The Great Mother, Erich Neumann
The Great Mother, Erich Neumann
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The Great Mother
An Analysis of the Archetype

Author: Erich Neumann, Martin Liebscher

Series: Bollingen Recollections

Narrator: Mark Meadows

Unabridged: 10 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/20/2026

Synopsis

This audiobook narrated by Mark Meadows gives an illuminating account of the Great Mother as a primordial image of the human psyche In this book, renowned analytical psychologist Erich Neumann draws on ritual, mythology, art, and records of dreams and fantasies to examine how the archetype of the Great Mother has been outwardly expressed in many cultures and periods since prehistory. He shows how the feminine has been represented as goddess, monster, gate, pillar, tree, moon, sun, vessel, and every animal from snakes to birds. Neumann discerns a universal experience of the maternal as both nurturing and fearsome, an experience rooted in the dialectical relation of growing consciousness, symbolized by the child, to the unconscious and the unknown, symbolized by the Great Mother. With a foreword by Martin Liebscher, The Great Mother is a profound and enduring work by one of the most brilliant thinkers of the twentieth century.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Araminta on July 21, 2016

The only reason I can't give this a solid five stars is that I have a fundamental (perhaps elemental) bias toward any narrative that tries to explain or analyze the position of women that was composed by a man. It's the nature of the partiarchal history that female narratives are usurped in this way......more

Goodreads review by Kate on April 14, 2009

Okay, all you Jungians out there, start your engines! This is another classic take on mythology and folklore regarding the role of the feminine in civilization. Falls in the geek category, but fascinating in a geeky sort of way.......more

Goodreads review by Matthew on February 10, 2019

A vast, encyclopedic look at feminine archetypes, seen through a part anthropological, part art-historical lens. In brief, Jung 101. What may give you bittersweet feelings as you palm this colossal work is how fully we have reduced gender to “a social construction” and from there to a chintzy plasti......more

Goodreads review by Andrés on November 08, 2009

Challenging read! The first half was extremely hard to plow through, but the second half made up for it. This is a fascinating read. From my notes when I read it (pre-1998) I wrote: Neumann's Great Mother was very, very difficult to begin, but developed into one of the best books I have read describ......more

Goodreads review by Zach on August 16, 2018

This book is comprehensive in its coverage of the feminine archetype. Not being a full time Jung scholar this book was a bit tedious and pendantic read. I learned quit a bit but expect a dry and academic read......more

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