Lachesis mutans Anhang 3
April 19, 2022
[Dragana Blagojevic]
Takes the reader on a fascinating journey
through history, ancient and contemporary myths and Jungian psychology to
arrive at the symbolism of the remedy Lachesis muta.
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and
you will call it Fate.” – Carl Gustav Jung
CHAPTER I
Name/Mythology:
·
Lachesis (Greek: Lakhesis – “disposer of lots”, from lanchano
– “to obtain by lot, by fate, by the will of the gods or divine will”). In ancient Greek mythology, Lachesis
was the second of the Three Fates (Moirai), a trinity of goddesses which
determined human destinies.
·
Lanchano (Lanciano) – a town
in Italy (see later in text)
Three Fates/World Mothers
The
mythology of many ancient cultures, including Greek, Slavic, Roman, Norse etc.
describe:
Fates
(Latin: ‘fata’ – destiny, deriving from the verb ‘fari’ – to speak) also known as the World Mothers,
goddesses who decided about human destinies. They were often depicted as
weavers of a tapestry on a loom and there were always three of them.
In
Greek mythology, they were called Moirai
(Greek: ‘moira’ – a part or portion). Moirai choose ‘the portion of life’ for
every mortal:
Clotho (“spinner”) spun the thread of life from her
distaff onto her spindle, determining the time of birth of an individual.
Lachesis (“allotter”) measured the thread of
life that was
spun on the spindle which Clotho held, in order to
determine the length of life.
Atropos (“the unturnable”)
cut the thread of life, determining the time of death.
Image above: The Triumph of Death, or The 3 Fates. Flemish tapestry (probably Brussels, ca. 1510-1520). The three fates, Clotho, Lachesis
and Atropos, who spin, draw out and cut the
thread of life. Flemish tapestry, Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Unknown author and source
Lachesis muta –
‘Muted Life Flow’
“The spirit of the substances and the spirit that animated man, nature,
and God are of the same essence.” (Paracelsus)
As
a homeopathic remedy, Lachesis muta
was introduced 1828. by Dr Constantine Hering
(‘Father of Homoeopathy’ in America). According to Dr Hering,
the essence of the Lachesis personality is: “Nature
struggling against itself.”
There
is an immense animal urge trying to express itself, which is in conflict with
the human side that wants to suppress and control that inner desire. It creates
an intense struggle between desire and guilt, which leads to
the rapidly alternating states: from great exaltation and hysteria to deep
depression and extreme weakness, at all levels (mental, emotional/sexual and
physical).
The
species Lachesis mutus is
similar in appearance to rattlesnakes and vibrates vigorously with its
tail when disturbed, but it has no rattle, and therefore it is called ‘mutus’ (Latin:
mute, silent). However, beneath the surface, when in the undergrowth, the tail
actually produces quite a loud rustling noise.
Suppression
of the animal side leads to suppression of libido which leads
to repression of life itself. There is a fear of life that is wrapped in a
desperate fear of death. And again, as in a vicious circle, the fear of death
prevents life, which leads to the main theme of the Lachesis
personality: ‘the unlived life.’
“Dread of death; fears to go to bed; fear of being poisoned. Thinks she
is someone else; in the hands of a stronger power; that she is dead and
preparations are being made for her funeral; that she is nearly dead and wishes
someone would help her off. Sadness when awaking in the morning or night
(particularly in the morning); no desire at all to mix with the world.”
(Constantine Hering, M. D; Guiding Symptoms of Materia Medica).
Translated
into the rubrics:
· Mind, Death, presentiment of
· Mind, Death, thoughts of
·
Mind,
Fear death, impending death; of
Libido: ‘The Divine Will’
“The libido has, as it were, a natural penchant: it is like water, which
must have a gradient if it is to flow.” (Carl Jung, Symbols of the Mother and
of Rebirth, para. 337.)
As
has been written, one of the meanings of the word Lachesis
is: ‘to obtain by the will of the gods or by the divine will’.
“For Jung, the nature of the psyche derives from its containment within
the opposites of biological instinct and archetypal spirit. Jung describes the
energy generated by this opposition as disposable psychic energy, and gives it
the term libido, for which another word is will.” (Brock Hill; Uroborus: A Review of Jung’s Thinking on the Nature
of the Psyche and the Transformation of Libido, Psychological
Perspectives).
