Description
Open this book and enter the world of eros and, curiously, emptiness—two vital qualities of the Wise Old Woman spirit that can help us survive … possibly even thrive. Through the human imagination and dreams, the Wise Old Woman spirit offers a kind of collaboration and partnership involving a very real intimacy and immediacy while preserving our conscious gains.
Although the Wise Old Woman spirit has appeared with many names and in multiple forms, this discovery is specifically born of Jung’s work on the archetype of the Wise Old Man. The Wise Old Woman spirit has emerged as a wisdom figure of her own in the ground-breaking research Dr. Faron has conducted. Not a goddess, nor worshipped, the feminine wisdom figure is nevertheless divine, born out of each individual psyche—man or woman—and functions as a psychological and individual reality.
Featuring Emma Jung as the quintessential example of the Wise Old Woman spirit and enriched by dreams of the Wise Old Woman from around the world, this book provides scholarly, experiential and life-affirming inspiration!
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
List of Illustrations
Preface
Chapter 1: Introduction to the Wisdom of the Old Woman’s Spirit
Chapter 2: Manifestations of the Feminine Divine
Chapter 3: Circumambulating Eros
Chapter 4: The Great Feminine Secret—Emptiness 1
Chapter 5: Colorful Images of the Wise Old Woman Spirit from the Life of Emma Jung
Chapter 6: Astonishing Visits in Dreams Worldwide—More Images of the Wise Old Woman Spirit
Chapter 7: Epilogue
References
Praise for The Wise Old Woman Spirit
“Susan’s book is a lifetime’s work, and one of great achievement. She explores and clarifies the intuitive work of Dr. Carl Jung, who had realized the power of love, and the damaging effect of the oppression of the feminine in our modern one-sided world. Susan’s book shines with warmth, lyricism, and the clarity of her writing. This is a work from a truly feminine mind and soul and adds to the few works that come from such a genuine and differentiated place of eros—including her gentle caveat that we need relationship with our inner Wise Old Woman if we are ever to reconnect to the life-affirming aspects of life, nature, and love.”
–Jacquie Flecknoe-Brown, Jungian analyst and author of The Dreamer’s Odyssey
“What is feminine wisdom? Why is it important? How can we access it? In this decidedly original opus, Dr. Faron teaches us these things, citing the work of C.G. Jung and others, as well as the life of Emma Jung as a penultimate example of such wisdom. She also shares her own experiences of the Wise Old Woman spirit and numerous illustrative dreams she collected from all over the world. There’s a great deal to be learned from this book. I highly recommend it!”
–Gary Toub, Ph.D., Diplomate Jungian analyst and psychologist, Senior Training Analyst and Past President and Training Director, C. G. Jung Institute of Colorado
“In The Wise Old Woman Spirit: Help as a Partnership, Dr. Faron looks closely at a particular kind of healing—one that includes the whole psyche of the individual. In the same way that Jung looked at healing of his own soul and found the guidance of his inner Wise Old Man, Dr. Faron highlights our critical need for a more complete integration of the feminine function, namely, the qualities of the archetype of the Wise Old Woman. Her writing is intimate and light-hearted as well as insightful and thought provoking. With her close commentary of fairy tales, an interview with Andreas Jung about his grandmother, Emma, revelations by Lockhart, von-Franz, and Jung as well as dreams from around the world, Dr. Faron’s profound book reveals the eros and emptiness essential to the Wise Old Woman, the very qualities needed in the world today.”
–Marie Newton, Author of Dizzy and the Dreams and The Letters of Hope Street
“Susan Faron presents a book about the Wise Old Woman, ‘and she is eternal’—truly an adventurous undertaking. But the author is guided, encouraged, and supported by many dreams. She spans the arc of amplifications over great historic and prehistoric periods, across diverse cultures, myths, and fairy tales. And she finds in the life of Emma Jung-Rauschenbach, the wife of C.G. Jung, an impressive example of the effects of the Wise Old Woman spirit. Susan Faron’s book is not only an intellectual comment but written with compassion and fills a gap in the wide spectrum of works on basic archetypal symbolism.”
–Hansueli F. Etter, PhD, long-time colleague of M. L. von Franz; president of the Foundation for Jungian Psychology, Küsnacht, Switzerland; and Diplomate Jungian Analyst, lecturer, and author
“I am so impressed by how fully you have presented the WOW, giving so many instances of her presence in our lives, and with believable examples. She is touchable and knowable, perhaps the most important in your introduction to so many who have not had, or perhaps not realized, the direct experience of her yet. Even for those of us that have been so blessed, you fill out her reality so that I, and others, may begin to notice how ever present she is in our daily existence. What an impressive job you have done. The sheer breadth of your research is apparent. I am looking forward to being able to introduce the WOW to other women I know, and most particularly women in my practice whom I know will benefit greatly from reading your book. I am honored to be included in such a fine book. By including me, you have refocused my attention on her in my own life. As you know, as time wears on, it is easy to let awareness of even such a vibrant and personal gift from the Self fade. I am even now beginning to look around, to see where I can find evidence of her in my daily life once again. That alone has been worth the wait. I also appreciated your thoughtful, intelligent commentary on something so personal and precious to me as my dream. That, too, has the actuality of refocusing my attention on the gifts she brings me and I appreciate the wisdom in your commentary.”
–CA woman, now age 80
