Nursing

I sat near the Anima as she attempted to nurse her young child. Her breasts were abundantly overflowing with milk, yet he would not drink. He slid off the couch upon which she reclined and fussed impatiently on the floor.

Annie called the baby back and he accepted her breast again. But the same refusal to drink occurred, and repeated several more times.

Finally I understood that the child's objection was not to her, but rather to me. It did not want to nurse in my presence.

Jung calls the Anima the nearest guardian of the Self, the entity through which the ego must gain access to its inner truth and divinity.

Mindful of this, I picked up the child, kindly and lovingly, and brought it again to its mother.

Saying, “You must learn to nurse with me here, for we both need to be nourished by her.”