MENU

more pieces of the jigsaw puzzle

I dreamt this image many years ago. Unfortunately I gave the painting away, to a real Druid witch, so I guess at least it has gone to a good home. I think she hung it over her bed and I wonder what effect it has had on her....


The dream was accompanied by an extraordinary sorrow, a deep inconsolable grief that I often encounter in dreams - I can only describe it as the most ancient and primal of sorrows. The feeling was that the younger bull was responsible for the ‘downfall’ of the older bull because it was kneeling (although I didn’t paint it this way, I remember it vividly), the former had somehow usurped or undermined the old bull’s power and sovereignty. I don’t know why this would make me so sad, but these things are rarely rational.


Today, deeply buried in Neumann’s epic volume about ‘The Great Mother‘ archetype, I found this quote: In the earliest days of Mesopotamia we find the winged gate worshiped in connection with the kneeling bull…..’ (Neumann, , 1955: 158) This is yet another symbol for the negative aspect of the Great Mother, the specific meaning of which has again been lost in antiquity.


During my comprehensive study of the ambivalent aspect of the Great Mother, I have been focusing on the Maternal Abyss which represents the most awe-ful face of one of the negative aspects of the Loving & Terrible Mother. I discover that so many images have come to me, through me, in dreams and in unconsciously inspired images, that represent this archetype - this is just another. It is as if this archetype is the embodiment of my own psyche, even in my astrological prototype as Cancer-Rat, both of which are symbols for it, Crab and Rat. My encounter with this archetype seems to have reached its zenith during the recent 4 year period of study for my thesis.


I am fascinated by the fact that the archetypes I am confronted with manifest in their most archaic state, envisioned often also in their non-anthropomorphic form. They are so primal that I am at a loss to articulate just how onerous this feels for a mere pathetic human such as myself. Sometimes the weight of it is so immense that I almost can’t bear it, so if I descend completely into ‘madness’ this blog will bear witness and there will at least be some reference for my descent floating around in cyberspace.

Share

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More