these stories are variants of the same plot as the classic Western,
when the brave but outnumbered group suddenly hears the bugle
and knows that the cavalry is coming to rescue them.
These something-will-come-to-the-rescue plots are archetypal
situations. The theme of rescue speaks to a human truth, which a
woman as heroine needs to heed. When she is in an inner crisis and
doesn’t know what to do, she must not give up or act out of fear. To
hold the dilemma in consciousness, wait for new insight or changed
circumstance, and meditate or pray for clarity all invite a solution
from the unconscious that can transcend the impasse.
For example, the woman who had the bear dream was in a person-
al crisis, and in the midst of her doctoral work, when her urge to
have a baby arose. The maternal instinct gripped her with the com-
pelling intensity of something previously repressed and now de-
manding its due. Before the dream, she was caught in an either/or,
and neither satisfactory, situation. The solution needed to be felt,
not logically arrived at, in order to change the situation. Only when
the dream made an impression on her at an archetypal level, and
she absolutely knew that she would hold on to her intent to have a
baby, could she comfortably defer pregnancy. The dream was an
answer to her dilemma from her unconscious, which came to the
rescue. The conflict disappeared when this symbolic experience
deepened her understanding and provided her with an intuitively
felt insight.
The transcendent function can also be expressed through synchron-
istic events, those meaningful coincidences between an inner psy-
chological situation and an outer event. When synchronicity happens,
it can feel like a miracle, sending tingles up the spine. For example,
several years ago a patient of mine started a self-help program for
women. If she raised a specific amount of money by a certain dead-
line, she would get matching funds from a foundation, which would
thus guarantee the program’s existence. As the deadline approached,
she still did not have the necessary amount. Yet she knew her project
was needed, so she didn’t give up. Then, in the mail, came a check
for the exact amount she needed. It was an unexpected payment,
with interest, of a long-forgotten loan that she had written off as a
bad debt two years before.
The Heroine in Everywoman