The space between worlds. Hercules at Omphale.

The article was published in the collection of the Moscow Association of Analytical Psychology “Deep Psychology and Mythology” for 2011.

“Your dream,” I told him, “about descending a narrow staircase with a woman behind you urging you on—I think we need to turn to Freud and consider the symbolism of birth.” “I’ve never thought of it that way,” he said, interested. “In your melancholy, you found yourself in the bardo. Do you know what that is?” “No,” he said, “I’ve never heard of it.” “The Tibetan Book of the Dead describes the bardo as the state between incarnations, the period before the next birth.” “I haven’t felt any zest for life these days.” “That’s exactly what I mean,” I said. “You want to participate in life. You are between lives. The dream invites you to descend into the canal.” “I’m very resistant in the dream; the woman is chasing me.” “As are we all,” I said, reflecting on how difficult it is to be born again, especially when everything around me feels so painful and unsuccessful. “I’m not ready,” he said with understanding and acknowledgment. “It’s okay,” I replied. “You know where you are, and it’s important to be here. The Bardo takes time; there’s no rush here. There’s no benefit to being born prematurely.”
Thomas Moore, "The Gifts of Depression"

I've been leading groups called "Living the Mythological in Therapy" for five years now. The group is formed at the beginning of the year, and then, over the course of nine to ten months, in a very compressed timeframe, we attempt to experience the mythological stages of consciousness evolution. The group, like a miniature model of humanity, travels the path from Ouroboros to Osiris, from the fused and indistinguishable through separation and awareness of opposites to transformation.

This entire journey is beautifully depicted in the mythological cycle of Hercules: from the conception of transpersonal powers to the apotheosis of Hercules. Zeus appears three times in Hercules' lineage: first, when his brother Poseidon conceives Belus, the king of Egypt and father of Aegyptus (Danae's great-great-grandfather); second, when he himself unites with Danaë, and from this union Perseus is born; and third, when he comes to Alcmene in the form of her husband Amphitryon. Alcmene is Zeus's last earthly woman, and Hercules is the pinnacle and goal of the Supreme God's painstaking selection. The hero's earthly journey ends with a bonfire, where the final separation of the earthly and heavenly parts occurs: the earthly part, dying, descends as a shadow into Hades with all the heroic attributes - skin and club, and the heavenly part goes to Olympus, where the Hero's birth rite takes place and takes the place of gatekeeper at the gates of Olympus.

The myth of Hercules clearly illustrates the emergence of the heroic part of the ego, its growth, its indispensability in the struggle for separation, first with the dragon of the family and then with the dragon of society, its subsequent depletion and redundancy, and its necessary, yet very difficult, release. The idea that in the second half of life, the ego is merely a gatekeeper at the gates of the Self is usually quite painfully received by the group, and one often hears the objections of participants: "So what?! All these feats, all these efforts are just to open the gates, and the bonus is picking the best pieces from the game brought by Artemis?!"

It's not my goal in this article to examine Hercules' entire earthly life in detail. I'd like to suggest focusing on the episode of Hercules' time as a slave to Queen Omphale.

Before delving into the mythological realm, I'd like to recall a few basic ideas of analytical psychology. First, in the unconscious, there is no time or space—it's always "here and now." Based on this, we will follow Euripides in viewing the chronology of events as follows: descent into Hades and return from it—madness inflicted by Hera—murder of wife and children—repentance and slavery. Rather than the more familiar view: Hercules' military successes—madness—murder of nephew and children—feats of atonement. Finally, "Thasos and his companions first went to Olympia, where they erected a bronze statue dedicated to the Tyrian Hercules—a ten-meter-tall giant depicted with a club and bow... All this occurred five generations before the birth of Hercules, son of Amphitryon, in Greece." (Graves 1992), so being in mythological space allows us some liberties with time.

Secondly, everything that happens in life has a direction, meaning, and purpose. Neurosis is a natural attempt at healing, and by regressing, a person unconsciously strives to return to the point where the one-sidedness began. Through neurotic conflict, a person seeks to restore the rights of a rejected part of the personality. Therefore, it is so important for us to understand the purpose of unconscious action, what it seeks to compensate for.

