God Main Page
categories:Names of Godthe Divinethe Divine Personthe Divine Aspectsthe Divine Attributesthe Divine Powersthe GodsForces + Forms
favorites:Divine LightDivine GraceSatchitanandaSupermindthe Allthe Divine Motherthe Divine Presencethe Divine Responsethe Immanentthe Individualthe Godsthe Onethe Selfthe Transcendentthe Universe
132AditiAgniAll are seeing God always. But they do not know it.AngirasArchangelBeingBhaktiBharatiBrahmanDeity YogadivineDivine AnandaDivine DelightDivine KnowledgeDivine Lighteternaleveryday you are going to read Savitrifind the DivineFor it is in God alone...GnosisGodGoddessGodheadsGod (is)God is the answer to every question.God ofGod (quotes)God (quotes old)GodsGod (verbs)GraceHermesHoly Guardian AngelHow to see God? To see Him is to be consumed by Him.IlaIndraIn the Joy of the Eternal sole and one.It is by God's Grace that you think of God!KrishnaMahakaliMahalakshmiMahasaraswatiMaheshwariMahiMany are the names of God and infinite are the forms through which He may be approached. In whatever name and form you worship Him, through them you will realise Him.Names of GodOne who loves God finds the object of his love everywhere.powersPsychic BeingReal-Idearemembering GodSaraswatiSatchitanandaShaktiSupermindTarathe Absolutethe Allthe Belovedthe Divinethe Divine Absolutethe Divine Actionthe Divine Allthe Divine Anandathe Divine Aspectsthe Divine Attributesthe Divine Beautythe Divine Beingthe Divine Carethe Divine Chariotthe Divine Compassionthe Divine Consciousnessthe Divine Consciousness-Forcethe Divine Contactthe Divine Descentthe Divine Energythe Divine Eternalthe Divine Existencethe Divine Firethe Divine Forcethe Divine Gamethe Divine Gracethe Divine Guidethe Divine Handthe Divine Helpthe Divine Imagethe Divine Incarnationthe Divine Infinitythe Divine Influencethe Divine Inhabitantthe Divine Intentthe Divine Knowledgethe Divine Lawthe Divine Lifethe Divine Lovethe Divine Manthe Divine Manifestationthe Divine Mindthe Divine Motherthe Divine Multiplicitythe Divine Mysterythe Divine Naturethe Divine objectthe Divine Onethe Divine Palacethe Divine Peacethe Divine Perfectionthe Divine Personthe Divine Planthe Divine Playthe Divine Potionthe Divine Powerthe Divine Powersthe Divine Presencethe Divine Principlethe Divine Protectionthe Divine Puritythe Divine Purposethe Divine Realitythe Divine Relationsthe Divine Responsethe Divine Revealationthe Divine Satchitanandathe Divine Selfthe Divine's Facethe Divine Spiritthe Divine Transcendencethe Divine Trinitythe Divine Truththe Divine Victorythe Divine Voicethe Divine Willthe Divine Wisdomthe Divine Womanthe Divine Wordthe Divine Workthe Divine Workingthe Eternalthe God objectthe God of Computationthe Immanentthe Immutablethe Individualthe Infinitethe Infinite Buildingthe Lightthe Lordthe Object of Knowledgethe Onethe Paththe Path of Devotionthe Selfthe Spiritthe Supremethe Supreme Beingthe Supreme objectthe Transcendentthe Universethe UnknowableThe Yoga of Divine LoveThink of the Divine alone and the Divine will be with you.To see God is to be God. He alone is.VayuViratWhatever you do, always remember the Divine.why God?Yoga
Being Main Page
categories:NamesPersonsBeingsArchetypesProfessionAspectsFormationsEntitiesTitlesmonstersParts of the Being
1.1 - Authors
favorites:Aleister CrowleyJordan PetersonJorge Luis BorgesKen WilberSaint Teresa of AvilaSri AurobindoSri RamakrishnaSri Ramana MaharshiThe Mother
