The mythological tale of Narcissus and Echo describes the tragic failure of communication between a man and woman. Echo falls in love with Narcissus but he is too self-absorbed to give her the attention that she desires. Feeling rejected, Echo dies of a broken heart and her flesh returns to the soil. Yet Echo's spirit had been cursed by Hera, Wife of Zeus, to be forever incapable of speaking from the center of her being. When Echo spoke, it could only be a repetition of the words of others. Thus, when her body disappeared, Hera's curse lingered in the air and continues to this day to find expression in the echo of reverberating chambers.
Narcissus and Echo are presented to us as masculine and feminine embodiments of the temporal glitch of reflection. We are reading the mythic enactment of two complementary modes of human perception, hearing and vision, through the mythic lens of romantic tragedy.
Consider how this archetypal drama relates to the typical dynamic of AitD groups.
As a group, we experiment with alchemical reconciliation of waking consciousness and unseen/unconscious influences. To allow energy to move freely through the room, we collectively agree to detach from identification with many of the voices we pick up during group. Perhaps a voice comes through us and has therefore temporarily possessed us, or we have possessed it. That voice is only one of countless fragmented "selves" floating through the container, which in turn behaves as a holographic signature of the non-local, collective human psyche.
There is a risk in practicing this form of group magical practice, which I have not yet witnessed anyone fall prey to, but which would be a rather annoying disturbance. To become totally possessed by the "spirit" of either of these two characters without enough Self-Awareness to snap out of it, could lead to severe neuroses. We turn to Narcissus and Echo for a map of the problem and its solution.
The masculine figure in this story obsessively studies the mirror reflection of himself. From this reflected image, he creates an identity, which he pours all of his love (source-energy) into. As a result, he fails to appreciate his feminine counterpart.
Mirror Reflection
M.R.
Mr.
Mister
Male Ego
M.E.
Malignant Egophrenia
Our young male protagonist is afflicted with a mental disease not uncommon in 21st century American culture.
The feminine figure has had her voice stolen by the wife (Hera) of the father-god (Zeus). Annoyed by the young nymph's chattering, and resenting Zeus for sleeping with other young nymphs like Echo, Hera punishes Echo by taking away her ability to speak from the heart.
Hera treats Echo as if she were a "representative" for all of the nymphs whom Zeus has been sleeping with. Archetypally, this speaks to the Jealous Wife's hatred of the Husband's secret romance with Young Nymphs.
But if we take this myth and apply it to AitD, we can see how Echo's inability to speak from the heart may represent the necessary counter-imbalance to Narcissian self-obsession.
Participants in group may choose to dwell obsessively on the details of their personal life, losing touch with the receptive, feminine aspects of their being. Alternatively, we sometimes become so wrapped up in what other people think and say that we forget to listen to our hearts and speak from what we know is true. We may even get the sense that we no longer know what is true.
Having named the demon of REFLECTIVE GLITCH and located it during a session, we may resolve it through body awareness. Our masculine self-obsession is invited to redirect its orientation toward the heart. Having resolved the Feminine aspect's empathetic loss-of-self, reconnecting with heart-consciousness, Feminine energy returns to its home in the psychic womb, creative matrix of Life. The heart radiates in the presence of the womb, and like sun impregnating earth, the flower of alchemical resolution begins to bud.
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