According to the myth, Cassandra received her prophetic gift from Apollo. This gift became a curse for her, because no one believed her predictions. She foresaw tragic events, but none of them could prevent - even the terrible ending of her own life. Women with developed intuition, especially sensitive to future changes, have been persecuted for many centuries. They were insulted, tortured, burned at the stake... In the end, they stopped believing even in themselves. Should contemporary Cassandra experience the same fate?

In this book, Jungian analyst Lori Layton Shapira examines in detail the myth of Cassandra, its manifestations in the psyche, and its relationship to hysteria. She describes the psychological profile of the modern woman with the Cassandra complex, its use in therapy, and the clinical phases of the analytic process.

The book will be interesting and useful for both professional audience (psychologists, psychotherapists) and non-professional readers. At the very least, its positive confidence that the load of the unconscious "prophecy" can become a source of creativity and an object of legitimate pride.

Introduction

I became interested in the topic of Cassandra when two of my patients dreamed about it. Considering somewhat similar psychological patterns, I found a lot in common in them, and not the last place in this row belonged to the strong hysterical component present in each of them.

Hysteria is no longer considered a widespread diagnosis. In fact, it has already been excluded from the latest edition of the American Psychiatric Association, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the Definition of Mental Disorders (DSM-III). But hysteria still exists and lends itself very well to clinical description, even though we prefer to bashfully avoid making such a diagnosis with its characteristic misogynistic chauvinistic meaning. We tend to attribute exhibitionistic tendencies to "narcissistic personality disorder" or to the emotional outbursts of "borderline" people.

About a century ago, Pierre Janet came to the following conclusion:

“The word ‘hysteria’ should be retained, despite the fact that its original meaning has changed a lot. Today it will be very difficult to modernize it, and indeed it has such a great and beautiful history that it will be too painful to get rid of it.

It is quite possible that the same can be said of the diagnosis of hysteria, which has a documented history of some four thousand years. Much has been written about this disease in the patriarchal era. Here we must look at this story from a woman's point of view, using a constructive view of the appropriateness of her symptoms, in order to understand its contemporary meaning.

PART I. CASSANDRA IN THE PAST

Chapter 1. The myth and tragedy of Cassandra

Cassandra was one of the daughters of Priam and Hecuba, the rulers of Troy. Once, when she was in the temple of Apollo, God himself appeared and promised to give her the gift of prophecy if she agreed to belong to him. However, having accepted his gift, Cassandra refused to fulfill her part of the agreement.

As you know, if the grace of God is accepted, it can no longer be rejected. Therefore, Apollo begged Cassandra to give him at least one kiss, and as soon as she did, he breathed into her mouth something such that not a single person trusted her prophecies anymore.

From the very beginning of the Trojan War, Cassandra predicted its tragic outcome. But no one listened to her predictions. She talked about how the Greeks hid inside the wooden horse, but the Trojans did not heed her warnings. Her fate was to know what misfortune would happen, but not be able to prevent it.

Cassandra was blamed for the defeat and given to Agamemnon. When he brought her to Mycenae, they were greeted by Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon, who plotted with her lover Aegisthus and planned to kill them both. Cassandra had a premonition of her fate and refused to enter the palace. She fell into a trance of prophecy and screamed that she felt blood, feeling the full weight of the curse of the House of Atreus. However, she could not escape her fate. Clytemnestra killed her with the same ax that she used to behead Agamemnon

Cassandra is a tragic figure. Her story formed the basis of ancient Greek drama, poetry—and even opera. In literature, the basis of the tragedy is the vicious nature of the tragic character, but at the same time, his huge potential remains unrealized. What, then, is the essence of the tragedy of Cassandra?

Chapter 2. Cassandra's wounds

collective dynamics

The collective factors that affected Cassandra are the cessation of worship of the goddess as the supreme deity and the increase in revenge on Apollo. These themes appear constantly in historical development a particular factor, which we now call the mother complex and which we will consider later.

And in this chapter, we will focus on the evolution of Apollo - from primitive to classical form. This evolution will serve as a paradigm for the development of Cassandra's Animus, her inner image of masculinity.

The story of Cassandra unfolded in the Bronze Age, in the second millennium BC. At this time, Greek civilization was undergoing a fundamental upheaval from a matriarchal to a patriarchal culture, accompanied by a departure from the values inherent in femininity. This change was especially traumatic for the Trojans, whose culture was closer to the matriarchal Crete-Minos than to the more patriarchal Achaean. When the Greeks took Troy, its culture and religion also fell apart.

