McCall Gathering 2007, Part 48

The Lernaean Hydra

JJ: The next labor is Destroying the Lernaean Hydra, this is in Scorpio and this is an interesting sign in the fact that Scorpio is often called the sign of death because the Scorpio often has things happen that is out of his control. Death and divorce, things like this are beyond the control of anyone, certain things happen that are just beyond his control and so he learns to accept certain things that he cannot change.
In ancient Argos a drought occurred, Amymones sought the aid of Neptune and he bade her strike a rock and when she did out gushed three crystals streams but soon a hydra made his dwelling there beside the river Amymone a festering swamp of Lerna stands and within this noise and bog a monstrous hydra lies, a plague upon the countryside. Nine heads this creature has and one of them is immortal. Prepare to battle with this loathsome beast – think not that common means will serve. Destroy one head and two will grow apace.

Expectantly Hercules waited. “One word of counsel I may give,” the teacher said. “We rise by kneeling, we conquer by surrendering, we gain by giving up. Go forth oh son of man and son of God. Go forth and conquer through gate eighth.” Then Hercules passed through the gate and began his work..

The stagnant swamp of Lerna was a blot, dismaying all that came within the confines; its stench polluted the entire atmosphere within a space of seven miles. When Hercules approached he had to pause, for the smell alone well nigh over came him. The loosing quick sands were a hazard and more than once Hercules with drew his foot lest he be sucked downward by the yielding earth. At length he came and found the lair where dwelt the monstrous beast.

Within a cavern of perpetual night the hydra lay concealed. By day and night Hercules haunted the treacherous den, awaiting a propitious time when the beast would come forth. In vain he watched. The monster stayed within its fetid den. Resorting to a stratagem, Hercules dipped his arrows in burning pitch and rained them straight into the yawning cavern where dwelt the hideous beast. A stirring and commotion there upon ensued. The hydra, its nine angry heads breathing flame, emerged. Its scaly tail lashed furiously the water and the mud bespattering Hercules. Three fathoms high the monster stood, a thing of ugliness that looked as if it had been made of all the foulest thoughts conceived since time began. The hydra sprang at Hercules and sought to coil about his feet. He stepped aside and dealt it such a crushing blow that one of its heads was immediately dissevered. No sooner had this horrid head fallen into the bog than two grew in its place. Again and again Hercules attacked the raging monster, but it grew stronger, not weaker, with each assault.

Then Hercules remembered that his Teacher said, “We rise by kneeling.” Casting aside his club, Hercules knelt, grasped the hydra and with his bare hands, and raised it aloft. Suspended in mid-air, its strength diminished. On his knees, then, he held the hydra high above him, that the purifying air and light might have their due effect. The monster, strong in darkness and in slouchy mud, soon lost its power when the rays of the sun and the touch of the wind fell on it.

Convulsively, it strove, a shudder passing through its loathsome frame. Fainter and fainter grew its struggles till the victory was won. The nine heads drooped, then with gasping mouths and glazing eyes fell limply forward. But only when the lifeless body lay still did Hercules perceive the mystic head that was immortal. Then Hercules cut off the hydra’s one immortal head and buried it, still fiercely hissing, beneath a rock.

Returning Hercules stood before his Teacher. ‘The victory is won”, the Teacher said, “The Light that shines at the Gate, the eighth, is now blended with your own”.

So Hercules goes after this hydra and it lived in this marsh that was putrid and the stench went for seven miles it was so bad. What is the symbolism here?

Audience: It reminds me of the paperclip where water, air and land meet, but here you have all of these mixed in one and muddled together like a corrupt version of it.

JJ: The Hydra represents our lower desire and it produces stench, chuckling, our lower desire gets us into a lot of trouble and it has nine different aspects. One of the heads is immortal. The nine different heads are:

1) Sex

2) Comfort

3) Money

4) Fear

5) Hatred

6) Desire for power

7) Pride

8) Separativeness

9) Cruelty

JJ: Which one of the heads do you think would be immortal?

Audience: Greed, jealousy, hate.

JJ: Basically they represent all the negative emotions and the negative emotions associated with the lower desire but they are not immortal for they shall be transmuted. Which one of the heads is immortal.

Audience: Power

JJ: Right, it is power and it does not say it in the book but I am sure it is power. You might think sex, and sex on all of its levels is probably immortal but not in the lower nature. But power is immortal for we are told that in the council chambers of heaven there was still a struggle for power – and do you remember what that story was about? Who was the one who rebelled against God and wanted power?

Audience: Lucifer

JJ: Right so even in the courts of heaven, which were supposed to be ruled by the Most High there was one we call Lucifer who rebelled and took with him a third of the hosts of heaven because he sought power. The Tibetan verifies this – He says that in the councils of the Most High there has not always been peace and tranquility and wrote about the fall of Lucifer. He said the fall of Lucifer was not really a big thing in the whole course of the universe or even our solar system but as far as our earth goes it was a significant event. He does not give us a lot of details about it so apparently even in the courts of the Ancient of Days there have been big problems with those who are seeking power.

So Hercules took this immortal head and buried it under a rock, now what does that mean?

Audience: He wanted to suppress it.

JJ: Right, it was hissing even as he put it under the rock and is symbolic of desire for power being put out of his consciousness so he would not misuse power. Now power is the easiest thing to misuse, it is interesting if you ask anyone if they can be trusted with power and they all think that yes they can be trusted with power. It seems like an easy thing to handle. Money is an attractive power and it is interesting thing with these lottery winners – have you ever the stories about these winners after they win millions of dollars? What happens to them?

They go crazy don’t they, they go out buy very expensive homes, cars and all kinds of things and people hit them up for money and family comes out of the woodwork and pretty soon half of its gone and they think well I had better be careful with this or there will be nothing left. Then people get mad at him because he will not give out money anymore and all his friends feel like he has turned on him and pretty soon he gives out more money to pacify them and that still does no good and then pretty soon all the money is gone and so are all of his friends. He is just disgusted with all of his family and friends and I would say that about after about two years 95% of them end up this way or worse. They end up saying that they wish they would had never won for their life would have been a lot better off. Now if I told you guys I would give you twenty million dollars, do you think you could handle it? Would you take the chance?

Audience: Yes

Right, we all would, wouldn’t we? Yet it is funny that most of these lottery winners wind up saying, “I wish I had not won the money.” But how many of us would have the foresight to see in such a way that we would say, I do not even want to win the money. Who says that? Nobody, and as a matter of fact these same guys that say I wish I would have never won the lottery, still play the lottery. And that is the funny part about the whole thing! They think that somehow they can redeem themselves by continuing to play the lottery.

Copyright by J J Dewey

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