SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED—OR HOW TO BECOME THE REAL PERSON THAT YOU ARE

Fairy tales are rarely about fairies and generally have an inner meaning. I have looked at several famous fairy tales in the past including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by the Brothers Grimm. Here’s another fairy tale—from Germany—involving a character called Snow White: ‘Snow-White and Rose-Red’.

The tale goes something like this. A poor widow lives in a small cottage by the woods with her two young children, Snow-White and Rose-Red, whom she adores. There is a garden in front of the cottage in which there are two rose bushes. One of the roses bears white roses, and the other red roses. The symbolism of that is revealing. The rose represents the individual's unfolding consciousness although, depending on the context, it has a myriad assortment of additional meanings associated with it, such as purity, passion, heavenly perfection, virginity, fertility, suffering and sacrifice, death and life. 

In the context of this fairy tale, the white and red roses represent the thinking and feeling aspects of our consciousness respectively. Now, the two young children, who play together and love each other dearly, are just like the above mentioned roses. Rose-Red is outspoken and cheerful and loves to play outside whereas her sister Snow-White is quiet and shy and prefers doing housework and reading. The two girls love to go out into the forest where they like to sleep. On one occasion, whilst sleeping unknowingly on the edge of a precipice, they are awakened by a figure in shining white apparel (apparently, a ‘guardian angel’, variously a symbol of power, guardianship, inner guidance and personal transformation).

One winter night, there is a knock at the door. Rose-Red opens the door to find a bear. At first, she is terrified, but the bear tells her not to be afraid. ‘I'm half frozen and I merely want to warm up a little at your place,’ he says. They let the bear in, and he lies down in front of the fire. The girls beat the snow off the bear, and they quickly become quite friendly with him. They play with the bear and roll him around playfully. They let the bear spend the night in front of the fire. In the morning the bear leaves, trotting out into the woods. The bear comes back every night for the rest of that winter and the family grows used to him.

When summer comes, the bear tells the family that he must go away for a while to guard his treasure from a wicked dwarf. On parting, the bear catches his fur on the door-hook, and it seems to Snow-White that she sees gold glittering underneath.

During the summer, when the girls are walking through the forest, they find a dwarf whose beard is stuck in a tree. The girls rescue him by cutting his beard free, but the dwarf is ungrateful and yells at them for cutting his beautiful beard. He seizes a bag of gold which lies behind him and hurries off angrily. The girls encounter the dwarf several times that summer, each time rescuing him from some peril each time, but the dwarf is always ungrateful. On the second occasion the dwarf runs off with a bag of pearls. On another occasion he hurries off with a bag of precious stones. Then, one day, they meet the dwarf once again and he is seen counting his treasures. This time, the bear rushes out of the forest and strikes the dwarf dead.

Instantly, the bear’s skin falls from him, revealing a handsome prince. You see, the dwarf had put a spell on the prince by stealing his precious stones and turning him into a bear, but the curse is broken with the death of the dwarf. Snow-White marries the prince, and Rose-Red marries his brother. And yes, as in all fairy tales, they all live happily ever after.

Have you ever noticed how many fairy tales involve a widow? A widow represents those who are cut off, so to speak, from their true being as a person among persons. They are people who have lost connection with their inner potentiality. In this tale, however, there is still some contact with the elemental world represented by the garden and the rose bushes.

Snow-White and Rose-Red represent two different aspects or sides of human experience. Snow-White (cf the white roses), who likes to stay indoors, represents the thinking part of us that is introspective, introverted contemplative and meditative. Rose-Red (cf the red roses), who likes being outdoors, symbolises the perceiving, more extroverted part of us that is more interested in the outer world of sense impressions. The fact that the two girls play together and love each other is highly symbolic. It means, among other things, that these two sides of our nature are equally important. Both are needed and belong together. In other words, they are complementary. Never forget that.

The bear is an out-picturing of us—body, mind and soul. There is the outer, physical part of us and the inner mental and spiritual ‘parts’ of us. The dwarf represents negative, evil forces, both within and outside of ourselves, that make for separation, division and strife. These forces or tendencies within us must be overcome if we are to grow into the persons we are capable of being and which, in truth, we really are. The gold, pearls, and precious stones referred to in the tale represent spiritual riches and wisdom—the non-physical things ‘not made with human hands, eternal in the heavens’ (cf 2 Cor 5:1). The dwarf is seen seizing, appropriating and running of with these gifts, not realizing that they are not yet his by right of consciousness. There are things that we must give up in order for these gifts to be rightfully ours. That is an important lesson we all must learn. Our false selves (the little ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’), in the form of our various likes, dislikes, views, opinions, biases and prejudices, seek to appropriate these treasures even though they are not yet ours by right of consciousness.