In her book Cassandra, the East German writer Krista Wolf noted that in Troy the worship of new gods was part of the practice of ancient religious cults. “Cassandra has had plenty of conflict-avoidance episodes”

She was deeply affected by the transition to a patriarchal cult, perhaps even more than any other of her contemporaries, since this reversal could undermine the development of female identity due to the revenge of the goddess as an archetypal role model.

Chapter 3 Hysteria - the wanderings of a hungry uterus

Cassandra embodies the archetypal conflict between matriarchal and patriarchal values that have entered into a rivalry for power, with the complete absence of Eros connecting them. For a long time, hysteria was seen as a manifestation of such a splitting of the psyche. This chapter will outline the historical background and provide a prelude to our subsequent discussion of the significance of hysteria today.

As we have seen, the tragedy of Cassandra was that it was impossible for her to share the fate of the Pythia - the sacred vessel for divine prophecy. Psychologically, her negative mother complex prevented the development of the ego, which arises from the fundamental female Self. Therefore, Kassandra suffered because of the “prematurity” of the female Ego: in fact, her Ego did not know the psychological womb.

The traditional view of hysteria as a disease of the uterus goes back four thousand years. The uterine insufficiency theory, with a few exceptions, has been traced throughout history. Because and historical documents, and the diagnosis of hysteria are associated with the era of patriarchy, we have no way of knowing whether such a syndrome existed during the time of matriarchy.

Known medical documents found in Egypt and dated to the second century BC. e. In the oldest of them, the Cahuna Papyrus, we are talking specifically about hysteria, which is described as "starvation" of the uterus or its displacement upwards and subsequent pressure on other organs"

All the efforts of the doctors were aimed at nourishing the starving organ and returning it to its normal position.

“Parts of the body were fumigated with precious fragrant substances to attract the uterus; or they ate abominations or inhaled stench to scare it away and drive it away from the upper body, where it was believed that it wandered ”

Chapter 4

Treatment of hysteria according to Freud is still practiced, despite the fact that cases of such a disease are much less common. Ilse Weiss explains why hysteria has become a rare disease:

“In the 20th century, behavior consisting in“ plaintive lamentations ”and“ wringing of arms and legs ”are met by those around not just without sympathy, but even with disgust. The greatest tolerance for him is shown by the exalted crowd and teenage girls when they react to the appearance of their idols ... The swooning ladies of the Victorian era are also not able to arouse the slightest sympathy for themselves from their social environment ... Thus, hysteria, in essence, has ceased to reward person. The caring attention that hysterical women have felt for themselves for centuries has given way in the 20th century to insensitive indifference ...

Freud's study of hysteria, instead of giving it even more weight, actually deprived it of that important mystical meaning that hysteria had for more than two thousand years ... It was argued that if hysteria really turns out to be a means of satisfying the needs of the ego, then the lack of attention to the disease could easily be mistaken for its almost complete disappearance. Thus, there may not be much contradiction in the claim that it was the deepening understanding of the causes of hysteria by the leading psychiatrists of our century that contributed to the almost complete disappearance of the disease. The newly revised therapeutic insight has found application in the treatment of serious psychoneuroses, within which only the potential possibility of hysterical manifestations exists.

We may no longer see spasms and convulsions, but to underestimate or discount hysteria is to ignore a well-known clinical syndrome.

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Cassandra syndrome

Cassandra is a beautiful Trojan princess. The god Apollo himself fell in love with her, and she promised to marry him in exchange for the ability to predict the future. But, having received this gift, Cassandra changed her mind and refused Apollo. In retaliation, he deprived her of the gift of persuasion. And, despite the accuracy of the predictions, no one believed her. Her prophecies that the journey of Paris to Sparta would bring misfortune, that the Trojan horse was a trap and the city would be completely destroyed, were not heard.

The Cassandra Syndrome is the ability to know in advance about future troubles and the inability to prevent this.

Let's consider three points of view on this unusual phenomenon.

The first is that people who know everything in advance suffer endlessly and live in isolation from society. They would like to be useful, to prevent the inevitable, but they are abruptly cut off as an annoying harbinger of trouble. When the prediction comes true, our clairvoyants are embarrassed to be reminded that they did warn! If they dared to say: “I told you!” - people around you would react negatively.

