the archetypal mythology of horses
Copyright
2004-2022 Beverley Kane, MD
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of the facets are as Harding describes: Hetaera (beauty), Great Mother (compassion,
nurturing), Amazon (strength), and Wise Woman (seer) and Great Father (wisdom),
Hero (courage), Puer (frivolity).
7. There is an interesting difference here between the horse's physical capacity as a
somarchtype and as an archetype. When I feel the horse's body as an extension of my
own and as a compensation for my own waning strength as I age, I am projecting onto
the somarchtype of strength. When I look to a horse, typically a stalwart, older gelding,
to take care of me on the trail, I am projecting onto the archetype of Wise Father or
physical protector.
8. The Shadow is typically a person of one's same gender for whom one feels an
irrational hatred. A striking example of projected Shadow qualities is the murderous gay
bashing committed by homophobic heterosexual men. These men experience
uncontrolled rage when they see or imagine effeminate behavior in another man.
Because the perpetrators of these hate crimes have not embraced their own feminine
side—the softer, more nurturing, quiche-eating side that can cry in a tender moment—
they project Weak Woman as Shadow onto less macho males. Like the caricatured
effeminate-femininity pair, all negative Shadow qualities—even so-called evil—are
paired with a positive aspect of itself that needs to be integrated into the psyche.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Blake, Henry L. Talking With Horses.
Edwards, Elwyn Hartley. The New Encyclopedia of the Horse. Dorling Kindersley.
London. 1994
Encyclopedia of World Mythology. Foreword by Rex Warner. BPC Publishing.
1970
Farrar, Janet and Russell, Virginia. The Magical History of the Horse. Robert
Hale. London. 1992.
Halpern, Mark. A Winter's Tale.
Hausman, Gerald and Hausman, Loretta. The Mythology of Horses. Three Rivers
Press. New York. 2003.
Harding, M. Ester. The Way of All Women: A Psychological Interpretation.
Longman's Green, 1933
Hillman, James and McLean, Margot. Dream Animals. Chronicle Books. 1997.
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