Lilith, Inanna, and God Images in Myth: Working with Relational Trauma in Jungian Analysis

Abstract

This paper explores and defines trauma and several patterns of adaptive responses within a self-care system partially using the framework of Donald Kalsched. It examines two ancient myths: one, the myth of Lilith and Inanna; and two, the myth of Lilith, Adam, and God. The first myth is set within a matriarchal culture and the second myth within a patriarchal culture. These stories are analyzed through the lens of trauma, the emotional textures of affect, and the development of consciousness. Analyzing these myths facilitates the contextualization of irrational behavioral responses as trauma responses and identifies several typical patterns of traumatic response. This can reveal the personal context of traumatization and relevant archetypal energies. This can help bridge one’s personal psychology to a mythic or transpersonal reality, which, in turn, helps the development of the ego in relation to the Self, and connects one to a more transpersonal dimension of reality. This can lead—within the safety of the analytical relationship—toward possible paths of psychic reintegration and the healing of split-off psychic parts.