Wonder
Woman, the film, has been making quite a stir among moviegoers,
and in all that ruckus one may almost miss the deeply mythopoeic element that
the tale captures. That is the descent of the divine feminine into the belly of
the beast to rescue the lost wholeness of humankind. There is no way to skirt
the fact that we must face the fiend within us so that we can be the light of
consciousness that arises out of that clear seeing. The mythic heroine enters
the realm of darkness, faces the beast within; then, without turning away in
fear and loathing, she dissolves the specter.
Tales of women
traversing brave new worlds are not always appreciated as hinting at profound
truths of our human existence. However, our mythologies that hide deep psychological
insight and wisdom in plain sight are replete with such women. Also, the
age-old conviction that love can transform and transmute us is reflected in
tales around the world. Beginning with Mesopotamian myths where goddess Inanna must
descend into the hell realm to our current deluge of films, we may detect a
psycho-spiritual stream just below the surface story line.
In the DC film Wonder
Woman the supreme power of Diana, the Amazon warrior, comes alive as she
descends into the turmoil of the first world war, the war to have ended all
wars. Instead it spawned many new ones. She interrupts history and infuses it
with mythic resonance. While the story follows the popular comic book’s
adventures, the visual depiction is startling as it presents an ancient goddess
figure disguised as a comic book heroine.
Our dual nature and the magic of love
inherent in our very structure is portrayed with all the energy and thrill of
modern technology. The story also reveals the power of transmutation through
love. With her arms crossed, symbolizing the balanced power of intertwined life
and death, Wonder Woman descends into our imagined landscape with an energy
that heralds the return of the divine feminine in all her glory.
The tale touches upon archetypal myths of many forms
where a divine female quiets the demon. Whether it is Durga who eternally stops
the buffalo demon as it arises in every eon or a Savitri who enters the realm
of death to rescue her Satyavan, the myth ritually re-enacts an awesome
truth. We must awaken the feminine
energy that helps us heal our split psyches.
Durga as she is portrayed in this 9th century Pallava
sculpture below keeps the head of the asura effortlessly under her feet. She
enters the realm of the beast who represents unbridled but vital sexual energy and
tames it in a form that is simultaneously sensual and pulsating with the sublime
light of consciousness. Tantric India understood that magic and presents
innumerable images of the Great Mother who is a composite figure beyond all
dualism of flesh and spirit.
If we return to our most ancient mythic world and look
at the Akkadian seal below, we can see an interesting archetypal pattern. Here
the goddess Inanna has her foot on a lion, and according to a scholar, Durga’s lion
riding image could be traced back to this figure. This five-thousand-year-old Sumerian
goddess represents the paradoxical energy of desire and death. There are many
tales about her, and she cannot be categorized in any straightforward way. It
is said that the Akkadian high priestess Enheduanna wrote the hymns to her
goddess, and slowly a local deity pervaded the entire Mesopotamian
consciousness as a supreme figure with many names.
In The Descent
of Inanna, the queen of heaven enters the underworld and faces her own dual
nature. As she passes through the gates
of the netherworld, she is stripped of all her finery and her naked corpse
hangs from a hook. The poignant poem
sings, “From the Great Above she opened her ear to the Great Below…My Lady
abandoned heaven and earth to descend to the underworld” and how the majestic
goddess is decreed by her sister Ereshkigal, “As she enters, remove her royal
garments. /Let the holy priestess of heaven enter bowed low.” While the details
of the tale are as complex and multilayered as any ancient myth, the archetype
speaks loud and clear. Emptied of her pretensions and in her eventual
resurrection, heaven and hell are reconciled.
When we enter the Greek world, we find a similar tale
in the rape of Persephone/Proserpine/Kore. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, we can hear the echo of the mythopoeic recognition
that without facing the terror of life, we are unable to understand the majestic
beauty of life. Persephone the tender
aged daughter of Demeter was taken into the world of Hades, the realm of death,
our own unconscious. When her mother Demeter discovers the theft of her
daughter, rage and grief stricken, she abandons her life sustaining role,
searching for her child.
