The Anima and The Animus are the fifth from among the basic Archetypes that Jung defined. Typically, the Anima defines the unconscious female qualities that a male individual possesses, and the Animus defines the unconscious male qualities that a female individual possesses.

Today, lets look at how the archetypes of The Anima and The Animus are depicted in the images of the Tarot cards.

Understanding and developing the Anima and the Animus are also an important part of the process of Individuation.

The Anima and The Animus

The Anima is the female aspect within a male, and the Animus is the male aspect within a female.

Within a man the feminine aspects of the personality can often get repressed, and within a woman the male aspects of the personality can often get repressed. By understanding these aspects of the personality, and integrating them fully within the self, an individual can enhance the creative, sensitive, logical and analytical abilities that are already present within him / her.

The formation of the Anima and the Animus takes place during childhood. The imagery and perception of the opposite gender also depends upon the interaction of the child with the Mother and the Father. Thus, all these put together tend to influence the way an individual interacts with the opposite gender.

The Anima: Levels of Development

According the Carl Jung, there are four distinct levels of development for the Anima. These describe how the Anima is formed, matures and evolves during the lifetime of an individual.

Eve

This is the first stage of Anima Development. Drawing from the imagery present within the account of Adam and Eve, this stage shows where the anima emerges in the shape of the male’s object of desire.

Helen

This is the second stage of Anima Development. Drawing from the story of Helen of Troy in Greek myth, the anima at this stage starts looking like a woman who is capable, intelligent, independent, but at the same time not quite virtuous or faithful.

Mary

This is the third stage of Anima Development. Inspired by the image of the Virgin Mary, the anima at this stage is extremely virtuous.

Sophia

This is the fourth and final stage of Anima Development. Named after the Greek Goddess of Wisdom, the Anima has now integrated with the self, allowing women to be perceived as individuals with both positive and negative qualities.

The Animus: Levels of Development

Just like the Anima, the Animus too has four levels of development.

Tarzan

Similar to Eve, at this level, the Animus emerges in the form of a muscle man or an athletic champion. The male here is depicted as a personification of physical power.

Romantic Man

At this stage, the Animus emerges as a poet or someone capable of poetic action, like a war hero or a hunter. Here the Animus shows the capability for thoughts combined with capability of taking action.

Teacher

Here, the Animus evolves into a person who can speak, and convey his thoughts. He might appear as a professor, a clergyman or a speaker.

Hermes

This is the final stage where the Animus integrates with the personality. He now appears as a God, as someone who is meaningful and is capable of spirituality.

Tarot Cards – The Anima and The Animus Archetype

The Anima and The Animus are depicted across several Tarot cards, either singly or together.

The Lovers

Here is where you will meet the Anima and the Animus in the pure form, and together. In the image, we see Adam and Eve, which depict the emerging forms of the Anima and the Animus in their ‘Eve’ and ‘Tarzan’ stages respectively.

Right at this outset in the journey of the Major Arcana, is also the stage the sexual identity of the person starts to take shape and form.The emergence of the Anima and the Animus in this card also brings about the desire to explore the opposite sex.

This is also the stage where, as teenagers, all of us demand to be treated as grown-ups, an want more freedom to express ourselves.

The Fool

The Anima or the Animus can also be encountered within the Fool card. The little dog that jumps around the feet of the Fool can be either (the Anima or the Animus). Although the Fool is more often than not regarded as a male character, I feel that he is somewhat of an androgynous (a blending of the masculine and the feminine) character. The little dog therefore can represent either the Anima or the Animus.

In this picture however, it is not clear if the Anima or the Animus is going to take the leap along with the Fool or not. Was it meant to show the fact that the Anima and the Animus haven’t emerged yet?

The Magician and The High Priestess

I feel that the second stages of development for both the Animus and the Anima can be seen in these two cards.

The Magician is quite capable of being a very romantic man, what with all his charming and creative strengths. And with the connections with the story of Persephone and Isis, the High Priestess can also be linked with the Helen stage of Anima development.

Strength and The Hermit

These depict the third stage of development for the Anima and the Animus. The lady in the Strength card, with her all-white dress and the capability to tame the lion without any weapons shows a spiritually developed Mary stage. And the Hermit with his mature look, and the desire to share his knowledge with the world by holding up his lamp, shows the Teacher stage of Animus development.

The World

Here is where the Anima and the Animus get integrated into the self. The state of Sophia or Hermes is very nicely depicted in the World card, where we see the World Dancer holding two wands in each of her hands, and surrounded by the angels of all the four elements in Nature. Although the World Dancer possesses female physical attributes, I sometimes get a very androgynous feel from this card.

The Star

As androgynous characters go, the Star card must not be left behind. Here too, we see a lady in the picture, but again, I get a strong androgynous feel from her.

She pours water from two jugs – one into the pool of water, while one onto the ground.

Perhaps in this card, the state of integrating the Anima and the Animus has started off quite interestingly.

Archetypes in Tarot – The Anima and The Animus

From all these cards, we can clearly see how the Anima and the Animus, along with their interesting states of development are sometimes outright, and sometimes subtly portrayed within the images of the Tarot cards.

Your Turn…

What are your thoughts? Do you think that the Anima and the Animus are shown in any other cards of the Major Arcana? Please do let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.