Symbols of Rebirth

[NOTE: This post contains a “plot spoiler,” information you may not wish to read prior to completing The Sun Singer.]

Numerous symbols and events throughout The Sun Singer can or discussed in a class or study group to reinforce the death and rebirth theme introduced in the November 17, 2004 post “The Belly of the Whale.” These include:

• Darkness and light frequently symbolize pairs of opposites such as ignorance and wisdom, ego-oriented living and transcendent living, and death and rebirth. The novel begins with a dream about a dark, labyrinthine forest and ends on a sun-drenched mountaintop.
• Pyrrha is the not only the name of the hidden city, but the name of Deucalion’s wife who is said to be the daughter of First Woman. This suggests that the alternate universe is a womb (often symbolized as a cup, cauldron or chalice) where new life is manifested.
• Binah, the name of the bakery in Robert’s hometown, is also the name of one of the ten dimensions of the universe in Qabalistic (also spelled Kabalistic) cosmology. The dimensions, or Sfirot (also spelled Sephirot), are diagrammed on the Tree of Life that reaches from the physical universe to the Creator. The Creator’s dimension is often called the realm of limitless light and the physical universe, by contrast, is often referred to as the realm of darkness. Binah represents, among other things, a womb, and is often referred to as the Great Mother (1). It is said that Binah represents both birth and death since everything and everyone that manifests in the physical universe will ultimately die (physically). Note, then, that the initial coming and going of Robert’s psychic power is associated with the truck from Binah’s bakery.
• Going to the Sun, in a symbolic sense, can refer to the death of the old self, one’s search for the limitless light of the Creator, and other transcendent experiences along the seeker’s or the hero’s path. Robert was said to be Going to the Sun. The use of the phrase in the book is also a clue to the location in which the novel’s high country settings are based: Glacier National Park, Montana. Going to the Sun is the name of a mountain (as well as a point and a road) in the park. Author Jack Holterman (2) notes that while the authenticity of the legend related to the mountain’s name is in dispute, it is that “Nápi or Old Man comes to save the Indian people in time of trouble, and when his work is accomplished, goes back to the sun, leaving his portrait on the peak.”
• Names often symbolize a change in a hero’s status, the attainment of wisdom or power, or the birth of a new (transformed) individual. Robert forgets his name when he steps through the portal into Pyrrha and takes the name of a fish (Sunny Trout) and then that of a bird (Osprey) before discovering his true self. This discovery is symbolized first when he remembers his name and then upon his return to his world when the Guardian and Garth both refer to him as Eagle.
  
  

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

(1) Can you find references/symbols for rebirth in The Sun Singer in addition to those listed above?

(2) Drawing on the personal experience and reading of class members, discuss the death/rebirth symbolism found in daily experience, novels, religious beliefs, and culture and traditions as it relates to the hero’s path.

NOTES:

(1) See, for example: Fortune, Dion, The Mystical Qabalah, London, Ernest Benn Limited, 1935. (Reprinted in 1957 by the Society of the Inner Light.) For a devotional Kabbalah approach, see: Berg, Yehuda, The Power of Kabbalah, San Diego, Jodere Group, 2001.

(2) Holterman, Jack, Place Names of Glacier/Waterton National Parks, West Glacier, Montana, Glacier Natural History Association (GNHA), 1985. (I served as an editorial consultant during the book’s production and owe a great debt to Jack Holterman for his knowledge of Glacier Park and the Blackfeet language. Unfortunately, the book is now out of print.)

Book Note: Leon High School Library Donation

During this week of Thanksgiving, I think backward in time and see the path I have followed to this moment, this point, and in doing so, I see all of the helpers (magical and otherwise) who made a difference.

That long list includes my teachers at Leon High School in Tallahassee, Florida. The debt owned especially to the following who tolerated the antics of an outspoken Leo in their classrooms can never actually be repaid:

