A coruja era filha do padeiro

Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts #4

by Marion Woodman, Adail Ubirajara Sobral (Translator)

Este é um livro que oferece a oportunidade para se perceber muito nitidamente o relacionamento entre o processo de individuação de uma mulher e seu estado corporal. Através da análise de casos e com uma avançada pesquisa Marion Woodman apresenta a evidência de que a obesidade e a anorexia nervosa são os dois sintomas extremos da repressão geral da natureza do feminino em nossa cultura e sugere maneiras práticas para que o princípio feminino encontre o espaço que lhe tem sido negado e expresse com autenticidade a sua verdadeira essência.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Womens, Health, Feminism, Psychoanalysis

188 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 1980

About the author

Marion Woodman was a Canadian mythopoetic author and women's movement figure. She was a Jungian analyst trained at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zürich, Switzerland. She was one of the most widely read authors on feminine psychology, focusing on psyche and soma. She was also an international lecturer and poet. Her collection of audio and visual lectures, correspondence, and manuscripts are housed at OPUS Archives and Research Center, in Santa Barbara, California. Among her collaborations with other authors she wrote with Thomas Moore, Jill Mellick and Robert Bly. Her brothers were the late Canadian actor Bruce Boa and Jungian analyst Fraser Boa.

Reviews

[Barbara K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took a couple of months to read The Owl Was a Baker's Daughter by Marion Woodman. I'm not sure why it took me so long, but I think it had to do with finally realizing what a victim of stress I allowed myself to be for my entire adult life, going from a skinny kid and teen to a fat middle-aged adult and wondering all the while why I could no longer keep weight off, and why at my most "successful" monetarily, I was my most overweight and most unhappy.

What occurred to me though, and angered me, was that this book was written in the 70s and the medical profession has yet (in 2010) to effectively link weight gain to stress when treating it, but insists on blaming the overweight person for improper self care. I agree that the person who is overweight has to do something, make changes. That's obvious. But when the most important change, or one of them, is ignored, and the patient does everything else right, they can still fail. This ignorance doesn't help. It adds to guilt, making even more stress - now, in addition to other causes, one has stress around the weight problem itself and one's apparent inability to change it.

But in this book one finds insight, compassion, and some answers or possibilities to explore in oneself that might actually help.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

the book’s argument is nonsense, which i should’ve guessed from the title but i did (mistakenly) give it the benefit of the doubt

The author studies 20 obese women and compares them to 20 controls, and then attempts to draw from their statements that their dependence on food and habits surrounding food stems from from the ‘repression of their femininity’, the blame lying with their mothers for not teaching them to ‘be proud of femininity’. Aside from the fact that femininity itself is a loosely defined construct, Woodman also never goes as far as to attempt to explain or define the act of repression, merely tracing everything back to this symbolic, loosely defined and frankly misogynistic concept . She also fails to make a plausible argument connecting the feelings of obese women to this ‘repression’.
The issue is: a big part of the reason that women feel disconnected from their bodies, not just obese women, is the construct of femininity instead. The reason that the women in the book feel ‘caged’, feel like ‘beautiful thin women trapped in layers of fat’ is because of the societal pressure on girls to be dainty, fragile and vulnerable in order to be feminine and therefore accepted as women. In fact this being repressed would surely do a lot of good.
I had to stop reading this garbage pseudo science when the author suggested that the fact that 2 of 20 obese women contracted ovarian and breast cancer later on was a sign of their ‘repressed feminine’ and quoted an idiotic passage which suggested that cancer was a disease of repression and ‘the Other’.
ridiculous stuff, avoid

[Yuliya Lahvinenka · Rating 2 out of 5]

Для достаточного понимания изложенного в книге аналитического материала, необходимо ориентироваться в терминах юнгинианского анализа. Мне непросто было разобраться в описаниях и интерпретациях, к тому же они показались мне весьма мистифицированными и даже псевдонаучными. Возможно, это нормально для описания феноменов в контексте юнгинианства. Однако практическая значимость исследования, проведённого Марион Вудман, для меня осталась слишком завуалированной.