The second point that is important to talk about concerns the inability of a person to give up their predictions. “If the nail goes up, the hammer will beat it back in,” says a Japanese proverb. It is better to be wrong with the crowd than to be right against it. As folk wisdom says, “to live with wolves is to howl like a wolf.” And, despite this, many stubbornly continue to cut the truth and even preach, at the risk of becoming a laughingstock. By the way, laughter can be a good way to make yourself listen. Jean-Claude Van Damme seems to have understood this well. He entertains everyone with his aphorisms and sayings, since they are printed, they diverge all over the world! It can get the power of persuasion. At some point, people will think: “Well, there is some truth in all this!”

Well, Apollo chose the perfect punishment for the recalcitrant Cassandra: the gift of divination, which she possessed, turned out to be useless without the gift of persuasion. You need to have incredible charisma to make the crowd believe your words. But there may be opposing points of view! If there is a common opinion in the team, any objection is suppressed. When everyone thinks that things are getting worse than ever, you will never prove otherwise, even if you have specific facts. In the same way, with general euphoria, calls for prudence will not be heard. But here we have already imperceptibly moved on to the Titanic syndrome.

If you have Cassandra Syndrome, remember that everyone learns from their own experience, from their own mistakes. Try to keep your predictions to yourself: let everyone develop at their own pace. As a last resort, if you are sure that a mistake will lead to unpleasant consequences, give two or three careful warnings, but if you are sure that they do not want to listen to you, immediately shut up. Well, in the most sincere tone, like Inspector Columbo, ask the person a relevant question that he did not think about, for example: “Put the washing machine on the balcony to make room? Great idea! Where do you think the water will go?

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Chapter 1. The myth and tragedy of Cassandra

Oh grief! Oh woe, woe!

Painful vision destroys me again!

Christa Wolf. Cassandra

When Cassandra refused to share a bed with Apollo, he cast a spell on her that no one would believe in her prophecies. But why did she refuse him? Was he just not interested in her? History says otherwise. In Agamemnon, Cassandra talks about a playful relationship with Apollo that preceded the rejection: “He molested me, he wanted love. Having promised, I deceived Loxias (Apollo)."

Did she want something for nothing? Was she a sexy seductress who only teases like most hysterics? Although, judging by the demeanor, Cassandra was clearly hysterical, she was still an ambivalent person. First she complained, then she cheated. Perhaps her ambivalence also contained passive aggression - anger at Apollo for his past violent attacks against femininity and at the same time fear that she would be raped and abandoned, as had happened more than once with many other objects of his desires.

In fact, Apollo forced Cassandra to become his Pythia, the "wife of God", in order to fill her with his divine spirituality. In the process of deifying the Pythia, it was known that she became "entheos, plena deo: a god who possessed her and used her voice as his own"

Historically, in Delphi, the chosen women served as the embodiment of this sacred vessel, for the god had to have high morality, absolute integrity and firmness of the earth. Such a woman had to come from a well-known, respected, but simple family and lead such a pure and righteous life that, approaching God, she must do this with a truly virgin heart. Diodorus Cyculus argued that “in ancient times, oracles spoke through virgins, because their virtue was due to their physical purity and connection with Artemis. They were ready to entrust their secrets to her, which the oracles could reveal.

Even if this is true, many Pythians could not stand the strain. On some level, Cassandra could already know that she did not have all the necessary qualities that the ancients, possessing intuitive wisdom, considered necessary for a woman who embodies the sacred divine vessel.

From an archetypal point of view, the "vessel" is associated with femininity, with the ability of the female womb to receive. On a personal level, a woman's psychological vessel is her ego. Cassandra had a weak vessel. This turned out to be her tragic inferiority. In a psychological sense, she was not a virgin:

“A virgin woman herself does what she does - not because she wants to enjoy, not to be loved or approved, and not even of her own free will, and not to gain power over others ... but does it because it is true.”

Cassandra, on the contrary, like any hysterical woman, does nothing to become loved. Ultimately, she told Apollo no, as it was the only way to survive the power of masculinity beyond any limits. Cassandra was not able to refuse God directly and frankly, directly confronting Apollo with his Shadow of a rapist and misogynist. In doing so, she would have affirmed her feminine essence, retaining her virginity, which would ultimately enable her to fulfill her destiny as a holy divine vessel.