Thirdly, there is one “fundamental law: even in women, consciousness has a masculine character. The relationships “consciousness-light-day” and “unconscious-darkness-night” remain true regardless of gender and do not change because the soul-instinct polarity is organized differently in women and men. Consciousness is masculine even in women, just as the unconscious in men is feminine.” (Neumann 1998)

Turning to the myth of Hercules, I want to talk about the heroic side of the human ego, regardless of the individual’s gender.

Hercules descends into Hades to fetch Cerberus, but in addition to the dog, he also brings Theseus back into the light, having been punished for supporting Pirithous's mad scheme. The friends were punished for descending into the underworld and demanding Persephone from Hades as a wife for Pirithous. They were seemingly received kindly, but ultimately were placed on a throne of oblivion from which they could never rise. Pirithous never did, and Theseus was torn from his throne by Hercules, who "seized Theseus with both hands and began to pull until he tore him off with a terrible crack. Part of his body remained stuck to the rocks, which is why Theseus's Athenian descendants are distinguished by such incongruously small buttocks." (Graves 1992)

Thus, Hercules leads a hero equal to himself out of the chthonic world; at this stage, Hercules' shadow is personified by Theseus. Among other things, we see here the classic work of regression—a return to the past in order to liberate certain potentials, to unfreeze them, to "tear them away with a terrible crash" from the throne of oblivion. Moreover, the myth warns that this cannot be done absolutely (Pirithous remains seated there) or painlessly—"part of the body remains stuck to the stones."

Hera, learning that Hercules had emerged from Hades alive, sends him into a frenzy. Overwhelmed, Hercules kills his wife and children, mistaking them for enemies. When the darkness lifts, he realizes what he has done.

…But here it is

My ultimate feat, Theseus, you see

The bodies of the children I killed: that stone

The last in the building of my misfortunes.

Crushed by such misfortune, can I

Should I remain a murderer in dear Thebes?

And even if I stayed, would I dare?

I'm going to the temple or to see friends for a holiday.

Those who are coming, should I join them? No, Theseus,

The curse hanging over me,

People should be scared. You can't go to Argos either.

To the exile. So on to foreign lands,

Perhaps? Yes, to meet everywhere

A look of hostility and hatred?

Hercules is known everywhere. What is it like?

To hear how the arrogant stranger,

Pointing at you, he will say:

“Ah, this is that Hercules and son of Zeus,

Who killed his family.

Let him go far away!”

But for the one who has known happiness,

His betrayal is unbearable; it’s easier

Those who are accustomed to grief can bear it.

It will come to the point that it will no longer be people,

And the rivers, the sea, the lands will cry out:

“Back: don’t you dare touch us, you unfortunate man!”

Well, or should I turn to you one last time?

I'm in Ixion, with the eternal wheel

From the flame he spins?

And if this is what fate promises me, then let it be better

None of the Greeks see me

Of those who knew me in happiness.

And yet I must live? Yes, life

Is life under the burden of a curse? (Euripides)

Theseus leads the hero, tormented by grief and guilt, away from Thebes.

A part of the personality, retrieved from complete oblivion, helps to endure the very difficult and complex feelings associated with experiencing separation, which are experienced by consciousness "not only as passive suffering and loss, but also as an actively destructive act. Symbolically, it is identical to murder, sacrifice, dismemberment, and castration." (Neumann 1998)

Consciousness, relying on shadow energies, plunges into depression.

“…depression occurs as a result of loss of self-esteem” (Lowen 2010)

To atone for his guilt, Hercules consults the Oracle. The Oracle orders Hercules to be sold at the slave market as an unnamed slave. This is what Hermes does. Omphale, Queen of Lydia, purchases Hercules. Three silver talents end up in Hermes's possession.

Renouncing the persona, the consciousness, flooded with feelings, calms in the embrace of the anima. It is led there by Hermes—the god of passages, trade, and thieves, the one who escorts the souls of the dead from the world of the living to the world of the dead.

In the outside world, Hercules seems to no longer exist—no one who knows him sees him or knows where he is. The hero is "in Asia."

