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37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Revealing Treatment of the Psyche/Eros Myth, July 31, 2005
"It is very easy to relegate mythology to a far away place long ago and thus isolate it from the mainstream of here-and-now life." So says Robert A. Johnson in the final chapter of SHE. This short, easy to read book, like Psyche's lamp, sheds light on the inner life of women, as well as the feminine within the male psyche. I've been aware of the Myth of Psyche for many years and have read several books mentioning it. However, I felt the authors often got lost in intellectual jargon or digressive personal experiences, so the meaning of the myth always eluded me. While I had a general idea of its importance, its deeper meanings always remained just out of reach. Johnson systematically takes each stage of the myth apart and shows the reader how it applies to the psyche, and there were many revelations for me in this book. For those who have read SHE and come away unenlightened or confused, I would suggest that perhaps this is not the fault of either author or reader. It does help to have at least a little knowledge of Jungian thought (although Johnson's book could serve as an intriguing introduction to Jungian psychology). I would say that if you're interested in the topic, keep reading about it. Keep building on your knowledge. Over time, your mind will sort out the information--just as the ants help Psyche to sort out the seeds--and you'll come to your own epiphany about the Myth of Psyche, just like I did when I read Johnson's book. I wish readers well in their search.
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51 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
complex & obtuse, July 1, 2001
I admit, I didn't get it. I bought this book on the strong recommendation of a psychology major, who praised He, She & We (all three books by Johnson). Perhaps my lack of understanding of Jungian theory interfered with my ability to glean meaning from the text. The book is a short, readable eighty pages, developed around the Greek myth of Eros and Psyche. In Johnson's explanation of how femininity evolves (including the man's feminine side, or anima), a person must go through certain rites of passage, in sequential order, to develop fully as a woman. Psyche must complete four tasks assigned by Aphrodite. Failure to complete any task before nightfall will result in death. The tasks include sorting a pile of many different seeds, collecting golden fleece from rams, filling a crystal goblet with water from the river Styx, and collecting a cask of beauty ointment from Persephone, goddess of the underworld. Johnson explains how each of these tasks represents an evolution in a woman's life (choosing one of the many seeds a man gives to a woman to begin the miracle of birth, gathering the fleece as acquisition of a bit of masculinity necessary to survive in the world, the single goblet of water from Styx as focusing on a single item at once from the vast choices in the universe). The text is rich with metaphor -- marriage as both death and resurrection for a woman, a beautiful oil-burning lamp as a woman's natural consciousness, etc. Interesting, but (at least for me) not particularly enlightening. Overall, I enjoyed the story, but I didn't come away with an enhanced understanding of female psychology.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Approachable, Casual Jungian Interpretation, February 8, 2001
This is a short, easy read (about 80 pages) of large-typed, generously-spaced, amply-margined words. Johnson's style is light and casual. Whilst not as in-depth as Marie-Louise Von Franz' treatments, for example, it is also much more approachable and less academically inclined. Still, it provides a concise forray into Jungian thought as related to færy tales and myth. Whilst the readers of Von Franz might find it too light, I suggest it simply adds to the analytical repertoire. If you enjoy Clarissa Pinkola Estes' work relative to færy tales, you should also enjoy this, too.
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