The Medial Woman Archetype

In 1951 Toni Wolff, an analyst and close associate of Carl Jung published a treatise called the Structural Forms of the Feminine Psyche. In this short but potent discourse, she outlined the four foundational archetypes of the feminine psyche. They are as follows: the Amazonian, the Heteria, the Mother, and the Medial Woman.

The Medial Woman is the strong-sighted guide within who speaks to us in the language of the soul. She awakens us to our divine nature through the medium of symbols, image and metaphor both in our waking lives and most easily through our evening dreams. The Medial Woman helps to unite what is divided (personally and collectively) and show us how to walk the delicate balance between will and surrender. She is the necessary archetype of these times where we collectively stand in the choice of either allowing destruction or regeneration and rebirth to occur.

 The Medial Woman appears to us when we are lost in the dark or in the throes of burdensome change. She is the archetypal guide who holds our hands while we cultivate curiosity and courage to step into the dark. She is known by many names and has many faces, and yet always, she is a master of the night who can helps us track the best path forward and as Clarissa Pinkola Estés mused, she is Mother Night. She stands at the threshold of every single ‘what was and what will be’ and teaches us to embrace uncertainty and accept the liminal space of transition as necessary. 

As the Wild Woman liberated consciousness in the 90’s, the Medial Woman can help to balance consciousness in the 21^st century—one where we reclaim our connection to ancient pathways of well-being in relation to modernity. That is rekindling our connection to soul, dreaming, and most significantly protecting and nurturing nature for the collective good.

The Medial woman cultivates soul sight so that the reader can use that wisdom for the betterment of themselves and the collective at large. She teaches us how to move beyond polarities (us- versus-them type of thinking), offering us a transcendental third option which holds duality in balance: the capacity to live a truth entirely in opposition to another and yet still show the ‘disavowed other’ compassion and kindness as a reflection of how powerful one’s own love is. In times of fear, the Medial Woman also graces us with certainty and courage because we come to rely on something internal which is unshakeable and ever present – the soul.