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Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts #4
The Owl Was a Baker's Daughter: Obesity, Anorexia Nervosa and the Repressed Feminine
Eye-opening insights into the body as mirror of the psyche in eating disorders and weight disturbances. Case studies and practical procedures emphasize the integration of the body and soul.
144 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1980
About the author
Marion Woodman
53 books360 followersMarion Woodman was a Canadian mythopoetic author and women's movement figure. She was a Jungian analyst trained at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zürich, Switzerland. She was one of the most widely read authors on feminine psychology, focusing on psyche and soma. She was also an international lecturer and poet. Her collection of audio and visual lectures, correspondence, and manuscripts are housed at OPUS Archives and Research Center, in Santa Barbara, California. Among her collaborations with other authors she wrote with Thomas Moore, Jill Mellick and Robert Bly. Her brothers were the late Canadian actor Bruce Boa and Jungian analyst Fraser Boa.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 14, 2012
I took a couple of months to read The Owl Was a Baker's Daughter by Marion Woodman. I'm not sure why it took me so long, but I think it had to do with finally realizing what a victim of stress I allowed myself to be for my entire adult life, going from a skinny kid and teen to a fat middle-aged adult and wondering all the while why I could no longer keep weight off, and why at my most "successful" monetarily, I was my most overweight and most unhappy.
What occurred to me though, and angered me, was that this book was written in the 70s and the medical profession has yet (in 2010) to effectively link weight gain to stress when treating it, but insists on blaming the overweight person for improper self care. I agree that the person who is overweight has to do something, make changes. That's obvious. But when the most important change, or one of them, is ignored, and the patient does everything else right, they can still fail. This ignorance doesn't help. It adds to guilt, making even more stress - now, in addition to other causes, one has stress around the weight problem itself and one's apparent inability to change it.
But in this book one finds insight, compassion, and some answers or possibilities to explore in oneself that might actually help.
What occurred to me though, and angered me, was that this book was written in the 70s and the medical profession has yet (in 2010) to effectively link weight gain to stress when treating it, but insists on blaming the overweight person for improper self care. I agree that the person who is overweight has to do something, make changes. That's obvious. But when the most important change, or one of them, is ignored, and the patient does everything else right, they can still fail. This ignorance doesn't help. It adds to guilt, making even more stress - now, in addition to other causes, one has stress around the weight problem itself and one's apparent inability to change it.
But in this book one finds insight, compassion, and some answers or possibilities to explore in oneself that might actually help.
February 5, 2021
Для достаточного понимания изложенного в книге аналитического материала, необходимо ориентироваться в терминах юнгинианского анализа. Мне непросто было разобраться в описаниях и интерпретациях, к тому же они показались мне весьма мистифицированными и даже псевдонаучными. Возможно, это нормально для описания феноменов в контексте юнгинианства. Однако практическая значимость исследования, проведённого Марион Вудман, для меня осталась слишком завуалированной.
For a sufficient understanding of the analytical material presented in the book, it is necessary to navigate in terms of Jungian analysis. It was not easy for me to understand the descriptions and interpretations, which seemed to me very mystified and even pseudoscientific. Perhaps it is okay to describe phenomena in the context of Jungianism. However, the practical relevance of the study conducted by Marion Woodman remained too veiled for me.
For a sufficient understanding of the analytical material presented in the book, it is necessary to navigate in terms of Jungian analysis. It was not easy for me to understand the descriptions and interpretations, which seemed to me very mystified and even pseudoscientific. Perhaps it is okay to describe phenomena in the context of Jungianism. However, the practical relevance of the study conducted by Marion Woodman remained too veiled for me.
August 27, 2021
A challenging read, as is the case for many/most Jungian texts. Challenging and extremely worthwhile. Although published in 1980, Woodman’s insights are fresh and relevant to many women today.
January 4, 2011
I decided to read this book out of interest in understanding the depth psychology motives for bulimia. Unfortunately there was no reference to it in this book which despite its many merits I found very hard going. Marion Woodman is an analyst and writer of tremendous experience and insight but I found her approach to both conditions (clearly obesity got more stage time) very convoluted and was left with more questions than answers. It is always worth reading for the valuable analytical work on the analysands' dreams, their own insights regarding their inner struggles and their exchanges with the author in therapy.
