In Search of the Lost Feminine

I have chosen to reframe the story of Medusa, because mythology tells us that her coiling hair of serpents and her visage were such a terrible sight that she could turn anyone who saw her‚ and most importantly, men‚ to stone. I have often fantasized about a feminine ability of this nature, which I think of as “The Zapper.” It is not a terrible thing, because it does not involve pain, bloodletting, or violence of any kind. It would be deployed simply as a “cease and desist order” that would quickly and permanently terminate some injustice afoot in the world.

And it is appropriate that Medusa should represent the cultivation of such a latent power in the feminine psyche, because her character as a terrifying Gorgon was itself born of injustice. Medusa was supposedly once a beautiful nymph, and Athena turned her into a Gorgon to punish her for mating with Poseidon in her temple. One must wonder why Poseidon was exempted from punishment and whether Medusa invited him into the temple or whether he invaded it. Since the gods were usually the aggressors in such cases, one may assume the latter; and since nymphs were nature spirits, perhaps Medusa was trapped in the temple when seeking refuge from Poseidon’s advances. Even though she may have been a victim, it was she who was turned into a monster by Athena.

As an aspect of her punishment, Medusa acquired the extraordinary power of “the Zapper.” This power did not make her immortal; in fact, she was later killed by Perseus, who cut off her head with his sword. According to myth, she was pregnant by Poseidon, and as she died, two “children” sprang from her neck. One was the winged horse Pegasus and the other was Chrysasaor, a hero wielding a golden sword.

This all works in the reframing of Medusa that I am embracing. I choose to think that the serpents coiling around her head represent the transformational energy of the mind that can heal any form of trauma. At one level, the beheading of Medusa by Perseus signifies all the ways in which so many myths have deprived the feminine psyche of the ability to fulfill our own intellectual potential. At another level, however, Medusa’s death signifying the death of our own monstrous reputations brings into the world something new and beautiful in the form of Pegasus and Chrysasaor.

The horse has always been a symbol of power, and it is closely associated with the barbarians who devastated civilization on horseback. But a winged horse could fly to the realms of higher consciousness; and a sword made of gold, which is a soft metal, would be wielded in service to truth and justice, not as a weapon of destruction. In this retelling, Medusa’s beheading provides her daughters with both steed and “cutting edge” to claim our rightful place in the world.

Filed under: Shared Truths