Now, the bear is not what it appears to be. Inside of it is a prince, that is, a higher self—our true self. Here’s a famous Zen story on the point. A distraught man approaches a Zen master and says, ‘Please, Master, I feel lost, desperate. I don't know who I am. Please, show me my true self!’ The master just looks away without responding. The man begins to plead and beg, but still the master gives no reply. Finally giving up in frustration, the man turns to leave. At that moment the master calls out to him by name. ‘Yes!’ the man says as he turns around toward the master. ‘There it is!’ exclaims the master.

Our true self is the person that each one of us is. However, when we see and experience ourselves we do not ordinarily see and experience the person that in truth each one of us is. Instead, we tend to see and experience any one or more of a number of self-images (those ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’ held in our mind). At one point in time we may see and experience the ‘little me’, or the ‘frightened me’, or the ‘inferior me’. At another point in time we may see and experience the ‘confident me’. 

These ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’ are nothing more than self-images in our mind. They are images felt and experienced as real, that is, as the real person that we think we are. Jointly and severally, these ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’ constitute in varying degrees our sense of who we think we are, and whichever image is most dominant in your mind at any point in time will constitute your sense of ‘me’—that is, what to you, in you, is you—at least at that particular point in time. There is a feeling component to these mental self-images, with the result that many of the images can be quite strong and persistent over time and their persistency over time only reinforces the mistaken belief that these images are really us. This also makes change seem very difficult indeed. However, none—I repeat none—of these felt self-images are real. They are not the real person that in truth you are.

Fulton J Sheen wrote, ‘Death to the lower self is the condition of resurrection to the higher self.’ That is what this fairy tale is all about. We must die to our false selves so that we might become the real person that we are. Some call that the ‘higher self’, but please don’t confuse that with those little, false selves of which I spoke. The ‘higher self’ is the real person that in truth you are. I am referring to a power and presence ‘not-oneself’. You see, we are much more than just those pesky false selves—all those waxing and waning ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’—with which we tend to identify, in the mistaken belief that they constitute the ‘real me’.

Freedom from the bondage to self comes when we get real, that is, when we start to live from our true being as a person among persons. We come to know our higher or real self—symbolised in the fairy tale ‘Snow-White and Rose-Red’ by each of the marriages that take place—as a result of thinking (Snow-White), perceiving (Rose-Red), and overcoming the evil spirit of separateness (symbolised by the destruction of the dwarf by the bear).

When this happens, you become what the American psychologist Carl Rogers, pictured left, referred to as a ‘fully functioning person’. The mystics refer to this as coming to ‘know the Self as One’. Yes, we are one with all Life, even though few know or understand what that truly means.

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THE SLEEPING BEAUTY—OR HOW TO ACHIEVE ENLIGHTENMENT

Fairy tales are a subgenre of the artistic and literary genre known as fantasy. A ‘fantasy’ ordinarily involves the following elements: first, a quest or journey of some kind, often involving tests, trials and tribulations, with a battle between good and evil; secondly, a fictitious or legendary place in which strange, seemingly unnatural events occur; thirdly, the presence of strange, seemingly unnatural, fanciful, even grotesque, characters and capricious forces; and fourthly, lessons in how to live, evolve, and relate to others and a power-not-oneself that is capable of freeing oneself from the bondage of self.

Fairy tales are not just about fantasy and most such tales are not even about 'fairies'. That grand master of modern fairy tales J R R Tolkien wrote that fairy tales have four main uses: escape, consolation, recovery, and fantasy. I have already spoken, albeit briefly, about fantasy. The ideas of escape and consolation are fairly straightforward, but the notion of recovery is a fascinating and most important one. Recovery is, yes, all about regaining what seemingly, and perhaps actually, has been ‘lost’, namely, our spiritual heritage.

Nearly all fairy tales are encoded spiritual and moral lessons (‘road maps’) of great importance---just like the parables of Jesus in the New Testament---and they almost invariably incorporate more than a few fragments (‘gems’) of ancient wisdom, with the spiritual ideas and themes being portrayed in a highly figurative and literary manner. Fairy tales graphically depict the involution and evolution of the soul, or, in the language of the great American mythographer Joseph Campbell, the 'hero's journey' of self-discovery through trial, tribulation and adversity. Here’s a clue. In fairy tales, as well as in most sacred literature, the soul is nearly always spoken of as a woman, and the human spirit a man.