“Severe grief – the reaction to the loss of a loved one – is characterized by a mood of suffering, a loss of interest in the external world… We easily understand that this inhibition and limitation of the ego is an expression of an exclusive absorption in grief, in which no interests and no intentions for anything else remain.” (Freud 1984)

A consciousness immersed in depression seems suspended between worlds—the world of the living and the world of the dead. And in this timelessness, intense, not always conscious, mental work occurs.

Hercules is completely in Omphale's power, his consciousness awash with feelings. "News reached Greece that Hercules had parted with his lion skin and white poplar wreath, and in their place wore necklaces, gold bracelets, a woman's turban, a red kerchief, and a Maeonian belt. They said he sat in a circle of dissolute Ionian beauties, combing wool or spinning it, shuddering at every shout from his mistress. More than once, she beat him with a gilded slipper when his clumsy fingers broke the spindle; sometimes, in a good mood, she amused herself by listening to his reminiscences of past exploits. And he did not even feel shame. "That's why artists depict Hercules in a yellow skirt or surrounded by Omphale's handmaidens, who comb his hair and carry his lion skin, club, and bow" (Graves 1992). The stern hero, who introduced a law of punishment that precisely replicated the crime (the criminal tore off the victim's arm, so his own arm must be torn off too), masters the realm of emotion.

And so, in this description of life in slavery with Omphale, which lasted a year or three, we encounter the following episode:

Among the various deeds Heracles performed in his service to Omphale was the capture of the Ephesian Cercopes, who constantly disturbed his sleep. They were twin brothers named either Passalus and Acmon, or Olus and Eurybates, or Syllus and Triballus. Their parents were Oceanus and Theia, and they were reputed to be the most notorious liars and deceivers known to man. They wandered the world, inventing ever new deceptions. Theia advised them to stay away from Heracles, and her words, "My little white bottoms, you'll have to meet a big black bottom!" became proverbial, and "white bottom" now signifies cowardice, baseness, and lust. In the form of carrion flies, they buzzed over Heracles' bed until one night he seized them and forced them back into their natural form. Then he slung them over a large pole so that their heads hung down, and he himself took the pole over his shoulder and walked away. It must be said that Heracles's buttocks, uncovered by the lion's skin, were so darkened by the sun that they resembled an old leather shield. Their color was also affected by the fiery breath of Kakos and the Cretan Bull. Therefore, the Cercopes, hanging upside down, could not help but laugh at the spectacle that greeted them. At first, their mirth surprised Heracles, but, understanding its cause, he sat down on a rock and began to laugh himself; thus the brothers managed to beg for their freedom. And although the city of Cercopeia known to us is located in Asia, the Cercopes' cave and the rock called "Black-Bottomed" are shown at Thermopylae; hence, one can conclude that the incident described probably has nothing to do with them. (Graves 1992)

I would like to dwell on this passage in a little more detail.

The children of Oceanus and Theia disturb Hercules' sleep. The Titaness Theia, mother of Helios, Selene, and Eos, her husband Hyperion (the shining god, literally "he who walks above"), and Oceanus, the Titan, son of Uranus and Gaia, brother and husband of Tethys, with whom he fathered three thousand daughters—the Oceanids—and an equal number of sons—river streams, the deity of the world's greatest river, washing land and sea. And from this union of the male side of the World Waters and the female side of Heaven, a pair of dwarfs is born, "the most notorious liars and deceivers," who do nothing but "wander the world and invent new deceptions." According to one version, Zeus turned them into apes, and they were settled near Pithecussa to taunt the giants.

C.G. Jung, describing the psychology of the trickster, speaks of the devil as God's ape, and of Mercury's traits such as "a love of wicked pranks and malicious antics, and the ability to shapeshift" (Jung, 2005). So, does this mean that Hermes, the guide, never went far, and the space in which Hercules "serves out his sentence" is entirely his domain?

Thus, the cercopes constantly disturbed Heracles' sleep, "buzzing over his bed in the form of corpse flies." Eurynus, the Greek demon of physical decay and putrefaction, was sometimes depicted as a fly. Heracles did not participate in the funerals of his murdered wife and children; he left that to his father:

Hercules:

Bury the children as I asked.

Amphitryon:

And who will close my eyes?

Hercules:

Your son.

Amphitryon:

When should I wait for you back?

Hercules:

First

Bury the children. Then I'll come back.

