Animus (also Anima) are terms from Jungian psychology. Carl Jung believed that when we’re young our gender expressions are neutral, then over time we reject the opposite gender within ourselves in order to fit better into society.
This can cause all kinds of problems in adult life. For example, we could get ourselves into bad relationships in attempt to bring this lost part of us back into our lives. Also, if the split within ourselves is great, we could act out toward the opposite gender; the one we rejected.
Now that we know what it means, let’s get into how Lothar fits in.
This is the part where I need to get a little personal. Danielle came to me when I was seventeen, the same age she was when she started changing into a wolf. She lived, rattling around in my head, for years but I still didn’t understand her story or what she was trying to tell me.
Ten years ago Lothar showed up into my awareness, and then Nick, Kendra, Vesper… the list goes on. That was the point where I had a story beginning to form.
I still didn’t see what all of this was trying to tell me, until about a year ago.
Out of all of the couples I’ve created and then matched together in my imagination, it’s Danielle and Lothar that stand out the most. In some way it’s been my attempt to reunite the parts of myself longing for the cosmic union.
No, that doesn’t mean that I’m Danielle or that I’m exactly like her, but I can see parts of myself in BOTH Danielle and Lothar. Bringing them not only together but into a continuing series of books about both them and other couples has become an obsession of mine and I understand why that is.
It’s why I’ve mentioned numerous times in blog posts that spending time with them has taught me so much about myself and how to navigate life. It’s as if they’ve become my life coaches, leading me by example through the murky unknowing that is the human equation.
In short, Lothar is my animus taking on form even as I accept that he’s not just some hot guy in a romance novel, but that he is the lost part of myself, longing to be loved by me.
🖤Important news… my werewolf novel, Tangled Moon, is now available for preorder!!!!!
Ordering it early really helps me get it off to a good start! 🖤
Darcy Branwyn 
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