Masks continued.......... The vizier is also called the Sennex in Alchemy. The sennex is the un- healthy tyrant that rests in the ego. Either it be male or female as in the evil stepmom in the fairy tales, it is the parent that prevents their child from acquiring their own healthy egos. Usually this happens either under great trauma that the parent has undergone, or is generational. If it is generational, it can be stemmed back to some fatalistic event as such as the fall in the garden. So the original sin must be fixed. Remember always that sin only is an ancient archery term for missing the mark!
So the Vizier or Evil Step Mom does not let the child grow through pubescent times because of their own lack. If they knew how, they would be kings of themselves and not you. But they are using their children as vehicles for what they can not do in their lives. The tyrant father who punishes his son on the little league field. The Jaded mother who denies her daughters sexuality because she was an unwed mother. They want their children to succeed in the goals they failed in or avoid making their mistakes. Never letting their children have their own goals or make their own mistakes. Granted, they should always advise to the best of their ability. But they should follow the Prime directive in Star Trek, advise but do not command. In commanding, they loose their own lives as well as their child's.
In Tom Brown Jr.'s Tracker, as a child he speaks about being treed by eight dogs who wanted him for lunch. At another time these same dogs with seven more chased him into a mineral pit. He and his friend were able to climb out when the dogs could not. They thought about killing their easy prey. But he looked at them good for the first time, they were not stringy full of muscle. They were not stringy, but just flesh and bones. They were starving and went after food any way they could for survival. So he went to his camp and brought back their lunch to feed them. This was only half of what was needed, they needed to free them from the pit so they would not starve any more. So they rigged an abandon fridge to a rope that a candle will cut through as they ran up a tree. But the candle did not work and they had to cut the rope so the dogs could climb up and out on it. They did and ran for their lives. The dogs caught up to them with tails up and wagging. Now they just wanted to be petted.
An old nurse from New York city just relayed a story that happened to her in the forties. She had noticed a gentleman behind her looking at her purse. So she went up to him and asked if he was lost. He told her she was kind and he felt bad because in fact he was about to steel her purse. He smiled and thanked her and went on his way. Sometimes we only need justification. She justified his existence as a good person.
"You must give up your life to find greater."Jesus
For centuries, man has tried to grasp the meaning of love. Well it is simple, it is in four parts. One, joy. Two is comfort. Three is justification. Then four is reassurance. In the womb you should be granted comfort which should continue through life in your mother's arms and then as you walk away. They should provide joy whenever possible. In doing these things they should justify that you exist. Then as you build your constructs, talents, and skills they should reassure your decisions. As long as you do these for your self, they should do the same. But if you are bringing harm or doing something incorrectly, they should advise you to bring you back into balance. But it is for you to learn, not them to do for you. After the example is understood, it is over and done doing for the child. It is in their court. This should happen always in love, either it be grandma to your wife. It is not love until you have all four. Then love is whole. Its number becomes five, the pentacle. The ancient seal of Solomon, for love. Only out of love do you make another whole, in raising a child to an adult ego.
So what has this to do with the evil vizier and the wicked witch? They are just missing some part of the four and acting out for some one to come and fix them. Their shadows are calling out for change as well. So as you enter upon the hero's journey for the grail or the philosopher's stone, no full well, you are returning to heal your parents. But more about that later.....
Augustine and Thomas Aquinas both said there is no ultimate evil, but only degrees of good. Those dogs were not evil, the were only hungry. Your parents, even if they are both CEOs, Doctors, Professors, and the like; does not mean they are not ignorant to their emotional intelligence. Einstein was an Ausberg patient and had a weak emotional side that led him to two marriages and numerous affairs. He also remained distant to his children. Do not let their degrees and laurels confuse you. Sometimes they have not learned what you are looking for. It is for you to find other ways to learn.
But before you can conquer the evil King or step witch, you must conquer yourself. Luke Skywalker fought with his tyrant father in a cave, another symbol of the mind, only to decapitate his head. The head is the symbol of the resting place of the ego. Only to find his face behind the vizier. In Jon Boorman's Excalibur, Lancelot went the same way in a forest, another symbol of the mind. Here he fought with a knight in full armor. He killed the night to find only his face within the helmet. This can only happen by giving yourself up to a higher power. In following a way. Either it be Buddha's Ferry boat, Jesus, or the Force; we all have our own rivers to jump into. Just follow the current and keep your head above water. Along the way you may find various trolls and sages to help you along. But I am getting ahead of myself once more. The hero's Journey will be spoken about later, not now.....
So your parents did the best they could by what they have been taught or what has survived their falls from grace. If your father had a stroke when you were a child, would you blame him for not teaching you how to throw a football. If he has an emotional or learning problem, that is not tangible or concrete like a missing limb, why blame him. On the other hand you should do what ever it takes to stop their negative behaviors against you. But no more than an eye for and eye; how many forget the no more piece and take just a little more instead. When a mugger attacks you in an alley, you have ever right to incapacitate him if you can not run away. But you have no right to kill him if there is a way to escape or he is unconscious. So you should never just get revenge on your parents, just respect your feeling and bring the harm to an end.