If there is one theme or underlying message contained in the great religions of the world it is this---we come from God (Spirit, Life, the Source), we belong to God, we are never truly separate from God (even though we act as if we were), and we are all on our way back to God. Of course, not all the world’s religions use the word ‘God,’ or express this idea theistically, but that is largely immaterial. The idea is generally still there.

Now, the story of ‘The Sleeping Beauty’.

A king and a queen have been trying to have a child for years. Finally, a frog prophesies a birth. When the child finally arrives, they call her Aurora. A great holiday is proclaimed to celebrate Aurora’s birth. Visitors come from far and wide, including three good fairies. One of the most distinguished guests is another king from a neighboring kingdom, who brings along his son Prince Philip. (No, not that one. He’s not quite that old.) Both kings realize that their dream of a united kingdom can now come true.

Three good fairies begin bestowing their gifts upon Aurora. She receives the gift of beauty, and gift of song, but before the last gift is bestowed, a wicked fairy interrupts. This wicked fairy is upset that she wasn’t invited to the party, so she casts a spell on the day of Aurora’s 16th birthday, to the effect that Aurora will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. The third good fairy hasn’t bestowed her gift yet, and she’s horrified at the spell the wicked fairy cast. The good fairy isn’t strong enough to undo the spell, but she is able to dilute it a bit, such that instead of death Aurora will instead fall asleep until her true love comes along to undo the spell with a kiss. As a precaution, all spinning wheels are removed from the kingdom, and Aurora lives in hiding as a peasant with the good fairies for protection.

Aurora grows up, meets Prince Philip, and falls in love with him. On the night of Aurora’s 16th birthday, Aurora, Prince Philip, and the good fairies all go back to the castle to live. But the evil fairy sneaks into the castle and pricks Aurora’s finger with a needle, causing her to fall asleep. With the help of the good fairies, Prince Philip, after a heroic, difficult, and dangerous journey, reaches Aurora, then kisses her, and she awakes---and, yes, they all live happily ever after.

Well, this is a story of ‘paradise regained’—a very familiar theme in fairy tales, indeed in almost all sacred (so-called ‘occult’) literature. We have the involution of the human soul, with its incarnation from the starry regions of space-time and the cosmos. Significantly, it is a ‘frog’ that heralds and prophesies the birth of Aurora, a frog being the ancient occult symbol of metamorphosis. The princess is called Aurora, which means ‘dawn’ or ‘enlightenment.’ If you are familiar with Roman mythology Aurora is the goddess of the Dawn. She renews herself each morning and flies across the sky, announcing the arrival of the sun. Much symbolism there!

There are ‘good fairies’ (successes, achievements, growth) and ‘bad fairies’ (setbacks, mistakes, failures) in life. We can learn from them all. The curse from the wicked fairy represents all those trials, setbacks and negative forces with which we have to grapple and which we have to overcome is we are to grow spiritually. Once again, we have the archetypal Path or Quest so frequently found in sacred and even secular literature. Then, there’s the staircase that Aurora ascends, being a symbol of the spiritual unfoldment of the soul. (In sacred or occult literature all ‘uprights’ such as stairs, ladders and trees represent the creative divine life within us; cf Jacob’s ladder.) The ‘spinning’ refers largely to intellectual development, that is, the ‘spinning’ of one’s thoughts. 

Then we have the Prince, who must fight his way through overgrown thickets of tall trees and sharp brambles. At first, only the very tops of the castle’s towers could be seen, and then a fearsome dragon (or, in some versions of the story, ferocious dogs or other animals). Yes, the human spirit, represented by the Prince, must fight its way through evil and false beliefs (sin, separateness, selfishness, etc). Some commentators have written that we also have here an allusion to the spirit evolving and successively passing through the various kingdoms (plant, animal, etc) in its divine unfoldment. (That, however, is not how I see it.) Ultimately, there is the ‘kiss’---that is, the connection and conjunction between truth and love, the union of the human soul and the human spirit with the divine. Enlightenment is achieved. Oneness. Wholeness. Union. Communion.

Now, here’s something else—something very important. Aurora is not really a separate person from the Prince, for she is nothing other than the soul of the Prince that was sleeping—lying dormant—in the illusion of the material world or realm (the false self). Ultimately, the Prince is able to ‘spouse’ his enlightened soul—and live happily ever after! So can you.

So, what is enlightenment? Well, as I see it, it is waking up to the reality of one’s true self, one’s true be-ing-ness. It is casting off the false self/selves, that is, the belief in our separateness from other persons and things, and the life of selfishness and bondage to self. It is ceasing to identify with all those false selves (the ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’, our likes and dislikes) that make up our personality but which are not the real person that each one of us is. It living as a person among persons.

