Thread: What is your Anima/Animus like?

My Animus usually appears as a huge man. And when I say huge, I mean HUGE. About 2 meters in hight, and often in the form of a warrior, or native american (which is odd, as I am a white scandinavian).
Usually he appears when I come to a halt in a decision, and don't know what to choose. Or if I am discussing a subject with myself.

He has never been a celebrity. I've never seen anyone look like him in the real world. He is usually my age, or a few years apart. And he is a stubborn old goat. If I don't wanna listen to him, he
keeps appearing night after night, repeating the same thing in different ways.

I know when it is the Animus, because he has a certain feel to him. An aura of personality, you might say, even though "he" really is a part of me. But his presence is different from the other dream characters.

The Animus is helpful in that I spring more into action depending on the advice I get from him. He is always an advocate for action, as I tend to be more passive at times. So I kinda look at those dreams where the Animus appears as a hint "to get off my butt and move forward"

Maybe a dumb question but what the hell is an animus?

Originally Posted by Serious

Maybe a dumb question but what the hell is an animus?

As I understand it, in Jungian psychology, the animus is the male part of a woman's personality; the anima is the woman part of a male's personality. They are like a perfect mirrored reflection of your personality. Your soul-image. So when you have dreams, a DC of the opposite sex could represent your anima/animus. When my animus appears in my dreams, and he does often, he is usually giving me advice on what areas of my life I'm lagging behind and that need action, helping me with self-awareness, or he's helping me figure out and relate to the men in my life. The anima in a man's dream might be helpful with stuff that deal with emotions, wisdom, or helping him figure out the women in his life.

Just to help clarify animus and anima to others who might not be familiar with them, here are a few quotes etc.:

A helpful definition of the term “animus” is found in Jungian analyst Jane Wheelwright’s book “Death of a Woman”. Although being a definition, it might tend to sound a little dry, by mulling over each part and relating it to one’s personal experience, the nature of this inner figure should gradually make more sense over time:

“Animus: The archetype in the female psyche that is the inherited pattern of potential experience of the male instinct.

This archetype underlies and is basic to a complex which is affected by the individual’s early experiences of men, primarily her father, male siblings, and the collective images of men provided by her cultural experience.

The images and affects [emotions] that attach to the complex express what is other than her female body-ego identity, such as her own unconscious maleness, the unconscious, the inferior function [for example, if a woman tends to move through life chiefly using emotions and values, then her inferior function, i.e. a less developed way of dealing with certain situations, would often tend to relate to the use of thinking and the intellect].

The animus assumes a generalized image of the individual’s male ideal, which strongly influences her selection of a mate.

Consciously related to, the animus – presented in dreams as a single figure or a group – functions as inspirator or bridge to the unconscious as source of creative, mental, or spiritual initiative and well-spring of potentiality for development. The animus functions as guide to and expedites the pursuit of impersonal endeavours.

When not consciously related to, the animus causes a woman to be opinionated, argumentative, rigid, controlling, and excessively critical of herself or others”


Generally speaking, the animus is also related to “focus”, intentionality, assertiveness etc.

As outlined in “Man and His Symbols”, edited by C. G. Jung, there are four general stages of animus development in a woman.

Stage one is the “wholly physical man”, e.g. the classic “Tarzan” type, stage two the “romantic man” or the “man of action”, e.g. a movie heart throb or wilderness explorer etc., stage three is the “bearer of the word” such as a president etc., stage four is the “wise spiritual guide”, e.g. a Ghandi-like figure.

These stages aren’t fixed and one or two may never be reached, but they’re a useful guide to help decide what “level” a given animus dream figure is symbolic of.

To find out more about the animus or “inner male” in women, Jungian analyst Barbara Hannah’s “The Animus: The Spirit of Inner Truth in Women, Volumes 1 and 2”, is a valuable collection of her many lively and easy-to-read essays on the topic.

You may also like a book by Jungian analyst Marion Woodman called “The Ravaged Bridegroom” which also deals with the animus figure. A new copy can be obtained from the publisher at innercitybooks.net


Also found in analyst Jane Wheelwright’s book is a definition of the “anima”:

“The archetype in the male psyche that is the inherited pattern of potential experience of the female instinct.

This archetype underlies and is basic to a complex which is affected by the individual’s early experiences of women, primarily his mother, female siblings, and the collective images of women provided by his cultural experience.

The images and affects [emotions] that attach to the complex express what is other than the individual’s male body-ego identity, such as his own unconscious femaleness, the unconscious, the inferior function [e.g. if a man usually uses thinking and the intellect to navigate through life, then his inferior function, i.e. a less developed way of dealing with certain situations, would often be related to emotions and values].

The anima assumes a generalized image of the individual’s female ideal, which strongly influences his selection of a mate.

Consciously related to, the anima functions as inspiratrice or muse – a bridge to the creative wellspring of the unconscious and to unknown potentialities for development.

The anima serves as a guide in relationships, particularly with those who have a different outlook.

When not consciously related to, the anima causes a man to be moody, capricious, ruthless, and snide with others.”

The anima broadly speaking is also related to the “irrational” and openness to nature etc.

The four stages of the anima are: 1) the “primitive” woman e.g. Paul Gaugin’s Polynesian wives. 2) “romanticized beauty”, e.g. the classical example of Helen of Troy still shows up in movies etc.
3) Spiritualized eros, e.g. images of the Virgin Mary. 4) women who transcend even the most holy and most pure; a classical example include Athena, the Greek goddess of Wisdom

Similar to the stages of animus development, the current level of anima development can be seen in a given female dream figure.

Anyway, I hope these quotes etc. are helpful in some way to clarify what animus and anima are although in reality, we shouldn’t try too much to pin down and “define” what they symbolize and how they can affect our everyday lives.

I saw my anima 2 times in non-lucid dreams, that was emotionaly intense, and I woke up with a good mind-set for few days, each times.

The first one was a girl I knew in the past, and the second was a representation of what I consider "being in the present, by simply letting go and enjoying every little simple things that appear in life, simply by being aware and attentive to events". This DC was always nicely smiling, very calm and with big openned eyes, like to embrace everything with eyes. She appear to be asian, and I think it's matter with the fact that I've watched the movie "Paprika" few days before.
I think the character of Paprika is very interresting because of being very self-controled in real life, and more colored while dreaming, cool movie.

I do not often have dreams like this. But.. In one of my dreams a female figure situated next to me in a tent. She was also really really attractive. I think I tried kissing her. Then she moved away changed into a male sumo-wrestler and walked out of the tent.. ye..

One other time was a bit more brutal actually. Wasn't too long ago where I had a dream there was a show going on and people I didn't recognize sit on tables. And a celebrity doing some singing. And perhaps other figures like that and I got into an argument. There's a part which I don't quite recall but there was some resistance and someone grabbed me in the back and I instinctively 'knew' who it was.. It wasn't even a body as far as I recall and she swung me around the room into a chocolate birthday cake that was situated on a table where some family members where sitting. And I had the feeling upon waking that the cake was there just for me. As a sort of gift.

The 'presence' in my dream was because I read a tale on the internet a trip report of a guy who did 2cb. He was very well-versed in meditation and spirituality and a woman injected him with an intense amount of love. He seemed to describe the anima/animus without using those words. He just said they are the female counterpart of a man and vice versa. The intuitive side of the man is what this woman represented to him. It was really a beautiful report to read. In my dream I had a 'knowing' that this was '2cb'. My mind just instantly related this to mean this womanly spirit.