Posted by gardenergirl on June 3, 2005, at 0:02:52
In reply to Re: Jung and fairy tales...interesting exercise » daisym, posted by rainbowbrite on June 2, 2005, at 22:53:47
I think that rescue is part of it. What I think resonates with me in Cinderella is the concept of real self versus an ideal self. The prince falls in love with the ideal self, or Cinderella in all her magical finery, but loses this fantasy woman. When he feels this loss, he goes in search of it, and finds Cinderella as her true self. And he loves her anyway.
Jung believed that all aspects of the fairy tale (or of dreams for that matter) represent parts of our psyche.
I was thinking about this and Cinderella, and I think you could look at the step mother and the fairy god mother as opposing mother archetypes. Neither is very satisfying, because the step mother is evil and abuses Cinderella, and the fairy god mother transforms her into this fantasy woman, but it doesn't last. I think that idea resonates with me as well, because I often feel like people are going to find out I'm really just a pumpkin.
You know, when I got married, I didn't realize it at the time, but my dress had elements in it that looked like Cinderella's dress. And I had my hair in a similar style, AND my veil was attached to a headband. When I took the veil off and just wore the headband, it was a bit startling to me how much I seemed to be trying to look like a princess.
And of course my father always called me "princess" when I was a girl. Funny, it stopped when I hit puberty. Guess that was the midnight bell for me as far as he was concerned.
I think I will bring this up tomorrow in my session.
Thanks everyone for all your posts. I can't respond much now, as I have to get a good night's sleep before I hit the road tomorrow. But more later.
gg
poster:gardenergirl
thread:506634
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20050528/msgs/507203.html