Come alive! Awake the sleeping beauty within.

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SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS—OR HOW TO BE RELIEVED OF THE BONDAGE OF SELF

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS—OR HOW TO BE RELIEVED OF THE BONDAGE OF SELF

‘Relieve me of the bondage of self …’ — from Chapter 5

of the book Alcoholics Anonymous (the ‘Big Book’ of AA).

There’s nothing like fairy tales for telling it like it really is. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is one of the best. It depicts just how terrible it is to be in bondage to self.

An old queen sits sewing at an open window during a winter snowfall. She pricks her finger with her needle. Three drops of blood fall onto the snow on the ebony window frame. The queen admires the beauty of the red on white. ‘Oh, how I wish that I had a daughter that is as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as that wood of the window frame,’ she says to herself. Shortly thereafter, the queen indeed gives birth to a baby girl as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and with hair as black as ebony. Snow White is her name. Then the old queen dies. A new era begins.

A year later, the king marries again. His new wife—the new queen—is beautiful but also wicked and terribly vain. As in other fairy tales such as Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel we have the familiar appearance of an evil stepmother. It makes you wonder if there are any nice stepmothers out there! Of course, there are plenty of them—nice ones, that is—but never, it seems, in fairy tales. The new queen has a magic mirror. Every morning she turns to the mirror and asks, ‘Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest in the land?’ The mirror always replies, ‘You, my Queen, are the fairest in the land.’ This new queen is very much involved with herself. Indeed, she is in total bondage to herself. Far too many of us are like her. It’s a terrible predicament to be in, for there is no joy being in bondage to self.

Time passes. Snow White is now aged seven. She is very beautiful and much more beautiful than her stepmother, the new queen. So, when the stepmother queen asks her magic mirror, it responds, ‘My Queen, you are the fairest here so true. But Snow White is a thousand times more beautiful than you.’ This comes as a great shock to the queen, to put it mildly. Funny, isn’t it? We only like to hear what we want to hear. The stepmother queen becomes yellow and then green with envy. Her heart turns against Snow White. Indeed, with every following day she hates Snow White more and more. So, the stepmother queen orders a huntsman to take Snow White into the deepest woods and kill her. She orders the huntsman to return with Snow White’s lungs and liver. That way, she will know for sure that Snow White is finally dead. The huntsman takes Snow White into the forest but is unable to kill her. He leaves her behind alive. ‘She will be eaten by some wild animal,’ he says to himself. Instead, he brings the stepmother queen the lungs and liver of a young boar, which is prepared by the cook and eaten by the queen. (This is an unsuccessful attempt on the queen’s part to relieve herself of her bondage to self.

Snow White wanders through the forest for some time. Eventually, she discovers a tiny cottage which belongs to a group of seven dwarfs. (In sacred numerology—that is, in myths, fairy tales, sacred literature and so on—the number ‘seven’ represents such things as fullness, individual completeness (the number ‘twelve’ representing corporate completeness), the perfection of the human soul and grace. It is considered to be the divine number and thus the most spiritual of all numbers. Read the Bible and the sacred texts and you will see that I am right on that.

No one is at home in the dwarfs’ cottage. So, Snow White decides to eat something, drink some wine and then test all the beds. Finally, the last bed is comfortable enough for her and she falls asleep. In due course, the seven dwarfs return home and discover Snow White asleep. (Life is very much trial and error. We experiment and we experience.) The dwarfs come home and find Show White there. She wakes up and explains to them what happened. The dwarfs take pity on her, saying: ‘If you will keep house for us, and cook, make beds, wash, sew, and knit, and keep everything clean and orderly, then you can stay with us, and you shall have everything that you want.’ (A bit old-fashioned, that. Where are the feminists?) The dwarfs warn Snow White to be careful when alone at home and not to let anyone in when they are away in the mountains during the day.

Meanwhile, the stepmother queen asks her mirror once again: ‘Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest in the land?’ The mirror replies, ‘My Queen, you are the fairest here so true. But Snow White beyond the mountains at the seven dwarfs is a thousand times more beautiful than you.’ The queen is livid. She realises she was betrayed by the huntsman. Worse still, Snow White is still alive. All the stepmother queen can think of is how to get rid of Snow White. So, she disguises herself as an old peddler, walks to the cottage of the dwarfs, and offers Snow White colourful, silky laced bodices. She convinces Snow White to take the most beautiful bodice as a present, then she laces it so tight that Snow White faints. The queen leaves her for dead. However, the dwarfs return just in time and Snow White revives when the dwarfs loosen the laces.