November 5, 2023
Marion Woodman's The Owl was a Baker's Daughter: Obesity, Anorexia Nervosa and the Repressed Feminine; studies by Jungian Analysts, 4 is a groundbreaking study about the individuation process in women. Through case studies she outlines how women become stuck at stages of the developmental process. Being stuck at a stage manifests itself in a preoccupation with looks and feminine self-worth with food or lack of food being the external expression. Through case studies she outlines how some become cathected with a Father Complex, a Mother Complex or Sexuality, Religion Complexes. The intriguing theories presented in the case studies can deepen understanding of the problems with eating disorders that are prevalent in modern times.
January 9, 2020
به نظرم کار بزرگ این کتاب این بود که به علل روانی چاقی و آنورکسیا پرداخته بود. به نظرم یکم لازمه برای خوندنش با حداقل های تئوری های یونگ اشنا باشین تا مفاهیم راحت تر بشه. اخر کتاب از نظر من خوب نبود. ولی همون بقیه کتاب خیلیییی به ادم اطلاعات میده و کمک کننده ست. به نظرم هر خانمی باید این کتاب رو یک بار بخونه.
April 1, 2024
It was a difficult book to read since I'm not well-versed in Jungian psychology but it was still interesting. I kept getting lost during some of the paragraphs, and I think some interpretations or information might be outdated by our modern standards but I found it decent nonetheless.
September 11, 2018
Although not an easy read, the book offers a nourishing insight on femininity, spirituality on the way to self discovery and personal growth.
April 26, 2020
Found it very interesting to read and even though it more so aimed at discussing the psychosomatic distresses in relation to food, the general threads about femininity in connection to religion, one’s childhood, society and psychoanalysis echoed a lot with me more personally. It is a Jungian analysis, so the text is very rich in its methodology, scale and terms, took some extra research to fully grasp it tbh. Overall, an amazing study I think anyone interested in psychology could enjoy.
June 21, 2023
This was the most useful book I've read in years.
The first part of the book included the study of women with eating disorders. I was astonished at how much these women's lives and personalities resembled each other, and those of real people I am close to.
"led to an early pattern of overeating coupled with an exaggerated dependence on self-control."
"She may talk of the will of God with child-like faith, but viciously mock her personal weakness in being unable to control her own life."
"Her task is to release her own creative masculine spirit from the womb of the devouring mother, and at the same time to release her own feminine spirit from the tomb of her Jehovah father."
I do agree that is a common occurrence for people to outsource their ego development to a paternal figure, or even God. This book made a strong case to convince me that this is the basis of the issue of eating disorders. Namely, the development of a puella aeterna who idealizes her father figure and remains stuck in an infantile state of endless potential, then ultimately becomes a victim of her animus.But the analysis went so much deeper. "Where a woman is possessed by an eating disorder, even more crucial than the father complex is the mother."
"Fatness, studied as a symptom, can no longer be considered merely an inflation, nor an attempt to retain everything, nor a desire for power feeding a greedy animus. ... "The wounding and painful shafts do not come from outside . . . but from the ambush of our own unconscious. It is our own repressed desires that stick like arrows in our flesh."
The research was louder than words. This pattern of psychic development is definitely behind broken relationship to food. It also showed how the unconscious communicates even through body symptoms like bloating.
"The mother (matter, body) is linked unconsciously with the senex and all his Saturnine heaviness."
Nevertheless, a lot of the symbols and myths incorporated as prescriptions how to solve the problem had too much of a religious touch to be a framework for action for me. But the reason for that are the fundamental differences between my theology and that of the Jungian worldview.
Overall, this book provided so much invaluable insight to my understanding of how to fix my own relationship to food and while I'm at it, my whole life. Only a person who knows the struggle behind it would know that it has never been about the food itself. There is so much under the surface and there is where our true task lies.
"Her emancipation lies in the psychic enactment of her own physical resurrection her conscious release from the tomb to which her heritage has unconsciously assigned her, and her entrance into her eternal and divine seed-bearing body."
The first part of the book included the study of women with eating disorders. I was astonished at how much these women's lives and personalities resembled each other, and those of real people I am close to.
"led to an early pattern of overeating coupled with an exaggerated dependence on self-control."
"She may talk of the will of God with child-like faith, but viciously mock her personal weakness in being unable to control her own life."
"Her task is to release her own creative masculine spirit from the womb of the devouring mother, and at the same time to release her own feminine spirit from the tomb of her Jehovah father."
