One crystal goblet

Inspired by a recent read at Kamarooka, She, Understanding Feminine Psychology by Robert Johnson. Not a huge mythology fan but have grown to appreciate the power of the narrative in myths that can speak to us vividly when the blatantly obvious sometimes doesn't. It never ceases to amaze me that even as adults we need repetition, repetition as do children, until we 'get something' and even then we constantly need to be reminded! And often it needs to be presented to us in different ways, colours and shades to keep getting it, living it or applying it. Maybe I am just super slow at 'getting some things', and all this is a swings and round-a-bout way to say the penny dropped while reading Johnson's book, and it took a wild mythological story to help me see it!


"Myths are rich sources of psychological insight. Great literature, like all great art, records and portrays the human condition with indelible accuracy. Myths are a special kind of literature not written or created by a single individual, but produced by the imagination and experience of an entire age and culture and can be seen as the distillation of the dreams and experiences of a whole culture. Myths honour universality and timelessness."


Do you ever feel as a modern mum/parent caught between conflicting choices/demands? Parenting +/vs volunteering, parenting +/vs work, parenting +/vs study, parenting +/vs helping others, parenting +/vs community projects, parenting +/vs sport? With education & ever changing society expectations has come this incredible pull to not just be satisfied with the wonderful profession of parenting, particularly mothering. The once 'stay at home' mum myself have struggled with this ever since becoming a 'full time working mum'. Getting the balance just right. We are all expected to juggle parenting plus, plus, plus.


Johnson is his book, She describes the interplay between two characters, Psyche and Aphrodite, who represent the two parts of a woman's personality according to Greek mythology. I won't go into all the details, but rather highlight one 'task' out of four that really leapt off the page, and you guessed it, has to do with a crystal goblet.


Imagine a character, Psyche, she has been given four tasks to accomplish before she can really know herself and be 'redeemed'. The crystal goblet is a part of the third task along her perilous journey to find the inner treasure. Psyche finds herself by a fast flowing river that tumbles from a high mountain. Her task is to fill a crystal goblet with water from the river. Easy? The river is guarded by dangerous monsters and there is no place by the side of the river to set one's foot to dip the goblet in. Suddenly an eagle appears and flies to Psyche in her distress and asks for the crystal goblet. Flying to the centre of the stream, the eagle lowers the goblet into the dangerous waters, fills it and brings it safely back to Psyche. Her task is accomplished. Simple, yet profound.


What does this story tell us? What is the crystal goblet? Who is the eagle? And why a fast flowing river? All imagery that I am sure you could relate to your own life, with varied meanings attached to each character as symbolic.


"This task is telling us how the woman must relate to the vastness of life. She may take only one goblet of water. The feminine way is to do one thing and do it well and in proportion. She is not denied a second or third or tenth activity but she must take it one goblet at a time, each in good order." 


As women/parents we are often flooded with the vastness of possibilities in life and drawn to all of them, usually all at once! Here, here! Speaking my language! But this is impossible; one cannot do or be so many things at once (but we'll all have a good go at it, that superwoman fallacy). Johnson goes so far as to say that there is a modern day heresy that states if a little is good, more is better. Unfortunately this is pumped to us everywhere, do more, be more, achieve more. This creates a life that even while we are enjoying one experience we can be already looking for the next. Balance. Enjoying the now without being consumed by the future.


The goblet is crystal for a reason. Crystal is very fragile and very precious, it represents our ego/personality. It holds the water representing life from the river.  If we are not careful the goblet can be shattered by the treacherous river. So we need vision like an eagle to see the vastness of the river, the great flow of life and be ale to dip into the river at just the right place, in the right manner. This comes with a warning to not plunge too deeply expecting the whole of life to be experienced at once, it is better one goblet at a time, otherwise the river may drown or overwhelm us.


Johnson finishes by reminding us that almost all of us at times can become overwhelmed by the 'too-muchness' of modern life, even daily. This is the time for an eagle view and one-crystal-goblet-at-a-time  mentality, to life, to parenting. Little is much, be content and satisfied with what you have now, let go of longing for more, more, more and model this to our children. Parenting, particularly when our children are younger is enough, don't squeeze them in around everything else. Parenting is our focus, they are with us for but a short while.....cherish them now.