Next morning, the stepmother queen consults her mirror again. Shock, horror! She is told that Snow White is still alive. The queen is incensed. She is aflame with rage and hatred. She decides to dress up as a comb seller and pays Snow White a visit. She manages to convince Snow White to take a pretty comb as a present and proceeds to brush Snow White's hair with the comb. Unfortunately, the comb is poisoned. Snow White faints again but is revived by the dwarfs. The next morning the mirror tells the queen that Snow White is still 'a thousand times more beautiful' than the queen. The queen is now apoplectic with rage. She makes a poisoned apple and, in the disguise of a farmer's wife, she offers it to Snow White, who is at first hesitant to accept it, so the queen cuts the apple in half, eats the white harmless part, and gives the red poisoned part to Snow White. (I am a bit like Snow White. I can resist anything except temptation.) Snow White takes a bite of the apple—the poisoned part—and falls into a state of suspended animation. This time the dwarfs are unable to revive the girl because they can't find the source of Snow White's poor health and, assuming that she is dead, they place her in a glass coffin.

A prince travelling through the land sees Snow White. He strides to her coffin and, enchanted by her beauty, instantly falls in love with her. The dwarfs succumb to his entreaties to let him have the coffin, and as his servants carry the coffin away, they stumble on some roots. The tremor caused by the stumbling causes the piece of poisoned apple to dislodge from Snow White's throat, awakening her. The prince then declares his love for her, and soon a wedding is planned. The couple invites every queen and king to come to the wedding party, including Snow White's stepmother. Meanwhile, the queen, still believing that Snow White is dead, again asks her magic mirror who is the fairest in the land. The mirror says: ‘You, my Queen, are fair so true. But the young queen is a thousand times fairer than you.’

The stepmother queen reluctantly accepts the invitation to attend the wedding. Why? Well, call it fate, karma or destiny. We cannot escape our destiny. A pair of glowing-hot iron shoes are brought forth with tongs and are placed before the queen. She is forced to step into the burning shoes and to dance until she drops dead.

Well, what are we to make of all this? I have already given you a few clues above. Remember, this is my take on the fairy tale.

The story begins with the old queen who has a vision of a beautiful, joyous human being. Such a person will have overcome their bondage to self. He or she is enlightened, so to speak. Of course, we don’t become such a person overnight, and the path to becoming a fully functioning human being is fraught with difficulties. Inside each of us are hundreds of little, false selves in the form of our many likes, dislikes, opinions, beliefs, attachments and aversions. The process of dis-identifying with self is never easy. The new queen appears. Unfortunately, she is very vain and proud, and she seeks to use selfish powers and wisdom for her own entirely selfish purposes. As I see it, the new queen represents any one or more of our false selves which we mistakenly believe are the person that we are. The seven dwarfs symbolise different aspects or facets of the person each of us is. For example, among others there’s Happy, and Sleepy, and Bashful, and Dopey. The latter is especially me! Anyhow, take your pick. One thing to remember. These ‘dwarfs’ are very important and they can help you and me. They are all facets of the spiritually developing person.

The spiritually developing person Snow White, like you and me, is attacked in various ways. Of course, our worst enemy is ourselves—that is, our ‘selves’. The task for each one of us is to overcome the bondage of self. Ultimately, as I’ve said over and over again, we need a power-not-ourselves (that is, a power-not-our-false-selves’) to be relieved of the bondage to self. In the fairy story of Snow White and the seven Dwarfs that power comes in the form of the prince.

The stepmother queen is a graphic representation of all our inner demons—our unruly passions, hates, aversions and attachments. Our ego-self, if you like. It is a paradox of immense proportions that, for something which has no separate, independent existential reality of its own, the ego-self causes us so much damn trouble? Why? Because we let it.

The ego-self has to be thrown off-centre, and if we wish to be truly happy we must give up all things that stand in the way of our spiritual development—things like bad habits, obsessions, addictions, hatreds and resentments. In fact, all forms of self-obsession. Norman Vincent Peale (pictured left), who for 32 years was the senior minister of Marble Collegiate Church in New York City, wrote in his book Sin, Sex and Self-Control (Doubleday, 1966) that each of us must experience ‘a shift in emphasis from self to non-self’. However, there’s a problem. Self cannot overcome the problem of self. The ‘self that tries to overcome self’ is just one more self, having no power in and of itself. In my many blogs and other writings I have quoted often these immortal words of William Temple, a former Archbishop of Canterbury: ‘For the trouble is that we are self-centred, and no effort of the self can remove the self from the centre of its own endeavour.’ What this means is that each of us needs to find a power-not-our-false-selves to overcome the problem of self and bondage to self. In one of his memorable so-called ‘Zen sayings’ Jesus said that we must lose our ‘selves’ in order to find ourselves (cf Mk 8:35). So true.

