The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype

By Erich Neumann

Book Overview

A landmark account of the Great Mother as a primordial image of the human psyche

In this book, renowned analytical psychologist Erich Neumann draws on ritual, mythology, art, and records of dreams and fantasies to examine how the archetype of the Great Mother has been outwardly expressed in many cultures and periods since prehistory. He shows how the feminine has been represented as goddess, monster, gate, pillar, tree, moon, sun, vessel, and every animal from snakes to birds. Neumann discerns a universal experience of the maternal as both nurturing and fearsome, an experience rooted in the dialectical relation of growing consciousness, symbolized by the child, to the unconscious and the unknown, symbolized by the Great Mother. With a foreword by Martin Liebscher, The Great Mother is a profound and enduring work by one of the most brilliant thinkers of the twentieth century.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691279047
• ISBN13: 9780691279046
• Release Date: January 2026
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 624 Pages
• Weight: 2.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A masterpiece of mythologic imagination

Neumann's book is really a masterpiece. I reccomend reading it after The origins and history of consciousness, where he traces the evolution of the male archetype. Neumann was probably the most freudian of all Jungian disciples. He also introduced some variations in the jungian theories. For example, he stated (read the first chapter of the great mother) that the archetype of the hero represents the evolution of consciousness and the great mother the evolution of the unconscious. This is a somehow different view from Jung's contrasexual identities. Neumann's effort in the great mother is so huge that deserves a place of privilege in the litterature of mythological interpretations. Though I think it is important not to read it literally, but symbolically, letting the images inspire your imagination. Though today other jungians, and especially Hillman get the honors of scholars and psychologists alike, Neumann's systematic work is an invaluable resource that preluded in the jungian field later discoveries in the freudian school such as those of Balint, Winnicott or Margaret Mahler.

a must for mythology lovers

The Great Mother is an absolute must-have for anyone intersted in mythology, Jungian psychology or even literary analysis.Part I is quite heavy in termonology and complex archtypal ideas; part II is more accessable and can be read and enjoyed without part I. As a feminist, I found it fascinating to learn about the different aspects of the goddess. I especially enjoyed the chapter called "Lady of the Beasts" which discusses the different animals associated with the Great Mother and their symbolic significance. Even if you don't subcribe to Jungian psychology, this book is a fascinating look into the human mind.Finally, there's 185 pages of photographs and drawings at the end of the book -- fascinating to thumb through!