Gold trail

On the trail of eternity

By Anne on 21 October 2020

Snow White - The Poisoned Apple

Snow White has fallen over as if dead after taking a bite of the poisoned apple. This time the dwarfs can no longer wake her. They put her in a glass coffin.

Back to:
Part 4: Snow White with the seven dwarfs
Part 1: Snow White, White - Red - Black
Snow White - short version
Snow White - short interpretation and overview
The whole fairy tale text by the Brothers Grimm

The Poisoned Apple - Love Died

Brief summary of content and archetypes

Short synopsis from the fairy tale:

The wicked queen went to the little house in the forest in disguise again and brought Snow White a poisoned apple. Snow White ate a bite and fell to the ground as if dead. This time the dwarfs could not wake her up again.

The dwarfs put Snow White in a transparent coffin so that they could always look at the beauty and wrote her royal name on it in golden letters. Then they placed the coffin on the high mountain next to the cottage and always guarded it. The animals also came and mourned Snow White, first an owl, then a raven and finally a little dove.

Symbols and Archetypes:

In the middle years, the woman is caught up by her shadows. That means:

Theevil witch is back: shadows long thought to have been overcome emerge with power and want to be integrated.
Disguised as an old woman - two messages: (1) Deadly content comes in the guise of "wisdom". (2) The woman is getting old.
The poisoned apple: poisoned love (the apple has been considered the fruit of the goddess of love for millennia).
Deadly Faint: Love Died.
The grief of the dwarves: love is also missing for the men. The woman as the goddess of love carries love in her heart and is thus also the source of love.
The glass coffin: woman as a distant ideal, a perfect virtual reality, but without an inherent life.
The three birds symbolise three spiritual states of women:the owl has symbolised power through eroticism for thousands of years, the raven symbolises the way to the underworld and thedove is the bird of the goddess of love (more on this below in the explanations at the end of the chapter).

Liliana's story - still fabulous

The poisoned apple and the glass coffin

The wicked witch is back

After the wicked queen had presented Liliana with six wedding candidates without any of them being able to land with her, she was extremely dissatisfied. The daughter could have had any of the men! What was wrong with her? Why didn't she want to escape to the safe haven of marriage? The queen became suspicious. Was she still intact after all, still a virgin? Did she still have high ideals?

Disguised as an old wise woman

The queen decided to take matters into her own hands. She went to Liliana and spoke to her in a soft voice:
- Liliana, you are an adult now, a real woman. So let's have a woman-to-woman talk.
To make sure Liliana knew what she was talking about, she enlightened her thoroughly and ended with the words:
- You must learn to protect yourself. And know: Your vagina is your strongest weapon!
She was not distracted by the fact that Liliana did not seem at all interested in the conversation, but continued:
- Use your femininity and beauty, then you can achieve anything you want in life. Of course, you also have to use your mind, but that's not so difficult, because men are very one-dimensional!
She smiled with satisfaction and continued:
- If you do it right, you'll have men eating out of your hand! - You know, men are all the same. Maybe you've already had one or two experiences ...?

She smiled empathetically, piercing Liliana with her eyes. When she remained silent and avoided her gaze, she continued in a slow, gentle and dreamy voice:
- Oh yes, men ... They are no match for us women ... They are so simple, so simple-minded, so easy to see through. You can manipulate them easily, because they only want one thing ...

The poisoned apple

After an artificial pause, she continued to purr:
- For example, the young hunter, - maybe you remember? I think he taught you how to ride? - Well, anyway ... He too, like all men, was completely at the mercy of my charms. He lost his temper when he was near me ... So I made fun of having a little fun with him, if you know what I mean? - After all, the King is here far too seldom. And between you and me, who knows what he does when he's out and about? - Anyway, the hunter - his name was Johan, if I remember rightly ... He was only a small employee, but so passionate! Then, unfortunately, he had to leave ... But before he went, he gave me this as a souvenir or something ...

She lifted Liliana's chain with the dove into the air and let it dangle in front of her nose.
- Didn't you once have something similar? she asked, feigned ignorance.
Liliana recognised the necklace she had given Johan and blanched.
With satisfaction and feigned astonishment, the queen said:
- Oh, was it even yours in the end?
Liliana was silent and looked at it frozen. Tears stood in her eyes. The queen continued in a soft voice:
- Alas! My daughter, don't take it so tragically! - But I must tell you one thing: men prefer mature women, women with experience!

With a cold smile, the Evil Queen wished Liliana good night and pressed a kiss to her forehead with hard lips, then left the room.

Fainting

The young woman was left agitated. She had not expected to hear good things about men from her mother ... but this was too much for her. The hunter Johan, the man who had won her heart, to whom she had given her necklace ... Was that possible? How had the queen got the necklace?

Liliana felt a painful stab in her heart just thinking about it. Oh, she hated her stepmother! She hated what she had said to her, and was confused and confused and devastated. She threw herself on the bed and wept. The queen, who had stayed to listen at the door, turned away contentedly and walked away.

The sad dwarfs and the glass coffin

The six marriage candidates all received a rejection. They were sad about this, because they had taken the gentle beauty into their hearts. They would have liked to make her happy and give their lives and strength for her. She had been the woman of their dreams ...

