Mercy! Possession by the Animus.
“Like the anima, the animus is a jealous lover.”
G. Jung, CW7 ¶ 334
“The animus appears in many myths, not only as death, but also as a bandit and murderer, for example, as the knight Bluebeard, who murdered all his wives.”
– ~Marie-Louise Von Franz, Archetypal Dimensions of the Psyche, Page 280
I love you
But I gotta stay true
My morals got me on my knees
I’m begging, please, stop playing gamesI don’t know what this is
‘Cause you got me good
Just like you knew you would
I don’t know what you do
But you do it well
I’m under your spellYou got me begging you for mercy (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Why won’t you release me? (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
You got me begging you for mercy (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Why won’t you release me? (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
I said release me (Yeah, yeah, yeah)Now you think that I
Will be something on the side
But you got to understand
That I need a man
Who can take my hand, yes I doI don’t know what this is
‘Cause you got me good
Just like you knew you would
I don’t know what you do
But you do it well
I’m under your spellYou got me begging you for mercy (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Why won’t you release me? (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
You got me begging you for mercy (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Why won’t you release me? (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
I said you’d better release (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Yeah, yeah, yeahI’m begging you for mercy
You look at me and think we’re the same kind
‘Cause you don’t know what I got and
Yes, why won’t you release me?
I’m gonna get more than I’m asking for
But I just don’t want to waste my time
I’m begging you for mercy
You know that I’ll be the other girl
Just like there’s nothing in this world
You got me begging
I know that I’m gonna get me some
I just don’t know where to get it from
You got me begging
You got me beggingMercy (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Why won’t you release me? (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
I’m begging you for mercy (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Why won’t you release me? (Yeah, yeah, yeah)[1]…
This past Saturday I used this song by the artist Duffy as an example of possession by the animus, and what the experience of that possession may be like. (See the embedded video extract from that lecture above).
What I didn’t know -well at least not consciously, was the story behind the song and the harrowing events that followed its release for the artist Aimée Anne Duffy.
Around two years after its release she was kidnapped, held captive and raped over a four-week period. Following this traumatic incident Duffy’s meteoric rise to stardom was curtailed and she has a decade’s artistic hiatus before making her story public in February of 2020.
There is a lot to think about and unpack both about the incident itself – of which details are quite sketchy, and its “unwitting” inclusion in my lecture.
What moved me to select this song as an example of animus possession?
There are surely countless other artistic examples I could have selected. I can only characterise this as the most extraordinary synchronicity.
What adds additional personal significance to this incident, and is typical of a synchronicity, is the fact that over the last few weeks I have had the most psychically challenging encounter with my own inner feminine imago, or anima, as Jung termed it. It would not be going too far to say the experience was one of being possessed by my anima.
Returning to the Duffy incident, it is worth noting that the song and story – at least prima facie, we accept that we do not have the complete story and all the details at our disposal, but at least as it is being presented, is a story of possession for both the victim (Duffy) and her perpetrator. Her literal possession being explicit, but one must infer that the perpetrator was also possessed by his anima – his uncontrollable desire projected onto Duffy, to enact such a heinous, immoral, and surely, extremely dangerous crime.
If you would like to understand this phenomenon better, I encourage you to watch my complete lecture that can be found in ‘List of Previous Recorded Modules’ on the Foundation Modules page.
You might also read these posts.
The Archetypes of the Anima and Animus
And the best literature on this theme is surely from Marie-Louise von Franz. I suggest the Animus and Anima in Fairy Tales available from Inner City Books
Until we speak again,
Stephen.
[1] Songwriters: Stephen Andrew Booker / Aimee Ann Duffy, Mercy lyrics © Cake Records Ltd., Bmg Vm Music Ltd
Comments (4)
Dear Stephen,
What a wonderful post.
Loved it.
It is not often that synchronicity smiles upon us, and we hit just the right mix of serious entertainment and deep Jungian concepts even though the source is one and only.
In this case, your anima did the job. Fabulous. It is nice to see it is alive and well and your irrational faculties where that wonderful anima (according to Jung, one anima and many animus) and all archetypes reside are pulling for you.
I, for one, am grateful for your kind sharing of your deep wisdom. Thank you. Nader. Archetypal Pattern Analyst.
Wow! What a synchronicity, not only that you referred to her in your lecture, but tragically, also for her. I am reminded of James Hollis’s observation that “”The most dangerous person, as the daily news illustrates, is the person in denial of the erotic energy which courses through the soul” (Mythologems, 2004, p. 106). That has been my experience as well. Tosia
Thank you for ellaborating your lecture further, Stephen and thank you for the recommendations. I certainly understood better the dynamics of the anima/animus which also helped me understand better my relationship with my husband. It also confirmed, once more, how Gothic literature is the best genre to find examples of Jungian psychology. So far you have talked about Dorian Gray and Blue Beard, but we could talk about many others. I love that you bring these types of examples to our lectures. Really appreciate it.
Until the next lecture
Thank you
Alicia
Life guide through the Gothic and archetypal psychology
Love the idea of marrying music & Jungian ideas. If I was nominating a song I’d go with “You Don’t Own Me” by
Lesley Gore, capturing the self speaking to one’s ego!