The
Lachesis personality has an unintegrated libido as a consequence of suppressing
the animal side. It is important to emphasize that libido is
identified as the totality
of psychic energy, which is not limited to sexual desire.
George
Vithoulkas gives the essence of Lachesis
as “an over-stimulation seeking an outlet.” The Lachesis
individual is, on one side, well known for its great loquacity and excitement,
abundant ideas, ecstatic emotions and lustful feelings. There is natural urge
to go with the flow. A very important part of Lachesis’
personality is improvement from discharges at all levels.
On
the other side, blockage of such an intense force (libido), which desires to
express itself, leads to a logical response: congestion/constriction of
the life flow. This condition creates numerous symptoms (physical,
sexual/emotional or mental) which are often described as: depression,
weakness, congestion, constriction or similar expressions, that indicate
the consequences of suppressed flow of life.
As
written above, goddesses Moirai (Clotho,
Lachesis and Atropos)
controlled the metaphorical thread of life of every mortal. The only time the Moirai were foiled in their task was by the Greek god of
healing, Asclepius, who by legend succeeded to bring the dead
back to life. Dr Hering’s emblem for the
American Institute of Homeopathy was the staff of Asclepius,
entwined by a single snake – Lachesis muta.
The story of Asclepius
Asclepius
(Greek: Asklēpiós; Latin: Aesculapius) was a
god of healing and medicine arts in ancient Greek religion and mythology. He was the son of god Apollo
and the human princess Coronis.
According
to Delphian tradition, Asclepius or Aesculapius
(whose name means “to cut open”) was born in the temple of Apollo. He
was rescued from his mother’s womb after she died in labor.
Referring to some legends, goddess Lachesis was a midwife at the labor.
(Image: Statue of Asclepius, exhibited in the Museum of Epidaurus
Theatre, author: Michael F. Mehnert)
Asclepius
was raised by centaur Chiron, who was called the “wisest and justest of all the centaurs” (Homer; Iliad, Book 11.831).
Chiron
taught Apollo’s son the art of medicine and goddess Athena gave him the
precious blood of the Gorgon Medusa. Asclepius shared with his father
Apollo the epithet ‘Paean’ (the Healer).
The
Rod of Asclepius is an ancient Greek symbol associated with
healing, consisting of a serpent coiled around a rod. It has been claimed that
the snake wrapped around the staff was a species of rat snake, Elaphe longissima (the Aesculapian
snake), which according to one of the myths,
taught him the secret knowledge.
Over
time, Asclepius became a more powerful healer than both Chiron and Apollo.
According to some legends, he even made the elixir of immortality. As
punishment, for trying to bring immortality to people, Three Fates (Moirai) persuaded supreme god Zeus to kill Asclepius with a thunderbolt…
‘Celestial
Asclepius’ (Sun in the Ophiuchus)
Asclepius
was hit with a thunderbolt, but Zeus later felt remorseful and placed Asclepius
in the sky as a constellation named Ophiuchus
or “The Serpent Holder” (near Sagittarius, who in
some versions of the myth is centaur Chiron).
Image: 18th c. star map illustrating how the feet of
Ophiuchus cross the ecliptic. Jacopo Montano – Atlas
Coelestis, Johan Cammay
“The
Serpent Holder” retained the symbolism of god Asclepius such as: the ancient
knowledge, wisdom, healing and resurrection, but the key symbol of the Ophiuchus constellation is the transformation.
In
the Jungian system, the term ‘transformation’ symbolizes the path of
the personal development, ie.
process of Individuation, through which the individual
integrates all the parts of the personality in order to become a complete human
being, or one’s own Self.
CHAPTER II
THE PATH OF INDIVIDUATION
“Individuation is the process, simple or complex as the case may be, by
which every living organism becomes what it was destined to become from
the begin.” (Anthony Stevens, Private Myths: Dreams and Dreaming)
While
the individuation process is different for each person, Jung denotes three main archetypes which correspond with the three
steps of the psychological development (the Shadow, Anima/Animus and the
Self).
Jung
also compares the individuation process with the main stages of the ‘Great
work’ in alchemy (nigredo, albedo and rubedo). Great
work (Lat: Magnum opus) is the process of working with the ‘prima materia’ (the unconscious), to create the Philosopher’s stone, a symbol of immortality (the Self archetype).