Thanks to Hekate, Helios and Hermes, Demeter finds out
what Hades had done with Zeus’ blessings, and the process of restoration
begins. Having tasted the pomegranate seed, Persephone is to periodically visit
the underworld. As she is partially restored to Demeter, the cycle of life and
seasons resumes. A mature Persephone becomes an all pervading chthonic goddess
who rules the realm of the dead and initiates resurrection. Powerful Eleusinian mysteries were woven
around these myths.
Jean Shinoda Bolen in Goddesses in Every Woman interprets the Greek tale as an important
landmark in the development of female psyche. In her form as Kore, this goddess
remains a child. Bolen writes: “The Kore was the ‘nameless maiden’; she
represents the young girl who does not know ‘who she is’ and is yet unaware of
her desires or strength” and although “Persephone’s first experience with the
underworld was as a kidnap victim, she later became Queen of the Underworld,
the guide for others who visited there.” This aspect shows the power of the
feminine to grow despite severe adversities inflicted on her.
Tibetan
story of Guru Dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, the female Buddha, repeats the archetype
but with its charcteristic Tantric flavor that overlaps both Hindu and Buddhist
myths. As an emanation of Nila Saraswati Tara, Yeshe’s story mirrors the myth
of another rape of the goddess. In the Brihannila
Tantra, a Shakta text, we learn how the goddess of speech was kidnapped by
two demon brothers whom she herself had blessed with boons. She is tied up in a
dark underwater pit with deadly poisons that she absorbs and becomes
Nila/blue. She is able to save the world
(Tarini) only by becoming one with all of its horrors.
Yeshe Tsogyal had to face incredble
suffering, abuse and was raped by seven bandits, but was given the supreme
wisdom of delightful emptiness thanks to the love and teachings of Guru
Rinpoche. As Inanna unleashes plagues and Demeter withdraws from
life, Yeshe too unleashes her wrath on Tibetan people to avenge the rape. She ultimately initiates the rapists themselves into
the Vajra path as she recognizes her own nature and abandons hatred of these
violating men.
In Sky Dancer: The Secret Life and Songs of the Lady Yeshe Tsogyal,
Keith Dowman retells her story. Yeshe
utters these powerful words: “O pity! Listen you faithful, sad Tibetan people!
This Supreme Being is the Dakini Queen of the Lake of Awareness! My defiled body
has been absorbed in immaculate inner space, And I am a Buddha in the
lotus-light of dynamic space; I tell you you need not be anxious, be happy”
(181).
The well-known story of Savitri embedded in the mythic
landscape of India was first found in the Mahabharata. It is immortalized by
Rishi Aurobindo in his epic Savitri. She too descends into the underworld and faces
Yama, the god of death, to bring her beloved Satyavan back to life. She had chosen her husband only to find out
from Narada of his short life. Unrelenting, she marries him and at the terrible
hour, through profound courage, strength and intelligence she debates with Yama.
Pleasing him, she restores not only her husband to life but regenerates the
kingdoms of her father and father in law.
In Aurobindo’s retelling Savitri takes on a cosmic
significance. In her name, she carries the resonance of the Sun god Savitra and
she is the goddess of the light of consciousness. He makes Savitri the beacon
of regeneration for the entire cosmic and evolutionary awakening. He writes how
Savitri must “Look into the lonely eyes of immortal Death/ And with her nude
spirit measure the Infinite’s night.” It is the depth of her love that makes
her the fitting heroine. Aurobindo portrays her as “A deep of compassion, a
hushed sanctuary, / Her inward help unbarred a gate in heaven;/ Love in her was
wider than the universe, / The whole world could take refuge in her single
heart.” (Book One, Canto 2, p 15)
Aurobindo’s Savitri belongs to the
epic realm and could be inaccessible without literary initiation. However, our
current visual and virtual world is replete with many echoes of the archetypal
image. In
the latest version of the film Beauty and
the Beast, we once again see a fearless young woman entering the layer of
the so called “beast” and transforming him through the power of love.
It was one of our favorite cartoon films when
the kids were young, and Mrs. Pots with little Chip on her side singing away
was delightful. Now watching it in this recent version where Emma Watson brings
her Harry Potter magic and Dan Stevens is charming as the beast, it is clear
why such a tale enthralls us. These
wonder women from around the world clothe themselves in mythic raiment and
speak in a single voice that renews life by immersing us in its apparent
opposite.