Abdul Qadir GilaniA B PuraniAbraham MaslowAbu l-Husayn al-NuriAbu MadyanAbu-Said Abil-KheirAeschylusAjahn ChahAjahn JayasaroAlan PerlisAlbert BanduraAlbert CamusAlbert EinsteinAldous HuxleyAleister CrowleyAlexander PopeAlfred AdlerAlfred KorzybskiAlfred North WhiteheadAlfred TennysonAlgernon Charles SwinburneAl-GhazaliAlice BaileyAllama Muhammad IqbalAmir KhusrauAnandajoti BhikkhuAnonymousAnthony RobbinsAonghus of the DivinityArchilochusAristotleArthur C ClarkeArthur KoestlerArthur SchopenhauerAustin Osman SpareBaba Sheikh FaridBaha u llahBankeiBarrett Chapman BrownBaruch SpinozaBasavaBeniBenjamin DisraeliBernart de VentadornBertrand RussellBill HicksBlaise PascalBodhidharmaBoduan ZhangBoethiusBokar RinpocheBruce LeeBuddhaBulleh ShahBurton WatsonCarl JungCarl RogersCarl SaganCarol GilliganChamtrul RinpocheCharles BaudelaireCharles DarwinCharles DickensCharles F HaanelCharles Webster LeadbeaterCheng KuanChiao JanChogyal Namkhai Norbu RinpocheChogyam Trungpa RinpocheChokyi Nyima RinpocheChone Lama Lodro GyatsoChong GoChoshu UedaChuang TzuCiceroclassClaudio NaranjoConfuciusC. S. LewisDadu DayalDaisetsu Teitaro SuzukiDai ZhenDante AlighieriDavid HumeDenis DiderotDesiderius ErasmusDilgo Khyentse RinpocheDiogenesDion FortuneDogenDudjom RinpocheDzogchen Ponlop RinpocheDzongsar Jamyang Khyentse RinpocheEdgar Allan PoeEdward YoungEleazar ben KallirEliphas LeviEmanuel SwedenborgEpictetusEratosthenesErich JantschEric S RaymondErik EriksonErik Pema KunsangErnest BeckerErnest HemingwayFarid ud-Din AttarFrancis BaconFrancis ThompsonFrank HerbertFranz BardonFranz KafkaFriedrich NietzscheFriedrich SchillerFukuda Chiyo-niFyodor DostoevskyGabor MateGary GygaxGenpo RoshiGeorg C LichtenbergGeorge Bernard ShawGeorge CarlinGeorge EliotGeorge MacDonaldGeorg Wilhelm Friedrich HegelGeshe Kelsang GyatsoG K ChestertonGorakhnathGottfried Wilhelm LeibnizGudo Wafu NishijimaGuentherGuru NanakGuru RinpocheGyatrul RinpocheHafizHakim SanaiHakuinHakuin EkakuHan FeiziHan-shanHaruki MurakamiHazrat Inayat KhanHeinrich Cornelius AgrippaHemachandraHenri BergsonHenry David ThoreauHenry T. LaurencyHenry Wadsworth LongfellowHeraclitusHermann HesseH G WellsH. G. WellsHippocratesHomerHoraceHoward GardnerH P BlavatskyH P LovecraftHsuan Chueh of Yung ChiaHsuan HuaHuang PoHui-NengHung-chih Cheng-chuehHu-ShihIamblichusIbn ArabiIbn Ata IllahIkkyuImmanuel KantIsaac NewtonIsaac of StellaIshikara RikizanIsrael RegardieItalo CalvinoIzumi ShikibuJabir ibn HayyanJacopone da TodiJakushitsuJalaluddin RumiJames Clerk MaxwellJames George FrazerJames JoyceJames S A CoreyJamgon Kongtrul Lodro ThayeJamgon Mipham RinpocheJaron LanierJayadevaJean BaudrillardJean GebserJean-Paul SartreJean PiagetJetsun MilarepaJiang WuJianzhi SengcanJiddu KrishnamurtiJigdral Yeshe DorjeJigme LingpaJohannes KeplerJohann Wolfgang von GoetheJohn Daido LooriJohn DonneJohn KeatsJohn MiltonJordan PetersonJorge Luis BorgesJoseph CampbellJoshu Sasaki RoshiJ R R TolkienJudah HaleviJulio CortazarJurgen HabermasJusammi ChikakoKabirKahlil GibranKalidasaKalu RinpocheKarma TrinleyKatsuki SekidaKelsang GyatsoKenneth GrantKen WilberKhandro RinpocheKhenchen Palden Sherab RinpocheKhenchen Thrangu RinpocheKhenpo KunpalKhwaja Abdullah AnsariKobayashi IssaKodo SawakiKosho UchiyamaKrishna-Dwaipayana VyasaKuan Han-ChingLallaLao TzuLeonardo da VinciLeo TolstoyLevi Yitzchak of BerditchovLewis CarrollLi BaiLilly WachowskiLiu YimingLivyLongchenpaLongchen RabjampaLord ByronLucretiusLudwig von BertalanffyLudwig WittgensteinLu Tung PinMahatma GandhiMaimonidesM Alan KazlevManly P HallMansur al-HallajMarcus AureliusMarijn HaverbekeMark TwainMarpa LotsawaMarshall McLuhanMartin HeideggerMary ShelleyMasahideMasao AbeMatsuo BashoMechthild of MagdeburgMeister EckhartMenciusMichael EndeMichael MaierMichel de MontaigneMichel MohrMichio KakuMiguel de CervantesMinling Trichen RinpocheMirabaiMiriam L. LeveringMontesquieuMortimer J AdlerMoses de LeonMoziMuso SosekiNachmanidesNaftali BacharachNakamura HajimeNamdevNeil GaimanNichirenNiels BohrNikola TeslaNirodbaranNishida KitaroNolini Kanta GuptaNorbert WienerNovalisNozawa BonchoNukataOmar KhayyamOrson Scott CardOscar