Step One: Meeting with the Shadow (“Descent
into Darkness”)
“The meeting with oneself is, at first, the meeting with one’s own
Shadow. The Shadow is a tight passage, a narrow door, whose painful
constriction no one is spared who goes down to the deep well. But one must
learn to know oneself in order to know who one is.”
(C.G. The
Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, London 1996).
The Story of the Sleeping Beauty (‘Inevitability of Fate’)
The
story of Sleeping Beauty is a symbolic representation of the transformation
process of the human psyche on the path to the Self. In most versions of this
famous archetypal fairy tale, the fairies arrive at the princess’s birth or
christening (similar to the Moirai).
The
king invited the fairies who lived in his kingdom, but because he had only
twelve golden plates, 13th had to be left out. The thirteenth fairy
cursed the princess to death if she ever touched the spinning
wheel. Ophiuchus constellation is
sometimes called the “13th or forgotten constellation.”
Also,
number thirteen is the symbol of transformation. In tarot,
card 13 is named as Death and symbolizes the death to the matter and
the birth to the spirit: ‘the passage on a higher level of existence.’ It
represents the process of personal transformation and rebirth. As written
above, transformation is also a key symbol of the ‘Celestial Asclepius’.
Although
the 13th fairy is portrayed as evil, in some of the oldest versions of the
story, the left out fairy symbolizes death and the king and queen
hoped to make their daughter immortal. So, the curse of Sleeping
Beauty could be a punishment for their attempt to deny the inevitability of
death.
Confrontation
with the inevitability of death is a very important part of
the Shadow work for the Lachesis personality. The
fear of death in the Lachesis individual is also a
symbol of the inner resistance to facing its dark side. Sometimes a meeting
with the Shadow is similar to the experience of death.
Like
mythological Lachesis, which role was to allot each
person’s determined ‘portion of time’, the Lachesis
individual has the theme of counting time. In particular,
counting in Lachesis is a kind of compulsive
disorder, the anticipation that the end (death) is near and every sleep could
be the last. It is like a compulsive countdown of time to death. There is also
confusion about time and a derangement of the sense of time:
· Mind, Compulsive disorder
· Mind, Thoughts compelling
· Mind, Counting, continually
·
Mind,
Fear, death, impending death, of
·
Mind,
Delusions die, about to die; one was: help her off; and wishes someone would
1/1
· Mind, Death, thoughts of
·
Mind,
Confusion of mind; time, about
· Mind, Mistakes, making; time, in
·
Mind,
Time; loss of conception of
Ananke and Chronos
(’Inevitability of Time’)
According
to one of the ancient stories (based on the 10th book of Republic of the
Plato), mythological Lachesis was the daughter of Ananke and Chronos (god and goddess in serpentine
form).
Ananke (Greek: Ἀνάγκη – “force, constraint, necessity”)
was the Greek goddess of inevitability, compulsion and necessity. Chronos (Greek: Χρόνος – “time”) was the three headed primordial
god of time. Together, they symbolize the source of Lachesis’s ‘Inevitability of Time.’
(Image: Ananke the personification of
Necessity, above the Moirai, the Fates. Nella
Repubblica, Libro X, Platone, IV-V century b.C.)
Plato
wrote that Ananke holds a spindle of adamant
(both adamant and diamond derive from the Greek word: ἀδάμας, meaning “untameable”), on which the
world rotates and the Moirai help turn
the whorls around the spindle.
Ananke and Moirai are connected
with the symbolism of holding a spindle in order to create
destinies.
As
the story of Sleeping Beauty continues, the evil fairy was very angry because
she was left out. She cursed the princess so that she will one
day prick her finger on a spindle of a spinning wheel and die when she
reaches the age of womanhood.
“The King, to avoid the misfortune as foretold by the old fairy, caused
immediately a proclamation to be made, whereby everybody was forbidden, on pain
of death, to spin with a distaff and spindle, or to have so much as any spindle
in their houses.
But it was Fate…”
Twelfth
fairy modified the curse: Instead of dying, the princess will fall into a deep
enchanted sleep for a hundred years and will be awakened by the kiss of true
Love.