And I will take you with me to Athens.

Get rid of the bodies, it's hard work

I leave it to you. Tears, tears!

As for me, burdened with villainy,

Theseus, who shamefully destroyed the house,

Like a heavy barge, it drags from here...

A fool is he who values ​​wealth and power here:

The most precious gift is a trustworthy friend. (Euripides)

These "flies" prevent the conscious mind from fully sinking into the unconscious, reminding it why it's here. This angers and forces it to become active. Eventually, the conscious mind responds, makes contact, and compels the dwarfs to assume their true form.

"Then he slung them over a large pole so that their heads hung down, and he himself shouldered the pole and walked on. It must be said that Heracles's buttocks, uncovered by the lion's skin, were so darkened by the sun that they resembled an old leather shield. Their color was also influenced by the fiery breath of Cacus and the Cretan Bull."

There's contact, but no words. The dwarfs dangle bound from a pole behind the hero, staring at his "bottom." Hercules turned away from them, but took them with him. They found themselves in a situation we usually describe as "total ass." Where is he taking them? What will happen to them next? They are immobilized and without perspective. More precisely, their perspective is Hercules's backside—a dark "old leather shield." Aggression and defense—when someone defends someone, they say, "cover their ass," and vice versa, when they want to insult, anger, or show their bare bottom in protest. "The fiery breath of Kakos and the Cretan Bull" suggests that there were times when enemies breathed down Hercules' back and below, but his "shield" withstood them.

And then the pickaxes begin to laugh. Laughter appears, like something new, something enlivening. Of course, this recalls the obscene jokes of Iambe, who tried to console the grieving Demeter. "It is also possible that Iambe is another hypostasis of Demeter herself, and the original meaning of the rite of 'jokes on the bridge' contained the idea of ​​'comfort offered in a situation of transition'" (Antipenko 2002).

"At first, their gaiety surprised Hercules" – how can someone in such an unenviable position laugh? But then Hercules himself begins to laugh when he understands the reason. I think this is where Hercules understands his situation. The dwarves themselves fully reflected Hercules's situation. With one exception: his backside was a prospect for them, but for Hercules, it's behind him, in retrospect. This is his dark past – something that will always be with him, but which he can no longer see. From which he is moving, but can never escape. Hercules gets up and leaves, and where he sat and laughed, the "Black-Bottomed" rock remains – the burden of grief has been lifted, but the experience of living and redeeming himself will remain with him forever.

If we try to look at this piece of myth as a metaphor for experiencing grief in therapy, then the figure of Hermes-Cercopes will tell us how a therapist can behave.

First, Hermes sells Heracles as a nameless slave to Queen Omphale for three silver talents. During therapy, the ego loses the protection of the persona and begins to directly, and thus painfully, engage with feelings. In the depressive stage of grief, the ego may try to "sleep," but the therapist's task is to "buzz like a dead fly," constantly maintaining tension. When anger, irritation, and rage burst into consciousness, they will descend upon the therapist, and something will emerge between therapist and client—a space of countertransference. Feeling immobilized, bound by ropes, dangling from a pole, with a "wonderful" perspective before them, the therapist will fully experience the "ass" their client is in. And will be able to crack a few "off-color jokes"—interpretations.

In my opinion, Hermes did a good job of earning the three silver talents he paid for Hercules at the market.

Bibliography:

Thomas Moore, “The Gifts of Depression” http://www.maap.ru/library/book/114/

Erich Neumann, "The Origin and Development of Consciousness," Relf-book, Wackler, 1998

Robert Graves, "Myths of Ancient Greece," Moscow, Progress, 1992

Euripides "Hercules" translated by I. Annensky http://annenskiy.ouc.ru/gerakl.html

Alexander Lowen, "Depression and the Body," "Psychotherapy," Moscow, 2010

Sigmund Freud, "Sadness and Melancholy," "Psychology of Emotions," edited by V.K. Vilyunas, Yu.B. Gippenreiter, Moscow, Moscow State University Press, 1984

C.G. Jung, "Soul and Myth: Six Archetypes," Moscow, AST, Minsk, Harvest, 2005

A.L. Antipenko "Mythology of the Goddess" Moscow "Ladomir" 2002