Robin Hood may be the answer!

I have this obsession with archetypes, right? I mean, I really dig Dr. Jung and Tarot and I think life is just a big spaghetti bowl of archetypes. If you don't know what an archetype is, click here.

So a few weeks back I was doing my normal sit around and think a lot thing that I do. And I started thinking about mythological archetypes: the Cinderellas, Beauties and Beasties, Rapunzels, Wicked Witches, Damsels in Distress, all of that stuff. And I got to Robin Hood for some reason. And he disturbed me, because in his own story he's the hero, but as I thought about it more and more ... maybe he wasn't so great after all.

I mean, why would we call someone who steals from the rich and gives to the poor a hero? Stealing is stealing is stealing. "Karmic debt is going to get his ass sooner or later," I thought to myself. So, is he good or bad? Is he a worthy hero to present to our children and posterity?

There are lots of heroes that we teach our posterity about that are mediocre examples of heroism. We tell stories out of habit and then neglect to recognize the real message we're portraying. Here's an example: my dad always says to me "I hated being in the military and every day I woke up and said to myself, 'Just one more day, just one more day.'" He tells me that, thinking he's presenting himself as a hero of perserverence. But I always heard him saying he's a hero for living unhappily for the sake of getting a paycheck. Like survival is more important than happiness. I hated that message.

Another example is the "Boy Scout" archetype. Now I'm not talking about the "Boy Scouts of America." I'm talking about Cyclops vs. Wolverine. The "obedient and unquestioning child." The "valiant leader of his father's armies." He who always "does it by the book." Sometimes, those boyscout heroes are nothing worth looking up to.

So anyways, I was wondering in my little head how the story of Robin Hood managed to perpetuate itself through hundreds of years and various cultures. Why has it survived? There must be something special about a story that makes it survive that long, that makes people tell it over and over. You don't recommend movies to people that were totally pointless to you, or restaurants that offered nothing special.

I went out that day and rented Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. I took it home to watch it on my laptop. And the DVD didn't work. I took it back to Blockbuster and they said, "Oops! Sorry, you'll have to pick a different movie." I've checked that Blockbuster a couple of times since and they haven't replaced it. And I haven't been motivated/driven enough to go find it somewhere else ha ha.

Then, tonight, I was at my sister Sunny Jo's house, and lo-and-behold on her end table is a VHS copy of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. She'd borrowed it from my mom. I don't have a VHS player, so I took it to my sister Crystal's house and watched it.

The movie is not very good. I don't necessarily recommend it to anyone. I remember thinking it was epic when I was a kid, and watching it many times. But as an adult I couldn't remember the storyline. Anyways, it was pretty cheesy and even silly, and I could tell they were intending to keep it fun and lighthearted, but sometimes it was a little too much.

As the movie ended, I was disappointed. I felt no closer to my answer of what makes the story so enduring. I wondered at the Peter Pan lightheartedness, but that wasn't quite it. I wondered at just how the Sheriff of Nottingham was such a bastard, and Robin stood against him. But that wasn't really any different than any other story.

The VHS rewound, and I was looking at the movie's case and read the back of it. I was surprised that there was no synopsis of the movie on the back. It said just this:

"For the good of all men, and the love of one woman, he fought to uphold justice by breaking the law."

And that was the answer I was looking for.

Robin Hood personifies the light, or positive aspects, of the "Rebel" archetype very, very perfectly.

This was interesting to me especially, because just a week or so ago, I got an archetype reading from my friend Crystal and the "rebel" card was drawn. I feel sometimes like I'm rebellious, but not that it's an important role I play in life. AND, because of that reading, I've chosen to dress up at our archetype Halloween party (tomorrow) dressed as "the rebel." The Rebel has been on my mind, and popping up in my life. It's not surprising that the story of Robin Hood just popped into my mind one day! The Rebel's been trying to get my attention!

Here's what Caroline Myss says about the Rebel:

Light Attributes: Challenges authority to effect social change. Rejects systems (spiritual, political, or otherwise) that do not serve inner needs.

Dark Attributes: Rejects legitimate authority out of anger. Rebels out of peer pressure or fashion.
- I got this from her Archetypes deck -

See, in the movie (which I don't really care if the movie is the most original version of the Robin Hood story - it's the one that our society and culture recognizes today), Robin encourages people who are accepting of their unjust fate to fight back. Robin says, "Don't accept what life has handed you, don't let the man get you down, don't buy in to the system, STEP UP!"

