Here, you’ll find videos, articles, and interviews that explore two forms of the Death Parent.
First, the literal Death Parent, seen in maternal ambivalence, hostility and even infanticide. Inspired by evolution and anthropology, this work aims to foster a more compassionate understanding of both struggling mothers and those raised in their shadows.
Second, the metaphorical Death Parent, seen in the hostile, damaging, and archetypal energy directed at us by those we expect to nurture us. Work includes an interview with Jungian analyst, Marion Woodman, as well as an exploration of the Archetypal Death Parent manifesting as toxic shame
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The Archetypal Death Parent has many faces and is difficult to pin down. However, I define it as:
‘A numinous and powerful personification of traumatising attitudes and behaviours, which comes to us from a person, institution, culture, or nation-state that we would naturally expect to nurture and support us.’
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The Archetypal Death Parent symbolises traumatising attitudes stemming from those who we expect to nurture us.
One form the Archetypal Death Parent can take is ‘toxic shame,’ a mistaken and often unconscious belief of being intrinsically flawed and unworthy of love. This belief distorts our relationships with ourselves and others. It creates escalating suffering.
This on-demand presentation draws on the work of Marion Woodman, the myth of Medusa, evolution, psychology and lived experiences, to bring consciousness to these dynamics
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The archetypal Death Mother symbolizes women whose behaviour or feelings threaten the lives of their children.
Western culture, however, believes that women evolved to love their children selflessly, and that women who abandon, neglect, harm, or kill their children are unnatural. Thus, the Death Mother is relegated to the shadows.
To help both ambivalent mothers and those who grow up with such mothers, the Death Mother must be brought out of the shadows and into consciousness.
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Evolution helps us to understand maternal negativity and child maltreatment in a layered and compassionate way.
Chapter in book ‘Evolutionary Psychiatry: Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental Health.’ Published by The Royal College of Psychiatrists & Cambridge University Press.
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“The Death Mother wields a cold, fierce, violent, and corrosive power. She is rampant in our society right now. When Death Mother’s gaze is directed at us, it penetrates both psyche and body, turning us into stone. It kills hope. It cuts us dead. We collapse. Our life-energy drains from us and we sink into chthonic darkness.
In this state we find ourselves yearning for the oblivion of death. Eventually this yearning for death permeates our cells, causing our body to turn against itself We may become physically ill.”
Image credit: Origianl photo © Vernessa Foelix