University Press of Mississippi Regenerating the Feminine: Psyche, Culture, and Nature

Mythologists work as cultural animateurs, tracking patterns and trends, identifying archetypal and symbolic wounds and remedies. Reading cultural and environmental events via texts and patterns from such a perspective enables dynamic dialogue and action. Regenerating the Feminine: Psyche, Culture, and Nature examines the history of the lost and degraded archetypal feminine of Western cultures, whose resurgence via scholarship, the arts, and social justice practices is now on the rise. Drawing on various methodologies to deepen our understanding of this regenerative phenomenon, author April C. Heaslip charts the significance of interconnected expressions dramatically impacting our sense of self, community, history, health, culture, and creativity. This study examines the feminine’s resurgence via emerging imaginal archetypal paradigms in literary fiction, memoir, and cinematic expression. Utilizing literary and film studies, depth psychology, archaeomythology, history, and religious studies to examine the cultural and personal phenomenon of feminine renewal, this book explores how remythologizing regeneration—as well as remapping complex and neglected personal and collective wasteland landscapes—revitalizes the relationship between psyche, culture, and nature. Tending to the return of the feminine and the complex cultural and eco wastelands, this post-Jungian inquiry remythologizes notions of wholeness, amplifies feminist revisions of Joseph Campbell’s "hero’s" journey, and provides transdisciplinary best practices in support of personal individuation, cultural revitalization, and ecological healing.