The Blood-Dimmed Tide is Loosed
The world is in turmoil. It is as if an unholy creature, carried by a whirlwind, is traversing the earth exposing the baseness in millions of people. Its foul fingernails scrape away the bloody scabs of millions revealing festering wounds of anger, fear, anxiety, self-loathing, hatred, racism, lust, theft, betrayal, greed, revenge and narcissism. The vibrations of the sickness fill the air influencing many more millions, billions, of people to behave violently to self, others and nature. Inhibitions fall by the wayside. People are flayed wide open and the worst has been allowed to engage with the world. As Yates wrote in the Second Coming;
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
With this post I’d like to take an alternative approach to examining the plague of irrational violence blanketing Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Russia, Iran, Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, South Africa, Lebanon, Haiti, Colombia, Honduras, Somalia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria, Mozambique and the USA.
Archetypes
The entire world is interconnected. Today we know that approximately 90% of all land-based plants are connected through what is called the mycorrhizal network. It has been proved that plants communicate through a fungal inter-connection called the mycelia network. Plants warning each other about diseases, insects and basic health, (Zeng, 2010).
All humans are inter-connected as well, through an unconscious form of communication called Archetypes. Archetypes are innate universal pre-conscious psychic dispositions. For the sake of simplicity consider fairie tales from around the world. You will find versions of kings, queens, warriors, lovers, jesters and magicians… and their evil mirrored counterparts. Take a moment to think about the great stories turned into the great movies of our time. Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, and the multi-movie Marvel Saga to name just a very few.
Archetypes are the stuff of dreams and the roles we adopt in our lives. Take a look at your life and there they are…. the components of the collective unconscious that serve to organize, direct and inform your thoughts and behaviors. There are many lists of archetypes such as these twelve: The Innocent, Everyman, Hero, Outlaw, Explorer, Creator, Ruler, Magician, Lover, Caregiver, Jester, and Sage.
The grouping of archetypes I use in my work are, 1) The Warrior and its two negative spawn, sadist and masochist, 2) The Lover and its two negative spawn, addicted lover and impotent lover, 3) The Magician and its two spawn, the dummy and the evil trickster, and 4) The True Leader and its two spawn the high chair tyrant and the helpless victim, (Moore and Gillette, 1991).
We can diagnose our world and world events by examining influential leaders and their followers through the lens of archetypes. Once we follow a leader for a period of time, experience their moods, their decisions and their perspective on the world we can note their dominant archetypes. We can track events that engaged certain positive archetypes in a leader and which in turn engaged negative thoughts and behaviors.
I believe that it is very important to examine the violence in our country and the world through the lens of archetypes. In particular I believe we must understand the negative archetypes that comprise what I’ve labeled as, ‘Puerile Men.’ Puerile men are untrained, juvenile, immature men who do not respect the feminine; within themselves, women and nature. Puerile Men is why 1-4 women are sexually assaulted in college, why women are treated as toys to be disrespected and violated, why 94% of people in prison are men, why we have so much violence in the world and why we have a burgeoning climate crisis.
There is so much to explain, too much, so let me briefly take you through a Hindu story of a warrior goddess named Kali Ma. First there are three terms to become familiar with, called the three Gunas. We all live within all three Gunas at different times in our life. But the ideal would be to live within the first Guna.
Sattva. Sattva is the quality of goodness, purity, positivity, truth, serenity, balance, peacefulness, mindfullness and virtue.
Rajas. Rajas is the quality of being busy, distracted, multi-tasking, nervous energy, unbridled enthusiasm, activity, and unfocused interest.
Tamas. Tamas is the quality of evil, ignorance, greed, theft, lying and violence.
Currently a living example of Tamas would be the current Zionist Government of Israel and the Zionist IDF conducting the massacre in Gaza. My guess is that most of the young soldiers will eventually experience overwhelming guilt and PTSD though right now they feel disconnected from the humanity of the other, as their training has turned them into SADISTS. They are not warriors protecting family or country out of deep relationship and behaving with integrity. They are child molesting murderers.
It is quite easy to turn young men and women into murders or sadistic weapons of wore if they are puerile. If they have not been educated about the feminine balance in all things. If they do not know how to love or appreciate or to be in relationship. Look at the pictures below and refer to my last post about female IDF soldiers.
Kali Ma is the destroyer. Uneducated people see her red tongue, the belt of skulls and assume she is a goddess of bloodlust, war, violence and horror. Her left hands hold a severed head and blood-covered sword. How could we NOT assume that? But once we are educated. Once we grasp the archetypes. Once we meditate on her an entirely different understanding emerges.
Her sword severs the bondage of ignorance and ego (tamas), represented by the severed head. Her bloody tongue symbolizes her drinking the rajasic and tamasic thoughts and behaviors of the person who has accepted her into their life … conquered by the white (symbolizing sattvic) nature of the teeth. And the belt of skulls represent the delusions, attachments, the thoughts and behaviors that don’t serve us.
She is not an archetype or a goddess to fear but a goddess to honor. She is one aspect of Mother Earth, our Earth Mother. She is NOT violent but is a warrior protecting our soul through her fierce love and compassion. Our delusions and puerile behaviors demand a fierce loving Mother.
The tongues of the male and female soldiers represent an opposite meaning. Their tongue display connotes bloodlust or sexual lust or maybe just excited fun. What their tongues do not represent is the sacrifice needed to be a good and loving Mother.
Just as Trump has been depicted as Jesus. Kamala Harris has been depicted as Kali Ma. I doubt either person considers themself to be Jesus or Kali Ma, (he said as he became the archetype of Pinocchio.) Personally I don’t think it wise to consider oneself a god or goddess or profit. Especially since Kali Ma battles two great destroyers of one’s soul; Self-Deprecation and Hubris. Kali Ma is the destroyer of both and if the practitioner is harmed in the healing process, well…. .
I hope you appreciated this long post and if you questions or wish to have deeper explanations let me know.