WildeOshoOvidPablo NerudaPadmasambhavaParacelsusPatanjaliPatrul RinpochePaul DiracP D OuspenskyPema ChodronPercy Bysshe ShelleyPeter J CarrollPeter SloterdijkPhil HinePhilo of AlexandriaPierre Teilhard de ChardinPindarPipaPlatoPlotinusPo Chu-iPorphyryProclusPublilius SyrusPythagorasRabbi Abraham AbulafiaRabbi Abraham Joshua HeschelRabindranath TagoreRainer Maria RilkeRalph Waldo EmersonRamanandaRamprasadRavidasR Buckminster FullerRed PineRen GunonRichard P FeynmanRobert Anton WilsonRobert BrowningRobert BurnsRoger BaconRudolf SteinerRyuzanSaadiSaigyoSaint Augustine of HippoSaint Benedict of NursiaSaint Bernard of ClairvauxSaint Catherine of SienaSaint Clare of AssisiSaint Dionysius the AreopagiteSaint Francis of AssisiSaint Hildegard von BingenSaint John of the CrossSaint PaulSaint Teresa of AvilaSaint Therese of LisieuxSaint Thomas AquinasSaisei MuroSamael Aun WeorSantoka TanedaSapphoSarahaSarmadSatpremSaul WilliamsSenecaShankaraShih-teShiwuShunryu SuzukiSigmund FreudSimone de BeauvoirSir Roger PenroseSlavoj ZizekSogyal RinpocheSolomon ibn GabirolSophoclesSoren KierkegaardSri AurobindoSri ChinmoySri Nisargadatta MaharajSri RamakrishnaSri Ramana MaharshiStephen CoveyStephen KingSteven HeineSun BuerSurdasSusan SontagSwami KrishnanandaSwami NikhilanandaSwami Sivananda SaraswatiSwami VivekanandaSymeon the New TheologianTaigu RyokanTaisen DeshimaruTakahashiTao ChienTarthang TulkuTenzin PalmoTenzin Wangyal RinpocheTerence McKennaThanissaro BhikkhuThe MotherTheophan the RecluseThich Nhat HanhThomas A KempisThomas CarlyleThomas ClearyThomas JeffersonThomas KeatingThomas MertonThubten YesheTimothy SnyderTom Butler-BowdonT S EliotTsogdruk RinpocheTsoknyi RinpocheTsongkhapaTulku Urgyen RinpocheUrsula K Le GuinValmikiVictor HugoVidyapatiViktor FranklVincent van GoghVirgilVladimir AntonovVoltaireWalt WhitmanWangsong XingxiuWang WeiWang YangmingWang ZhenyiWei Wu WeiWendi Leigh AdamekWerner HeisenbergWilliam BlakeWilliam Butler YeatsWilliam FaulknerWilliam GibsonWilliam JamesWilliam ShakespeareWilliam WordsworthWumen HuikaiXunziYajnavalkyaYameiYangthang RinpocheYannaiYeshe TsogyalYong ZhiYosa BusonYose ben YoseYoshida KenkoYuan MeiYuanwu KeqinYuval Noah HarariZhechen Gyaltsab Padma Gyurmed NamgyalZhuangzi
Place Main Page
categories:Planesthe Worldsthe Bodystructurethe place
favorites:the Gardenthe Infinite Art Gallerythe Infinite BuildingThe Infinite LibraryThe LabyrinthThe Librarythe Templethe Towerthe School
a Place I rather bea treasure-house of miraculous knowledgeAurovillebaseBookstoresbuildingcastleCathedralchatroomCityCity on the PortcommunitiesdomaindungeonElysiumForestgardenGodhavenHeavenHedge MazeHellHillhouseIntegral CentersJapanLaboratoryLabyrinthlairLibraryLighthouseMazeMeditation Centersmentalmy roomnew placeOvermindpalacephysicalplaces (from OWRPG)places I want to goplaces (list)places (notes)places (on earth)planespotential places to liveprovincePyramid of WorksrealmsanctuarysanctumSavitris TowerSchoolspireSri Aurobindos roomTemplethe Abyssthe Astral Templethe Castle in the Skythe Catacombsthe Cemeterythe Central Citythe Circlethe City of the Pyramidsthe City of Towersthe Community Centerthe Crossingthe Crossroadsthe Crossroads (vg)the Dark Forestthe Dark Paththe Entrance to the Dungeonthe Exitthe Floating (place) in the Skythe Futurethe Game (the Worlds)the Gardenthe Help Centerthe Higher Mindthe Infinite Art Gallerythe Infinite Buildingthe Interior CastleThe Intermediate Zonethe Internetthe Laboratorythe Labyrinththe Library (books)the Library of All-Knowledgethe Maze of Nightmaresthe Necromancers Towerthe Palacethe Paththe permanent dwelling-place of Sri Aurobindothe Placethe Place of All-Knowledgethe Place of Incarnationthe Place where everything is already completethe Place where Inspiration comes fromthe Place where knowledge isthe Place where Sri Aurobindo isthe Place where The Mother isthe Place where visions come fromthe Playgroundthe Prisonthe Red Towerthe Refugethe Roomthe Room of Portalsthe Sanctuarythe Studythe Templethe Temple-Citythe Temple of Boundless Lightthe Temple of Knowledgethe Temple of Sagesthe Temple of the Morning Starthe Temple of the Motherthe Temple of Timelessnessthe Towerthe Tower of Babelthe Tower of MEMthe WiredthresholdTimeworld
