Dealing With Our Core Complexes

Dealing With Our Core Complexes

Jan 17, 2025

We have to do battle with our core, most destructive complexes every single step of the way, standing up to them and fighting them tooth and nail again and again.

This is particularly true when trying to reorient our life towards our true purpose and needs.

They want to stop us and keep us stuck, small and trapped. That’s how they function and why they developed in the first place. There are two parts to the complexes – they are biological and survival based, and as Jung describes, they also contain at their core, enormous archetypal and universal energies which can completely own us and sweep us away in the blink of an eye, totally derailing us and any plans we have for our life.

Jungian author and analyst Marion Woodman talks about this a lot in all her books: the daily if not minute by minute awareness and vigilance we need, and the inner strength to battle them every step of the way, to stop them taking us backwards each time we try to set ourselves free.

It’s VERY hard work and can be exhausting and disheartening at times, as they keep resurfacing despite our best attempts at moving on.

And remember, the greater the childhood trauma and neglect and distorted relationships with our parents, the greater the need for protective defences and complexes to develop So this really is like taking on an enormous beast at times. Or facing Medusa, but like Perseus, we must use our wit and resources to deflect her killing glances and cut off her head again and again until we are free…

If you’re dealing with this, as I am, please take a bow and be kind to yourself, because it’s painstakingly, gut-wrenching hard work that most people don’t even begin to address…

©Angela Dunning

Art by Christian Schloe.

Enjoy this post?

Buy Angela Dunning of The Horse's Truth a coffee

More from Angela Dunning of The Horse's Truth