Anima

The anima is, in Jungian analysis, the inner feminine figure who appears in the dreams of men — and, more broadly, the soul-image that mediates between ego and unconscious for a masculine-identified psyche. She is not any real woman, though she is often confused with one; she is the psyche’s own feminine current, given a dream-face. The anima appears in four classical stages across a life: the Eve figure (biological, instinctual), the Helen figure (romantic, aesthetic), the Mary figure (devotional, moral), and the Sophia figure (wisdom). A dream-encounter with the anima is often charged with numinous feeling. Notice whether she is young or old, familiar or strange, and what she asks of you.