The Secret Meaning of the Pomegranate

[Guest guest]

Dear Alice, Marte, Dan, Toni,

fa and other Jung Fire friends,

What follows is are two excerpts

from “The Secret of the Pomegranate,” by Marc Bregman with Sue

Scavo. I hope it will provoke some discussion on this list, and I would

be joyful to join with you.

Next Thursday I will leave for a

four-day dreamwork retreat at the North of Eden retreat center on Norris

Mountain in Vermont. Bill and others in the North of Eden community will

be there, about 60 of us in all. You can read about North of Eden

Dreamwork retreats on the website www.northofeden.com.

There is no Internet access on the

mountain, so we will be out of touch for the long weekend coming up. When

I return I may want to share with you some of my experiences there.

The Secret

Meaning of the Pomegranate

Before Persephone was to

return to the surface world to be with her mother, Hades secretly gave her a

pomegranate to eat, knowing that if she ate of the seeds, she would not be able

to ever fully return to the surface world.

Hades knew that the

seeds were her own heart and would dissolve the toxic lie of the mother. The

dark mother uses guilt, lies and subtle manipulations of the mind in order to

distract those who would follow in her footsteps. She lies and blames Chronos

for the death of her children. She lies and sends Psyche a lover that would

only cause her grief, that would cause her to become like her, a cold, lying

husk of a woman. She lies telling Persephone that there will be no spring if

she does not return, holding her responsible for the demise of the world. The

dark mother lies and lies and lies.

Every person can hear

the lie by listening to the voice inside that always explains, always cajoles,

always excuses the sickest self. If only the person could see that sick self,

then the lie could be seen. Most people are too ill to know that they are ill.

Therefore, they believe the lie and the treachery that tells them that the

surrender to give the self to the Divine will destroy them or they will be

asked to give something up that they do not want to give up or they will be

asked to do something they do not want to do.

The truth is, when the

dark mother is given up, the person gets to have Him. There is nothing to lose

but her and all the attachments that only serve to cover up the true yearning.

Nothing to lose except empty needs that people can become attached to because

they feel they can control them.

In the moment Persephone

is about to receive the seeds, Hades is unclear with her about why she should

take them at all. This is the moment when the dreamer wants to know what will

happen if she takes the plunge, if she takes the seeds. He does not want her to

know because no one can know this until it is felt. Any attempt to explain it

gives the dark mother the opportunity to manipulate the words and tell more

lies.

Uncertainty and fear are

the greatest tests, for through them a person must let go of control. It is

only the moment of letting go of control that the true soul’s nature can

gain power over the ego, over the fragile ways a person holds onto power over

herself and, in so doing, represses her true nature.

This moment of treachery

is designed to keep the dark mother out and the mind at bay. In that moment,

there is only the mystery to be revealed, the secret to be known if only the

person would take the chance. This is the moment of free will for

Hades/Animus’ treachery is not meant to trick the person into ingesting

the seeds, but rather to offer her the opportunity to take them with an

absolute uncertainty in the result.

At this moment, one is

given the absolute final choice. Like Psyche, however, most people will opt out

of the opportunity. They will not want to forget themselves as Persephone later

asks Psyche to do. Most will be afraid to leave our known selves behind. The

pomegranate seeds will remain uneaten and the secret of the pomegranate will

remain a secret.

But, if a person gives

up the need to control, she will not need the dark mother. If a person needs to

control, then she needs the dark mother. The dark mother will teach everyone

about control and if the person is “lucky,” she will become a goddess,

a matriarch, a powerful woman who can rule or he will become a powerful man who

can rule. That is, until the moment of death when the person lies in a naked

heap on the floor, shrieking in terror and agony as the shell that repressed

the yearning is taken away and the pain, ignorance and regret is revealed.

To

eat these seeds, one must be like Persephone – totally open and

vulnerable. Otherwise, the seeds will not be wanted. Once the seeds are

ingested, then one knows that the blood tears open the heart, then one knows

what has always been wanted. One knows there is nothing more than Him. The love

pours in and fills the empty chalice. Starving, the person gulps it down in an

insatiable need.

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The

sense of purposefulness that the Divine has in its need of us is extraordinary

and shocking to believe. We do not often perceive ourselves has having anything

to offer and wonder why the Divine would tolerate us in the first place. It is

not that we are sinners – we are just damn troublesome. It is

understandable that there is something to be gained despite our difficult

natures by the Divine that motivates itself to work tirelessly towards this

union. It is difficult to perceive beyond the point of why any of this is

necessary and I would not indulge myself or the reader in such fantasy since I

do not have that vision nor could I understand it even if I did have it. I do

understand now that we are important and needed in the procreative genesis of

the universe. For every pomegranate that is made whole, for every soul that

becomes immortalized and infused with the Divine, there is a deepening and

empowering growth of love that is greater that it was before the inclusion of

that individuated soul.

Love,

Burmeister

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