But Cassandra did not have sufficient ego power. She had a somewhat painful attitude towards femininity, so her ego did not have a strong feminine basis. As we shall see in the next chapter, there were many reasons for this, both personal and impersonal.

Rice. 3. Two hypostases of Apollo

Left: Statue of Apollo from Wei. Around 500 BC e. Villa Giulia Museum, Rome

Right: Apollo Belvedere, c. 330–320 BC e. Pius Clementine Museum, Vatican

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In the twentieth century, victimology emerged from criminology into a separate discipline, the boundaries of which have now expanded so much that they have led to its transformation into an interdisciplinary approach of the most urgent social significance. As victimology merges with psychology, the question of the socio-cultural and historical-psychological roots of victim behavior became more and more persistent.

The second half of the 20th century was the era of the true flourishing of the role of historical psychology in the study and interpretation of the underlying determinants of victim behavior.

One of the first discoveries, made long before victimology became a scientific discipline, was the understanding of gender differences in victim behavior.

“Plato did not know what category to attribute women to: to rational beings or to cattle, because nature inserted them inside, in one secluded place, something animated, some kind of organ that a man does not have and which sometimes secretes some special juices: saltpetre borate, tart, burning, unpleasantly tickling, and from this burning, from this fermentation of the mentioned juices, which is painful for a woman (and this organ is very sensitive and easily irritated), a shiver runs through the woman’s body, all her feelings are excited, all sensations aggravated, all thoughts interfere. Thus, if nature had not ennobled women to some extent with a sense of shame, they would have chased like crazy after the first trousers they came across, in such a frenzy ... which Bacchic fiads did not find even in the days of bacchanalia, because this terrible animated organ is connected with all other parts of the body which anatomy clearly proves to us.

The words of the outstanding French thinker and writer of the Renaissance, Francois Rabelais, in a very crude sexist form, however, give us an idea of what the main points of vulnerability of the female psyche were seen in the pre-scientific period of the development of psychology.

The 20th century and the advent of depth psychology opened up completely new grounds for the analysis of female victimization.

The father of psychoanalysis, Z. Freud, exploring the historically determined mechanisms of sexual behavior, writes: “It is not difficult for us later to justify what seemed at first a prejudice, our opinion about the love life of a woman. Whoever first satisfies the girl’s long-term suppressed love longing and at the same time overcomes her resistance, which has developed under the influence of her environment and upbringing, enters into a long-term relationship with her, the possibility of which is not open to anyone else. As a result of this experience, a "state of subordination" develops in women, which is a guarantee of the inviolable duration of possession of it and makes it capable of resisting new impressions and temptations from strangers.

However, a much more detailed picture of the historical determinants of female victimization is provided by analytical psychology in the context of the phenomenon of the collective unconscious. Considering, following Z. Freud, the deep psychological causes of female hysteria, Carl Gustav Jung writes: “The complex in hysteria has an abnormal autonomy and a tendency to an active separate life, which reduces and replaces the constellated energy of the Ego-complex. Thus, a new sickly personality gradually develops, whose tendencies, judgments and decisions move in only one direction - in the direction of her desire to be sick. This secondary personality devours all that is left of the normal Ego and forces it to perform the function of a secondary (non-independent) complex.

The development of Jung's ideas was continued by his talented student Toni Wolfe. Exploring the archetype of the Anima, in particular its kind as a female medium, she noted that a woman of this type is under the priority influence of the collective unconscious, whose power exceeds the impact on her Ego of the "spirit of her time" . A female medium in interaction with the collective unconscious can be a classical medium, i.e. be a passive conductor, but can also cause it itself. As a rule, notes Tony Wolf, such activity is associated with the influence of the Shadow archetype and the woman projects this threatening negative into the social environment. Thus, in the eyes of society - especially its masculine part - it becomes the bearer of evil. And since her interaction with the unconscious is not mediated by the symbol-forming function of the Ego, a woman is usually not able to explain what is happening to her and what drives her actions - “the overflowing energy of the collective unconscious sweeps through the Ego of the intermediary woman and weakens it ...”.

The desire for mastery (possessionem) from the collective unconscious goes far beyond the ego of the female medium and tends to spread to all with whom she is in any kind of trusting relationship. For this reason, although a female medium produces a strong emotional effect in communication, her own ego is faceless, passive, and prone to addiction. As Toni Wolf writes “As a rule, the female mediator is nothing and, therefore, will create confusion to the same extent that she herself is confused. Consciousness and the unconscious, I and you, personal and impersonal mental content remains undifferentiated ... Since the content of the objective psyche, both in itself and in others, remains incomprehensible or is perceived on a personal level, it perceives fate not as its own, but as if it was her own, and is lost in ideas that are not hers. Instead of becoming a mediator, she is only a means and becomes the first victim of her own nature. .

