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Theseus,
the great
Athenian Hero
teaches us to bring out the
Enchantress
and
Enchanter
within our own sphere of destiny and thus shine
the mantle of the
Hero
and
Heroine.
In Athens,
Theseus'
name was revered as he took part
in many great adventures, there grew a saying
"Nothing without Theseus."
Theseus'
name can also be broken down into The - seus. In
the ancient alphabet, the s and z are
interchangeable, and thus seus becomes
Zeus, the
Father of the Greek Gods.
Theseus
spent his youth at his mother's home in
southern Greece. His mother,
Aethra is the daughter of
King Pittheus of
Troezen. His father was the
Athenian King Aegeus. He was also fathered
by
Poseidon,
god of the Sea.
Before
Theseus
was born,
Aegeus
placed his
sword
and a
pair of sandals
in a hollow log and
covered them with a
great stone. He asked
Aethra to bring the boy to the stone when he
had
come of age
and once he had retrieved the items he could
join his father in
Athens.
This act, the manifestation of the first trial
symbolizes the
coming of age
into a new chapter of thought and Being,
knowing the Path
along the
stream of Life.
Theseus
ploughed the fields with determination, and thus
he grew up strong. When the time came to turn
over the stone, he performed the task admirably.
Aethra informed him that he had a ship standing by
to take him to
Athens, provided by his
grandfather.
Theseus
refused to take the easy ship route as he
wanted to establish himself as a
Hero,
so preferred to take the
harder road.
He very much admired his cousin
Hercules.
The
challenge of Individuation.
This requires effort on the part of the
Beholder of Life,
the One who experiences, feels, thinks, taking
in all the wonderful
flows of Creation,
being a channel for the divine, that
Beautiful inner Voice
reflected into the world, manifested as sublime
and
eternal Love,
the
flow of Forever.
Theseus
set out to
Athens
on foot, defeating many bandits and making the
passage safe for travellers bound along their
Journeys;
The first bandit he encountered was
Sciron. Those he captured he made kneel and
wash his feet, then kicked them into the sea.
He tried this miserly act on our boy
Theseus,
who promptly hurled him over the precipice, to
be dashed on the rocks below.
Ouch!
Bandit number two was a hellish rogue by the
name of
Sinis,
who killed travellers by fastening them to two
bent pine trees. He got a taste of his own
medicine and no army was able to stitch him back
together again once
Theseus
was through with him.
Procrustes,
bandit number three, placed his victims upon an iron bed, tying them to it and
then making them the right length for it by
stretching those who were too short and cutting
off as much as was necessary from those who were
too long. After his encounter with our man
Theseus, Procrustes' career ended.
News of his heroism spread across
Athens, so by
the time he arrived at the great city he was
greeted and welcomed openly by all people
including the
King,
who did not realise that
Theseus
was his own son.
Because of his popularity,
Medea,
who knew of
Theseus'
heritage, tempted
Aegeus
to poison the young man but as
Theseus
drew his
father’s sword,
Aegeus
immediately flung the poisoned cup away and
embraced his son.
Medea
escaped to Asia.
Aegeus
proclaimed to the country that
Theseus
was his son and heir, and father and son are
once again reunited in
love,
camaraderie,
honour
and
companionship.
Journey into the Heart of the Minotaur
Years before in
Athens, a terrible misfortune
was laid bare across the City.
Minos, the powerful Cretan King had lost his
only son and heir
Androgeus, while the young man
was visiting the Athenian King.
King Aegeus gave him the task of killing a
dangerous bull, however the bull ended up killing
Androgeus.
Minos
invaded the country and threatening to raze the
City to the ground demanded that every
nine years
the people send a tribute of
seven young maidens and youths
to be given to the
Minotaur as a sacrifice, for his feast.
The
Minotaur
is a monster, half-bull, half-human, the
offspring of Minos’ wife
Pasiphae and a wonderfully beautiful bull.
See
Age of Taurus.
Poseidon had given him the bull so that he can
offer sacrifice but instead
Minos
kept the marvellous creature for himself. To
punish him
Poseidon
had made
Pasiphae
fall madly in love with the Bull and thus the
Minotaur
was conceived.
When the
Minotaur
was born,
King Minos
had
Daedalus, a great
architect and inventor construct the
Labyrinth
in which the
fourteen youths
were offered as sacrifice in the maze.
The time came for the next tribute to take place
and so
Theseus
came forward eagerly.
And the
Adventure
continues ......
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