The role of the Rebel in humanity is to question everything. To raise the standard by pointing out the flaws of the status quo. It can be a hard and restless way to live. The Rebel is related, as archetypes go, to the Destroyer, the Seeker, and the Hero. And maybe the Altruistic Judge is his cousin.

Where would we be without the Rebels? Quietly and passively accepting the status quo.

And do we not do that? Today, in our culture, in our environment - do we not often settle for the lower and wider paths? How many of you out there have an ok job that pays the bills and brings you nominal gratification? How many of you have forfeited your dream jobs? How many of us settle for mediocre marriages and relationships because we figure it's better than having nothing?

(Now that I'm getting in to this, I think the Rebel archetype might be married to the Prostitute archetype. Yah, yah I digress...)

For those of us feeling like it's time to stand up and say no, time to stop believing what we've been raised to know, and to stop embracing that which itches, Robin Hood is a tale worth pondering. In your life, who's the Sheriff of Nottingham taking over your world while you've "checked out?" When you check back in, will you not be willing to stand up against him?

Christian Slater, for a good part of the movie is a hater of Robin and with reasons. He keeps commenting that Robin is inviting trouble, making matters worse, etc. As the Sheriff was burning down their homes in the forest, I wondered if maybe Christian Slater's character didn't have a point. I mean, if Robin had just chilled a little they could have gone on forever, living like they were, kings of the forest - right?

Not so! Eventually, if one thinks to simply hide and sneak from those who would oppress them, war will come. The true question is this: when war comes *as it inevitably will*, will I submit to my oppressors, or risk everything and stand for myself? Robin Hood, the Rebel, teaches that submission is the same as losing everything, and thus the risk of loss through opposition is actually the only option with any possibility of victory.

Now not all people need to be rebels at all times in all situations. The Rebel, like any archetype, has his place and purpose in life. But if you feel him calling to you, in your mind or deep in your soul, it may serve you and the world to consider what he has to say. Like any archetype he has his flaws and shortcomings, and he's quick to answer to the heat of anger, so watch out for that.

But the good aspect of the Rebel knows how to light the fire of anger to useful and controlled degrees. In the case of Light Rebellion, anger is truly his gift of power to you. And that's something that Zach de la Rocha says too - a line in one of Rage Against the Machine's songs that has always been beautiful to me... "your anger is a gift."

I have one final thing to say about the Rebel. He is not automatically a leader, a creator of movements or change. A call from the Rebel is not necessarily a call to lead. It is simply a call of passion and truth to break away from antiquated or hurtful ways of thinking or being. It may happen that as you heed this call others will follow, as in the case of Robin Hood. But do not mistake a desire for power as a call from the Rebel. He has no passion or desire to command others, rather, his passion and desires lie in greater truth, wealth, happiness and freedom for the village - for the Whole. He is not out to prove - only to live and allow life.

Something that I find very beautiful is that this story has survived. In what seems often to be our fuddy-duddy world, our conventional and lemming society, this story is told over and over. Inasmuch as we live in a society and culture that allows us to tell these stories, of these Dark Knights, we are graciously free to heed their call and live their passions. THAT is EXCITING!

So, let's not go shooting down the modern day Robin Hoods because they threaten to expose cracks in our foundation. Let's be conscious of what our foundations are, how we've chosen them, and let's be inspecting them regularly for antiquity or flaw.

"...fight to uphold justice, by breaking the law..."

The Goddess Eclipses the Sun

So I was doing a Tarot reading today and explaining to my querent that a LOT of women seem to be divorcing their husbands right now. Mostly because their husbands are boring, depressive or ... well ... one is psychotic in my opinion.

I've been thinking about this a whole bunch. The other day my Dad commented that I'm a total mystery to him. I said, "That makes sense. Because men are like the Sun. Either they're shining, or they're not. Women on the other hand, women are like the moon and they go through phases. One day they're shining bright, the next day their energy wanes, the next day they're like a new moon, dark and completely not open to shining for anyone. The sun is up in the daytime and down at night. But the moon wanders the day sky, then shows up at night, then you don't see her for a few days because your timing wasn't right, then she's blaring in your face, full blast."

The moon is traditionally linked to womanhood, and the sun to masculinity. In Greek mythology, the twins Apollo and Artemis were born, with Apollo, the male, given to rule the Sun, and Artemis, the daughter, given the Moon. The moon reflects the light of the sun ... when she feels like it. That would make some think she needs the light of the man, er sun, to shine. She sure does. But c'mon we're more complex than that! The Moon's visible power is in her reflection of the Sun, but her greatest power is in her invisible control of the tides on Earth. Don't forget that she too has a domain where she rules - and that her domain is totally separate from that of the Sun (man). There is absolutely no reason for a power struggle!