Another neo-Jungian theorist, Erich Neumann, considering this phenomenon, notes that “decrease in the level of consciousness” (abaissement du niveau mental) is the main quality of the medium: “The female psyche is much more dependent on the productivity of the unconscious, strongly connected with consciousness, which we accordingly call matriarchal . However, it is precisely this matriarchal consciousness that is based mainly on participation mystique - the mystical participation of a person in his environment. It is in this state of consciousness that the human psyche and the transpersonal world still remain largely inseparable; it is matriarchal consciousness that forms the basis of power human personality, covered with a mantle of magic ".

James Hillman considers the phenomenon of a female medium in close connection with the Animus archetype, namely with the Apollo archetype. In his opinion, it is this image of male perfection that is the main cause of female hysteria, and the conjunction is the mechanism. As Hillman shows, the Apollonian animus of the woman, having penetrated not only the level of consciousness, but also the level of the Superego, gives rise to the idea of female subordination and forms a causal relationship between repressed chthonic femininity and hysteria. In turn, Apollo himself intensely represses his anima, which led to the complete identification of this figure with patriarchal masculinity, forcing femininity to take the form of a projection. But, as Hillman notes, "the search for coniunctio, as in the case of the pursuit of Daphne, turns into Apollo's own defeat, since this pursuit makes the man hyperactive and leads the psyche to autonomic regression, turning Daphne into a bay tree" .

The archetype of Cassandra is considered in most detail in the works of Laurie Leighton Shapiro, namely in the book “The Cassandra Complex. A Modern Perspective on Hysteria". In her opinion, the archetype of Cassandra personifies the archetypal conflict between matriarchal and patriarchal values fighting for power, while the power of potestas in this conflict completely replaces the power of libido.

Laurie Leighton Shapiro draws a direct connection between Cassandra and the "dark goddess" in which we can recognize the chthonic Great Mother of Erich Neumann. At the same time, Shapiro notes that Kassandra is under the influence of the most destructive - deadly - aspect of the Great Mother.

The positive aspect of the Great Mother is mediation, which in hysterical personalities manifests itself in strong intuition. However, in a patriarchal society, this mediumistic ability was not only not cultivated, but was not even legalized. At best, the mediumal abilities of the female Kassandra were exploited, which we can observe even in the epic work of the Bronze Age, the Eddic song Baldr's Dreams:

To the east, Odin rode out of the gate, where, as he knew, the völva's grave; he began the spell and raised the prophetic, the völva answered with a dead speech: “What kind of warrior is there, unknown to me, that the difficult one ordered me to go on a journey? [One said:]"My name is Vegtam, I am Valtam's son; tell me about Hel, I will tell about the world; benches for whom are covered with chain mail, the floor is beautifully strewn with gold?" [Volva said:]"Honey stands here, it is brewed for Balder, a bright drink, it is covered with a shield; the sons of the Ases are seized with despair. You will not hear another word."

But most often, the mediumal abilities of the female Cassandra were used as an object for an expiatory sacrifice, which we can see in the example of another Eddic song - "A Short Song of Sigurd":

[Brynhild said:] One, and not many, was dear to me, women's spirit was not changeable! Atli himself will be convinced of this, - when he hears about my death, - that the wife was not weak, if she goes to the grave alive for a stranger's husband, then there will be revenge for my offense! long trip, she will never return from there! She was born evil to her mother, who was born to fix grief, plunging many people into trouble!

It is characteristic that in the text of the song “Dance, Witch” by the Melnitsa group, one of the most popular domestic folk-rock groups, we see an almost identical picture:

Where there is a witch, life is not sacred, horses are not shod. Let the ashes fly away, wandering, in four, oh, sides. How the dance of death will turn with a dry wind, that the other ancient, the Witch will dance, but with our faith we can’t cope and can’t cope with it. Get drunk on the drunkenness of our anger. Dance! Today you are the queen. Let the hops and cinnamon, and the snake, and the fox At the first lightning glorify the sister - Hallelujah to the Fiery Virgin! Like a witch has four wings, and the air trembles behind her shoulders. Today she will blaze with a blue flame, as she burned in a lie. There is no limit to the mercy of fire, and the Lord will have mercy on us, So that rye is born high, so that after winter there will be spring again.