For a sufficient understanding of the analytical material presented in the book, it is necessary to navigate in terms of Jungian analysis. It was not easy for me to understand the descriptions and interpretations, which seemed to me very mystified and even pseudoscientific. Perhaps it is okay to describe phenomena in the context of Jungianism. However, the practical relevance of the study conducted by Marion Woodman remained too veiled for me.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A challenging read, as is the case for many/most Jungian texts. Challenging and extremely worthwhile. Although published in 1980, Woodman’s insights are fresh and relevant to many women today.

[Amé · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to read this book out of interest in understanding the depth psychology motives for bulimia. Unfortunately there was no reference to it in this book which despite its many merits I found very hard going. Marion Woodman is an analyst and writer of tremendous experience and insight but I found her approach to both conditions (clearly obesity got more stage time) very convoluted and was left with more questions than answers. It is always worth reading for the valuable analytical work on the analysands' dreams, their own insights regarding their inner struggles and their exchanges with the author in therapy.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marion Woodman's The Owl was a Baker's Daughter: Obesity, Anorexia Nervosa and the Repressed Feminine; studies by Jungian Analysts, 4 is a groundbreaking study about the individuation process in women. Through case studies she outlines how women become stuck at stages of the developmental process. Being stuck at a stage manifests itself in a preoccupation with looks and feminine self-worth with food or lack of food being the external expression. Through case studies she outlines how some become cathected with a Father Complex, a Mother Complex or Sexuality, Religion Complexes. The intriguing theories presented in the case studies can deepen understanding of the problems with eating disorders that are prevalent in modern times.

[Shima Mahmoudi · Rating 4 out of 5]

به نظرم کار بزرگ این کتاب این بود که به علل روانی چاقی و آنورکسیا پرداخته بود. به نظرم یکم لازمه برای خوندنش با حداقل های تئوری های یونگ اشنا باشین تا مفاهیم راحت تر بشه. اخر کتاب از نظر من خوب نبود. ولی همون بقیه کتاب خیلیییی به ادم اطلاعات میده و کمک کننده ست. به نظرم هر خانمی باید این کتاب رو یک بار بخونه.

[Demetra · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a difficult book to read since I'm not well-versed in Jungian psychology but it was still interesting. I kept getting lost during some of the paragraphs, and I think some interpretations or information might be outdated by our modern standards but I found it decent nonetheless.

[Elena Semenchuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although not an easy read, the book offers a nourishing insight on femininity, spirituality on the way to self discovery and personal growth.

[Kateryna Hora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found it very interesting to read and even though it more so aimed at discussing the psychosomatic distresses in relation to food, the general threads about femininity in connection to religion, one’s childhood, society and psychoanalysis echoed a lot with me more personally. It is a Jungian analysis, so the text is very rich in its methodology, scale and terms, took some extra research to fully grasp it tbh. Overall, an amazing study I think anyone interested in psychology could enjoy.

[Elvira Tsvetanova · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the most useful book I've read in years.

The first part of the book included the study of women with eating disorders. I was astonished at how much these women's lives and personalities resembled each other, and those of real people I am close to.

"led to an early pattern of overeating coupled with an exaggerated dependence on self-control."

"She may talk of the will of God with child-like faith, but viciously mock her personal weakness in being unable to control her own life."

"Her task is to release her own creative masculine spirit from the womb of the devouring mother, and at the same time to release her own feminine spirit from the tomb of her Jehovah father."


I do agree that is a common occurrence for people to outsource their ego development to a paternal figure, or even God. This book made a strong case to convince me that this is the basis of the issue of eating disorders. Namely, the development of a puella aeterna who idealizes her father figure and remains stuck in an infantile state of endless potential, then ultimately becomes a victim of her animus.But the analysis went so much deeper. "Where a woman is possessed by an eating disorder, even more crucial than the father complex is the mother."

"Fatness, studied as a symptom, can no longer be considered merely an inflation, nor an attempt to retain everything, nor a desire for power feeding a greedy animus. ... "The wounding and painful shafts do not come from outside . . . but from the ambush of our own unconscious. It is our own repressed desires that stick like arrows in our flesh."

