@Hannah Indeed! I appreciate your response. I will be fascinated to see how you navigate that point when your son reaches the teenage years, as, in my experience, that was really when I became aware of my own Mother Complex (On a side note, Crowley writes that the Zodiacal sign of Cancer just is the sign of the Mother Complex, and Jim corresponds the sign of Cancer with the Scarlet Woman in 776 1/2. As a Cancer Sun who grew up without a biological father but had a strong attachment to mother, I feel that this explains a lot of my own habits, hang ups, shining moments, etc. hahaha). I have inferred that generally, the Mother Complex doesn't affect a biological male until they hit puberty (I cannot speak for all sexes, hence my specificity in biological males :-)). My own theory is that the shock of puberty and sexuality shatters the image of the initial image of Mother in the psyche. I theorize that someone who is maybe more equipped with tools of self soothing (and psychic Understanding) as well more comfortable with sexuality may be able to perceive the Mother Complex for what it is and avoid a more violent and painful separation. According to modern developmental psychology, parents simply need to be "good enough," and once the child is capable of realizing that their parents were "good enough" (i.e. that the child's needs were met enough of the time that they are reasonably equipped for the world we are born into) then they can move on from parental hang ups and focus on the journey of self discovery (though parental complexes never leave and we are constantly trying to live in harmony with our own psychic images of Mom & Dad).
I do agree that Christianity is HEAVILY to blame for the epidemic of the Mother Complex plaguing young men in today's age (in fact, I think this is perhaps one of the biggest reasons for the Manosphere, homophobia, and the death pangs of the Old Aeon, since Christianity has really failed a lot of Male youths). Christianity's sexual repression and emphasis on celibacy creates Eunuchs, which only contributes to male impotence. Although we are not physical castrating people in the realm of Malkuth, the bastardization of Christianity indoctrinating people today creates a sort of spiritual Eunuch. I have theorized that when Crowley talks about building the Wand as a Magickal Weapon and it's relation to the Phallus, this is part of what he's referring to (healing the spiritual castration that occurs from these types of issues). I've spoken to a lot of young men who have described essentially this, that they are spiritually castrated. Christianity's blatant repression of sexuality prevents everyone from becoming comfortable with expressing sexuality, and this is precisely what Freud was pointing to when he wrote about the Oedipus Complex. Failing to sort through sexual projections breeds a strange codependent relationship in which the child does not develop the self assurance and resiliency to overcome obstacles since Mother knows best and Mother protects. Ironically, this is a source of homophobia in the male psyche, because on one hand, the male psyche (or the socialized male western psyche) is getting pulled towards the opposite sex, but it has not developed any of the shifts in awareness to truly appreciate the opposite sex. Instead, because Mother provides and protects, the individual is completely blinded by the Anima (which in this case exists solely as a projection of their Mother) and becomes possessed by it. Why would the individual need to treat the opposite properly when their experience of the opposite sex has been nothing but codependency with Mother? People that are Anima Possessed generally aren't even aware that they are expressing projections of a fantasy of the opposite sex, and hence why we get this weird behavior in some men where they believe they are objectively treating women how they should as heterosexuals, even though all they do is crush femininity and kill any real signs of eroticism. It largely stems from that lack of emotional intelligence and/or comfortability with the force of Eros.
The cognitive dissonance these conflicting signals create are precisely what has bred incel culture and the type of man who claims to love women but refuses anything projected as womanly, only feeling safe to show affection towards men. In this type of Psychic Structure, the individual projects femininity as the Other and corresponds the concept of "Woman" with all of those other fears of the Other. It is no wonder that there is a correlation between all of the forms of prejudice and this disconnect between men and women. The same cognitive laziness that puts woman in the Shadow of heterosexual men is the same cognitive laziness that breeds all of the other forms of prejudice, creating a Shadow of size and magnitude that drove even the likes of Friedrich Nietzsche insane. If you know the name of the Qlippothic force that causes this, please share, as I aspire to discover the name of this demon that is plaguing society (I say this humorously, at the risk of coming off too strong since it is sometimes difficult to communicate tone over text and I realize that the Qlippoth can be a touchy issue for some).
Unfortunately, since these peoples' sexuality is so unconscious, if you point to their Shadow, the victim of this type of cognitive dissonance cannot even comprehend that they are mistreating women (and that it's impossible to claim heterosexuality if you mistreat women), often resorting to gaslighting and homophobia. This homophobia is a symptom of this disconnect between the biological imperative to mate with the opposite sex and the conscious mind's fixation on the Anima (at expense of women as people and human beings because this personality type is incapable of looking past their projection of the opposite sex). Since heterosexuality is expected in young men, when they fail to experience the same level of attraction that was experienced in puberty from hormonal imbalance, they repress the feeling that heterosexuality is not yet authentic to them (since they haven't done the Work to appreciate the opposite sex, the opposite sex being the symbol of the Other since they are told that there is a hard distinction between men and women) and this expectation vs reality attacks the conscious mind (since it prefers simple answers). Interestingly Freud argued that homosexuality is the default sexuality for humanity, because it is easier to admire something you are (which is an inherently homosexual attitude), and that it takes work to develop healthy relationships with the opposite sex, since they are initially perceived as a different species of being. So naturally, the conscious mind rebels saying, "I'm straight! My partner must not be perfect otherwise I would love her because I am objectively straight and it is objectively wrong for men to show emotion, much less admit that all of my emotions are directed towards particularly male centric interests and perspectives!" Of course, this is exacerbated by the Christian virtues of Guilt and Shame, since Pride (a Thelemic virtue according to the Book of the Law) would require a level of homosexuality (for example, to appreciate the man you are would require a comparison to other men, and for a man to compare themselves to other men is an inherently homosexual action since naturally some men are going to be more appealing than others). That male anger towards women for no reason other than that women exist and seemingly withhold the love and affection of their projection of Mother is a direct consequence of this psychic structure because the conscious mind is essentially angry at itself for failing to integrate what it perceives as the Other. It hurts men, women, and trans folk across the board. It really grinds my gears because it's no one's fault that society is what it is, and yet we are forced to deal with and take seriously these ridiculous projections as the consequences of society's Shadow whether we like it or not. It's no wonder Jesus got so angry prior to Crucifixion, as he was probably dealing with a similar level of frustration at his society's Shadow.
Hahaha I keep writing huge walls of text, thank you everyone for your attention. I have a bad habit of writing essays instead of short responses.