Lachesis – ’The Prophet’
The
goddess Lachesis, besides of measuring the thread of
life with her rod, was also in charge of choosing the destiny of
human after the thread was measured. Similar to its mythological counterpart, Lachesis personality has clairvoyant and prophetic
qualities:
“Mental activity, with almost prophetical perception; ecstasy; a kind of
trance; under superhuman control; visions real; he will die” (Constantine Hering, M. D; Guiding Symptoms of Materia
Medica)
Rubrics:
· Mind, Prophesying
· Mind, Clairvoyance
· Dreams, Visionary
·
Mind,
Delusions die, time has come to
·
Mind,
Delusions, dead, he himself was: funeral; and preparations were being made for
her 1/1
·
Dreams,
Death, dying, he has to die
As
mentioned above, the mythology of many ancient cultures describes its goddesses
(Fates/Moirai, World Mothers, Fairies etc.), who had
prophetic abilities to decide about human destinies. In some cultures, for
instance in Slavic mythology, they were considered ghosts or demons (Latin: daemon,
from Ancient Greek: daimon, δαίμων: “fate”).
The
root of the word ‘daimon’ is from
the Indo–European: “divider of fortunes or destinies.” Daimon’s role was to distribute or ‘allot
destiny to humans’ (Lachesis: ‘alloter’). The ancient Greeks believed that our
character was a daimon which oversaw our experiences
with mortality. So daimon symbolizes a
‘divine spirit’ which has a great urge to express itself through an
individual.
The Story of Lilith
“What is it, at this moment and in this individual, that represents the
natural urge of life? That is the question.” (Carl Jung, CW 7, Page 290.)
Lilith
is one of the oldest known female spirits. Her name was derived from the class
of Mesopotamian demons called lilû or feminine: lilītu (Sumerian ‘lilitu’–
female demon).
Her
roots come from the famous Epic of Gilgamesh in which Lilith is depicted as the
spirit who inhabited a willow tree. One of the symbolic meanings of the willow
is ‘stepping out of the role of victim and taking responsibility for one’s
life.’
There
are many myths and legends about Lilith. In Jewish folklore, Lilith appears as Adam’s
first wife, the first woman in the Garden of Eden. According to an ancient
Hebrew legend, God created Lilith and Adam at the same time and from the
same clay. She was strong and independent, ‘a woman full of beauty
and ability to enjoy her sexuality.’
According
to that myth, Lilith wanted to be equal with Adam and refused to be subordinate
to him, so she fled from Eden.
In
many ancient cultures Lilith symbolizes wisdom, independence and freedom in
expressing female sexuality.
Image: Lilith, by John Collier in Atkinson
Art Gallery,
Merseyside, England, 1889
The
free flow of sexual energy is the driving force in the Lachesis
personality, that affects all levels of its being:
· Mind, Desires, wants; sex, lustful
·
Mind,
Desires, full of desires: indefinite
· Mind, Fantasies, of exaltation; lively
·
Mind,
Emotions, feelings, attitude, disposition; ecstatic; exhilaration
·
Mind,
Intellectual faculties; bright, intelligent, clear; abundant ideas, clearness
of mind
·
Mind,
Talking, conversation; talkative; changing quickly from one subject to another
·
Male
genitalia, sexual passion; increased; excessive
·
Female
genitalia/sex, sexual intercourse; desire increased
·
Female
genitalia/sex, Menses, painful, flow: smaller the flow, the greater the pain
(1/1)
Serpent Lillith (‘Fall of Man’)
Nevertheless, in some other religions and traditions, Lilith is depicted as evil spirit, the serpent who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. According to that story, Adam and Eve lived with God in the Garden of Eden, but the serpent tempted them to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which God had forbidden. After that, God expelled them from the Garden.
Michelangelo
portrayed Lilith as a half- woman, half-serpent, coiled around the Three of
Knowledge of Good and Evil
Image: Michelangelo, Fall and Expulsion from Garden of Eden, (Lilith as
half woman, half serpent); the Sistine Chapel Ceiling, created: between
1509 and 1510 date
‘Voice of the Daimon’/Inner Serpent
“The daimon of sexuality approaches our soul
as a serpent. She is a half human soul and is called thought – desire. The daimon of spirituality descends into our soul as the white
bird. He is half human soul and is called desire – thought.” (Carl Jung, Liber Novus, Page 354)
Thus,
on one side, Lilith is a symbol of free will, and on the
other, an evil spirit. In essence, both symbols represent ‘two
sides of the same coin.’