I do agree that is a common occurrence for people to outsource their ego development to a paternal figure, or even God. This book made a strong case to convince me that this is the basis of the issue of eating disorders. Namely, the development of a puella aeterna who idealizes her father figure and remains stuck in an infantile state of endless potential, then ultimately becomes a victim of her animus.But the analysis went so much deeper. "Where a woman is possessed by an eating disorder, even more crucial than the father complex is the mother."
"Fatness, studied as a symptom, can no longer be considered merely an inflation, nor an attempt to retain everything, nor a desire for power feeding a greedy animus. ... "The wounding and painful shafts do not come from outside . . . but from the ambush of our own unconscious. It is our own repressed desires that stick like arrows in our flesh."
The research was louder than words. This pattern of psychic development is definitely behind broken relationship to food. It also showed how the unconscious communicates even through body symptoms like bloating.
"The mother (matter, body) is linked unconsciously with the senex and all his Saturnine heaviness."
Nevertheless, a lot of the symbols and myths incorporated as prescriptions how to solve the problem had too much of a religious touch to be a framework for action for me. But the reason for that are the fundamental differences between my theology and that of the Jungian worldview.
Overall, this book provided so much invaluable insight to my understanding of how to fix my own relationship to food and while I'm at it, my whole life. Only a person who knows the struggle behind it would know that it has never been about the food itself. There is so much under the surface and there is where our true task lies.
"Her emancipation lies in the psychic enactment of her own physical resurrection her conscious release from the tomb to which her heritage has unconsciously assigned her, and her entrance into her eternal and divine seed-bearing body."
December 15, 2021
Insightful work. It shed some light on why eating disorders (on either spectrum) amongst females is so prevalent. I always suspected eating disorders were deeply related to the relationship with the parents, as was the case for myself. It disturbs me that I have never had a female friend who didn't have some form of an eating disorder or eating disordered thoughts. It frustrates me that the parent aspect isn't talked about more nowadays, but reading Alice Miller's work (The Body Never Lies) will explain why it isn't.
March 12, 2022
Another exquisite book that weaves through analysis of obese women connecting their experiences with the essential developmental psychology, mythology, religion and Jungian dream interpretation - serving a delicious discovery full of aha moments and triggers that helped me to see my patterns and my curse clearer than ever ….and also do something with it with new clarity and awareness.
I recommend Marion Woodman wholeheartedly. There are not many other books that would really move me so strongly
I recommend Marion Woodman wholeheartedly. There are not many other books that would really move me so strongly
July 1, 2022
This was a fascinating study of the relationship between body and psyche. While I cannot agree with Marion Woodman that the body is equivalent to the feminine, I do agree with her regarding the importance of unifying body and mind, and surrendering to the wisdom of the body, of mortality, and of the instincts.
September 22, 2021
интересно, но очень сложно
очень много терминов из психологии, которые были не понятны, даже когда ты их гуглишь
больше для людей с психологическим образованием или для ��ех, кто прям погружён в это всё
очень много терминов из психологии, которые были не понятны, даже когда ты их гуглишь
больше для людей с психологическим образованием или для ��ех, кто прям погружён в это всё
July 7, 2023
I would like to curl up inside Marion’s brain just to watch it work. This book is fantastic and painful and real. I have practically the whole thing underlined. Challenging read in all the right ways.
December 8, 2017
Phenomenal, still relevant even though written in 1980.
June 5, 2022
Extraordinary!
For anyone looking to read this and not finding it to buy - it can be borrowed online via archive.org
For anyone looking to read this and not finding it to buy - it can be borrowed online via archive.org
August 9, 2015
Part of the Jungian analyst series - so it's for analysts by analysts - and can get a little heady. this isn't the first of these I've read for my research. I wish she had gone more into her conclusions and the work the women needed to do to come out of it, also, since this is from 1980, I'd love to see this work revisited.
October 3, 2007
I read this for a Treatment of Eating Disorders class in graduate school. The author is considered an eating disorder expert. Her concepts are based in Jungian theory and her interesting perspective blends well with more traditional theories and treatment approaches to eating disorders.
November 16, 2008
The book can tend to get a bit lofty in places, but I can really empathize with the women that participated in the study. Although I do not suffer the same condition, it still wretches the heart to read. The book deals more with obesity & compulsive eating more than anorexia or bulimia.
Read
November 5, 2010Need to reread this one.
May 28, 2015
Skip this and read Marion's Addiction to Perfection instead. It does not disappoint!!
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews