, revealing and resisting the psychology of anima.