The
repressed free will in the personality of Lachesis is
a reflection of the intense struggle between guilt and desire. There
is a fear that ‘the daimon of sexuality’, symbol
for dirty and evil, will overpower the mind. It drains the energy of the Lachesis individual and leads to the suppression of its
flow, which reflects at all levels through numerous symptoms:
·
Mind,
Emotions, feelings, attitude, disposition; unhappy; sadness, mental depression
·
Head, Pain, headache; pressing·Mind, Intellectual faculties;
impaired thinking; weakness of mind
· Throat, Choking, constricting
· Throat, Swallowing; difficult
· Chest, Constriction, tension
·
Extremities,
limbs, heaviness; lower limbs; movement
·
Female
genitalia/sex, pain; pressing; ovaries
·
Female
genitalia/sex, sexual intercourse; aversion to
The
conflict between human and animal nature often turns into religious insanity
and despair: “It is full of religious insanity. You will find a dear, sweet
old lady, who has always lived what would be called an upright and pious life,
yet she is not able to apply the promises that are in the Word of God to
herself; these things seem to apply to somebody else, but not to her. She is
full of wickedness and has committed the unpardonable sin.” (Materia Medica by James Tyler
Kent)
“Thinks she is somebody else, and in the hands of a stronger power. She
thinks she is under superhuman control. She is compelled to do things by
spirits. She hears a command, partly in her dream, that she must carry out.
Sometimes it takes the form of voices in which she is commanded to steal, to
murder, or to confess things she never did, and she has no peace of mind until
she makes a confession of something she has never done. She hears voices and
warnings, and in the night she dreams about it. The state of torture is
something dreadful, and it then goes into a delirium with muttering. This state
increases until unconsciousness comes on and the patient enters into a coma
from which he cannot be aroused.” (Materia Medica by James Tyler Kent)
In
order to restore its vital force, the first step for an individual is to face
its ‘daimon’. According to Jung, ‘meeting
with the daimonic in an individual is similar to
confrontation with the Shadow.’
The Forbidden room
“The daimon leads the soul into the world, but
the daimon is forgotten at birth. Although forgotten,
the daimon remembers the destiny of the soul and
guides the person through life, “therefore the daimon
is the bearer of your destiny” (James Hilman, The
Code of the Soul, Hillman, p. 8).
The
Sleeping Beauty had the freedom to enter all the rooms except the one where the
wheel is. But she followed the daimon and entered the
forbidden room to meet her Destiny.
The
‘forbidden room’ symbolizes the Shadow archetype
and entering in the forbidden room is a metaphor of meeting with the Shadow.
“The serpent shows the way to hidden things and expresses the
introverting libido, which leads man to go beyond the point of safety, and
beyond the limits of unconsciousness.” (Carl Jung, Notes of the Seminars)
Jung
related the ‘night sea journey’ to the alchemical stage called nigredo (‘blackening’).
In this stage, the substance which is undergoing change (consciousness) is
blackened by fire (higher state of consciousness/daimon)
so it can be purified and broken down to its most basic constituents, also
known as the ‘prima materia’ (unconscious).
Before
the sun set on the princess’s sixteenth birthday, the princess pricked her
finger in the spindle and instantly fell into a deep sleep.
One
of the characteristics of the Lachesis personality is
that the person sleeps into an aggravation. It symbolizes the
loss of control over the content of the subconscious, which is the
great fear of the Lachesis individual.
“As soon as the patient falls asleep, the breathing stops.” (Guiding
Symptoms of Materia Medica,
Constantine Hering, M. D.).
Rubrics:
·
Mind,
Fear, death of, bed, going to; on
·
Mind,
Fear, death, sleep: die, if he goes to sleep; fear he will: nightmare; after a
·
Mind,
Fear, death, sleep: falling asleep: after
·
As
soon as the patient falls asleep, the breathing stops
· Respiration, difficult, sleep, after
· Respiration, difficult, sleep during
· Respiration, gasping, night
Also,
during waking up, their control mechanism is still vulnerable:
·
Mind,
Insecure, uncertain, scared; anxiety; morning; on waking;
·
Mind,
Emotions, feelings, attitude, disposition; unhappy; sadness, mental depression;
morning, on waking
·
Mind,
Intellectual faculties; impaired thinking; confusion; on waking
The
meeting with the Shadow or ‘Night Sea Journey’, initially produces a
depressed state, as many dark and unknown contents come to the surface. It is
the beginning of the transformation, the symbolic death of all that the person
thought he was. The individual is ‘awakening from the
deep state of sleep’ and such awakening may be shocking at first.
