Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Once Upon a Time...
The term fairy tale brings to mind a children’s story, but the truth is that these tales are in fact, parables of history.
Some feminist researchers have interpreted these tales of “the persecuted heroine” as a negative influence on young girls, citing that the women in these stories need a man to “save them.” While it is true that this could send the wrong message to our youth, a deeper meaning behind these tales points to the liberation of women, and leads to a beautiful concept of harmony and balance. It is a spiritual teaching that calls out to us from the ancient past. It is a lesson that will not die, even though it has been suppressed, repressed, persecuted, attacked, and twisted for centuries.
In olden times, it was common for all religious teachings to take the form of parable. We all know that the New Testament stories of the shepherd and his flock are not lessons in animal husbandry. They are parables for religious teachings.
Fairy tales are the same. In order to decipher them and find their message, we need only grasp the concepts behind the Olde ways, and remember these people and their history.
The fairy Tales and children’s songs that have survived over the centuries tell the story of the persecution of Pagans by the European Theocracy, and preserve a history that would otherwise be lost, if spoken of openly.
Snow White, Cinderella, and Rapunzel are examples of oral folk stories that carry the hidden history of Earth Based Matriarchal world view of pre Christian Europe. These maidens were pricked with needles, subjected to evil spells, fed poisoned apples, demoted from places of status, or condemned to servitude. The maiden in the parable is not of the thousands of women who were burned, or tortured by the church; the Maiden is the symbol of the BELIEF SYSTEM that was under attack.
The “Wicked Step Mother” is the character who enters the story and wreaks havoc in the formerly peaceful life of the maiden. The stepmother is a woman of great power and standing who wants to take over, and supplant herself in place of the maiden. She loathes the maiden, and everything her spirit represents The stepmother is the symbol of the violent censorship of the rising patriarchy. She is not the real mother, The Great Mother, The Earth Mother, she is a false mother, who is trying to step in and take over.
The Maiden draws her wisdom from her connection to nature. This is the basis of all Matriarchal religion. It is a theology built upon observation of the natural world and the cycle of the seasons. Often these tales tell of forest animals or forest people, like dwarfs or fairies, who come to her aid, when the stepmother attempts to harm her.
When you read a tale of a young maiden, being poisoned, or locked away by the wicked step mother, while she waits for her hero to save her so that they can take their place as king and queen, you are hearing the history of how patriarchy wiped out matriarchy, and how the "mother church" sought to destroy the theology of The Divine Couple and usurp their sovereign rule. The message is everywhere, once you learn to see it.
The core message is always the same: The kingdom is in ruin, even nature is dying, and all will be destroyed unless the Maiden frees herself from the clutches of evil, often in the form of a step mother, witch or wolf. Once she calls upon her allies of the forest, her prince appears and they live happily ever after. Its not that he saves her, but that she holds true to the purity of her values. This is what drives him to seek her out.
When we look at the old hero myths, we always find that the hero seeks the maiden at the tree of life, where he is rewared with the fruit of knowlege. (The apple, pumpkin, basket of fruit for grandma, etc are all symbols of this idea.) The reason for the hero is simply that Earth Based religions work in harmony with the Prime Biological Imperative: to mate and create new life.
This passing on of DNA is our link to eternity. Its natures way. So its not a question of the helpless girl being saved, its a matter of the maiden holding on to her values, and thus she and the prince are both rewarded with the gift of each other, the result being that the kingdom comes to life again and they all live happily ever after.
Rumplestiltskin and the Grail Story of King Arthur both require the seeker to “Name the helper.” In other words, the seeker must be aware of a secret truth before the wish is granted. This secret is what makes the failing kingdom whole again.
The Little Mermaid enters a pact with the witch and attempts to conform (grow legs and walk on land) in order to unite with her prince.
The Three Little Pigs must unite and build a house strong enough to keep the wolf at bay.
Little Red Riding Hood is about not being fooled by the wolf disguised as the grandmother. It is interesting to note that the girl in the story wears red. The red robe was a symbol of the Essenes, worn by their highest ranking women priestesses. Jesus was a member of this priestly group, and there is a direct correlation between the traditional robes of the Essene women, and the robes worn by the Cardinals of the Catholic Church. Further, it must be noted that in olden times, a “Woman in Red” was a sign of a woman who held high office as a spiritual leader. The symbolism is ironically, quite different today.
The examples are ample enough to fill volumes of books. So rather than bore you with any more, dear reader, I will bid you good hunting as you seek the deeper meanings in the fairy tales you encounter, and live happily ever after.