The Wisdom of the Serpent: The Myths of Death, Rebirth, and Resurrection.
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The tribal initiation of the shaman, the archetype of the serpent, exemplifies the death of the self and a rebirth into transcendent life. This book traces the images of spiritual initiation in religious rituals and myths of resurrection, poems and epics, cycles of nature, and art and dreaming. It dramatizes the metamorphosis from a common experience of death's inevitability into a transcendent freedom beyond individual limitations."This is a classic work in analytical psychology that offers crucial insights on the meaning of death symbolism (and its inevitably accompanying rebirth and resurrection symbolism) as part of the great theme of initiation, of which [Henderson] is the world's foremost psychological interpreter. This material is really the next step after the hero myth that Joseph Campbell has made so popular, and provides an understanding of how not to use the hero myth in an inflated way as a psychology of mastery, but as an attainment progressively to be died beyond. [Henderson] is helped by the presence of Maud Oakes, who is a trained anthropologist with exquisite taste in her choice of mythic materials and respect for their original contexts."--John Beebe Booknews The series makes available in paperback many influential studies on world mythology. This is a reprint of the 1963 (Braziller) work in analytical psychology which goes beyond the hero myth popularized by Joseph Campbell. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
List of PlatesxiList of Line DrawingsxvAcknowledgmentsxviiIntroductionI.The Fear of Death3II.Death and Rebirth as Cosmic Pattern: The Dance of Shiva8III.Death and Rebirth as Cycles of Nature: The Descent of Inanna15IV.Personal Encounter: The Wisdom of the Serpent32V.Initiation as a Spiritual Education41VI.Initiation as Psychic Liberation: The Magic Flight60VII.Resurrection and Rebirth in the Process of Individuation66Myths of Death, Rebirth, and ResurrectionDeath and Rebirth as Cosmic Pattern77IntroductionThe Dance of Shiva (Hindu 1500 B.C.-1000 B.C.)78Death and Rebirth of the Universe (Hindu)83The Parade of Ants (Hindu)84The Five Suns (Aztec)88The Ragnarok (Icelandic, 13th Century)90The Voluntary Death (Hindu)94Death of the Skeleton Mower (Egyptian)97Death and Rebirth as Cycles of Nature99IntroductionInanna's Descent to the Nether World (Sumerian)100The Death and Rebirth of Horus (Egyptian)107The New Year's Festival (Babylonian)111The Tomb of Eye (Egyptian)114Attis (Greek)116Adonis (Greek)118Persephone (Greek)119Lemminkainen, His Destruction and His Restoration to Life (Finnish)121The Retirement and Emergence of the Sun Goddess (Japanese)127Tezcatlipoca's Feast (Aztec)129The Girl Who Was Sacrificed by Her Kin (African)133The Three Snake-Leaves (European)135Initiation as a Spiritual Education139IntroductionThe Malekulan Journey of the Dead (Melanesian)140The Quest of Gilgamesh (Akkadian)143The Hymn of the Robe of Glory (Syrian)153
