Jung's Erotic Phenomenology: II. The Anima‐Images

Abstract In 1946, Carl Jung published an “erotic phenomenology” which condensed his teachings about sexuality and romantic love into a concise system. In Part I of this paper, I proposed a new translation of Jung’s original text, together with a discussion of its philosophical premises and the prior history of the system in Jung’s writings. Here I investigate its four “anima‐images”—Eve, Helen, Mary and Sophia. Each image represents a stage in the spiritualization of Eros and in the corresponding phenomenology of anima. I trace the prior history of each image in Jung’s writings, and identify its cultural and literary sources, thereby opening the system to critical reflection. I find that the images are drawn from Goethe’s Faust dramas, from ancient Gnostic writings, and from Biblical scripture. Gnostic sources are paramount however, since Sophia is the dominant image and the others are interpreted from a modern Gnostic perspective. This model can provide a framework for cultivating Eros in a therapeutic context. However, the framework is somewhat unstable and it is perhaps better understood as a hybrid of two systems: Eve and Mary on the one hand, and Helen and Sophia on the other.