The Unspooling
In my previous post, titled ‘The Sheathed Power’, I had discussed the rudimentary aspects of what the scholars of the mind (or psychologists) term as the ‘unconscious’. Myths often are said to act as a device of storytelling that reveal deeper meanings through portrayals of seemingly impossible symbols. In my opinion, one such story is that of Theseus and Ariadne versus the Minotaur.
The story that originated in the ancient Greek world is most famous for its portrayal of slaying of the Minotaur (half man and half bull) at the hands of Theseus[i]. In my opinion, the Minotaur that inhabited a labyrinth that lay deep within the bowels of the island of Crete[ii], can be construed as a symbolic or allegorical representation of the forces of the personal unconscious.
In the story, it is told that Athens was forced to pay a yearly tribute of seven maidens and seven youths to King Minos of Crete[iii]. These young people were for feeding the Minotaur residing within the complex labyrinthine space beneath the palace of Minos at Knossos. Theseus was determined to end Minoan dominance and thus volunteered to be a sacrificial youth[iv]. In Crete, Theseus enters into a romantic relationship with King Minos’ daughter, the princess Ariadne.
Ariadne agrees to help Theseus in his mission. The princess had earlier learned from Daedalus, the labyrinth’s architect, that even if one could kill the Minotaur, it would be impossible to escape the labyrinth’s complexity, except by using a unraveled string on the way inside and then following it to exit later[v]. Ariadne gives Theseus a ball of yarn to unspool as he made his way through the labyrinth[vi]. Ariadne also gives Theseus a sword, and he goes on to succeed in his mission of slaying the Minotaur; and successfully exits the labyrinth by following the trail of the yarn.
I think the walk through the complex and frightening labyrinth is akin to exploring the inner regions of one’s unconscious. Without sufficient aid, it is fully possible that one might get lost within the frightening and crushing complexity of the deeper regions of the personal unconscious. The Minotaur too appears a depiction of the Shadow (discussed in my earlier post – ‘The Ring of the Shadows’), that is, disowned aspects of our own personal traits, memories, actions, etc.
From the role that Ariadne plays, it appears that the most powerful aid in confronting the shadow and the personal unconscious can come only from a place of love. Love not in the romantic sense, but more in terms of a universal and impersonal force that encompasses all that it beholds within a protective sphere of empathetic understanding.
Confronting and subduing the Minotaur symbolically means breaking of the yoke of emotional bondage and addictions that can hold a human in thrall and which prevents the maximization of true individual potential. Love can be the unspooled yarn that can carry us to safety over the frightening abyss of the deep unconscious!
REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/thes/hd_thes.htm
[ii] https://www.psychology.sunysb.edu/attachment/gallery/theseus/ariadne_theseus.html
[iii] https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/thes/hd_thes.htm
[iv] Ibid.
[v] https://www.psychology.sunysb.edu/attachment/gallery/theseus/ariadne_theseus.html
[vi] https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/thes/hd_thes.htm