• While I wasn't bold enough to try out for chorus, Harold Chapman (chorus) and his wife Ruth were a long-time family friends and wonderful influences.
• Calvin Hasbrouck (humanities) awakened a life-time interest in mythology.
• Oliver Hobbs (band) knew I was far from the best clarinet player in the band, but he gave me a fair chance to play and enjoy the organization's fellowship.
• Eunice Johnston (English) was a great encouragement for a young writer and her support led to a writer of the year award at Leon in 1962.
• Malcolm Longsdon (Problems)--along with Leon's Ruth Skretting (English/German), FSU's Michael Shaara (creative writing), and Syracuse's Roland Wolseley (journalism)--was in that group of teacher' who was exacting, influential, and simultaneously compassionate. Later, when I saw Professor Kingsfield in "The Paper Chase," I could only smile at the students' discomfort with the Socratic method and thing of Mr. Longsdon.
• Ruth Skretting (English/German) never understood why German was so difficult for me or why I was the fiestiest student in her English class, but I think she did understand that her influence was a very positive one and that I loved her for it.
• Mike Tschierret (Journalism)--along with my father--taught me how to write a news story, and I often wondered if he would have been surprised to lean that I worked as a Navy Journalist, corporate communications director and (for three years) taught journalism myself at Berry College in Rome, Georgia.
• Kathryn Williamson (History) probably didn't believe I would ever become a history scholar, but my love of history is due in part from her fine teaching.

After saying all of this, I see once again that it would be difficult for me to return all the favors received, the encouragements given, and the seeds that were planted. At this late date, I could only express my thanks by sending a copy of The Sun Singer to the Leon High School library and media center this morning.

The Belly of the Whale

“No creature can attain a higher grade of nature without ceasing to exist.” --Ananda Coomaraswamy.


In describing an individual’s ten defining moments, Phillip (Dr. Phil) McGraw writes:

“The positive moments powerfully affirm our authentic selves, inspiring us with an awareness of our own capabilities. They lift us up to a place from which we can see all kinds of possibilities for ourselves. We can take from them the kind of emotional and spiritual energy that can sustain us for a lifetime” (1)

In mythology, defining, transformational moments are described in terms of death and rebirth. “Death” in myths, including hero myths, is not literal. It refers to changes of such magnitude that the hero’s old self has basically died and has been replaced with a new self. In The Hero With a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell refers to the region of rebirth on the far side of a magical threshold as the “belly of the whale.” (2) In stepping across the threshold, the hero allows his former self to die, enters a region with a womb-like function, and then returns forever changed with wisdom or other treasure for his countrymen.

While heroes variously die through hanging, dismemberment, and crucifixion, being temporarily swallowed by a great fish is a fitting image to the womb/rebirth nature of the experience. Heracles was, for example, swallowed by a monstrous fish while rescuing the king’s daughter, Hesione. Hesione had been placed on the rocky shore as a sacrifice to the monster. When it appeared, Heracles dived into its throat and cut his way out through its stomach.

The story of Jonah is a widely know example of the belly of the whale symbolism of death and rebirth. After God asked Jonah to preach at Nineveh, he fled from the Lord via boat toward Tarshish. The Lord created a storm that threatened to tear the ship apart and kill all of those aboard. After the crew cast lots to discover who had brought misfortune down upon them, Jonah admitted that he was fleeing from the Lord. He said that if the others would lower him over the side as a sacrifice, the sea would become calm again.

“And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.” (3) The experience transformed Jonah, after which time he went to Nineveh with the Lord’s message.

Throughout mythology, we find references to heroes who died and who were subsequently reborn in three days. While viewpoints differ, this number is usually not considered to be literal. Instead, the number is related to the “dark of the moon,” traditionally the last three days of a lunar cycle prior to the new moon when none of its light is visible in the sky. The appearance of the slim crescent of the new moon is, in mythology, considered symbolic of the moon’s rebirth and—in a hero myth—to the hero’s rebirth as well.

The seasons of the sun and the stages of the moon have been used repeatedly to illustrate symbolic death and rebirth in myths. Fairytales with this theme--such as “Little Red Riding Hood” (swallowed by a wolf, rescued by a hunter)--also point symbolically to rebirth, echoing the swallowing of the day (by one kind of monster or another) at nighttime and its subsequent transformation into a new day at dawn.

Joseph Campbell compares the hero’s swallowing by a whale with a worshipper’s passage into a church or a temple where he “is to be quickened by recollection of who and what he is, namely dust and ashes unless immortal. The temple interior, the belly of the whale, and the heavenly land beyond, above and below the confines of the world, are one and the same. (4)

In “The Sun Singer,” Robert Adams faces a transformational defining moment when he steps from the universe he knows into the universe of Pyrrha. While he is there, he is—in a very real sense—dead and gone to everyone who knows him. In fact, at the beginning of the experience, he has forgotten his own name so that he is, in a sense, searching for himself. When he returns, he is no longer who he was at the beginning of the novel.

