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.
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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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