Shapiro notes that the Kassandra woman learns early to hide this side of her personality or mask its use, because her ego is not strong enough, and, most importantly, approved enough to fully use her innate ability. As a result, a pseudo-ego is formed in such women, consisting of the restrictionist values of Apollo as a conductor of the ideas of the Great Father. This pseudo-ego has an artificial and pronounced victim character, and the main leitmotif is the thought: “However, it’s the woman’s fault.” As a result, her mediumistic abilities go into the area of the Shadow, forming a painful complex of guilt and self-destruction. The consequence of this is hysteria as the only possible way for a weak, self-torturing ego to mediate between the unconscious and the superego.

The results of our research show that the situation is further complicated by the fact that most often a woman-Cassandra has a similar generic scenario, which is transmitted through the female line. The mother of such a girl is a woman who is under the same tyrannical pressure of the patriarchal Animus and has long been in a sadomasochistic dual-union relationship with him. In her generic messages to her daughter, she gives a classic double message, the text of which declares hysterical suspicion and anxiety towards men (sometimes reaching hatred) and the subtext is servile obedience and fear. However, her position is advantageous in that she has the opportunity to teach her inexperienced daughter, on whom she often broadcasts her infantile-vulnerable Ego, which only strengthens the daughter's victimization complex. This correlates with the idea of generic last, developed by Leopold Szondi within the framework of the concept of fate analysis.

Shapiro, characterizing the relationship of the Kassandra woman with her mother, notes the absence of a positive symbiotic connection with the mother figure, which, in turn, blocks the girl’s connection with reality: “The girl develops the impression that life cannot proceed as she wants, but only just the way the mother wants. In the child's mind, reality is not credible. The girl acquires her identity only by meeting the expectations of her mother. In a sense, the child becomes the mother of his own mother, at one time deprived of motherhood, who constantly demands a mirror reflection of her merging with her daughter and is filled with black envy if she does not receive this reflection.

Under the constant pressure of the superego, the female Cassandra projects her locus of control exclusively outward. At the same time, in the external context, she observes a picture of the complete triumph of the masculine principle and the defeat and self-abasement of the feminine. It is logical that since childhood she has been looking for attention and support from the male principle. Shapiro notes that even if the real father figure is weak, the girl still idealizes her father: “The only aspect of femininity that has been able to come to the surface is the mediation through which hypertrophied masculinity - the maternal animus internalized by the daughter - seeks its expression. The ego is at the service of the animus, which actually behaves more like a narcissistic personality structure that constantly requires positive mirroring. The female ego descends to playing the role of the anima in relation to its own animus.

In the ancient archetypal scenario, Cassandra did not submit to Apollo, which led to her death - and death precisely at the hands of the mother figure. In the personality of a woman-Cassandra, as a rule, this submission still occurs, and even in childhood. Relying on her Apollonian animus, she can be quite successful and socially adjusted. However, if there is an adaptation to the outer world, then there is no adaptation to the inner world. The second pole of the dissociated psyche - the hysterical Anima-Cassandra - goes into the Shadow and from there constantly reminds of itself with unmotivated anxiety, feelings of guilt, fears, behind which, in turn, aggression is hidden. One of the options for the breakthrough of this explosive Shadow is shown in a symbolic for modern culture Roman Polanski's film Repulsion. The main character, an introvert, more and more immersed in autistic states, discovers in them the strongest androphobia, which breaks through with outrageous aggression towards the masculine principle.

Describing the dynamics of the Shadow in the female Kassandra, Shapiro names the disappearance of the Apollonian ideal of the Animus as the main reason for its activation. Due to the weakness of her own ego, the female Cassandra uses the Apollonian Animus as a restraining force of the Superego, directed primarily at the Shadow. It can be said that in this state she is completely deprived of the power of the Ego, remaining helpless before the horrors of the Shadow: “In her frightened, devoid of Ego state, the female Cassandra can say what she sees, unconsciously hoping that others could extract from her words. some sense. However, her words seem to them meaningless, incoherent and groundless. No wonder no one believes her. She cannot even make an effort on herself and believe herself in what she says. Her Ego cannot accept what her Shadow knows.

