Shadow Maternal Subjectivities

Shadow maternal subjectivities manifest in complexes deadly for children, but are born of trauma and patriarchal oppression of mothers. If maternal subjectivity is the Self that is informed by the psychological and physical experiences of giving and nurturing the life of a child, and shadow is a Jungian concept that refers to the unconscious aspect of the personality that contains all the elements of ourselves that we deny, repress, or disown, shadow maternal subjectivity is the destructive life-taking energies of a mother. These shadow subjectivities at times come alive in complexes. Complexes, another concept developed by Carl Jung, are unconscious emotionally charged and organized sets of memories, fantasies, and behavior patterns constellated around a core element. Enough stress can manifest a shadow mother complex, when maternal shadow energies fuel a complex that overwhelms consciousness and causes mothers to act out in their relationships with her children. There are several ways shadow maternal complexes manifest, such as the vampire mother, the depressed/addicted mother, the puella aeterna mother, the Aphrodite mother, the Munchausen by proxy mother, and the devouring mother. This paper explores these complexes and how a patriarchal idealization of motherhood precludes mothers from admitting their own finitude or any negative maternal feelings. At times these repressed negative feelings, or shadow subjectivities, become destructive, sometimes fatally. What is required is a greater range of acceptance of maternal subjectivity.