Snow White—the real person each one of us is—wanders from the path that leads to being a fully functioning human being. The illusory power of our false selves can and does cause that to happen. Eventually, she comes to see the false as false and the real as real. The prince opens her eyes to what is real. Experience, and trial and error, can do that. So, can mindfulness, that is, living with choiceless awareness of what is.

When we practise mindfulness, we learn, bit by bit, to dis-identify with our false selves. It may be our angry self, our resentful self or our frightened self. We learn to give those selves no power. They are not the person that we are. They are images in our mind which we have created over time. Yes, they are quite persistent and, if we allow them to dominate and take over, they can almost come to define the person that we are. However, they are never, never, never in truth the person that we are. You and I are persons among persons. Live as such. Overcome the bondage to self. No effort of the self can do that, but you, the person that you are, is power-other-than-self. Only the latter is real.

I will finish with these words from G K Chesterton. In his book Orthodoxy, in the chapter titled ‘The Maniac’, Chesterton wrote, ‘How much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it … .' Indeed.

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JACK AND THE BEANSTALK—OR HOW TO CLIMB INTO THE SKY

Here are some wise words from Francis Bacon [pictured left]. Referring to the myths and tales of antiquity, Bacon remarked, ‘Under some of the ancient fictions, lay couched certain mysteries.’ How true that is!

The fairy story—which is rarely about fairies as such—is the ‘younger brother’, or ‘younger sister’, of the great myths. The fairy story is, in the words of Theosophist and Liberal Catholic priest G Nevin Drinkwater, ‘the mystery tradition of childhood’, who also wrote that, ‘It can be taken as axiomatic that no fairy story will live unless it has an esoteric significance, and this is probably true even of riddles and nursery rhymes.’ He went on to say: ‘A fairy story lives precisely because it contains hidden truths which the child’s ego recognizes and accepts, before, as so often happens, our modern methods of education stifle its intuition and imagination.’ J. Krishnamurti would call those ‘modern methods of education’ conditioning, and conditioning can be a very bad thing. We need to de-condition our minds if we are to come to know that which is of supreme importance.

I love fairy tales, and the tale of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ is one of the best. Jack is a young lad living with his widowed mother. Their only means of income is a cow. When this cow stops giving milk one morning, Jack is sent to the market to sell it. On the way to the market he meets an old man who offers to give him ‘magic’ beans in exchange for the cow. Jack takes the beans but when he arrives home without any money, his mother becomes angry and throws the beans to the ground and sends Jack to bed without supper. As Jack sleeps, the beans grow into a gigantic beanstalk. Jack climbs the beanstalk and arrives in a land high up in the sky where he follows a road to a house, which is the home of a giant. He enters the house and asks the giant's wife for food. She gives him food, but the giant returns and senses that a human is nearby. However, Jack is hidden by the giant's wife and overhears the giant counting his money. Jack steals a bag of gold coins as he makes his escape down the beanstalk.

Jack repeats his journey up the beanstalk two more times, each time he is helped by the increasingly suspicious wife of the giant and narrowly escapes with one of the giant's treasures. The second time, he steals a hen that lays golden eggs and the third time a magical harp that plays by itself. This time, he is almost caught by the giant who follows him down the beanstalk. Jack calls his mother for an axe and chops the beanstalk down, killing the giant. The end of the story has Jack and his mother living happily ever after with their new riches.

When it comes to stories written in the sacred, secret, or mystery language, trees, ladders, staircases, and the like often symbolise a spiritual journey, as well as the soul’s evolution and progressive development and unfoldment. In other tales, these ‘uprights’ refer to the spinal cord, the life force, kundalini---the ‘serpent fire’ in us. In other words, creative divine life. (Note. When I use the word ‘divine’, I am referring to something that is of ultimate importance and worthy of our awe and reverence. The word ‘spiritual’ simply means non-material, that is, something that has no component parts--unlike, say, a table or chair--for example, love, compassion, kindness and courage.)

One other very important thing. In the mystery language, a woman represents the human soul, whereas a man represents the human spirit or the physical body (or both). Any marriage is a ‘mystical marriage’ or union of the human soul and the human spirit---and that is a very good thing. In the tale ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ Jack’s mother is a widow, thus symbolising a soul that is separated from the divine world. She has an wisdom---spiritual or ancient wisdom---to pass on to her son Jack. We have in the story a reference, once again, to a ‘stolen inheritance.’ Significantly, it is a guardian angel---an enlightened, spiritual thought---that conveys to Jack the news of the stolen inheritance. We are all seeking our stolen inheritance. It is nothing other than our spiritual destiny---our ultimate reward.

