Ancient pagan rituals have sunk into oblivion. But the archetypal images underlying them have not gone away, and we live them to this day. One of these archetypes is the image of the scapegoat. Let's talk about it today. Using the example of my subscriber’s situation, I would like to reveal how this complex is lived, what happens in the unconscious. and what to do with it. So, a letter from my subscriber: “Julia, good afternoon. Our father died five years ago. My mother died 25 years ago, when my brother was 8 years old. He began to live with his father and grandmother in the north. I lived and live in Tyumen, I moved to study at the institute. A few years later my dad found a companion; we have a brother from her who is 15 years old. When dad died, the conversation started that when my brother would sell two apartments (grandmother’s and dad’s) to me, his own sister. but it will give a little. You see, I became a widow at 34 years old, with two children aged 9 and 15 and debts on three loans. What I heard in response plunged me into a state of shock, I did not believe that this was what my brother was saying. They warned me that I would cling to the apartment... that I couldn’t do anything...there is a WILL. As a result, he sold two apartments and I no longer have the brother I loved so much. What should I do and how can I change the situation. I don’t know. I’m offended that, as always, they make me feel guilty and bad. Everyone else in our family was and is wonderful, successful, so my brother shared it with them!”*** Hello. It is very unfortunate that you have to feel injustice. This really hurts. Now I’m talking not so much about the relationship with your brother, but about the most important injustice in your life - the absence of a reliable and supportive mother who could make sure that you have a resource. If we consider this situation at the level of symbols, then behind the conflict I see a struggle – yours with your brother – for this very maternal resource. After all, you both lost your mother early. And apartments and money are THAT symbolic mother that fills and strengthens, and of which you have very little. What I will say now may cause conflicting feelings. It is unlikely that you can influence your brother's attitude towards you. Moreover, I assume that he has a lot of unconscious aggression towards you. Because You are an older sister and, in part, also a maternal figure for him; anger at his departed (deceased) mother can be projected onto you. That is. For him, you are not the child of your parents, and you are just as unfed as he is. Behind you lies the image of a mother who must fill and protect. At the same time, you, of course, do not owe him anything. But his unconscious expectations are as follows. And when you ask to share a resource with you, the child inside him becomes furious - after all, first his mother “abandoned” him (died), and now he wants to “take away” what little he has. What to do and how to change the situation? You need to start by examining your role in the family - why do you always have to feel guilty and bad? And not just guilty and bad - but the only guilty and bad one among all. “All the others were and are wonderful.” In ancient Judaism, there was a ritual of cleansing sins with the help of sacrifices. Cattle were sacrificed - rams, calves, goats. The death of these animals atoned for human sins - by killing them, the Jews removed from themselves all the guilt that belonged to them. This ritual brought in our time the well-known image of the scapegoat. As an archetype, this image was involved in the description of a peculiar complex of guilt and sacrifice. In analytical psychology, this is what they call it – the scapegoat complex. Your family has appointed you as such a “scapegoat”. This means that there is a lot of guilt in the family that is impossible to cope with. And then there must be someone into whom you can place this guilt. After all, then everyone else will feel good. And it’s difficult to do anything about it, since the family remains unconscious. No matter how you justify yourself to your loved ones, the “distribution” of roles has already happened. And, unfortunately, this is far from]