1st Edition
Women and Dionysus Appearances and Exile in History, Culture, and Myth
Women and Dionysus links repression of the Dionysian spirit in Western culture with the rise of the patriarchy over the course of two millennia. It effectively draws aconnection between Dionysus and women throughout history, with examples from cultures both past and present, and the author’s own experiences.
Maggy Anthony explores Dionysus’ role as god of the vine, creativity and passion, and his impact on art and literature. The book examines the Dionysian influence on creative older women, including Georgia O’Keeffe, Martha Graham and Marguerite Duras; examines Dionysus in mythology, history and religion; and considers connections to mysticism and the Renaissance. Anthony goes on to explore how women’s expressions of creativity through healing, wine-drinking and dancing were condemned in history, and how modern African and Latin American rites contrast with Western traditions. Finally, the book looks at ‘outbreaks’ of modern Dionysian spirit - from Haight-Ashbury to the Burning Man festival - and speculates on its future.
This unique study will be essential reading for academics and scholars of Jungian and post-Jungian studies, and for analytical and depth psychologists, particularly those with an interest in female individuation, creativity, and spirituality.
1. Dionysian Body 2. The Approach of Dionysus to Older Women 3. Dionysus in Mythology 4. Carnival as Temenos 5. Dionysus in the Early Middle Ages 6. Women Mystics 7. Dionysus Underground 8. Dionysus in Projection 9. Dionysian Women 10. Jean Houston’s Mythic Life 11. Dionysus Appears, Again 12. Dionysus Rampant: Haight-Ashbury at its Highest 13. Burning Man: Dionysia into the 21st Century 14. Return of Dionysus Today 15. Apollo/Dionysus Masculine/Feminine Yin/Yang
Biography
Maggy Anthony studied at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland, and the Zurich Clinic and Research Center for Jungian Psychology, and is a former family therapist at St. Mary's Medical Center/Maclean Center for Addictions and Behavioral Health in Nevada, USA. She is the author of several books, including Salome’s Embrace: The Jungian Women (Routledge, 2018) and currently resides in Nevada.
"One of the challenges of modern life is how to live in a creative and fulfilling fashion when the culture makes such strong demands for conformity and commercially defined productivity. In her book Women and Dionysus: Appearances and Exile in History, Culture, and Myth, Maggy Anthony addresses this problematic and its history through the lives of women who have forged unique paths to living such lives, providing inspiration for others to forge their own paths to living creative and fulfilling lives."— Oliver Ocskay, Ph.D. Licensed Psychologist, US
