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Thea Euryphaessa

@theaeuryphaessa.bsky.social

45 followers4 following566 posts

TEtheaeuryphaessa.bsky.socialOct 19, 2024 11:17am

Jungian, Linda Schierse Leonard on the feminine archetype of the Eternal Girl [aka the 𝘱𝘶𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢]. From her book, '𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯: 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳-𝘋𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘙𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱'.

SLEEPING BEAUTY'S FATHER WAS A KING who loved his daughter dearly, but forgot to invite one of the oldest and most powerful of the fairies to the celebration of his daughter's christening. His forgetfulness of that feminine power resulted in 100 years of sleep and inactivity in the world for his daughter. Cinderella's father allowed himself to be dominated by a very powerful second wife, so his daughter was condemned by her jealous step-mother to live in rags and be the scullery maid of the household. One man was seemingly powerful, a king. The other was passive and ineffective. Both daughters suffered, and both were relegated to passive and inferior positions. This is the passive role which is one way women live out the pattern of the 'eternal girl'.

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Both Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella were finally saved by princes, just as many women who have lived lives of passivity have sought for safety and security in their marriages. Yet in the end, most of these women feel they have betrayed themselves. Our culture has collaborated in this betrayal. Women have been praised for their compliancy, their adaptability, their gentleness, their youthful sweetness, their obedient cooperation with their husbands, who are 'form to their matter'. Women who live out their lives in this archetypal pattern of existence have simply remained fixated at the girlish level of development. Like Peter Pan, for a variety of reasons, they prefer not to grow up; they remain eternal girls.

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The advantages of this choice are understandable. It can be comfortable and exciting to be admired as a sweet young thing, to depend on someone stronger for important decisions, to luxuriate in romantic fantasies about the Prince Charming who can cut through Sleeping Beauty's hedge of thorns to rescue her, to flirt with possibility, to become the chameleon-like images of many a man's heart's delight, or even to shy away from life and live in an inner wishworld. But the disadvantages of such a feminine lifestyle abound too.

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In exchange for these benefits, the eternal girl often gives up her independence and settles for a passive, dependent life. Rather than developing herself on the personal and professional level, rather than working out her own identity, rather than finding out who she really is through the difficult task of self-transformation—the eternal girl usually gains her identity from the projections others have upon her. To name a few: the femme fatale, the good daughter, the charming wife and hostess, the beautiful princess, the femme inspiratrice, even the tragic heroine. Instead of assuming the strength and force of her potential and the responsibility that goes with it, the eternal girl dwells in weakness. Like a doll, she allows others to make of her life what they will.

— Linda Schierse Leonard, The Wounded Woman: Healing the Father-Daughter Relationship

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Thea Euryphaessa

@theaeuryphaessa.bsky.social

45 followers4 following566 posts