Anima and Animus- The Eternal Partners of the Unconscious of our Soul

The Anima/Animus is one's inner consciousness and soul. It is a bridge between our shadow self,our persona and the conscious and unconscious existential force. Something that thrives beyond physical existence. The Anima is the emotional mind of a man. Now,most men are disassociated from their emotional life. The Anima is known to be the home of virtues residing in the heart of a man;the messenger between the man's conscious personality and the collective consciousness.

The Anima is generally modelled after the mother of a male child. As a man grows older,his perception of femininity is benchmarked relating to the behaviour of his mother. For instance,if a man's anima is characterized by intelligence and charisma;he may fall out of love with his partner if his counterpart falls out of love and she acts out of line of the stated characteristics that are different from a man's mother.

Contrarily,the Animus is the gatekeeper to the genuine spiritual life of a woman. The personification of masculine tendencies that exist in a woman's psyche. When a woman associates' relationships with receptivity,creativity, genuine connections and wholeness; her animus gets heightened. Meanwhile,when a man is sensitive,capacitates loving relationships,shows empathy; his anima is well existent. This sounds theoretically simple,doesn't it!!! However, in the society we thrive in, there are rigid gender roles where men are discouraged to explore their femineity and vice versa for women.

I would like to draw parallels to this concept that is explored deeply in Hindu culture. In Hinduism,there is a Hindu deity Ardhanarishvara that embodies half Lord Shiva and half Goddess Parvati which discusses a perfect synthesis and balance of the masculine and feminine energies. The Ardhanarishvara is the cosmic representation of divine partners,where Lord Shiva is the father and Goddess Parvati is the mother. Lord Shiva signifies the passive masculine force and Goddess Parvati denotes the feminine active force.

Now,scientifically, just like both testosterone and estrogen is present in both bodies of men and women;spiritually it is described as the balance of the masculine and feminine energies.

Discussing the depth of understanding how our psyche,dominated by the Anima/Animus creates our choices in romantic partners. The Anima and Animus projects the unconscious inner figures that are often shaped by early parental relationships onto potential mates. Each individual carries an unconscious archetypal blueprint within our anima and animus that builds our inner image towards potential partners. Therefore,the partner acts as a mirror that reflects our inner anima/animus which eventually,beings the unconscious material to the surface.

In modern day relationships,the anima and the animus are easily projected on to potential partners that brings to light the unconscious depths and patterns we carry in our individual souls. This creates two significant results; either the relationship deepens positively or turns developmental as a lesson over time.