Jung's dark feminine, considered from the standpoint of the Kali motif in Hindu bhakti-marga (Carl G. Jung)

The aim of this thesis was to understand the role played by the dark feminine as the figure of Kali in Hindu bhakti in Jung's theory of the process of individuation and personally for Jung during his confrontation with the unconscious. The method used in this exposition is archival and historical in nature. The review of the literature comes from three sources: Jung's collected works, biographies of Jung, and Hindu texts in primary translation and secondary interpretation. Hindu texts describe Kali as heralding a call to balance in the life of the devotee, as the anima did on Jung's theoretical path of individuation. The researcher found particular parallelism between the negative form of the anima, Kali as divine consort, and Jung's fantasy-figure, Salome. The literature highlighted both the Jungian concept of psychic compensation and the role of the anima in individuation as specific Jungian parallels to the role of Kali in bhakti-marga, the Hindu path of devotion. The processes of union and transcendence of polarities were highlighted as means towards individuation. Jung's own personal dealings with Salome, the dark feminine within his own fantasy life, presented an historical note. Jung's Salome was then related to both Kali and the negative anima. The information found in this thesis is of value to those studying the life of Jung as it takes an archival expository approach to a particular part of his biography. This thesis is relevant to the task of furthering the exploration of the role of the feminine in myth, fantasy, and psychological and archetypal theory.