finds that her spirituality means the most to her. What is fulfilling
to one type of woman may be meaningless to another, depending
on which “goddess” is active.
Moreover, there are many “goddesses” in an individual woman.
The more complicated the woman, the more likely that many are
active within her. And what is fulfilling to one part of her may be
meaningless to another.
Knowledge of the “goddesses” provides women with a means of
understanding themselves and their relationships with men and
women, with their parents, lovers, and children. These goddess
patterns also offer insights into what is motivating (even compelling),
frustrating, or satisfying to some women and not to others.
Knowledge of the “goddesses” provides useful information for
men, too. Men who want to understand women better can use god-
dess patterns to learn that there are different types of women and
what to expect from them. They also help men understand women
who are complex or who appear to be contradictory.
Knowledge of the “goddesses” also provides therapists who work
with women with useful clinical insights into their patients’ interper-
sonal and intrapsychic conflicts. Goddess patterns help account for
differences in personality; they contribute information about the
potential for psychological difficulties and psychiatric symptoms.
And they indicate the ways a woman in a particular goddess pattern
can grow.
This book describes a new psychological perspective of women
based on images of women—provided by the Greek goddesses—that
have stayed alive in human imagination for over three thousand
years. This psychology of women differs from all theories that define
a “normal” woman as a woman who conforms to one “correct”
model, personality pattern, or psychological structure. It is a theory
based on observing the diversity of normal variations among women.
Much of what I have learned about women was gained within a
professional context—in my office as a psychiatrist and Jungian
analyst, through supervising trainees and teaching, as Clinical Pro-
fessor of Psychiatry at the University of California, and as a super-
vising analyst at the C. G. Jung Institute in San Francisco. But the
female psychology I develop
Goddesses in Everywoman