Ironically, the sun is the PERFECT distance from the Earth, and the moon the PERFECT distance from the Earth that when you're standing on Earth the two appear to be the same size. Exactly. Isn't that bizarre and miraculous? Can't we learn from that?

So, back to women divorcing their hubands. I've been thinking about how the sun is like men, predictable and unchanging, and how the moon is like women, in a state of constant flux and much faster movement. I've been hearing a lot over the past year about how divine female energy is reawakening on Earth after millenia of being stifled by patriarchal order. This is obvious through things like the Women's Movement, but I'd say overall the Goddess energy is becoming more apparent in all women. I have friends/sisters who earlier in their lives seemed submissive and meek, and are now stepping forward as powerhouses.

It feels to me like women are taking a moment right now in the world to eclipse the men, just like how the moon can eclipse the sun. It's like we just want to step in front of all of the men in the world for just 15 minutes (a solar eclipse after all only lasts for a few minutes) and be like, 'Dude, I'm over it! Yeah, you're bigger than me, but when everything is put into perspective in life, I'm not afraid to stand in front of you." I think that's why so many women are feeling restless in their boring or frustrating relationships.

It won't last, the moon has no intention during an eclipse of blocking out the sun. But the sun can't eclipse the moon, at it doesn't want to. A lunar eclipse is when LIFE, or the Earth, eclipses the moon, and should have nothing to do with male energy - it's more like a woman (Mother Earth) eclipsing herself (the Moon).

And so, men, just relax as we get this out of our systems. It's been building up for a while and we need to do this for our own sense of empowerment. It's natural and really not something that we care to control. It's not about getting rid of male energy, because without the sun's light, the Moon is stuck in darkness. Women like men, believe it or not. I know that I sure like them a lot, especially when they shine a light on me and I get to decide how much of it I reflect back (Sun/Moon). I don't want the male light to go out - no way Jose! I just need a little independence for a moment.

On this note, I was thinking about the whole economic crisis. I wonder, and this is just a wondering, if big banks - the good old boys - and other old powerful institutions are crumbling because they're not prepared to handle this shift in female energy. Any person or organization that isn't prepared to see a little challenge of patriarchal order won't survive these times. And that's ok. It's just the natural role of the universe to clear out rigid energy. That's what women do anyways - we like to shift things up. So if you are rigid, and don't have spring-loaded reflexes, expect some frustration with female energy over the next little while.

I have seen some men recently also who are doing just that - they're remembering that they DO have joints, and they DO have flexibility and they're mixing it up again! Yahoo! I see a lot of men, "good old boys" who are learning new things, opening up to possibilities and taking socio-emotional risks that they wouldn't dream of 10 years ago. This way, when the Goddesses in their lives swing around for an eclipse, they just lean to the left or right - and keep her on HER toes. We like that - the chase. Men are like dogs, they fight for a bone because they want to chew on the bone. When they get the bone they're happy, even if it was a handout. Women are like cats - they like the hunt. We bat the mouse around a few times, and the minute we win, we're disinterested. No chewing the bone for us! That's boring! Artemis was, after all, the great huntress.

So my hope is that we can keep our heads light and high and feel gratitude for the economic and political shakeups right now, and get excited to clear away silly old patriarchal cobwebs and enjoy those fabulous masculine energies in our lives that give us our light, and dance with our tides. No more tin men, without hearts and rigid joints! Time to LUBE UP! If you don't learn it from Dorothy, the Wicked Witch of the West (west = sunset) will drop by and get you movin! Mwahahahaha. :D

And THAT just might be a threat ... lol

Our Mother Earth : High Priestess meets the Empress

Yesterday I sat in one of my final intuition classes with my incredible coach Marinna Siri, focusing on communicating with Mother Earth. I was challenged (as was the rest of my class) to connect to "Mother Earth". Ahhhh the GREAT GODDESS!

Ok, so we all started focusing on opening our chakras, allowing an intuitive channel. And as members of the class began to share their experiences I made contact.

The first thing She - the GREAT She - had to say to me was, "Why are you calling me mother? Is that all I am to you? Someone to cuddle you, clean you, feed you, nurture you? Am I nothing else?" I've had a previous conversation with Her where She has asked me to stop calling her Mother Earth. She even gave me a name : Sahashara - which happens to be the Sanscrit name for the crown chakra. But naturally, as a social creature of culture, I promptly returned to calling her the more known "Mother Earth."