Awakening the Snake/Inner Fire
“When
you succeed in awakening the Kundalini, so that it
starts to move out of its mere potentiality, you necessarily start a world
which is totally different from our world. It is the world of eternity.” Carl
Jung in Psychological Commentary of Kundalini
Snakes are often depicted as a symbol of Kundalini, form of the life force energy, an
“inner fire” that mediates spiritual awakening (‘transformation’). In Hinduism, Kundalini (Sanskrit: “coiled snake”) is a form of divine feminine energy.
‘Kundalini awakening’ is also an analogue of the
confrontation with the Shadow. It begins at the base of the spine, in the
first, Root chakra (Muladhara). The progress
of Kundalini through the different chakras brings different levels of the transformation
of consciousness, similar to the process of Individuation.
The
Svadhisthana chakra is the second energy center (Sanskrit: “Swa”- Self;
“adhishthana”- established).
It is the Sacral chakra, which is said to be blocked by fear, particularly
the fear of death. Svadhishthana symbolizes
unconscious desires, especially sexual desire, so one of the symptoms of its blockage is
decreased libido.
The
second chakra is also connected with the sense of taste (the tongue). Snakes
taste life with their tongues. Similarly, in the Lachesis
individuals, the tongue is very important as a symbol of the liberation of its
life flow. If the flow is suppressed, it will affect their tongue also. Their
language becomes toxic/autotoxic, but symptoms also
occur on a physical level:
·
Mouth,
Tongue; movement of tongue; difficult
·
Mouth,
Tongue; movement of tongue; tongue catches on the teeth when sticking out or
pulling back in
· Mouth, Tongue; trembling; when protruding
(Un)Wasted Life
Therefore,
to conclude, Lachesis personality, through its
everlasting inner battle, is trying to mute or suffocate its
animal nature in order to fit or adapt to the external environment. This leads
to the state of ‘unlived or wasted life.’ The content of the
psyche which the individual tries to hide inhabits his ‘dark side’ or the
Shadow. According to Jung, the Shadow is prone to psychological projections and if these projections remain
hidden, the Shadow will constantly thicken the veil of illusion
between the ego and the real world.
The
Ophiuchus constellation (‘Celestial Asclepius’) is
associated with the veiled (dark) goddess, which symbolizes the
unveiling of the truth behind the illusions. For an
individual, unveiling of the hidden, dark content of the psyche is the first
step of ‘coming back to life’ or ‘awakening up from a dream’, symbolically
speaking.
At
one side, a hundred years of sleep may symbolize an unlived/wasted
life, the main theme of the Lachesis
personality. On the other side, the princess’s sleep could be seen as a symbol
of the process of confrontation with the Shadow.
In
this sense, the external, passive state of sleep could actually be interpreted
as a very active internal process leading to the next, crucial step in the
process of the Individuation: the integration of the anima/animus.
Step Two: Anima/Animus
“Inasmuch as the serpent leads into the shadows, it has the function of
the anima; it leads you into the depths, it connects the above and the below.”
(Carl Jung, 1925 Seminar, Page 102)
The
anima is the feminine component of a man’s personality and the animus is the
masculine counterpart in a woman. Jung saw the anima/animus as enlivening souls
or spirits within men and women.
“Love”, replied the fairy. “If a man of pure heart was to fall in love
with her that would bring her back to life!”
“How can a man fall in love with a sleeping girl?”
Sleeping
Beauty reflects the vital need for integration and balance between animus
(masculine) and anima (feminine) in an individual. It is a ‘union
between head and heart’. The prince (animus) represents the ‘Solar
principle’ of consciousness, seeking a connection with its feminine
aspect and the Sleeping Beauty (anima) symbolizes the ‘Lunar
principle’ that seeks unity with its masculine side.
Lilith – ‘Uroboric Great Mother’
“Who are you then?”
“I am part of that power which eternally wills evil and eternally works
good.”
(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, First Part)
When
Lilith refused Adam’s domination, she left him. Adam symbolically ‘failed to
integrate his anima’, which created unity with the Shadow. That powerful figure
in the form of the sexually dominant spirit, possessed him in his sleep. Lilith
attacks in sleep, when there is no control of consciousness. Jung’s term for this
‘poisonous female’ is the negative anima.
On
the other side, Lilith wanted to be equal and didn’t accept the repression.
