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In Order to test the validity of Neumann's psychological theory about the evolution from matriarchy to patriarchy, an attempt was made to correlate an archetypal dream with the physiological phenomenon of orgasm.
On the basis of Bachofen's work Neumann postulated that the development of the ‘feminine’ progresses from matriarchy to patriarchy. On the threshold between the two stages the woman is supposed to experience a kind of ‘Stirb und werde’ (die and become), which takes the form of a ‘marriage with death’, such as Apuleius describes in his tale of Amor and Psyche . In the prophecy with which this tale begins, Psyche's partner is first depicted as a death-bringing monster. Only after the girl accepts her fate and surrenders herself completely to the male in patriarchal captivity does he turn out to be a most satisfactory lover-amor in person.
If dreams evolve along this archetypal pattern of ‘consummated marriage with death’, a woman should be able to enjoy sexual gratification during intercourse with a man. If, on the other hand, the dreamer resists or escapes instead of yielding to the male and consummating the marriage, then it can be predicted that she will be unable to accept dominance by the man during genital intercourse and consequently be unable to reach orgasm.
In this investigation the dream pattern which should enable us to predict frigidity was defined as follows:
The dreamer feels a threat to her own person.
She is met by one or more dangerous men, animals or inanimate objects.
The sex of the animals is male or undefined, never female.
Men or animals are always anonymous, or at least partly anonymous, syncretistic figures.
Inanimate objects may be bullets, flashes of lightning, radiations, music, anything that penetrates, but not abysses into which one might fall or an image that attracts, etc.
The men, animals or objects are overpowering.