The Three Birds: Owl, Raven, Dove

Snow White fell ill and stayed in bed for the next few days. Now she had a lot of time to think. Slowly her thoughts became clearer. She realised that she never wanted to become like the evil queen who ruled over men, including her father, through eroticism (Owl). She thought: "The queen has no heart (Raven). But I have a heart, and I want to love!" (Dove). With this thought, her troubled soul came to rest again.

Remarks on this interpretation: Seven dwarfs and seven mountains

The poisoned apple

Snow White symbolises a woman's inner virgin, her pure, innocent love. The fairy tale says in pictures: The woman herself (as a witch) killed her pure love (Snow White), out of anger and negativity, because she was hurt. She has to face her hurts so that her love can heal.

Three birds for three phases of a woman's life

Lilian's story: Confronting the shadow

Fainting

When the children needed me less, I worked more and harder to suppress a feeling of emptiness. But the older I got, the more I found that I felt used up, haggard and bitter. Sometimes I was frustrated and angry, other times depressed and listless. In other words: I was in a crisis and asked myself, "Lilian, where are you in your life?"

The witch is back

I had the feeling that men no longer noticed me, indeed that I had become transparent to them. And it bothered me! Until now, I had always taken my good looks for granted and unconsciously built on them. But now this house of cards was crumbling. I also felt that I had always been there for everyone except myself, driven by a desire to please everyone. That had to end now! I wanted to change something, wanted to finally live my own life. I could not imagine that this would be possible within the framework of our marriage. I had denied myself in it for too long, the paths were too well-trodden ...

Disguised as an old, wise woman (owl)

One day I caught myself looking with jealousy at my daughter Miriam. She had grown up so free and secure.
I, on the other hand, never had a positive role model of femininity. Alexandra had only tried to make me like her, namely a witch who manipulates her environment and plays with men.

The dwarves

Accordingly, our marriage was not exactly on the best of terms. We often had arguments. Matthias no longer seemed to understand the world. Instead of showing me understanding and affection in my weakness, he felt hit, criticised and accused. This only made me angrier and I thought, "He is not at all capable of responding to me and being there for me now, when I would need him". But Matthias was just sad and overwhelmed.

The poisoned apple

Finally, I decided to seek help. During counselling therapy, I became aware that shadows I had long thought I had overcome had resurfaced. The memory of Bruce also suddenly loomed large, and I felt a great anger towards men.

The Raven (Way to the Underworld)

I also eventually realised that I had been implanted with a negative image of men. To protect myself from painful relationships, I had closed my heart. It was still frozen, as if put on ice! It pained me to realise this.
I had never really let anyone get close to me.

The Dove (Resurrection)

I asked myself: would I ever be able to love properly?

Snow White's hero's journey over seven mountains, overview:

Snow White's Hero's Path over 7 Mountains

The fifth phase of the Hero's Path: The Trial by Fire

Purification: dying of the ego, the identity of power

In the trial by fire, everything is "burnt" that cannot stand in the face of love and eternity. This includes negative feelings(the pain body) and power (her immature male parts, the animus). The woman who grows older is inevitably confronted with the disappearance of her power, which was based on her external stimuli. This can reinforce her negativity and lead her instead to expand her power through manipulation ("witch"), through cunning and intrigue, or through an accusatory victim attitude. By giving space to her ego and feminine drives, she kills her pure, giving love.

The murdered love

This was already a theme in Sumerian mythology. It describes how the tree of life of Inanna, the young goddess of love is occupied by dark beings of power, including Lilith, the dark maiden. This initially plunges Inanna into swoon and depression until she later encounters the ruler of the underworld (s. Inanna and the Goddess of the Underworld).

The woman's way back to pure love

The three birds

Owl, raven and dove symbolise three spiritual states of the woman and her three phases of life (see The Way of the Woman):

The owl has symbolised power through eroticism for thousands of years (see Burney Relief, 1800 BC). It stands for the red phase of the woman.
The Raven symbolises the way to the underworld and the unconscious. It is said that he can fly back and forth between the two worlds. It stands for the crisis of the middle years (the black phase), which involves the dying of the ego.
The Pigeon is the bird of the goddess of love(Othmar Keel, God Feminine, p. 110 ff.) and stands for the resurrection to love (white) and fullness.

Metamorphosis - the path to freedom of the spirit

The three birds describe the metamorphosis from material reality to the spiritual existence of love. In earthly existence, the woman's power through eroticism is a fact (owl). The goal, however, is for her to find her way back to her inner beauty, to the divine radiance of pure love (dove). The path to this leads through the underworld and the integration of the shadows.

Resurrection of love

In order to find her way back to love, she has to give up her power through eroticism (owl) and face her shadows on her way through the underworld and integrate them (raven). She does this by acknowledging her weakness and injuries and loving herself in them. This also includes forgiving herself and others. Then her love will rise (dove).

Comments

Catherine says:

28 October 2020 at 1:35 pm

Dear Anne
Great, the treasure of gold that you are digging up and how you are linking everything. A school for the salvation of the soul. For self-responsibility and thus a better relationship with myself and with the outside world. It is worthwhile to dive in and, even if it is demanding, to keep at it for a deeper and deeper understanding. It helps me to get on the track of the golden mean and to align myself with it. I find Goldspur sustainably improves my life and relationships, especially in the family system. THANK YOU for your courage and your work
Cathy

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