Customer Reviews

Lying with the Heavenly Woman: Understanding and Integrating the Feminine Archetypes in Men's Lives

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Lying with The Heavenly Woman, by Robert Johnson is an excellent book. It outlines the different female components of both a man's inner world and external world and discusses the problems that arise from different combinations, or "overlays" and "contaminations" as Johnson refers to them in his book.

This book extends upon the ideas of his other works, especially He: Understanding Masculine Psychology (Perennial Library) and We: Understanding the Psychology of Romantic Love.

These three books should be required reading for any male in the western world. These books have truly changed the way in which I live, and understand both myself and the way in which I must be in relation to others in my life (mother, wife, friend, sister, daughter) and more importantly, coming to the realization that I am (and all others are) capable of unlocking the treasure trove that is our inner feminine archetypes. One might read this and immediately think of "new age" concepts that try and get males to think like an actual woman, or act more like an actual woman; this is not Johnson's aim at all. He aims to unlock the inner dimensions of his readers in order for them to understand them and incorporate them into their lives in the proper way so to benefit greatly from their presence. This book is necessary to understanding these components and understanding how to keep them distinct from one another, for combining these things can result in disaster in one's life.

Robert Johnson writes with great clarity and never reads like a "textbook". His inclusion of anectdotes, sayings, and wisdom from many cultures greatly enhance the material of his books and truly brings the ideas to life.

If you are interested in this book, I would highly recommend reading this book in conjunction with his books HE and WE. Again, if you are male, you fit the criteria for reading this book: In fact, it should be required!!

This book, quite simply, will redefine your relationships with women. You will examine how women fit into your life, and how you fit into theirs. An important book for the "men's movement" (if there still is one).

Mr Johnson tends to produce books which are too brief.

This one is 112 small pages with large margins.
What he discusses in the book is interesting and valuable but to achieve this level of brevity he assumes that the reader basically is quite clued in on the subject matter. For my tastes, I find he makes quite large jumps that I fail to follow, for example in the interpretation of folk tales and myths.

As an introductory overview leading to further reading of authors who flesh out the details, the book may have value, but I think I would rather just go directly to the details.

I find Marie-Louise Von Franz to be a much more useful author in terms of gaining insight into Jungian analysis and being able to apply it to my personal issues.

In this day and age it is so important for women and men to come together with greater understanding of "Other". What is it like to walk in my partner's or lover's shoes? I have been an enormous fan of Robert Johnson for over 10 years and I whole heartedly would recommend this book and every book he has authored for both men and women. He dives deeply into the psyche and explores the big picture of the inner forces that move us to love and partnership and how we can betray ourselves and those we love if we fail to explore and learn to pay attention to our unconscious minds wise all-knowing guidance. I wish every man had this book in their reading collection and every woman can read this book to understand with greater compassion the men in their lives a little better.
Affirmations for the Everyday Goddess Spiritual Guidebook & 22 Wisdom Cards for Contemplation & Prayer (based on the 22 major arcana of the tarot)

It is an excellent book. I recommend to every mother, husband and wife should read it. The author is brilliant. He is to the point and very clear about the MOTHER COMPLEX in a man. The mother complex is the most difficult encounter any man ever faces. It is the regressive capacity in him and will destroy his life more quickly than any other single element in his psychology.

Johnson's slim book focuses mainly on the archetypal aspects of the feminine, without ever delving into the personal layers--he never concretely demonstrates how a man is to "integrate" and refine these feminine energies within himself. Despite this big flaw, this little book (again, on a purely archetypal level) does an excellent job of anatomizing the feminine aspects within men. If you're searching for a how-to book on wholeness, this one will contain some important pieces. After integrating the Shadow, the contrasexual self is the most difficult.

The book has a lot of good concepts. Only downside is that the author lacks a good grasp of the English Language. Some paragraphs need to be read 5 - 10 times in order to figure out what he has to say - even then you are left with a lot of questions.