Great Mother - An Analysis of the Archetype

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

About the author

Erich Neumann Translated by Ralph Manheim With a foreword by Martin Liebscher

Product details

• Authors: Erich Neumann, Neumann Erich
• Assisted by: Liebscher Martin (Foreword), Ralph Manheim (Translation)
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 20.01.2026
• EAN: 9780691279046
• ISBN: 978-0-691-27904-6
• No. of pages: 624
• Series: Bollingen Series; Bollingen Recollections
• Subjects: Guides > Spirituality > Ancient knowledge, ancient cultures; Humanities, art, music > Psychology; PSYCHOLOGY / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Folklore & Mythology, Psychology, Folklore, myths & legends, Analytical and Jungian psychology, Analytical & Jungian psychology, Folklore studies / Study of myth (mythology), PSYCHOLOGY / Psychotherapy / Jungian