The research was louder than words. This pattern of psychic development is definitely behind broken relationship to food. It also showed how the unconscious communicates even through body symptoms like bloating.

"The mother (matter, body) is linked unconsciously with the senex and all his Saturnine heaviness."

Nevertheless, a lot of the symbols and myths incorporated as prescriptions how to solve the problem had too much of a religious touch to be a framework for action for me. But the reason for that are the fundamental differences between my theology and that of the Jungian worldview.

Overall, this book provided so much invaluable insight to my understanding of how to fix my own relationship to food and while I'm at it, my whole life. Only a person who knows the struggle behind it would know that it has never been about the food itself. There is so much under the surface and there is where our true task lies.


"Her emancipation lies in the psychic enactment of her own physical resurrection her conscious release from the tomb to which her heritage has unconsciously assigned her, and her entrance into her eternal and divine seed-bearing body."

[Ms. Koirala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful work. It shed some light on why eating disorders (on either spectrum) amongst females is so prevalent. I always suspected eating disorders were deeply related to the relationship with the parents, as was the case for myself. It disturbs me that I have never had a female friend who didn't have some form of an eating disorder or eating disordered thoughts. It frustrates me that the parent aspect isn't talked about more nowadays, but reading Alice Miller's work (The Body Never Lies) will explain why it isn't.

[Katarina Karmazinova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another exquisite book that weaves through analysis of obese women connecting their experiences with the essential developmental psychology, mythology, religion and Jungian dream interpretation - serving a delicious discovery full of aha moments and triggers that helped me to see my patterns and my curse clearer than ever ….and also do something with it with new clarity and awareness.
I recommend Marion Woodman wholeheartedly. There are not many other books that would really move me so strongly

[Mephistopheles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating study of the relationship between body and psyche. While I cannot agree with Marion Woodman that the body is equivalent to the feminine, I do agree with her regarding the importance of unifying body and mind, and surrendering to the wisdom of the body, of mortality, and of the instincts.

[Iren K · Rating 3 out of 5]

интересно, но очень сложно
очень много терминов из психологии, которые были не понятны, даже когда ты их гуглишь
больше для людей с психологическим образованием или для тех, кто прям погружён в это всё

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to curl up inside Marion’s brain just to watch it work. This book is fantastic and painful and real. I have practically the whole thing underlined. Challenging read in all the right ways.

[Rachel Haselden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal, still relevant even though written in 1980.

[Ioana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary!

For anyone looking to read this and not finding it to buy - it can be borrowed online via archive.org

[Elena]

What is it? Bad translation or this book really makes a little sense?

[Susan Solinsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another of Marion Woodman's profound studies on women and what motivates us. Her work has changed thousands of lives, as well as her a workshops and lectures. She is missed now more than ever.

[Maria Gubko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Це книжка про тіло, жіночність, контроль і травму. Про про розлад харчування, а як відчайдушну спробу вижити, зберегти себе хоч якось — навіть через руйнування.

Стиль — юнгіанський, з купою символів, метафор, снів, архетипів.
⠀

[Alicia Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part of the Jungian analyst series - so it's for analysts by analysts - and can get a little heady. this isn't the first of these I've read for my research. I wish she had gone more into her conclusions and the work the women needed to do to come out of it, also, since this is from 1980, I'd love to see this work revisited.

[Elyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for a Treatment of Eating Disorders class in graduate school. The author is considered an eating disorder expert. Her concepts are based in Jungian theory and her interesting perspective blends well with more traditional theories and treatment approaches to eating disorders.

[Selkie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book can tend to get a bit lofty in places, but I can really empathize with the women that participated in the study. Although I do not suffer the same condition, it still wretches the heart to read. The book deals more with obesity & compulsive eating more than anorexia or bulimia.

[Arthur "AJ"]

Need to reread this one.

[Sukhmani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skip this and read Marion's Addiction to Perfection instead. It does not disappoint!!