NOTES:

(1) McGraw, Phillip C., Self Matters – Creating Your Life from Inside Out,” New York, Simon & Schuster Source, 2001.

(2) The Hero With a Thousand Faces.

(3) Jonah 1:17, Holy Bible (Revised Standard Version).

(4) The Hero With a Thousand Faces.

From Superstition to Clashing Rocks

Our mind is capable of passing beyond the dividing line we have drawn for it. Beyond the pairs of opposites of which the world consists, new insights begin. --Herman Hesse



Doorways, portals, gates and thresholds have served throughout history as the potent objects and symbols of superstition, rites and rituals (1), psychological development, and transcendent religious experience.

We commonly refer to windows of opportunity, doorways to the future, and open-door policies. Some say we must open a door at midnight to allow evil spirits to depart and that the first person to open the door on Christmas morning will have good luck. It’s bad luck, some believe, to leave a house by a different door than the one used to enter the house or to eat in front of a door.

Brides, writes Tad Tuleja, are not carried over the threshold because they’re incapable of walking into a house or because the groom is simply being a gentleman, but “because, as a stranger, she was taboo. It was only after she had actually entered the room—after she had, in effect, been sneaked past the guard—that the contagion of taboo was considered lifted.” (2)

Important thresholds in both psychology and transcendent mythology typically have guardians. You will see these symbolized by the lions, dragons, gargoyles, fu dogs, and other beasts at the main entrances of churches, libraries, and other buildings. Beliefs vary about the origin of portal or threshold guardians. Some say they are a projection of our own fears, while others say that the guardians are placed there by the gods.

Hero myths, and the threshold guardians involved, impact us on multiple levels. Stemming from the work of Otto Rank (3) and others who studied the heropath and its connections to the first stage of life, myths are viewed as a symbolic of the dramas experienced by an individual as s/he comes to terms with parental authority figures and manages a healthy emergence out of the family nest as an autonomous adult. Stephen Larsen writes:

“As the child ego seeks to find independence from the all-nurturing, yet all-embracing, realm of the mother, a great inner struggle must be mobilized. The dragon to be slain by the hero is the instinctive bondage to smothering mothering, especially after the child needs less nurturing and more freedom to encounter its own destiny. The aggressive attitude necessary to acquire autonomy is appropriate to the first part of the hero journey, but this is the point beyond which—unfortunately—the naïve interpretation fails to go.” (4)

The complete interpretation, in fact, not only considers an individual’s adult life but also includes the continuing inner journey to the psyche’s greatest depths. Mystery schools and some fraternal organizations ritualize this continuing journey through a series of thresholds and initiations. Mystics often refer to a series of gates indicating levels of transcendence. Myths dramatize the stages of the deeper journey through multiple threshold experiences.

When Jason, for example, accepted King Pelias’ challenge to seek the Golden Fleece, he made a commitment that can be considered the crossing of a threshold. Subsequently, Jason and his shipmates, including Hercules, Theseus, Orpheus and Nestor set sail aboard the Argo. Ultimately, they found their passage into the Euxine Sea (Black Sea) blocked by two floating islands that crashed back and forth on the waves. These clashing rocks were called the Symplegades at the Hellespont (Dardanelles) between Europe and Asia. Heeding the advice of a wise man, the Argonauts safely followed a dove through the treacherous strait, after which Zeus anchored the rocky islands forever. This myth illustrates an important threshold on the hero’s path.

The hero, like all of us, comes from a world of duality, one dominated by pairs of opposites: good/bad, dark/light, mine/yours, us/them, pleasurable/painful. These opposites are said to clash with each other obscuring the fact that opposites in each pair are the two sides of a single coin. That is—depending on your frame of reference—they are all God’s thoughts, nous, spirit, the force, or manifested energy and not polarities they appear to be. When Jason sailed past the Symplegades the clashing stopped, symbolizing what the hero or seeker finally “sees” when s/he steps out of the world of opposites. As Joseph Campbell (5) sees it:

“One can have an intuition that is beyond good and evil, that goes beyond pairs of opposites—that’s the opening of this gateway into this mystery. But it’s just one of those little intuitive flashes, because the conscious mind comes back again and closes the door. The idea in the hero adventure is to walk bodily through the door into the world where the dualistic rules don’t apply.”