categories:PowersElementsDifficultiesAttributesCapacitiesSiddhisForcesSkillsFaculties
favorites:AspirationBeautyConcentrationEffortFaithGracePresenceSinceritysurrender
Aspirationassentastral travelBalanceBeautyBraveryCalmcapacitiesCheerfulnessConcentrationConfidenceconsecrationCourageDeterminationDevotionDivine AnandaDivine DelightDivine LightEffortelements in the yogaEnduranceEnthusiasmEqualityFaithFaithfulnessFocusGenerosityGoodnessGraceGratitudeHappinessHeroismhonestyHopeHumilityimaginationinspirationIntegralityIntegrityInteriorizationIntuitionJoyknowledgeLightLoveOfferingOpennessPatiencePeacePerseverancephysicalPresenceProgressPropertyPrudencePurityReceptivityRejectionRenunciationRepentanceSacrificeSamadhiSamataSelf-Confidenceself-controlSelf-GivingSelf-OfferingSelf-SurrendersiddhisSilenceSincerityspaceSraddhaStraightforwardnessStrengthSubstancesurrenderTapasyathe Darknessthe Divine Anandathe Divine Beautythe Divine Compassionthe Divine Contactthe Divine Forcethe Divine Gracethe Divine Helpthe Divine Lovethe Divine Peacethe Divine Powersthe Divine Protectionthe Divine Truththe Divine Willthe Firethe Lightthe OceanTrustTruthfulnessTruthVigilencevisionWillpowerWillWisdom
categories:InjunctionsPracticesMovementsProjectsVerbs
favorites:Lucid DreamingmeditationprojectprogrammingPrayerread Savitristudy
1-2-3 of God3-2-1 Shadow ProcessAQAL analysisAQAL MeditationAspirationBalletclean your roomconfessiond20daily minimum offeringexercisesexperimentsgardeningGuru YogagymnasticsHatha YogaI Chinginjunctions by tierInvocationJapaKarma YogaKendama (gifs)logLovemain practicesmantrameditationmemcardsPrayerprogrammingprojectRaja Yogareadread SavitriSacrificespeed readingthe Tarottraining regimentYoga
categories:SubjectsObjectsThingsConceptsNounsIdeasTopics
favorites:Computer ScienceCyberneticsGame DevIntegral TheoryIntegral YogaKabbalahLanguagePhilosophyPoetryZen
ActingAlchemyArchitectureArtArtifical_IntelligenceBaha_i_FaithBalletBiologyBuddhismChemistryChristianityChristian_MysticismCognitive_ScienceComedyCommunicationComputer_ScienceConstructionCryptocurrencyCyberneticsDanceDivinationEcologyEducationElectronicsEngineeringEnglishFictionFormal_Sciencesgame_designGame_DevGuru_YogaHackingHatha_YogaHealthHinduismHistoryInformaticsInformation_ScienceIntegralIntegral_TheoryIntegral_YogaJewish_MysticismJnana_YogaKabbalahKarma_YogaLanguageLawLibrary_ScienceLinguisticsLoveMartial_ArtsMathMilitaryMusicMysticismMythologyNatural_SciencesNeuroscienceNinjitsuNumerologyOccultismPhilosophyPhysicspoemsPoetryproduct_designPsychologyPsycho_therapyRaja_YogaRoboticsScienceSelf-HelpSikhismSocial_SciencesSociologyStorytellingsubjects_(old)SufismSystems_EngineeringSystems_ScienceTaoismTheologythe_SubjectTibetan_Buddhismworld_buildingYogaZen
Media Main Page
bookscourseschaptersfavoritesgameswebsites
animeArtarticleassessmentaudioaudio filesbigindexbookscantocollectioncomicsdatadatabasesdatatypedialoguesdictionaryencyclopediaentryepisodesexamplefavoritesgamesgifsgroceryimginterviewlinkslistslog otherlyricsmagazinesmangamapmoviesMusicnewsnotesnotes (unsorted)playspodcastpoemspoems (other)profilesproverbspsychometricsquestionnairequestionsquotesrecordsromsscriptureshort essayshort storyspeechesstringssummarysurveytableted talktestthe Wordtorrentstranscriptstv showsvideogameswebsiteswordlist (web)




