Review of Dancing in the flames: the dark goddess in the transformation of consciousness

Authors: Marion Woodman and Elinor Dickson

Published: Shambhala, 1996, US$14.00

Review by: Chris Clarke, Faculty of Mathematical Studies, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK

e-mail: Chris@scispirit.com

Marion Woodman is a Jungian analyst—and is one of the most inspiring voices in the global movement for peace. Here she joins forces with Marion Woodman, Director of Psychological Services at St Michael’s Hospital, Toronto to produce an informed and penetrating investigation of the human situation at this moment. They point to a particular constellation of archetypal ideas which is of utmost significance in guiding us into a vision to live by: the mythical complex of the Dark Goddess. Their book operates at two levels, that of personal transformation and that of the understanding and transformation of society. And this is its strength, because in our interconnected world it is ultimately impossible for the self to be transformed without altering its relation to society, or for there to be a significant change in society that does not stem from a deep spiritual change in its individuals.

The core of the book is a built from a succession of chapters based on psychoanalytic material which show the effectiveness of using the rich mythology of the Dark Goddess in organising and understanding the dreams of their analysands. But first, however, the societal context is established in an overview of the evolutionary phases of humanity, drawing on the insights of ecofeminist writers and on the work of Ken Wilber. At a broad-brush level, this involved first the matriarchal phase, in which people lived through a participation mystique in an animate world where "everything in nature [was] imbued with a spirit-life related to a source, the Great Mother." This was then followed first by the emergence of the ego-self and then by the formation of the patriarchal phase of hierarchical power structures. Throughout the early part of this history the archetype of the Goddess progressively emerges from that of the Great Mother. Humanity detaches itself from undifferentiated participation, passing through fear and propitiation, to the first intimations of the archetypal realm and the realisation, as Wilber describes it, of the goddess as the One; the realisation that "the sacrifice of self discloses the Eternal." Then, however, in the patriarchal period that follows this, as the pendulum swings far towards the individual ego, both the Great Mother and the Goddess are repressed, and driven into the "murky depths of our unconscious." Yet the culture of the Goddess lives on underground in the succeeding centuries, and eventually finds expression, amidst the repression of older forms, in the new form of the Black Virgin from the twelfth century onwards.

The authors give a clear account of the implications of this history for society and for its relation to nature, and then turn to the personal analytic material, which allows the reader to make their own contact with the goddess archetype. The mythological aspects of Virgin, Mother and Crone, making up the European triple goddess, are followed through their appearance in the therapies of both men and women, pointing the way to progressive stages in the process of personal individuation. In our ego-dominated age we have grown used to the imagery of light; and so I found it powerful and liberating to be reminded of the imagery of the holy darkness that imbues this analytic material. Reconnecting with the dark goddess allows us to reintegrate with the forces of nature that we have repressed, forces that society has for century tried to overcome and conquer, rather than seeking to enlist in a spirit of cooperation. The authors give a picture of a process of integration inspired by the qualities of the dark goddess, a process in which fear of death, fear of nature, and fear of our own femininity (whether we are men or women) are reconciled in the dark. They stress the dangers of yearning for a world of pure spirit and light, which is a violation of what it is to be human, a state where "in our yearning to be perfect, we have mistaken perfection for wholeness."

One of the most interesting parts of this section subdivides the process of integration according to the traditional chakra system, while still basing the account firmly on the actual material of analysis. From this viewpoint, integration is seen as a process of "building the subtle body," of embodying spirit within the totality of our humanity. The key step in this process, for the individual, involves the recognition of our own autonomy, the acceptance of ourselves, and the finding of our own voice. For this to happen, "it takes great resolve to enter the darkness of our own chaos, to give up the familiar path and begin to trust in our own experience. The recognition and unconditional love of oneself is never a selfish journey." It is a journey of walking towards increasing consciousness, increasing continuity between the realms that we normally separate as "physical" and "spiritual." There are strong hints here of the psychosomatic context of individuation, which it would be interesting to see followed up at some stage.

At the end the book returns to the societal level, where the authors’ thesis is that within the protests of the Sixties "were the seeds, at a culturally recognised level, of a movement based on hope for a more meaningful existence. ... What began as a protest has become a challenge, a challenge that will involve not only technology, but a new understanding of human mythology." The authors place this challenge at the transition between the second and third of three "major paradigms in human evolution." First were the matriarchal and patriarchal phases, already described. Now, the transition that the authors see is to a third "androgynous" age where the separation of masculine and feminine archetypes is progressively supplanted by their marriage in an interiorized spirituality. "The dislocations of the outer sphere of public policies, attitudes, and behaviour are making it imperative for us to turn inward to locate ourselves in the ‘ground of our being.’ ... Moving into [the third paradigm] requires us to live from this centre, the place of paradox, where the tension of the opposites is held in balance, the ‘both/and’ world of mind/body, masculine/feminine, sexuality/spirituality, life/death. To live from the centre is to transcend the dualities and achieve wholeness." This vision takes up that of Richard Tarnas in his influential "Passion of the western mind," emphasising the key role that the restoration of the feminine has to play in being now reintegrated into western culture. But it goes significantly further by showing how this integration is founded on an integration of the masculine and feminine energies within each person, man or woman.

It also goes further by tracing, in the final sections, the implications of this view for the nature of our science in the third phase of humanity. The science that we are used to stresses the intellect, the rational—in archetypal terms, the masculine. It operates with ideas of impersonal, objective discovery and absolute truth. Yet, while this aspect is a vital part of our methodology, it is fatally limited as a sufficient basis for our new world-view. Depending on how we choose to phrase it, either science must be enlarged to include the place of the experiencing self, or science must be integrated within a larger view that gives equal status to this part of life. The authors’ account at the end gives us, in rather fragmented forms, some of the tools that may enable us to do this. They give us immense hope, that there is a way to a new vision, but also a profound challenge. For this new vision is not one that we can dream up intellectually: it can be reached only by transformation, only if we "throw ourselves into the flames and dance in the refining fire..."