Mythical
characters allow us to uncover additional meaning in dream symbolism; and our
understanding of dream interpretation allows us to see myths in a new light. (page 5)
The first two
chapters of Kari Hohne’s The Mythology of Sleep: the Waking Power of Dreams
are contrasting and practically opposites. The warriors of Viking blood
and Norse mythology are over-achieving conquerors. She’s pretty kind to them (more
than Howard, at least) and their vast fairy tale influence over vast reaches,
even into Russia.
Odin sacrifices
an eye to Mimir, guardian of the well at the root of Yggdrasil, in order to
gain the knowledge of the future hidden at the bottom of the water. Later, he
hangs upside down on Yggdrasil for nine days and nights to gain the power and
wisdom of the norns.
With this power
and knowledge he grows ever-more withdrawn, sending out his two ravens
(conscience) and two wolves (instinct), while he skulks about wearing a
wide-brimmed hat.
The
Grey God Passes
His depressive
symptoms are a product of knowledge of a future Twilight of the Gods, while his
own strength persuades him that he may yet trick fate. The two wolves at Odin’s
side represent the instinctive aggression that he converts into depression.
Yeah, he is introspective and it’s tough being the all-father – that’s without
even mentioning Fenris, his begetter Loki or the world serpent, another Loki
offspring.
While Odin eschews
action, it’s actually the Egyptian pantheon of chapter two (of eight) that
vastly more resembles our modern order. Hohne has a symbolic description of the
Norse charioteer as the warrior holding the reins of will to drive the instinctive
horse. By contrast, the Egyptian powers are much more reptilian (the brain,
she explains, has three levels – reptilian, mammalian and rational).
She describes
how the sacrificial eye of Ra becomes a daughter, who grows angry when in her
absence she was replaced (anxiety). Ra turns her into a snake and places her at
the centre of the forehead,
As a symbolic
representation of how reptilian urges can take precedence over logical
processes. (page 50).
Now, how can I
say that we, today, live in a reptilian (fight or flight) order when all along
I’ve been saying we live in a logical order? Owing to this quote.
We compulsively
seek order in proportion to the disorder we feel within. (page 50).
Have you ever
wondered why we all have to buy things? The cycle of reptilian anxiety (fight
or flight) becomes a
Lifestyle where
we are always feeling empty. (page
50)
The reptile
within governs our behaviour and,
We may create
a reward system which revolves around self-gratifying behaviour. (page 50).
The question is,
why have we become reptilian? Because we no longer have control over the
logical processes of the body that is active in hunting, riding the hills and
forests, killing and preparing game. The logical and the illogical always act
together (Pictorial 13, Le Mepris). This is a balanced lifestyle,
which Hohne covers further on in the book (i ching).
All logical
processes in the modern order are outside the body, courtesy of the
great god Ra (sun), and the sorcerer of light (Newton C4).
The Egyptians were
believers in cyclical recurrence (the Nile) which gave their anxieties a source
of constant fulfilment. Modern Man is a believer in nothing. Nothing save what
is outside the body.
To quote Hohne
again, it is
not an image
of the charioteer driving the horses, but the horses driving the charioteer in
a state of panic.. Whereas the warrior’s aggressive energy is checked and
arrested… unchecked energy dissipates as anxiety. (page 48).
And this is the
neurotic age we live in.