Hermaphrodite

A hermaphrodite may indicate the union of your conscious and unconscious. The ‘marriage’ may be total or partial, depending on how much of your unconscious you have integrated into your conscious attitudes and actions, also how you have integrated the other polarity of your psyche – the male into the female and the female into the male. Every man has feminine components in his psyche, every woman has masculine components in hers.

A whole and balanced personality occurs when we have both genders in balance, not when one is promoted over another. It can lead to dogmatism in a woman who has not integrated her male, a moody and emotionally fickle and open to swings of feeling in a man who has not integrated his female.

The balance is seen in the figure of Shiva who is shown as part woman and part man. Also Christ shows great intuition and feeling, signs of a blanced person.

Being both sexes: Might suggest feeling uncertain about our own gender, or having problems in the role of our own sex. Or finding a balance and wholeness in oneself.

Example: ‘I was outdoors in my underpants teaching a group of people. Looking down I saw my genitals were exposed and I had female organs. I felt okay.’ Bill S.

Although Bill works in the building trade, he finds it easy to cook, look after his children, cry, and accept his ‘female’ characteristics.

Useful Questions and Hints:

Do I try to change my gender instead of integrating it?

What message has my dream for me?

What feelings or longings were felt in the dream?

Am I still at odds with my internal male/female – if so what still stands in the way of unity?

If I have found unity with my inner male or female what has this brought into my life?

See Integrating the female in the male – Integrating the male in the female – Techniques for Exploring your Dreams