Supplemental Essay: The Si Guardian

Introduction

As I said in the main essay: The female Si Guardian is an analogue of the male Si Redeemer. Like the male Redeemer, the female Si Guardian occupies the Spirituality side of the Sexuality-Versus-Spirituality divide; with a focus on sacralization, she tends to be a traditionalist and may fight for causes and principles that are important to her to the point of destroying the relationships that she is trying to save. With her masculine cast of mind, she can be an intellectual, an ascetic, or a loner. 

Like the Se Nurturer, the Si Guardian is a fighter, an active participant in her own fate, and a full partner in her relationships. However the Si Guardian's Anima and Animus fights are similar to a boy's. The Guardian finds herself largely opposed to the Great Mother; she seeks independence from the maternal influence by reconciling herself with the Great Father and seeking mastery of patriarchal cultural canon much as the male Si Redeemer does. As such, the Si Guardian will tend to have a "patriarchal orientation" much the same as her male counterpart.

Patriarchal orientation

As I described in the main essay, young girls usually have an affinity for the Feminine influence due to gender identification with the mother figure. Neumann, Chodorow, and others say that young girls and boys are highly attuned to a gender binary. Girls generally identify with their mother while boys generally define themselves in opposition to their mother. 

However, in modern Western culture girls grow up surrounded by a patriarchal culture that promotes the Masculine influence as the model for success and advancement; it's not unusual for young girls to pick up a patriarchal orientation, especially when the alignment of parental influences in their life (for example, a strong father figure and weak mother figure) also pushes them in that direction. The result may be "tomboys" or women who excel in typically masculine fields of endeavor such as science and technology.

According to Erich Neumann in The Fear of the Feminine, if a girl identifies with the patriarchy there is "the danger that the girl child will get lost in the Masculine [...] This mode of losing oneself to the male realm represents the danger of masculinization in the form of developing a pseudo-masculinity in which the woman runs the danger of losing her essential femininity. [...] This maternal element is often damaged by the negative value placed on the Feminine in the patriarchate and hence made unsure of its femininity. [...] In this situation the woman often sees no choice left her but to rid herself of her femininity and to transform herself into a quasi-masculine being."[1]

Neumann says that there will be other times and reasons for such a woman to reconnect with her Feminine side, such as pregnancy and childbirth or mid-life individuation. If that doesn't happen, however, then she may go through a mid-life crisis in much the same way as a man, including experiencing an urge to abandon her family and "do her own thing."[2]

Si Guardian as a traditionalist

As I said in my description of the Si Redeemer, a patriarchal orientation often manifests as a deference to authority. In women as much as men, this is generally regarded as a healthy attitude; a focus on rite and ritual makes the Si Guardian a force for order and stability. The Si Guardian is often a traditionalist and takes her commitments very seriously; in marriage, she tends to be a dutiful, supportive wife and mother. 

She is the woman described in the saying, "Behind every great man is a great woman." She may apply her own strengths in support of her husband to such a degree that he can achieve far behind his own immediate strengths and skills. And in the workplace she is a dedicated team player. 

Si Guardian as a fighter for a cause

Like the Si Redeemer, the Si Guardian will fight for a cause that is important to her. The theme of sacralization and reliance on personal divine revelation causes her to have strong opinions about good and evil. This is a strength where she is in agreement with her husband or her co-workers and the path forward is clear. But if she finds herself at odds with the people around her over a cause or principle that she holds dear, she may dig in her heels and fight. 

In this she is like the Redeemer, a visionary drawing inspiration from inside. Like the Redeemer, the Si Guardian may find herself at odds with the people and authorities around her and see herself as a white knight battling chaos. Her aim is to redeem and rescue the relationships she has built with others. But if her position turns into patriarchal castration and a Great Father fight, she can end up destroying the very relationships she is trying to save.

Si Guardian as an intellectual

Another alternative is that the Si Guardian may embrace the masculine influence to such an extent that she ends up in full flight from the maternal and finds refuge in pursuits traditionally dominated by men, for example, intellectual and technical fields.

In The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious Carl Jung says that girls sometimes reject the maternal influence and/or become too attached to their father; it can result in "resistance to the mother." He provides a number of different personality profiles; in one instance Jung says it represents "an overwhelming resistance to maternal supremacy, often to the exclusion of all else. [...] The motto of this type is: Anything, so long as it is not like Mother! [...R]esistance to the mother can sometimes result in a spontaneous development of intellect for the purpose of creating a sphere of interest in which the mother has no place. This development springs from the daughter's own needs and not at all for the sake of a man whom she would like to impress or dazzle by a semblance of intellectual comradeship. Its real purpose is to break the mother's power by intellectual criticism and superior knowledge, so as to enumerate to her all her stupidities, mistakes in logic, and educational shortcomings. Intellectual development is often accompanied by the emergence of masculine traits in general."[3]

Carl Jung stresses that in normal daily life these female temperaments with a patriarchal orientation have their positive, pro-social aspects. Jung points out that they represent mystery, challenge, and learning for the right male partner. In other words, as was the case with the various types of matriarchal orientation, none of these personality portraits intrinsically represents a form of pathology or mental illness. In normal day-to-day life these are law-abiding, virtuous women who contribute positively to society.

For example, with regard to the profile described immediately above ("resistance to the mother"), Jung says, "Excelling her more feminine sister in her objectivity and coolness of judgment, she may become the friend, sister, and competent adviser of her husband. Her own masculine aspirations make it possible for her to have a human understanding of the individuality of her husband quite transcending the realm of the erotic."[4]

It's only to the extent that such women occasionally drift into periods of stress, anxiety, depression, personal crises, etc. that patriarchal orientation can become increasingly severe and lead to patriarchal castration and a full-scale Great Father fight. (For more on patriarchal castration and Great Father fights, see the section entitled "The Si Redeemer" in the Sensing chapter.)

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Link: Return to Sensing (S)

~Posted September 3, 2024​​​​​​

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