This question, though left me surprised at myself. Why was I calling her mother? How would I feel about EVERYONE calling ME mother? (For the record I have no children right now.) More so, how would I feel about being expected to mother everyone. Yuck. Blech vomit vomit. There is nothing less appealing to me than being in a room chock full of children who's parents are inattentive, and these children expecting me to mother them. And I LOVE children. But I don't ever want to be identified in life as simply a "mother." (Mother meets astrophysicist, sure.)

But seriously, when was the last time you referred to Mother Earth as "Mother meets Weatherwoman" or whatever?

Recently I read a book by Jean Shinoda Bolen called "Goddesses in Everywoman." (Ironically her featured book today is called "Urgent Message From Mother" - what are the odds?). In the book she loosely follows Jungian psychology to identify the 7 main archetypes of a woman's psyche and outlines those archetypes using the stories of 7 Greek Goddesses. It's an incredible book and I recommend it to everyone. You see, Demeter is Mother Earth. She's the nurturer, the one who brings harvest, the one who obsesses over caring for children, caring for the elderly, etc. But Demeter is only 1 of the 7 faces of the Great Goddess.

And so "Mother" is one of the many appropriate titles for our Goddess Earth.

And now we get to Tarot (thank God!). In Tarot, the Great Goddess is divided into two characters, two Major Arcana cards (though She shows Her faces throughout the deck). Card #2, the High Priestess, and Card #3, the Empress. The Empress is traditionally pictured (I am currently calling Rider-Waite imagery the "tradition" which I know some consider a faux pas), ahem, she's traditionally pictured outdoors, sitting very relaxed in a comfortably flowing gown, arguably pregnant, with pomegranates and golden wheat symbolizing her fertility. She is Mother Earth in all of her Demeter qualities. And our culture tends to leave Her there. But that's the Empress -card number 3. Before the Goddess was ever the Empress, She was the High Priestess.

The High Priestess is pictured indoors, seated between two pillars (labeled for two pillars in the temple at Jerusalem). She has a curtain of behind her that hangs from the two pillars. And behind that curtain is a great mystery. She holds a scroll or a book entitled "Tora" - perhaps representing the mysteries of the Jewish Bible. The High Priestess is the inner woman, the inner Great Goddess. She is no Mother. In fact, the High Priestess in Greek Mythology was Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. And, not coincidentally, Persephone is the Daughter of Demeter. Before the Goddess was ever a mother, she was a daughter and a queen.

The High Priestess is, as is Persephone, the gatekeeper to the underworld, or that is, the unconscious. She is the agent who grants us passage into our deepest selves. She gives you passage to the moonworld, the world ruled by Artemis - the fearless huntress.

Think about this. Water symbolically represents emotions. The most significant water on our planet is ruled by the moon - that is to say, the ocean's tides are controlled by the moon. One cannot look into the depths of raging waters, but only into the depths of relatively still water. The same way, emotions are controlled by our inner selves, not our rational selves. Not the Empress who sits outdoors, but by the High Priestess who lives within. Raging emotions must be stilled before they can be understood, and the moon, or Priestess, is the gatekeeper to still waters.

The Earth is 70%-ish water. Our bodies are 70%-ish water. As I was intuitively connecting to "Mother" Earth yesterday, she reminded me that we only occupy 30% of her surface. That is to say, she is only 30% our Mother. The other 70%, of her surface, the gateway to the deep, dark, mysterious depths of her, are covered in water. The doorway to her other 70% is guarded by the Queen of the Underworld. The Goddess before she became the Mother.

Have I lost you? The bottom line is this: we oversimplify the Goddess every time we say "Mother" Earth. Tarot shows this - it defines her using two cards, two faces. This is a mirror of our culture. How many of us squeeze ourselves into one role in life? How many of us feel "wicked" for not feeling like the Empress at all times? How many of us consider it a guilty pleasure to explore the underworld of our consciousness?

It's not healthy. It's not natural. And bottom line, to limit oneself is an illusion anyways. Our best example of the this is the very planet we live upon. Who are we to say we are masters of it - we who are land-dwellers by nature. Sure technology can get us up into the air, or down into the water, but we as a species are not capable of living, as a species, in water or in the air. We are land-dwellers and we are truly masters of only one of her elements: Land (Earth). We limit her to this, because we feel limited.

Perhaps, if we broaden our perspective of her, and of all things, especially ourselves, we will evolve.