PITHOS = PLUTO
As usual,
the Hermetic proceedure involves making a Mountain out of a Molehill. And, as
usual, the Molehill in this case, is another analogy. E.Neumann gives this
priceless clue, on the basis of which the Myths of Pluto are constructed. It is
the fact that the Greeks practiced:
"...the custom of
storing grain in subterranean pithoi." Neumann, Great Mother, .p. 162.
The
seed was stored in underground pithoi, from June to October when it is
then re-united with Mother Earth during the sowing. Likewise, it also be
analogically apparent, that seed stored in the womb also brings brings forth
its fruit at the appointed time. These two ideas, the one agricultural, and
partaking of the life of the plant, the other pointing to the fertility of
human biology, can be seen in a definition of Pluto from the popular press.
"The name Pluto,
from the Greek PLOUTON, signifies fertility and is thought to be rooted in the
Sumerian BOROTUN, meaning 'deliverer of the womb'. In ancient Greek mythology,
Pluto exemplifies power and will as the unscrupulous god of the underworld. In
his gloomy domain deep below ground, he receives and regenerates the souls of
the dead." etc.
The book quoted here is entitled: 'The Case for Reincarnation' with
a short introduction by H.H. the Dalai Lama. But as a xerox of one chapter only
was sent to me, the chapter on Pluto, in fact, I have not yet located the
author and publisher. It was a paperback.
From
the rich variety of associations hinted at here, it is not a great distance to
see the correspondence between Earth, Womb and Consciousness. After all, Memory
is the Storehouse on which consciousness depends. This Storehouse can also be
rephrased as the basic genetic material, e.g. DNA. After all, the human seed
contains everything necessary for its evoltuon, or in some cases, devolution.
This
is by analogy a symbol of the subconscious storage systems; and there are
various ways of looking at this, from the very gross to the subtle
perspectives.
There
are three distinct departments that emerge here.
1.)
The actual subterranean sites - such are caves, vaults, cellars and so
forth.
2.) Subterranean
treasures or stored valuables, in the sense of an archive or underground museum.
This
is the CONTENT of the above! In other words, what do the suterranean vaults
CONTAIN. They are not empty. In certain mystical teachings, for example, the
Teachings of Maitreya in Tibetan Buddhism, there are indications that such sub
or unconscious storehouses are viewed as impurities, and are cleansed of their
contents. This cleansing may be refered to in the Myth of Hercules cleansing
the Augean Stables.
3.) The psychological,
analogical correspondence of the subterranean storage with the sub-conscious.
4.) Also possibly to
be interpreted psychologically, Hell, Inferno and the
Pluto as a
general indicator of liminality.