In toto, we can say that the archetype of Cassandra is one of the main unconscious determinants that support the formation and operation of the victim complex in the modern woman. Acting as the second pole in the Persecutor-Victim dyad, it makes a woman prone to victim behavior when confronted with patriarchal sexist male behavior.

List of sources used

Francois Rabel. Gargantua and Pantagruel. – M.: 1991. – 374 p.
Freud Z. Taboo of virginity: an essay on the psychology of sexuality. - M .: Prometheus, 1990. - 32 p.
Anima and Animus / Jung, Wheelwright, Neumann et al. - Moscow: Moscow Association of Analytical Psychology, 2008. - 228 p.
Williams D. Crossing the border. Psychological image of the path of knowledge K.Castaneda. - Voronezh: Modek, 1994. - 191 p.
Neumann E. The origin and development of consciousness [A.II. Great mother]. - Kyiv: Vakler, 1998. - 464 p.
Hillman J. The Analysis Myth: Three Essays in Archetypal Psychology. Per. from English. M.: Kogito-center, 2005. - 352 p.
Shapiro L.L. Cassandra complex. A modern take on hysteria. - M.: Independent firm "Class", 2006. - 176 p.
Beowulf. Elder Edda. The Nibelungenlied / Library of World Literature. (T. 9) / trans. from Old Icelandic A. Korsun. - M.: Fiction, 1975. - 751 p.

Cassandra Syndrome is a metaphor that refers to a person or people who make predictions about an impending disaster, but whose predictions are not accepted.

AT modern world this happens when scientists and other thinkers make predictions of future environmental or financial disasters based on current events.

Melanie Klein

In 1963, psychologist Melanie Klein interpreted the Cassandra syndrome as a representative of the human moral conscience, the main task of which is prevention. Cassandra, as a moral conscience, "predicts that punishment will follow and grief will arise."

The need to point out moral transgressions and subsequent social consequences is due to what Klein calls "the destructive influences of a violent superego". The superego is represented in Greek myth by the god Apollo, the lord and persecutor of Cassandra.

The use of metaphor focuses on the moral nature of certain predictions. Awakens in others “refusal to believe what is known to be true. Expresses a universal tendency to negation. Denial is a powerful defense against anxiety and guilt.”

Lori Leighton Shapira

In 1988, Jungian analyst Laurie Leighton Shapira studied what she called the "Cassandra Complex" based on the lives of two analyzed individuals.

Based on clinical experience, she described three factors that make up the syndrome:

Dysfunctional relationship with the "archetype of Apollo".
Emotional or physical suffering, including hysteria.
Lack of faith when trying to relate the fact of these experiences to others.

Leighton Shapira views the Cassandra syndrome as the result of a dysfunctional relationship with what is called the "Apollo archetype". It refers to the pattern of any person or culture bound by order, reason, intelligence, truth and clarity, denying the occult or the irrational.

The intellectual specialization of this archetype creates an emotional distance. It can predispose relationships to a lack of emotional reciprocity and subsequent dysfunctions.

Referring to the metaphorical application of the Greek Cassandra myth, Leighton Shapira states that:

What the woman Cassandra sees is something dark and painful, which may not be obvious on the surface or that objective facts do not support.

She imagines a negative or unexpected outcome; or something that will be difficult to deal with. Or the truth that others, especially those in authority, would not agree to accept. To others, her words seem meaningless, unrelated, overblown.

Jean Shinoda Bohlen

In 1989, Jean Shinoda Bohlen, professor of psychiatry at the University of California, published an essay on the god Apollo. He detailed the psychological profile of the "Cassandra woman" who has a dysfunctional relationship with the "Apollo" man.

According to Bohlen, the archetypes of Cassandra and Apollo are not gendered.

“As an archetype, Apollo personifies an aspect of the personality that wants clear definitions, is attracted to mastery, the values of order, harmony. Prefers to look at the surface rather than what underlies the appearance. The Apollo archetype favors reflection on feelings, distances itself from intimacy, an objective assessment is given according to subjective intuition.

Depth Psychology Association Teurung™ Cassandra archetype as the basis of the victim complex in female psychology. Cassandra complex. A modern take on hysteria

Introduction

PART I. CASSANDRA IN THE PAST

Chapter 1. The myth and tragedy of Cassandra

Chapter 2. Cassandra's wounds

Chapter 3

Hysteria - the wanderings of a hungry uterus

Chapter 4

Cassandra syndrome