Jack must use both courage and intelligence to ascend the beanstalk, the latter coming into existence from, yes, the ‘magic beans,’ the latter symbolising the power of creative thought and imagination as well as our potential for spiritual growth and development. The creative imagination bridges the ‘gap’ between the conscious and unconscious minds (or worlds). We have here the archetypal journey---the path or quest---to recover one’s ‘lost’ or unrealised potential. The journey is not an easy one, and there are many dangers and threats, but we will ultimately triumph---no matter how long the journey takes—if we persevere to the end.

Bud Abbott, Lou Costello and Buddy Baer

in the film Jack and the Beanstalk (WB, 1952)

The giant symbolically represents our ego-self, or false selves—that is, our likes, dislikes, attachments, aversions and prejudices which we mistakenly believe are our ‘real self’—that threaten our spiritual development. In a more mundane sense, the giant also represents all those difficulties and adversaries we are called upon to face, and conquer, in our daily life. In the story of Saint George and the Dragon, the giant takes the form of a dragon.

The tale of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ is very much a coming-of-age story. It is the hero’s journey, in the language of the mythographer Joseph Campbell. Each one of us is Jack---and, yes, we are also the giant. Actually, just as there are hundreds and thousands of false selves in our mind, so there are hundreds and thousands of giants to be killed or dragons to be slain. Jack brings a spiritual treasure to earth---the hen which lays the golden egg. Obvious symbolism there. An ‘egg’ symbolises a new beginning, new life, resurrection, a new stage of evolution, and the like. ‘Gold,’ of course, represents spiritual wisdom and divine life. On his second visit Jack brings back bags of silver and gold---that is, even more spiritual wisdom. On his third visit Jack takes a harp, the latter symbolising the music of the spheres, or the knowledge of cosmic harmony.

Over time, the defeating forces in our own lives can be destroyed and overcome. Remember, our ‘enemies are those of our own household’ (cf Mt 10:36), that is, within our own psyche.

The ‘message’ of the fairy tale 'Jack and the Beanstalk' is simple, but not easy to put into practice. We, too, must ‘climb’ into the sky, metaphorically speaking, in order to achieve a ‘higher’, that is, a more fulfilling and uplifting, existence.

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HANSEL AND GRETEL---OR THE STORY OF YOU AND ME

Fairy tales are a sub-genre of the artistic and literary genre known as ‘fantasy,’ the latter being a genre in which life---or at least some aspect of life---is depicted in an ‘unnatural’ (ugh) and highly imaginative manner. The problematic word ‘unnatural’ does not mean ‘unrealistic’ or ‘supernatural’ (whatever that means), but, in fantasies, imagination, wonder and fancy all play very important roles.

Now, most fairy tales are not about 'fairies' at all, although as Theosophist John Algeo has pointed out they are very much about faerie. The latter has two meanings: first, the land of fairies, and second, enchantment. The second meaning is more applicable.

Perhaps the most important thing about fairy tales, apart from the sheer enjoyment that comes from reading or listening to them, or watching them on film, is this---fairy tales are mythological in nature, and their inner or more esoteric meaning is cloaked in allegory, parable and symbolism. Nearly all fairy tales are encoded spiritual and moral lessons (‘road maps’) of great importance---just like the parables of Jesus in the New Testament---and they almost invariably incorporate more than a few fragments (‘gems’) of the Ancient Wisdom, with the spiritual ideas and themes being portrayed in a highly figurative and literary manner. On the surface, or exterior, they largely present as stories for children---Kinder und Hausmärchen (‘Children’s and Household Tales’), in the words of the Brothers Grimm---but their inner or ‘true’ significance is hidden (that is, ‘occult’).

If there is one theme or underlying message contained in the great religions of the world it is this---we come from God (the ‘Great I AM’), we belong to God, we are never truly separate from God, and we are all on our way back to God. Of course, not all the world’s religions use the word ‘God,’ or express this idea theistically, but that is largely immaterial. The idea is still there. Fairy tales graphically depict the Platonic/Neoplatonic---and theosophical---idea of involution and evolution of the soul, or, in the language of the great American mythographer Joseph Campbell, the 'hero's journey' of self-discovery through trial, tribulation and adversity. 

