"The foundation of man's search for the anima is to find his own inherited image of the inner woman and the function of Eros or relationship... A woman's search for the Animus, however is to find her Logos, that is, her unconscious mind, and then to search for the nature of her own individual Weltanschauung. To oversimplify: man is looking for clarity in what he feels, and woman for clarity in what she really thinks.
Generally speaking, man has always projected the function of relationships onto woman, and woman has always projected her mind onto man. The goal of the work of the anima and Animus is to withdraw these age old projections. The ultimate goal for woman is the development and integration of the feminine spirit, that is, the Logos in the woman. This entails its assimilation into her entire being and her outer life as a woman so that a harmonious cooperation can flourish;and not that one side or the other - for instance, the mental-intellectual or the mother-instinctual - is damned to the Shadows of the woman's life.
...the trouble is that too many sexual affairs destroy the woman's Eros.
The Animus, in his original untransformed shape, is just like a jealous lover himself, and he will continually try to possess the woman for himself. This 'jealous lover who destroys relationships with men' will also be seen in the wildly possessive nature of the spirits... The Animus also loves to project himself onto the wrong man, and when the woman is bitterly disappointed, he whispers: "Poor dear, but you know all men are the same, you will only be happy quite alone with me." And thus he gradually spins a cocoon around the woman, cutting her off entirely from her environment and the other sex.
If she is to develop and to follow the process of individuation, she must continually distinguish between her own thoughts and the opinions thrust at her by the Animus who, by the way, can be eloquent and ostensibly argue most brilliantly. Yet, with certainty, he will destroy her relationships to men unless he is constantly watched and held in check.
We must be well acquainted with our personal shadows so that we can face our own bad qualities quietly; otherwise the Animus will constantly reduce us to misery by rubbing our faces in our failings which we have not yet seen or begun to accept." The Animus, The spirit of inner truth in women
By Barbara Hannah