There’s something about the story of Prometheus that keeps me coming back. I have a sense of what it means, but two aspects in particular still leave me with questions: what is the deeper meaning of Zeus’s eagle eating the liver every day? And why is it that Prometheus is ultimately freed by switching places with Chiron? That feels signi…
There’s something about the story of Prometheus that keeps me coming back. I have a sense of what it means, but two aspects in particular still leave me with questions: what is the deeper meaning of Zeus’s eagle eating the liver every day? And why is it that Prometheus is ultimately freed by switching places with Chiron? That feels significant, but I’m not clear on what it means symbolically or archetypally 🤔 I have some guesses, but I’d love to hear your thoughts!
In reflecting on these ideas, I'm feeling a kind of alchemical influence at play. The nigredo-like descent and gouging of the eagle each day, the interplay between fixed and volatile (Prometheus bound to the rock and then eventually ascending on high via Chiron), the eventual transformation of the "material". It all sort of shimmers with a mysterious alchemic aura.
Although there's nigredo suffering and rubedo transformation, the meat of the myth feels very citrinitas to me. As an intermediary stage, it slows down the opus so we don't move so quickly from white to red. What is happening each of those days as his liver is eaten, perhaps being sublimated and digested for greater insight and understanding. Is the liver in this sense the seat of emotions as ancient Greek's thought? It's chewed up and regenerated and the cyclical process continues until intervention from Heracles...
And I suppose that makes me wonder what the heroic, well-intentioned, but often misled figure's role is? Prometheus is not freed by Chiron of anyone's good will, Heracles is the mediator. A bull-ish, cursed and yet capable fool, he sometimes seems to me. A fool who can bring about a new order...
Anyways, just some initial thoughts. Does that spark anything for you? I feel we could have a whole conversation on this!!
Oh man, I love the alchemical angle—that’s a whole new dimension! I need to chew on that for a bit (no pun intended). I think the liver was seen as the seat of will and desire (these were associated with blood, and the liver was the bloodiest organ). In similar myths, like Amirani, I think it was originally the heart though, so could go either way. But also, Prometheus was associated with forethought, and livers were used for divination, so lots of angles to explore 🤔🤔
I like seeing Heracles as the fool! That makes sense, he definitely starts as the fool; I always read that he was more like the “initiate,” starting from zero but ultimately overcoming all the challenges of the human world and eventually ascending: very much the solar hero/individuating ego. Many writers considered him something like “the perfect man,” not because he was actually perfect but because no matter what, he continually leveled up until his apotheosis. I can’t remember who (maybe Alice Bailey?) makes a lot of parallels between Heracles and Christ, surprisingly.
So maybe it’s something like, “desires and emotions will torture you until the individuated person can reconnect the ego to the rest of the psyche”? I’m not fully satisfied with that, but it’s a start. And maybe that’s why Chiron has to die/get catasterized: the further separation from the animal side of the man? That feels like a stretch but it’s interesting haha.
Oh and we didn’t even touch on the fact that Prometheus holds the secret that can destroy or preserve Zeus’s order…
And yes, I would love to have a whole conversation about this! 🤩
I love the liver-divinatory angle! Clearly Prometheus must have had a sense of this punishment coming to pass, the inevitability of his role, and his capacity to be the one to endure!
What is it about the constellation of the healer-diviner psychic web that perhaps has to suffer the pain of coming to consciousness, finding right relationship with one's animal nature, walking between worlds, etc...
On another note regarding Zeus' eagle as agent of citrinitas/sublimation, I was flipping through Hillman's Alchemical Psychology looking for some references and this quote jumped out...
"As the nigredo has its inconsolable wounds that lift into the whitened suffering of aesthetic sensitivity, so the yellow brings the pain of further knowledge derived from piercing insights, critical, cruel, the eagles and arrows of seeing sharp and true, insights that arrive suddenly together with the fire and fear regarding the cowardice, jealousy, choler, and decay that taints both opus and artifex."
The pain of further knowledge delivered from the eagle's sharp and true beak..hmmm...the plot thickens...
