Description
Heartbreak can lead to depression and even despair or, alternatively, act as a profound initiation onto the path of Individuation. The author discovers a healing myth for not only herself, but for a heart- broken world in the love story of Dionysos and Ariadne.
Dionysos, one of the most misunderstood of the gods, is a masculine energy that brings us back to life and vitality in a way that includes deep partnership with the feminine. Through the exploration of this timeless myth, Alchemy of the Heart takes us on adventure into a world where the dance of masculine and feminine ignites fullness of being in both men and women. From the shadowy labyrinth of Minos to the sacred Initiation Chamber at Pompeii, Alchemy of the Heart travels the landscape of both the outer world and the inner psyche as it points the way past contemporary hedonism, pornography and addiction into a Dionysian world of joy, vibrant sexuality and spiritual transcendence.
“A solid and important work of scholarship that is a must-read for those doing depth psychological work. Aguilar mines the myth of Dionysos and Ariadne for its insights into expanding Jungian notions about the animus and a woman’s journey to wholeness. In the process, she updates Jungian thought to match emerging ways of seeing gender, the feminine, and the masculine in our time.”
—Carol S. Pearson, Ph.D., Author of Persephone Rising, The Hero Within and Awakening the Heroes Within. Former President of Pacifica Graduate Institute
“Joseph Campbell showed us the mythic mysteries, now Marina Aguilar unlocks the secrets of ecstatic teachings. Alchemy of the Heart is a breakthrough work on our divine connection to nature and the playful wisdom of the body.”
—Jonathan Young, Ph.D., Psychologist, Founding Curator, Joseph Campbell Archives
“A superb study of the myth of Dionysos through the lens of Jung’s spiritual alchemy. Focusing on the sacred marriage of Dionysos and Ariadne, the author illuminates the journey to wholeness, both horizontal and vertical, revealing a power to heal not only a broken psyche but a broken world. Aguilar’s ‘meditative exegesis’ on the Dionysian initiation chamber in the Villa of Mysteries at Pompeii is a model of transcendence at the heart of Plato’s noetic philosophy. This is a penetrating reading bringing to life an ancient, yet timeless, myth.”
—Michael P. Morrissey, Ph.D., Author of Consciousness and Transcendence: The Theology of Eric Voegelin
Table of Contents
Introduction Dionysos and the Healing of the Heart 11
Dionysos and the Healing of our World 12
A Destructive Heritage of Biblical Story and Interpretation 14
Misuse of Women and the Earth 15
Redemption 15
How We Met 18
PART ONE HISTORY: ORIGINS, MYTHS AND MYSTERIES
Who is Dionysos? Why Does He Matter? 25
Dionysos, the God 27
What Happened? 31
2. Roots 35
India 35
Egypt 37
The Egyptian Cretan Connection and the Star Sirius 38
The Minoan Civilization 41
3. Flowering 43
Greece 43
Joy, Sex, Comedy, and Tragedy 43
The Lesser Dionysia 45
Lenaia 46
The Anthesteria 48
Sex and the City 49
The Greater Dionysia 52
The Theater of Dionysos 53
The Democracy of Dionysian Worship 54
4. Mythic Beginnings 57
The Theban Myth—Parents and Politics on Parnassus 57
The Orphic Myths—Orphism and Dionysos 60
The Orphic Dionysos Myth 63
Our Dionysian and Titanic Nature 65
The Orphic Dionysian Mysteries 67
5. The God of Women 71
The Maenads 71
The Tyades 74
Dionysos, Ariadne, and the Sacred Marriage 76
The Myth of Dionysos and Ariadne 77
Dionysos, Spiritual Partner 78
PART TWO THE FEMININE PSYCHE & HER RELATIONSHIP TO THE MASCULINE
6. Feminine Individuation and the Animus 83
Jung’s Theory of Individuation 83
The Animus 85
Logos and Eros 85
Thinking and Feeling 88
Dionysos, an Erotic Animus 88
Bodily Definitions of Masculine and Feminine 90
Phallos and Animus 91
Solar Phallos 91
The Chthonic Phallos and Dionysos 92
Dionysos—Consort of the Embodied Feminine 94
The Expression of the Dionysian Animus 96
Dionysos as Androgyne 97
The Whole Woman 98
7. The Sacred Feminine 99
Mary, the Shekhinah, and Lilith 99
Lilith 101
The Dark Feminine in Christianity 104
The Black Madonna 107
The Archetype of the Labyrinth 111
Ariadne, Lady of the Labyrinth 112
The Labyrinth: Soul, Spirit, and the Self 113
Ariadne and Her Animus 115
8. Soul, Body, Spirit Dionysos and Christ 123
Soul and Spirit 123
Soul and Body 124
Sex and the Divine, The Goat and the Lamb 125
The Goat and the Witch 127
More about Christ and Dionysos 129
Dionysos and Symbols of Enlightenment 132
The Thyrsus and Kundalini 134
9. The “Chemical Wedding” of Ariadne and Dionysos 137
Alchemy, Initiation and Individuation 137
The Chemical (Alchemical) Wedding 140
10. Initiation and Individuation: The Women of Pompeii and the Women of Today 143
Ritual and Initiation 145
Experiencing the Initiation Chamber 146
The Meaning 149
The Sacred Drama of Initiation: Scenes 1-10 152
Conclusion 167
PART THREE DIONYSOS AND ARIADNE IN TODAY’S WORLD 171
11. Dionysos and the Feminine in the Contemporary World 171
The Tree Waves of Feminism 172
12. A Contemporary View Dionysos and Ariadne in the 21st Century 177
Dionysian Signs and Symptoms 177
The Dionysian in Dreams 179
Recognizing the Dionysian Boy, Adolescent, and Man in an Apollonic World 180
Ariadne and the Contemporary Woman 184
Goddesses in the Ariadne Woman 186
13. Conclusion 193
The Plates 197
Bibliography 203
About the Author 209
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