Aceti, Tilde

Forestieri, Flavia

Mento, Carmela

English

Università degli Studi di Messina: Open Journals Messina

  
 
Book Rev    Mento C., Forestieri F., Aceti T.    1  
  
 
Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology  MJCP   
ISSN: 2282-1619   
VOL. V, N.2  (2017)   
 
Book Review   
In search of Soul: the encounter and the return  
   
by Floro R. 
Ed. Moretti & Vitali, 2016. 
   
 
In the texts written by Dr. Raffaele Floro, psychologist, psychotherapist, 
Jungian analyst, the two volumes, I “Alla ricerca di Anima- L’incontro. Per 
una psicologia poetica del sentimento” p. 368, and II “Alla ricerca di Anima- 
Il ritorno” p. 392, editore Moretti & Vitali, 2016, exist a continuous research 
of the unconscious female part of personality. The archetype of Anima 
introduces to aspects of feeling without whose connection man is easily lost 
in concrete, material, rational, and meaningless traits. 
In the first volume, entitled “L’incontro”, the author presents a link between 
“psyche” and “matter”, while in the second one, entitled “Il ritorno”, he 
rediscovers the reality of Anima in the experience of analytical clinics and 
literature, starting from the writing of poets who proposed in verse and prose 
the encounter with Anima, in order to explore intrinsic dynamics and deep  
  
 
Book Rev    Mento C., Forestieri F., Aceti T.    2  
  
 
 
aspects that contemporary man almost denies, and which sometimes are the 
cause of disconnection with deep aspects of feeling and the consequent 
emergence of suffering.  
Even for C.G. Jung just the meeting and the connection with Anima is able to 
bridge with the deeper part of our being, in order to evaluate reality on a less 
rational and more affective level.  
In this text it is possible to feel the experiences of Anima as a psychic reality 
that goes from the maternal feminine to the depths of feeling: we find her in 
the relationship with the beloved woman (see chapter IV), in the significant 
correspondence with the odd attraction of non-linear dynamic systems (see 
chapter VI), in the archetypal dynamics between rationality and sentiment at 
the border between order and disorder, also in relation to the psychic parts yet 
unknown.  
The feminine theme goes through the text towards the encounter with the 
inner woman, also through various phenomenal forms of feminine (in 
example “Fenomenologia di Eva” and Elena, Maria, Sofia (see chapters VIII-
XII). Eva, Elena, Maria and Sofia, four women we find both in Greek 
mythology and in Catholic religion, represent the progressive spiritual 
elevation to Sapientia, because reaching Sofia means to mystically live the 
psychic depth of the soul. A psychoidal link between psyche and body 
connects the two volumes from "L’incontro" to "Il ritorno".  
In the second book, entitled "Il ritorno" there is an analysis of feeling as the 
soul in life and of the four degrees of Anima in the symbolism of classical 
works such as “Faust” by W. Goethe (see chapters II-IV), “Divina 
Commedia” by Dante (see chapters V-VII) and “L’asino d’oro” by Apuleio 
(see chapters IX-XI).  
The "thought of the heart", we find in poets as in writers, translates in verse 
the encounter with Anima in the life. It is interesting to read in psychological 
terms the evolution of Anima through the four figures in classical works that 
crossed the story.  
 
  
 
Book Rev    Mento C., Forestieri F., Aceti T.    3  
  
 
 
Therefore it is possible to bring back to the existential condition of those who 
look for Anima and meet her.  
Existential conditions crossed are very current, such as the Faust, 
characterized by dissatisfaction and unhappiness, who sells his soul to the 
devil. In Faust we find the example of the developmental scale of the Jungian 
Anima in Eva, Elena, Maria to the Eternal Feminine; only the feeling will 
save Faust from the eternal misery of damnation.  
In this case, the dominant thought is to reach happiness by extending from his 
own Anima; his hýbris makes him believe that it is possible to command the 
Archetype of Anima, making a personal replacement, instead of the final 
result.  
The appearance of Anima is always preceded by the comparison with Ombra, 
which besides making consciousness of personal refused aspects, allows to 
understand that personal reality is in fact universal and archetypical.  
Precisely this passage from personal to impersonal is what we find in Dante 
in the encounter with Beatrice, in that love as a suffering that drives him to 
the knowledge of parts of himself.  
Beatrice in the Divina Commedia  covers two stages of Anima, combining 
Elena's archetypal passion with the Sofia’s Sapientia, we find in Paradise.  
In Apuleio we find the theme of perfection and the search for success, along 
with the fear of a mature sexuality. Lucio's journey into “L’asino d’oro” is 
like the journey of the hero who passes from the personal state of the Ego to 
the bestial and yet, through various vicissitudes, discovers Anima.  
The Lucio’s transformation into a donkey is the symbol of spiritual 
transformation within the themes of renewal and rebirth.  
The donkey in fact, has an ambivalent archetypal symbology, suspending 
man between two opposite possibilities: the elevation of his condition in the 
light of Anima or the condemnation to a state of inertia.  
 
 
 
  
 
Book Rev    Mento C., Forestieri F., Aceti T.    4  
  
 
 
The author Raffaele Floro carries us by hand in the Anima discovery trail in a 
captivating way, giving us vivid images of this meaningful encounter that can 
give us visual sensations which can drive the readers to an intimate reflection 
on their bond with Anima.  
  
                                
   
 
 
 
Mento Carmela, Forestieri Flavia, Aceti Tilde 
 
University of Messina, Italy  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© 2014 by the Author(s); licensee Mediterranean Journal of Clinical 
Psychology,  Messina, Italy. This article is an open access article, licensed 
under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Mediterranean 
Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol. V, No. 2, 2017.    
Doi: 10.6092/2282-1619/2017.5.1629 


In Search of Soul

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