This is so cool! So much to think about here, I wonder if we can take these lenses, and look at related myths, like Lucifer, Loki, Amirani, Eden, even Maui, and see what else jumps out to us. This would be such a cool conversation to have, if you’re up for it I’ll reach out soon! 😄😄
There’s something about the story of Prometheus that keeps me coming back. I have a sense of what it means, but two aspects in particular still leave me with questions: what is the deeper meaning of Zeus’s eagle eating the liver every day? And why is it that Prometheus is ultimately freed by switching places with Chiron? That feels significant, but I’m not clear on what it means symbolically or archetypally 🤔 I have some guesses, but I’d love to hear your thoughts!
In reflecting on these ideas, I'm feeling a kind of alchemical influence at play. The nigredo-like descent and gouging of the eagle each day, the interplay between fixed and volatile (Prometheus bound to the rock and then eventually ascending on high via Chiron), the eventual transformation of the "material". It all sort of shimmers with a mysterious alchemic aura.
Although there's nigredo suffering and rubedo transformation, the meat of the myth feels very citrinitas to me. As an intermediary stage, it slows down the opus so we don't move so quickly from white to red. What is happening each of those days as his liver is eaten, perhaps being sublimated and digested for greater insight and understanding. Is the liver in this sense the seat of emotions as ancient Greek's thought? It's chewed up and regenerated and the cyclical process continues until intervention from Heracles...
And I suppose that makes me wonder what the heroic, well-intentioned, but often misled figure's role is? Prometheus is not freed by Chiron of anyone's good will, Heracles is the mediator. A bull-ish, cursed and yet capable fool, he sometimes seems to me. A fool who can bring about a new order...
Anyways, just some initial thoughts. Does that spark anything for you? I feel we could have a whole conversation on this!!
Oh man, I love the alchemical angle—that’s a whole new dimension! I need to chew on that for a bit (no pun intended). I think the liver was seen as the seat of will and desire (these were associated with blood, and the liver was the bloodiest organ). In similar myths, like Amirani, I think it was originally the heart though, so could go either way. But also, Prometheus was associated with forethought, and livers were used for divination, so lots of angles to explore 🤔🤔
I like seeing Heracles as the fool! That makes sense, he definitely starts as the fool; I always read that he was more like the “initiate,” starting from zero but ultimately overcoming all the challenges of the human world and eventually ascending: very much the solar hero/individuating ego. Many writers considered him something like “the perfect man,” not because he was actually perfect but because no matter what, he continually leveled up until his apotheosis. I can’t remember who (maybe Alice Bailey?) makes a lot of parallels between Heracles and Christ, surprisingly.
So maybe it’s something like, “desires and emotions will torture you until the individuated person can reconnect the ego to the rest of the psyche”? I’m not fully satisfied with that, but it’s a start. And maybe that’s why Chiron has to die/get catasterized: the further separation from the animal side of the man? That feels like a stretch but it’s interesting haha.
Oh and we didn’t even touch on the fact that Prometheus holds the secret that can destroy or preserve Zeus’s order…
And yes, I would love to have a whole conversation about this! 🤩
I love the liver-divinatory angle! Clearly Prometheus must have had a sense of this punishment coming to pass, the inevitability of his role, and his capacity to be the one to endure!
What is it about the constellation of the healer-diviner psychic web that perhaps has to suffer the pain of coming to consciousness, finding right relationship with one's animal nature, walking between worlds, etc...
On another note regarding Zeus' eagle as agent of citrinitas/sublimation, I was flipping through Hillman's Alchemical Psychology looking for some references and this quote jumped out...
"As the nigredo has its inconsolable wounds that lift into the whitened suffering of aesthetic sensitivity, so the yellow brings the pain of further knowledge derived from piercing insights, critical, cruel, the eagles and arrows of seeing sharp and true, insights that arrive suddenly together with the fire and fear regarding the cowardice, jealousy, choler, and decay that taints both opus and artifex."
The pain of further knowledge delivered from the eagle's sharp and true beak..hmmm...the plot thickens...
This is so cool! So much to think about here, I wonder if we can take these lenses, and look at related myths, like Lucifer, Loki, Amirani, Eden, even Maui, and see what else jumps out to us. This would be such a cool conversation to have, if you’re up for it I’ll reach out soon! 😄😄
Good thinking, a comparative exploration will likely flesh out the mythic map!
Definitely interested in continuing the convo. Is the podcast still in the works?
Sure is! Got delayed because of moving, but launching September 1—super excited!
Perfect, I’ll reach out this week to schedule—I am going to have so many questions about the alchemical side haha, thank you! ⚡️
Cool, chat soon!