The Dionysus archetype as prototype
Extracts from chapter twenty-two of "Primitive Materialism".
Splitting of the Dionysus archetype. (a) The Zeus-archetype, ascends into the idea of god as the incarnation of divine justice, the ruler of the Heavens: immortal justice. (b) The Dionysus-archetype itself transforms into the image of indestructibility, the archetype of immortality.[1] (3) In the Heracles-archetype, it transforms into the archetype of heroic struggle against divinely appointed, yet monstrously unjust adversity; the victory of the hero against fate that earns the hero immortality. But not immortality in the sense of Dionysus – immortality as indestructibility, an immortality that is inalienable – but immortality that is acquired, and won through heroism, and resulting in ascension into heaven. Hence, Heracles becomes the archetype of heroic consciousness – the ascent of consciousness through the myriad of forms. His mythologem identifies him with physical struggle but contains within it the possibility of evolving into the archetype of the Buddha, of spiritual struggle. The Buddha-archetype is not found within Greek mythology, but it can be speculatively related to the underlying Dionysus-archetype.
Dionysus originates as the fundamental form, or mythologem of the hero, representative of male destiny in the context of matriarchy. He exists solely for her, is sacrificed for her, and wins immortality or redemption through his death; hence he is indestructible. His immortality, like that of vegetation, is expressed in the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, and he descends to the Underworld and returns. When the descent to the underworld appears as a motif within the myth of the hero, we may infer that the hero in his earliest manifestation was an incarnation of Dionysus.
[1] The title of a work by Kerényi. The term “soul” to describe a concept at the stage of primitive materialism is not strictly appropriate. However, this very work could be described as one in honour of Dionysus as the archetype of indestructibility.
Dionysus originates as the fundamental form, or mythologem of the hero, representative of male destiny in the context of matriarchy. He exists solely for her, is sacrificed for her, and wins immortality or redemption through his death; hence he is indestructible. His immortality, like that of vegetation, is expressed in the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, and he descends to the Underworld and returns. When the descent to the underworld appears as a motif within the myth of the hero, we may infer that the hero in his earliest manifestation was an incarnation of Dionysus.
[1] The title of a work by Kerényi. The term “soul” to describe a concept at the stage of primitive materialism is not strictly appropriate. However, this very work could be described as one in honour of Dionysus as the archetype of indestructibility.
Questions
1. Is the claim that the Dionysus mythologem/archetype is the fundamental form of the myth of the hero correct?
2. What is the psychological relevance of the Dionysus archetype to modern man?
3. Is Christ an instantiation of the Dionysus archetype?
2. What is the psychological relevance of the Dionysus archetype to modern man?
3. Is Christ an instantiation of the Dionysus archetype?
Second extract
Archetype of Perseus. Under patriarchy there is a rebellion against the both the idea and institution of male sacrifice. Since society believed it depended on the practice of ritual sacrifice, the struggle between the two principles may have been violent, both in terms of physical upheaval in war, and in the experienced pain in the relations between men and women. The struggle finds expression in the mythologem of the heroic struggle against the monster. The image slaying the dragon is the archetype of man defeating woman. The dragon represents the negative aspects of female consciousness and power, the negative Mother in Jungian psychology. This translates into the later mythologem of St. George and the Dragon, but in Greek religion the paradigm is the archetype of Perseus, who kills the Gorgon Medusa. He also kills the sea-monster Cetus, released by Poseidon to avenge an insult by Queen Cassiopeia against the Nereids. In doing so, he wins the virgin Andromeda as wife, who becomes his queen at Argos and Tiryns. She appears to have no mythology independent of this role, which is significant, for as a woman in her own right, she does not exist. The Medusa context references the underworld, and the three Gorgons have snakes for hair. The word “gorgon” is derived from ancient Greek, gorgos, meaning “dreadful”, and is related to the Sanskrit word “garg”, an onomatopoeic sound indicative of a growling beast. Medusa means “cunning”. The image of Medusa is symbolic of the fear and loathing men encounter when their consciousness is aroused by the horror of female power and its manifestation as ritual sacrifice. The meaning of Perseus is related to “destroyer”, and it is female power that he destroys.
Question
1. "The image slaying the dragon is the archetype of man defeating woman." Is this the correct interpretation of the Perseus mythologem?