Integration of the opposites excludes domination; there must be equality of
opposite qualities, an union of feminine and masculine aspects. Jung mentioned
that Lilith is also a shamanistic anima that could aid the
repressed feminine to attain understanding and wisdom.
“Thus the Great Mother is uroboric: terrible and devouring, beneficent
and creative; a helper, but also alluring and destructive; a maddening
enchantress, yet a bringer of wisdom; bestial and divine, voluptuous harlot and
in-violable virgin, immemorially old and eternally young.” (Eric Neumann ”The
Origins and History of Consciousness”)
There
is a term ‘Black Moon Lilith’ that refers to an astronomical, mathematical ‘invisible
point in space’ that marks the furthest point of the Moon’s orbit around
the Earth. Black Moon Lilith ‘reveals repressed sexuality’ and
the Shadow of the personality, hidden in the subconscious.
“Lilith is only truly defined when she is either exactly conjunct with
the Moon or exactly opposite the Moon. At all other times she is simply a
potential who may or may not be really there. But when she is conjunct and
opposite the Moon, that’s when we see her. The Moon brings her to life – or
perhaps like a ghost, the Moon provides the psychic lens by which we can see
her” (Leah Whitehorse)
The
Moon is the symbol of the feminine energy. The feminine side
is the left/heart side that is symbolically associated with unconscious
function. The Lachesis individual generally has left-
sided affections, due to its emotional/sexual repression.
For example:
· Generalities, Symptoms not symmetrical; left
· Throat, Swelling; tonsils; left
· Throat, Inflammation; left
· Chest, Pain; heart
· Genitals, Female; pain; ovaries; left
· Genitals, Female; swollen; ovaries; left
In
order to achieve the state of the inner wholeness, one must create balance
between the left and the right side, integrating both Logos and Eros into
unity, accepting the tension between these, seemingly opposite, yet
interdependent ‘parts’ of our ‘selves’ (Anima/Animus).
Step Three: ‘Awekening in Self’
”Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own
heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” (C.G. Jung)
The Archetypal Marriage
The
prince (rational mind) awakens the Sleeping Beauty (heart energy), with the
Kiss of True Love, and the whole sleeping kingdom also awakens. Symbolically,
it is ‘kiss of the individual with the Destiny/Divine within.’
“That which goes by the name of love is fundamental to the phenomenology
of the coniunctio. Love is both cause and
effect…objective love, a love purged of personal desirousness, not one side of
a pair of opposites, but rather beyond the opposites” (Edward Edinger, Alchemical Symbolism in Psychotherapy)
Image above: Hilma af
Klint, The Swan, No. 1, Group IX/SUW, The SUW/UW
Series, 1915 Stiftelsen Hilma
af Klints Verk. Photo: Albin Dahlström/ Moderna Museet.
The
Sleeping Beauty is also known as Aurora or Briar Rose. Some sources describe
that the Magnum opus actually consists of one more phases called ‘citrinitas’ (yellowing), which takes place between
albedo and rubedo. Citrinitas is a solar dawn/awakening
analogue to the meaning of the name Aurora: sunrise/the dawn.
Second
name of the Sleeping Beauty is the Briar Rose (‘Thorned
Rose’). In alchemy, the rose is primarily a symbol of the operation of
conjunction, the Sacred Marriage of the opposites.
The
final step of the Magnum Opus is termed as ‘rubedo’
(redness). It is an ‘alchemical marriage’ of the King (Sun/Logos) and
the Queen (Moon/Eros), ie. animus and anima. The
counterpart of the Self archetype in alchemy is the Philosophers’ Stone that an
individual is destined to become. So, at its root, alchemy is
the transformation of the Self.
Also,
the progress of Kundalini through the different chakras is believed to achieve different levels of
awakening, until it finally reaches the top of the head (crown chakra), to
unite the feminine and masculine energies, through the transformation of
consciousness.
The
story of Sleeping Beauty resolves with incorporation (conjunction) of the
opposites: Animus/Anima. The heart and mind are joined in the eternal union. It
is the birth of the Self archetype, the last stage in the
process of Individuation. The Self manifests itself in “wholeness,” a point in
which a person discovers its true nature.
Spinning
wheel
Symbol of the Self archetype
CHAPTER III
“Our fate cannot be changed drastically unless through the power of
personal transformation.”