Now, most of you will be familiar with the fairy tale ‘Hansel and Gretel.’ The story goes like this. Near a forest a woodcutter lives with his wife and his two children, Hansel and Gretel. The children’s mother has died, the woodcutter’s wife being their stepmother. They are all very poor---indeed, they were starving, so the two children go out in search of food. Actually, it is the stepmother who suggests that they take the two children out into the forest and lose them. Hansel, the boy, overhears the plan, and collects pebbles, so that he can lay a trail to find his way back. He is successful in so doing. For the second ‘trip’ the two children take with them one slice of bread along, which they use to mark a path back to their home by leaving crumbs along the way, but the crumbs are eaten by the birds, with the result that the two children find themselves lost in the forest. After a while, they come upon a little house made of gingerbread---as a result of the assistance of a white bird who guides the children to the house. (Some wonderful symbolism, there!) Hansel breaks off a piece to eat.

Suddenly, the door flies open and an old woman (‘witch’) comes out and invites them in. She feeds them mountains of pancakes and fruit, and then tucks them into bed to sleep. (Note that word---‘sleep.’) What Hansel and Gretel don’t realise is the old woman is fattening them up so she can use them in her favourite dish---‘roasted child.’ Now the two children are prisoners---Hansel is put into a stable---and the old woman keeps feeding them. However, when she asks Hansel to put his finger through the bars of the stable to see how fat he is getting, Hansel holds out a piece of dry bone instead.

Finally, the children escape and push the old woman into the oven. The house dissolves into pearls and precious stones. (Again, wonderful symbolism, there.) The two children fill their pockets with jewels and food and use the trail of bread crumbs to find their way back home. They come to a great expanse of water---and a white duck carries them over it. (Again, wonderful symbolism, there.) Eventually, on the other side, they recognize their surroundings and return rich to their father’s house. Their father welcomes them home, and informs them that their stepmother has died in the meantime. (Wonderful! Note, some commentators suggest that the stepmother and the witch are at least metaphorically one-and-the-same person, because the stepmother dies when the children have killed the witch. Maybe.) They all live happily ever after.

Well, what a great story of involution and evolution! The woodcutter’s house is the spiritual or divine world or realm from which we all come, and to which we all ultimately return. The presence in the story of the stepmother----notice how in fairy tales these stepmothers are never nice---indicates, symbolically, that we have here a material existence into which the human soul (Gretel) and the human spirit (Hansel) have descended. (Note. In ancient symobology the ‘soul’ [that is, the mind including the spiritual or divine 'image' in the mind of our creation and perfectibility) is always female, and the human ‘spirit’ [or ‘life force’] in us is always masculine. That’s just the way it is.) We have the descent into a physical body, and later the ascent again to the spiritual or divine realm---the source from which we all come and to which we all eventually return. We see that so often in fairy tales as well as other secret or sacred literature. We have a white bird---a clear sign of divine guidance (cf the Holy Spirit). The gingerbread house looks so lovely, you want to eat it. The gingerbread house is like the land of Oz (cf The Wizard of Oz), that is, that strange, colourful, wonderful, yet also frightening, world in which we now find ourselves, but it is not the ‘real’ world. It is not our ‘true’ home.

Anyway, soul and spirit enter the physical body---the gingerbread house---but, like us, they experience it (that is, life on earth) as a veritable prison-house in which bad things can and do happen. (Isn’t that life?) Yes, we are in slavery, in bondage, and largely to our false selves which we mistakenly take to be the ‘real’ person each of us is. The old woman, or witch, symbolically represents all those negative, retarding forces that seek to overwhelm, indeed destroy, the human spirit (Hansel). Things like addictions, bad habits, obsessions, compulsions, and attachments and cravings of all kinds. Notice, too, the symbol of the dry bone, which represents all those negative forces that are blind to our true spirit. I think the dry bone especially symbolizes dry, intellectuality, that is forever incapable of discerning or knowing spiritual truths. I firmly espouse the use of reason in solving human problems, but there is something terribly sad and inadequate about dry reason and intellectuality without spiritual wisdom. The fire, and its lighting, symbolically represents some special event or impulse in which the soul awakens---and finds freedom. Spiritual riches---precious stones and jewels---are ours, but first we must cross the Great Water (that is, death). Soul and spirit are carried across the water, and on the far side there is---home.

The ‘message’ of Hansel and Gretel? Seek only what is truly real. See through illusion and delusion. Stay awake. Press on---no matter what happens to you. You will get ‘there’ in the end—no matter how far you stray from the ‘path.’

Note. For those who may be interested, here is a recent address of mine on fairy tales and their ‘inner’ meaning.

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