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Facing the Gods
The gods have become diseases, said C. G. Jung, and the nine chapters in this volume show how major figures of the Greek mythological imagination are still at work in the contemporary psyche. This book is both reliably scholarly and intuitively psychological. It offers the reader ways of finding mythical backgrounds for personal experience. Here we can feel how the gods and goddesses influence symptoms, ideas, attitudes, relationships, and dream imagery. Second, revised edition
- GenresPsychology
172 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1980
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About the author
James Hillman
175 books577 followersJames Hillman (1926-2011) was an American psychologist. He served in the US Navy Hospital Corps from 1944 to 1946, after which he attended the Sorbonne in Paris, studying English Literature, and Trinity College, Dublin, graduating with a degree in mental and moral science in 1950.
In 1959, he received his PhD from the University of Zurich, as well as his analyst's diploma from the C.G. Jung Institute and founded a movement toward archetypal psychology, was then appointed as Director of Studies at the institute, a position he held until 1969.
In 1970, Hillman became editor of Spring Publications, a publishing company devoted to advancing Archetypal Psychology as well as publishing books on mythology, philosophy and art. His magnum opus, Re-visioning Psychology, was written in 1975 and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Hillman then helped co-found the Dallas Institute for Humanities and Culture in 1978.
Retired into private practice, writing and traveling to lecture, until his death at his home in Connecticut on October 27, 2011 from bone cancer.
In 1959, he received his PhD from the University of Zurich, as well as his analyst's diploma from the C.G. Jung Institute and founded a movement toward archetypal psychology, was then appointed as Director of Studies at the institute, a position he held until 1969.
In 1970, Hillman became editor of Spring Publications, a publishing company devoted to advancing Archetypal Psychology as well as publishing books on mythology, philosophy and art. His magnum opus, Re-visioning Psychology, was written in 1975 and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Hillman then helped co-found the Dallas Institute for Humanities and Culture in 1978.
Retired into private practice, writing and traveling to lecture, until his death at his home in Connecticut on October 27, 2011 from bone cancer.
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January 19, 2022
Nonfiction book about various deities in the Greek/Roman pre-Christian religion, the role they served in the societies of the day, their portrayal in art and literature of classical antiquity and Western modernity alike. I ought to point out that James Hillman only edited the book and is not the sole author, having only written some of the chapters. Among the other contributors is Karl Kerenyi, who also wrote several other nonfiction books about Greco-Roman antiquity. It is not surprising, then, that Hillman holds back with his signature weird (even more) mystical takes on C. G. Jung analytical psychology in his chapters.
The most insightful information I found in here was the commentary on gender roles. For example how Athene, Artemis and Amazons represent different takes on the same warrior woman archetype: Athene being the positive depiction frequently described in classical sources as the ideal role model for a young woman, Artemis being a more ambiguous take on that archetype perhaps as a consequence of her possible pre-Indo-European origin (which Marija Gimbutas also argued for), and the Amazons being straight-up villainous in the original depictions of them. However, as the relevant chapters point out, the differences between the mythological characterisation of those ladies are not always as clear-cut as they appear at first glance. No surprise, then, that modern depictions of the Amazons usually are less negative. This book goes on to reflect quite a bit on the problems that both Greco-Roman antiquity and the modern West have had with finding roles in society for ambitious and aggressive women, as displayed in cultural depictions of the above figures then as well as now.
Other chapters providing thought-provoking commentary on gender issues include those concerning such deities as: Zeus' mother Rhea, who makes a point of using deception and deceit for clearly benevolent ends; Hephaestus, who consistently fails at performing the prescribed masculine gender role of Hellenic antiquity, but often ends up a a more admirable figure than those who do (e. g. Ares); Ariadne, who might have originated as a goddess worshipped by the Pelasgians (the Neolithic farmer inhabitants of Greece) before the invading Myceneans incorporated her into their own mythology as a mortal woman who ended up marrying the god Dionysus in order to unify disparate religions. I can gather that this theory regarding Ariadne's origins was one of Kerenyi's pet theories, which he expounded upon in several other books, and to be honest I am not sure how much I agree with it as I have yet to read any of Kerenyi's books in their entirety but am planning to do so later this year.
One deity I had never heard of until now but am now fascinated with is Ananke, the goddess of necessity. She often appears as a cruel and chaotic figure, who nonetheless provides a necessary counterpart to order and stasis if anything is to happen in the cosmos at all. Intriguingly enough, the chapter on Ananke is the very first in the book. Hillman probably did that for a reason, as his mentor C. G. Jung considered the repression of the divine feminine in general and her dark side in particular to be among the root causes of the unprecedented spiritual crisis he saw facing the modern West.
I would very much recommend this to anyone with a scholarly interest in the religion of Greco-Roman antiquity, even to people who do not get as much out of analytical psychology as I do. It should be made clear that I find both Jung's analytical psychology and the derivative but distinct archetypal psychology Hillman developed very hit-and-miss in their uses, and I suppose James Hillman might have considered that too since he is unusually restrained in his use of that analytical angle in here.
The most insightful information I found in here was the commentary on gender roles. For example how Athene, Artemis and Amazons represent different takes on the same warrior woman archetype: Athene being the positive depiction frequently described in classical sources as the ideal role model for a young woman, Artemis being a more ambiguous take on that archetype perhaps as a consequence of her possible pre-Indo-European origin (which Marija Gimbutas also argued for), and the Amazons being straight-up villainous in the original depictions of them. However, as the relevant chapters point out, the differences between the mythological characterisation of those ladies are not always as clear-cut as they appear at first glance. No surprise, then, that modern depictions of the Amazons usually are less negative. This book goes on to reflect quite a bit on the problems that both Greco-Roman antiquity and the modern West have had with finding roles in society for ambitious and aggressive women, as displayed in cultural depictions of the above figures then as well as now.
Other chapters providing thought-provoking commentary on gender issues include those concerning such deities as: Zeus' mother Rhea, who makes a point of using deception and deceit for clearly benevolent ends; Hephaestus, who consistently fails at performing the prescribed masculine gender role of Hellenic antiquity, but often ends up a a more admirable figure than those who do (e. g. Ares); Ariadne, who might have originated as a goddess worshipped by the Pelasgians (the Neolithic farmer inhabitants of Greece) before the invading Myceneans incorporated her into their own mythology as a mortal woman who ended up marrying the god Dionysus in order to unify disparate religions. I can gather that this theory regarding Ariadne's origins was one of Kerenyi's pet theories, which he expounded upon in several other books, and to be honest I am not sure how much I agree with it as I have yet to read any of Kerenyi's books in their entirety but am planning to do so later this year.
One deity I had never heard of until now but am now fascinated with is Ananke, the goddess of necessity. She often appears as a cruel and chaotic figure, who nonetheless provides a necessary counterpart to order and stasis if anything is to happen in the cosmos at all. Intriguingly enough, the chapter on Ananke is the very first in the book. Hillman probably did that for a reason, as his mentor C. G. Jung considered the repression of the divine feminine in general and her dark side in particular to be among the root causes of the unprecedented spiritual crisis he saw facing the modern West.
I would very much recommend this to anyone with a scholarly interest in the religion of Greco-Roman antiquity, even to people who do not get as much out of analytical psychology as I do. It should be made clear that I find both Jung's analytical psychology and the derivative but distinct archetypal psychology Hillman developed very hit-and-miss in their uses, and I suppose James Hillman might have considered that too since he is unusually restrained in his use of that analytical angle in here.
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