Or, as Rama C. Coomaraswamy puts it in his introduction to Guardians of the Sundoor:

“What could be more common than a doorway? To quote Gray Henry: ‘It is more than coincidental that many doorways throughout the world exhibit a corresponding set of symbolic motifs that point to the One manifesting itself as duality – a duality and a world that must return to that One.’ One must pass through the duality of the doorjambs to the unity which is only to be found in the centre. As Christ said, ‘I am the door,’ and ‘No one comes to the Father but through Me.’ The passage through the door is always a passage that at least symbolically involves a change of state…”

Doorways inhabit our lives offering hope, expanded communications, initiations into mysteries, new lives, and a glimpse at—or even a merging with—the Creator. Mythic stories of the heropath at their deepest and most profound levels speak to old archetypes that we all know at the deepest levels of our minds and provide a means through which we can perceive the route ahead.


DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

(1) How does the heropath in “The Sun Singer” apply to Robert Adams’ relationships with his grandfather, mother and father?

(2) Discuss Robert Adam’s sequence of threshold experiences and explain the deeper significance of each? How does each experience impact the unfolding story?

(3) By the end of the novel, does Robert Adams have the ability to see past the world’s pairs of opposites into the unity of all things?


NOTES:

(1) See, for example, Van Gennep, Arnold, The Rites of Passage, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1960.

(2) Tuleja, Tad, Curious Customs, New York, Harmony Books, 1987.

(3) Rank, Otto, The Myth of the Birth of the Hero.

(4) Larsen, Stephen, The Mythic Imagination – The Quest for Meaning Through Personal Mythology, Rochester Vermont, Inner Traditions International, 1990, 1996.

(5) Campbell, Joseph, Pathways to Bliss, (David Kudler, ed.), Novato, California, New World Library, 2004.

(6) Coomaraswamy, Rama C., in Coomaraswamy, Ananda, K., Guardians of the Sundoor – Late Iconographic Essays and Drawings (Robert Strom, ed.) Louisville, Kentucky, Fons Vitae, 2004.

Upcoming Conference: Zen and Tao – The Hero’s Journey

A conference scheduled for March 18-20, 2005 at the Esalen Institute at Big Sur, California, will explore the parallels between the classic Chinese philsophies and the hero’s journey in Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

The conference features Tao master Chungliang Al Huang and Joseph Campbell Foundation president Robert Walter.

“Prepare to be inspired, stimulated, provoked, and encouraged to be the ‘Hero’ of your own life and to embark on the Journey of your own True Bliss."

For more information, you can view the details online at:
http://www.jcf.org/esalen_2005/wkshop_zen-and-tao.php

Thought for the day from Joseph Campbell in A Joseph Campbell Companion:

“The Privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”

Book Note - Orlando Florida Readers

I am happy to announce that "The Sun Singer" is now available at two great stores in the Orlando area. When you stop by, tell them you heard about them on my weblog!

Urban Think
625 E. Central Blvd.
Orlando, FL 32801
www.urbanthinkorlando.com

Tranquil Moon
225 S. Ronald Regan Blvd.
Longwood, Florida 32750

Thought for the day from Joseph Campbell in A Joseph Campbell Companion:

"Mythology helps you identify
the mysteries of the energies
pouring through you.

Therein lies your eternity."

Buy 'The Sun Singer' this month and save!

Experience the Magic!

Purchase The Sun Singer this month and save!

Do your Christmas shopping early!

Send your check or money order for $15.95, postmarked no later than November 30, 2004 to:

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Price includes shipping via USPS media mail. Please allow two weeks for delivery after your check or money order clears. Due to the low, media mail rate, this offer is for U.S. residents only.

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BRIEF DESCRIPTION:

When Robert Adams sees the statue of the Sun Singer in a lonely meadow he hears the song of the sun and receives the gift of prophecy. He excels as the Soothsayer of West Wood Street until a psychic dream graphically foretells the death of his best friend’s sister Julianne.

Robert blames himself for a tragedy he cannot prevent and shoves his bright talent into the dark shadows of the future where, he suspects, it will one day save him or kill him.

After blindly vowing to finish a task for his ailing grandfather, Robert steps through a hidden doorway into a world at war where magic runs deeper than the mountain rivers. Now he must resurrect his dangerous gift to fulfill his promise, uncover the true secret of Julianne’s death, undo the deeds of his grandfather’s foul betrayer, subdue brutal enemy soldiers in battle, and survive the trip home.

Questions? Contact me at oldnorthtrail-reader@yahoo.com