Shu: Naxi Nature Goddess Archetype

Abstract

Shu, the Naxi Goddess of Nature, is a basic concept of the Dongba religion practised by the Naxi community in southwestern China. Shu, in their dominant traditional form, represent a feminine archetype that includes both feminine (dominant) and masculine (complementary) traits. Using Jung’s concept of ’archetype,’ this article analyzes myths, legends, rituals, and pictographs to see the process of conceptualization of the Shu. Dongba sacred texts provide us with a gender-based explanation for the peculiar three-in-one images of the Shu—frog head, human body, and serpent tails. The transformative character of the Shu and the relationship from the Shu’s elemental and transformative natures are further explored. The society and culture of the Naxi ancestors were characterized as a whole by unconscious matriarchy, a stage during which feminine archetypes took precedence and Shu were predominantly feminine with masculine secondary characteristics. As time passed, patriarchy surpassed matriarchy and a new self-awareness separated itself from the world of the unconscious, and the construction of Shu began to be replaced by that of the masculine archetype.