THE
ARCANE
ARCHIVE
a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.


TOP | OCCULTISM | ARTHURIAN

Questing Beast, Madness and Individuation

To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.mythology,alt.pagan,alt.psychology.jung,alt.mythology.mythic-animals,alt.satanism,alt.fan.dragons
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (mordred)
Subject: Questing Beast, Madness and Individuation (was What ...Questing Beast?)
Date: 14 Sep 1997 13:58:37 -0700

49970914 aa2 Hail Satan!  

jhaye555@concentric.net:
#># more than
#># anything else in Le Morte d'Arthur, the illusive Questing Beast, who
#># used to show up from time to time, in a wood, or by a lake, or going
#># along a path.  My question:  Was it based on some real (I mean in a
#># mythological sense) creature, 

probably the dragon, in a time when dragons were becoming the thing of
legends.  THWhite deals with the Questing Beast somewhat, properly
indicating its necessary pairing with the beleaguered knight who happens
to be chasing it.  it is a psychological allegory, rather than moralistic.


"Simon Todd" :
# Palomedes and Pelinore  both at one time hunted this beast. It is about
# going down false paths. The hunt for the beast means that the knight has
# lost his true way and is chasing after dreams. It is a bit like Don Quixote
# charging windmills. 

this represents what I would call a (probably popular and) mistaken
understanding of both Cervantes and the Questing Beast allegories.
the paths are not 'false' except from the perspective of those who
have not undertaken the transformative journey themselves.  the wise
or valiant always appear mad to the vulgar.


# Whilste on this hunt they are almost doomed to keep
# vainly hunting until they come to realise the futility of their errand,
# until that time they are innured to the advice of others and are lost in
# the illusiary honour of their quest. 

typically the knight gives up because she has not the will to maintain
the mission and submits to the conventional, forever lost, presuming,
as you do, that she was lost before.


# If you think about it they are going
# through the motions of honourable knighthood but their errand is futile
# rendering them lost. 

on the contrary, if you look more closely you will see that what is being
described, in the allegories of these quests, is the quest to resolve the 
self rather than any silly monster-slaying outside their person (the 
latter typically does everyone more harm than good).


# This is an allegory for any who hold to spiritual
# tennets and beliefs but for the wrong reasons, going through the motions of
# being good and genuinely thinking they are right, but missing the point. 

I see what you are saying but think that such fantastic stories as are
being examined here must conceal more than just 'the bad results of
deluded good intentions'.  methinks you have missed the point of the
stories you are declaiming to explain and recommend a return to Jung.

blessed questing beast!!

tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (mordred)
-- 
(emailed replies may be posted);join the AMT syncretism!!;call: 408/2-666-SLUG!
see http://www.abyss.com/tokus; "Clement of Rome taught that God rules the world
with a right and a left hand, the right being Christ, the left Satan." - CGJung

The Arcane Archive is copyright by the authors cited.
Send comments to the Arcane Archivist: tyaginator@arcane-archive.org.

Did you like what you read here? Find it useful?
Then please click on the Paypal Secure Server logo and make a small
donation to the site maintainer for the creation and upkeep of this site.

The ARCANE ARCHIVE is a large domain,
organized into a number of sub-directories,
each dealing with a different branch of
religion, mysticism, occultism, or esoteric knowledge.
Here are the major ARCANE ARCHIVE directories you can visit:
interdisciplinary: geometry, natural proportion, ratio, archaeoastronomy
mysticism: enlightenment, self-realization, trance, meditation, consciousness
occultism: divination, hermeticism, amulets, sigils, magick, witchcraft, spells
religion: buddhism, christianity, hinduism, islam, judaism, taoism, wicca, voodoo
societies and fraternal orders: freemasonry, golden dawn, rosicrucians, etc.

SEARCH THE ARCANE ARCHIVE

There are thousands of web pages at the ARCANE ARCHIVE. You can use ATOMZ.COM
to search for a single word (like witchcraft, hoodoo, pagan, or magic) or an
exact phrase (like Kwan Yin, golden ratio, or book of shadows):

Search For:
Match:  Any word All words Exact phrase

OTHER ESOTERIC AND OCCULT SITES OF INTEREST

Southern Spirits: 19th and 20th century accounts of hoodoo, including slave narratives & interviews
Hoodoo in Theory and Practice by cat yronwode: an introduction to African-American rootwork
Lucky W Amulet Archive by cat yronwode: an online museum of worldwide talismans and charms
Sacred Sex: essays and articles on tantra yoga, neo-tantra, karezza, sex magic, and sex worship
Sacred Landscape: essays and articles on archaeoastronomy, sacred architecture, and sacred geometry
Lucky Mojo Forum: practitioners answer queries on conjure; sponsored by the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
Herb Magic: illustrated descriptions of magic herbs with free spells, recipes, and an ordering option
Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers: ethical diviners and hoodoo spell-casters
Freemasonry for Women by cat yronwode: a history of mixed-gender Freemasonic lodges
Missionary Independent Spiritual Church: spirit-led, inter-faith, the Smallest Church in the World
Satan Service Org: an archive presenting the theory, practice, and history of Satanism and Satanists
Gospel of Satan: the story of Jesus and the angels, from the perspective of the God of this World
Lucky Mojo Usenet FAQ Archive: FAQs and REFs for occult and magical usenet newsgroups
Candles and Curios: essays and articles on traditional African American conjure and folk magic
Aleister Crowley Text Archive: a multitude of texts by an early 20th century ceremonial occultist
Spiritual Spells: lessons in folk magic and spell casting from an eclectic Wiccan perspective
The Mystic Tea Room: divination by reading tea-leaves, with a museum of antique fortune telling cups
Yronwode Institution for the Preservation and Popularization of Indigenous Ethnomagicology
Yronwode Home: personal pages of catherine yronwode and nagasiva yronwode, magical archivists
Lucky Mojo Magic Spells Archives: love spells, money spells, luck spells, protection spells, etc.
      Free Love Spell Archive: love spells, attraction spells, sex magick, romance spells, and lust spells
      Free Money Spell Archive: money spells, prosperity spells, and wealth spells for job and business
      Free Protection Spell Archive: protection spells against witchcraft, jinxes, hexes, and the evil eye
      Free Gambling Luck Spell Archive: lucky gambling spells for the lottery, casinos, and races