When the ego begins its journey into self actualization, it will hear the calling. The ego like the fool in the Tarot heads out full of misunderstandings from its parents as in the story Parzival. Here he meets his guides, either it be Merlin, Dumbledore, or Ben Kenobi. Other times when the ego is obstinate and stuck within its pleasures, it is like Pinochio who meets the fox who sells him into the circus. A place that feeds his lust until he turns into an ass, chained to the circus of fools. His night journey of the soul comes out of hardship like Jonah in the belly of the whale. In this story, it was not the father who was ignorant. But the son, the son who ran away before he can get his father's wise council. I'm sorry there I go again, getting all ahead of ourselves........
This guide is who the spirit talks to. The spirit is the inner child elevated into aspiration of its goals. It is the active piece that transforms the inner child's gifts. In most tales about dragons, there is a princess and some gold he is guarding. Two things that are useless to dragons. But he always releases them to the right hero, or better yet, right action. What is the treasure and the princess? They are the inner child and its gifts or talents. It is Herbie realizing that it is OK to be a dentist instead of making toys. But do we always have to kill the king or dragons? Follow our guides and we may find the answer. The guides are our links to the Human Unconsciousness, the Great Man, and the Holy Spirit. The inner child is the one who dreams of what the spirit or Puer does. One desires so the other aspires. It is the one that is animated to start that new career, it is the one who can hear its faults, it is the one who feels on top of the world on a sunny day. It is the highs of the personality.
The other dual nature is that of the wolf and the dog. The wolf is the raw instinctual force of every one. It is the chaos that should not be feared. It is the randomness of the personality. It is the delight in food, the body, sensuality, and sex. It is also a woman feeling the rain on her nipples for the first time on her fortieth birthday. It is the raw sexuality. It is silk falling around a woman's body. It is Haller dancing in the arms of another woman as the band plays on. It is the dog that brings temperance to these natural inclinations. It does not allow that woman from walking around in the rain topless all the time. It is the side that enjoys monogamous sex. It is the side that drinks and eats with relish, but in moderation. But sometimes the dog must be denied and chance thrown to the wind.
Parents can interfere with this process. If the mother is ashamed about her body and is always tweaking it or denying its natural shape. So will their children. If she pushes her children to be prudes because she was wanton in her ways, her children will be wanton or prudish. Healthy sexual enjoyment will be a lapse in their bodies. One woman I knew had a mother with a weight issue who was quite loose with gangsters in Boston back in the forties. One daughter was quite loose in her teens the other has never loosened up yet. The one who never loosened up was her mother's confidant in her father's sexual inadequacies before she reached puberty. The other still needs to go to a hotel room to have sex with her husband so the child does not hear. Haller's parents threatened him when ever the wolf reared its head.
The next one is the shadow. The one most feared and ignored by the ego. It entices the desires and fears of the Vizier. But the vizier is full aware of its potential, but can not resist its pull. It feels like it will outsmart it each time. But ends up always with mud in its face, as the coyote always does. The vizier just some times dances longer with the devil than other times. The ego most often just ignores the shadow. Out of sight out of mind. It just locks all its problems in a closet. But as in the Bluebeard story, once the closet is opened, there is no hiding from the change needed. No matter how long it takes. This lack of communication led the shadow to promote the misconception of projection. It knows the ego ignores it. So it yells at some one in the room a complete list of the ego's faults. A. either for the other person to repeat to the ego when it is calmer so it can hear them. Or B. yelling in vain that the ego hears it. Unfortunately the other person just gets fed up of you laying your problems on it and just leaves before passing on the message. More on him later as well........
So it was in the end of the novel does Haller kill Hermine and bring the feminine half into his ego replacing his father's voice that denied the wolf nature in his personality. Also in the Theater his spirit is brought into contact with his guide Mozart. Here he is laughed out of when he believes that Oz was in the real world, or the one he thinks is real. For the ways of that world are not the same as the one we return to. We return to a third new world, but only after leaving calling cards for others to join us in the new one. Haller has become his Self. The Hermaphrodite counsels the shadow and spirit for its decisions. Plays with its wolf/dog nature. Lets the Child dream the aspirations the spirit brings to reality. When stuck it follows a higher power led by the guide.
But all this is only possible when the evil witch or vizier gives up good for better. When it is taught a new way. When it is not threatened with non existence or a far worse course. Then that vizier or witch goes back to its own Pubescent self and becomes a true adult. Then the family can wear many crowns living in peace. But society needs this as well.
A tyrant is someone who is waiting for a hero to advise. But it must face its rigorous tests. Only the right candidate may pass them. Only the one with a better way can unseat him willingly. Give the Dragon what he needs, that others he has asked could not give him. The ogre in the movie Time Bandits only needed someone to stretched out his back. The mouse only needed to pull out the thorn in the lions foot. Tyrants are always raised by generations of pubescent egos in regencies of pubescent viziers.
So which face do you show the world. Which face do you show your lover. Which face do you share with yourself. Do you acknowledge your strangers within, or are they friends of yours?
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