(C.G.J)
The End is the Beginning
As
written in the beginning, Lanchano is a town in
Italy, famous for the Eucharistic miracle which happened in the 8th century AD.
The name of the town is translated from Italian as “spear”. According to
legend, centurion Longin, who pierced the heart of Jesus as he hung on the cross during crucifixion,
was of Lanchano origin.
The
Holy Lance is also known as the Lance of Longinus, the Spear of Destiny.
It consisted of a long wooden shaft with a sharp metal point (symbolism of
destiny and the spindle).
Image: The Holy Lance, displayed in the Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria
In
the 8th century the Lanchano’s church was situated in
the outskirts of the town and belonged to Bazilian
monks of the Greek Orthodox. According to tradition, a monk who had doubts
about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist found, when he said the
words of consecration at Mass, that the bread and wine changed into flesh and
blood.
The
City of Lanchano is also one of the habitats of the
Aesculapian snake (entwined in the staff of
Asclepius, which according to one of the myths, taught him the secret knowledge
of ‘returning from the dead’). There is a Snake Festival in Lanchano
during which a statue of St. Dominic covered in live snakes is carried through
the town.
‘It is accomplished’ (Lachesis the Savior)
“Lachesis seems to fit the whole human race,
for the race is pretty well filled up with snake as to disposition and
character and this venom only causes to appear that which is in man.” (Kent)
Jung
saw serpent as a Self symbol – ‘one compensating Christ and the goal of
individuation.’ When Adam and Eve tasted the “forbidden fruit” from
the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which provided them with knowledge of
their sexuality, God expelled them and then was the beginning of man’s fall.
Man becomes mortal and through the Fall into the material, gained another
dimension – duality.
According
to myth, there were two trees in garden of Eden: the Tree of Knowledge and the
Tree of Life. Through the Tree of Knowledge comes man’s “fall”
into materialism and through the Tree of Life, humanity “ascends”
from the lower nature to the higher, spiritual realm. Symbolically, they are two
sides of the same Tree.
The
symbol of the serpent is deeply intertwined with the symbol of the ‘Tree’. They
are associated with the symbolism of duality (lower self vs
higher), which is also a reflection of the essential polarity in humans.
The
snake causes man’s fall into duality, by descending the individual into its
deepest and darkest parts – the subconscious. At the same time, through the
process of transformation, the snake leads the individual on the way to
completeness and wholeness (Self). The opposites were one in the beginning
and will be one again in the end.
It
is an eternal process, like Ouroboros
(both the creative and destructive aspects of nature, unity of life and death).
Ouroboros is a famous alchemical symbol of
transformation, a symbol of immortality (Philosopher’s Stone) as the serpent
never dies and is always reborn. Its endless return, analogue to Individuation.
As
always, that path is the key, not destination and the path is transformation,
which is the symbol of the snake. The daimon in the
form of serpent often plays a central role in the quest for the wholeness, but
sometimes the daimon also appears in the form of
Asclepius the healer, whose staff is entwined with the serpent (the Aesculapian snake).
The
Lachesis individual has to unite Eros and Logos, to
embrace its passion and free its flow. Such a heroic quest requires a great
fall into one’s own darkness in order to integrate its libido (anima/animus)
and become one’s own Destiny – the Self.
“Somewhere there was once a Flower, a
Stone, a Crystal, a Queen, a King, a Palace, a Lover and his Beloved,
and this was long ago, on an Island
somewhere in the ocean 5,000 years ago… Such is Love, the Mystic
Flower of the Soul.
This is the Center, the Self.”
(C.G. Jung Speaking: Interviews and Encounters, p. 405; By C. G. Jung,
William McGuire)
The
Symbolism Of The Homeopathic Remedy Naja Tripudians – Indian Cobra (Naja)
(In The Light Of Jung, Alchemy, Indian Mythology And Cosmology) Dreams
and Symbolism in Homeopathic Practice New
York’s First African American Female Homeopathic Doctor Lachesis
Out Of Nowhere!
Dr.
Dragana Blagojevic was born
on September 22nd, 1979, in Zrenjanin (Serbia). She
studied medicine and graduated from the Medical University of Belgrade in 2008.
She studied classical homeopathy in the School of Classical Homeopathy
"Hahnemann" in Novi Sad from 2007 till 2011. Dragana
enjoys writing about homeopathy and her greatest wish is to teach homeopathy
around the world.