classes ::: chapter, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell, Mythology, Psychology,
children :::
branches :::
see also :::

bookmarks: Instances - Definitions - Quotes - Chapters - Wordnet - Webgen


object:1.05 - The Belly of the Whale
class:chapter
book class:The Hero with a Thousand Faces
author class:Joseph Campbell
subject class:Mythology
subject class:Psychology


5
The Belly of the Whale

The idea that the passage of the magical threshold is a transit
into a sphere of rebirth is symbolized in the worldwide womb
image of the belly of the whale. The hero, instead of conquering
or conciliating the power of the threshold, is swallowed into the
unknown, and would appear to have died.
Mishe-Nahma, King of Fishes,
In his wrath he darted upward,
Flashing leaped into the sunshine,
Opened his great jaws and swallowed
Both canoe and Hiawatha
56

The Eskimo of Bering Strait tell of the trickster-hero Raven,
how, one day, as he sat drying his clothes on a beach, he ob
served a whale-cow swimming gravely close to shore. He called:
"Next time you come up for air, dear, open your mouth and shut
your eyes." Then he slipped quickly into his raven clothes,
pulled on his raven mask, gathered his fire sticks under his arm,
and flew out over the water. The whale came up. She did as she
had been told. Raven darted through the open jaws and straight
into her gullet. The shocked whale-cow snapped and sounded;
Raven stood inside and looked around.
The Zulus have a story of two children and their mother swal
lowed by an elephant. When the woman reached the animal's
stomach, "she saw large forests and great rivers, and many high
57

5 6

Longfellow, The Song of Hiawatha, VIII. The adventures ascribed by
Longfellow to the Iroquois chieftain Hiawatha belong properly to the Algon
quin culture hero Manabozho. Hiawatha was an actual historical personage of
the sixteenth century. See p. 274, note 1, infra.
Leo Frobenius, Das Zeitalter des Sonnengottes (Berlin, 1904), p. 85.
57

83


DEPARTURE

lands; on one side there were many rocks; and there were many
people who had built their village there; and many dogs and
many cattle; all was there inside the elephant."
The Irish hero, finn MacCool, was swallowed by a monster of
indefinite form, of the type known to the Celtic world as a peist.
The little German girl, Red Ridinghood, was swallowed by
a wolf. The Polynesian favorite, Maui, was swallowed by his
great-great-grandmo ther, Hine-nui-te-po. And the whole Greek
pantheon, with the sole exception of Zeus, was swallowed by its
father, Kronos.
The Greek hero Herakles, pausing at Troy on his way home
ward with the belt of the queen of the Amazons, found that the
city was being harassed by a monster sent against it by the seagod Poseidon. The beast would come ashore and devour people
as they moved about on the plain. Beautiful Hesione, the daugh
ter of the king, had just been bound by her father to the sea
rocks as a propitiatory sacrifice, and the great visiting hero
agreed to rescue her for a price. The monster, in due time, broke
to the surface of the water and opened its enormous maw. Her
akles took a dive into the throat, cut his way out through the
belly, and left the monster dead.
This popular motif gives emphasis to the lesson that the pas
sage of the threshold is a form of self-annihilation. Its resem
blance to the adventure of the Symplegades is obvious. But here,
instead of passing outward, beyond the confines of the visible
world, the hero goes inward, to be born again. The disappear
ance corresponds to the passing of a worshiper into a temple
where he is to be quickened by the recollection of who and what
he is, namely dust and ashes unless immortal. The temple inte
rior, the belly of the whale, and the heavenly land beyond,
above, and below the confines of the world, are one and the same.
That is why the approaches and entrances to temples are flanked
and defended by colossal gargoyles: dragons, lions, devil-slayers
with drawn swords, resentful dwarfs, winged bulls. These are
58

5 8

Henry Callaway, Nursery Tales and Traditions of the Zulus (London,
1868), p. 331.
84


T H E B E L L Y OF T H E W H A L E

the threshold guardians to ward away all incapable of encounter
ing the higher silences within. They are preliminary embodi
ments of the dangerous aspect of the presence, corresponding to
the mythological ogres that bound the conventional world, or to
the two rows of teeth of the whale. They illustrate the fact that the
devotee at the moment of entry into a temple undergoes a meta
morphosis. His secular character remains without; he sheds it,
as a snake its slough. Once inside he may be said to have died to
time and returned to the World Womb, the World Navel, the
Earthly Paradise. The mere fact that anyone can physically walk
past the temple guardians does not invalidate their significance;
for if the intruder is incapable of encompassing the sanctuary,
then he has effectually remained without. Anyone unable to un
derstand a god sees it as a devil and is thus defended from the
approach. Allegorically, then, the passage into a temple and the
hero-dive through the jaws of the whale are identical adven
tures, both denoting, in picture language, the life-centering, liferenewing act.
"No creature," writes Ananda Coomaraswamy, "can attain a
higher grade of nature without ceasing to exist." Indeed, the
physical body of the hero may be actually slain, dismembered,
and scattered over the land or seaas in the Egyptian myth of
the savior Osiris: he was thrown into a sarcophagus and com
mitted to the Nile by his brother Set, and when he returned
from the dead his brother slew him again, tore the body into
fourteen pieces, and scattered these over the land. The Twin
Heroes of the Navaho had to pass not only the clashing rocks,
but also the reeds that cut the traveler to pieces, the cane
cactuses that tear him to pieces, and the boiling sands that
overwhelm him. The hero whose attachment to ego is already
annihilate passes back and forth across the horizons of the
59

60

5 9

Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, "Akimcanna: Self-Naughting" (New Indian
Antiquary, Vol. Ill, Bombay, 1940), p. 6, note 14, citing and discussing
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I, 63, 3.
The sarcophagus or casket is an alternative for the belly of the whale.
Compare Moses in the bulrushes.
6 0

85


DEPARTURE

world, in and out of the dragon, as readily as a king through all
the rooms of his house. And therein lies his power to save; for
his passing and returning demonstrate that through all the con
traries of phenomenality the Uncreate-Imperishable remains,
and there is nothing to fear.
And so it is that, throughout the world, men whose function it
has been to make visible on earth the life-fructifying mystery of
the slaying of the dragon have enacted upon their own bodies
the great symbolic act, scattering their flesh, like the body of
Osiris, for the renovation of the world. In Phrygia, for example,
in honor of the crucified and resurrected savior Attis, a pine tree
was cut on the twenty-second of March, and brought into the
sanctuary of the mother-goddess, Cybele. There it was swathed
like a corpse with woolen bands and decked with wreaths of vio
lets. The effigy of a young man was tied to the middle of the
stem. Next day took place a ceremonial lament and blowing of
trumpets. The twenty-fourth of March was known as the Day of
Blood: the high priest drew blood from his arms, which he pre
sented as an offering; the lesser clergy whirled in a dervishdance, to the sound of drums, horns, flutes, and cymbals, until,
rapt in ecstasy, they gashed their bodies with knives to bespatter
the altar and tree with their blood; and the novices, in imitation
of the god whose death and resurrection they were celebrating,
castrated themselves and swooned.
And in the same spirit, the king of the south Indian province
of Quilacare, at the completion of the twelfth year of his reign,
on a day of solemn festival, had a wooden scaffolding constructed,
and spread over with hangings of silk. When he had ritually
bathed in a tank, with great ceremonies and to the sound of
music, he then came to the temple, where he did worship before
the divinity. Thereafter, he mounted the scaffolding and, before
the people, took some very sharp knives and began to cut off his
own nose, and then his ears, and his lips, and all his members,
61

61

Sir James G. Frazer, The Golden Bough (one-volume edition), pp. 347-349.
Copyright, 1922 by The Macmillan Company and used with their permission.

86


T H E B E L L Y OF T H E W H A L E

o&V&frCit

fan

'

4Y?ti^g

Zpff

CKnvjtpfCVl

layoff

r < 0 $ > W l^^JjZ***

0

3*?*%

frictn

pntu

FIGURE 5. The Night-Sea Journey
Joseph in the Well: Entombment of Christ: Jonah and the Whale

87


DEPARTURE

and as much of his flesh as he was able. He threw it away and
round about, until so much of his blood was spilled that he
began to faint, whereupon he summarily cut his throat.
62

6 2

Duarte Barbosa, A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar in
the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century (Hakluyt Society, London, 1866), p.
172; cited by Frazer, op. cit., pp. 274275. Reprinted by permission of The
Macmillan Company, publishers.
This is the sacrifice that King Minos refused when he withheld the bull from
Poseidon. As Frazer has shown, ritual regicide was a general tradition in the
ancient world. "In Southern India," he writes, "the king's reign and life termi
nated with the revolution of the planet Jupiter round the sun. In Greece, on
the other hand, the king's fate seems to have hung in the balance at the end of
every eight years . . . Without being unduly rash we may surmise that the trib
ute of seven youths and seven maidens whom the Athenians were bound to
send to Minos every eight years had some connexion with the renewal of the
king's power for another octennial cycle" (ibid., p. 280). The bull sacrifice re
quired of King Minos implied that he would sacrifice himself, according to the
pattern of the inherited tradition, at the close of his eight-year term. But he
seems to have offered, instead, the substitute of the Athenian youths and maid
ens. That perhaps is how the divine Minos became the monster Minotaur, the
self-annihilate king the tyrant Holdfast, and the hieratic state, wherein every
man enacts his role, the merchant empire, wherein each is out for himself.
Such practices of substitution seem to have become general throughout the an
tique world toward the close of the great period of the early hieratic states,
during the third and second millenniums B.C.

88


questions, comments, suggestions/feedback, take-down requests, contribute, etc
contact me @ integralyogin@gmail.com or
join the integral discord server (chatrooms)
if the page you visited was empty, it may be noted and I will try to fill it out. cheers


OBJECT INSTANCES [0] - TOPICS - AUTHORS - BOOKS - CHAPTERS - CLASSES - SEE ALSO - SIMILAR TITLES

TOPICS
SEE ALSO


AUTH

BOOKS
The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces

IN CHAPTERS TITLE
1.05_-_The_Belly_of_the_Whale

IN CHAPTERS CLASSNAME

IN CHAPTERS TEXT
1.05_-_The_Belly_of_the_Whale

PRIMARY CLASS

chapter
SIMILAR TITLES

DEFINITIONS



QUOTES [0 / 0 - 0 / 0]


KEYS (10k)


NEW FULL DB (2.4M)


*** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***


IN CHAPTERS [0/0]









WORDNET


































IN WEBGEN [10000/0]



change font "color":
change "background-color":
change "font-family":
change "padding":
change "table font size":
last updated: 2022-02-04 08:49:31
232115 site hits