The Second Dream of Gilgamesh: The Axeman Cometh

by Stephen Parker, Ph.D (Article Selection and Commentary) on August 5, 2011



Enkidu and Gilgamesh



A second time Gilgamesh said to his mother:

Mother, I have had another dream:

At the gate of my marital chamber there lay an axe,
and people had collected about it.
The Land of Uruk was standing around it,
the whole land had assembled about it,
the populace was thronging around it.
I laid it down at your feet,
I loved it and embraced it as a wife,
and you made it compete with me.

The mother of Gilgamesh, the wise, all-knowing, said to her son;
Rimat-Ninsun, the wise, all-knowing, said to Gilgamesh:
The axe that you saw (is) a man.
(that) you love him and embrace as a wife,
but (that) I have compete with you.
There will come to you a mighty man,
a comrade who saves his friend–
he is the mightiest in the land, he is strongest,
he is as mighty as the meteorite of Anu!”

Gilgamesh spoke to his mother saying:
“”By the command of Enlil, the Great Counselor, so may it to pass!
“May I have a friend and adviser, a friend and adviser may I have!
“You have interpreted for me the dreams about him!”
After the harlot recounted the dreams of Gilgamesh to Enkidu
the two of them made love.










The First Recorded Dream: The Dream of Gilgamesh

by Stephen Parker, Ph.D (Article Selection and Commentary) on August 4, 2011








Gilgamesh got up and revealed the dream, saying to his mother:

Mother, I had a dream last night.

Stars of the sky appeared, and some kind of meteorite of Anu fell next to me.

I tried to lift it but it was too mighty for me, I tried to turn it over but I could not budge it.

The Land of Uruk was standing around it, the whole land had assembled about it, the populace was thronging around it, the Men clustered about it, and kissed its feet as if it were a little baby.

I loved it and embraced it as a wife.

I laid it down at your feet, and you made it compete with me.


Commentary: Marie Louise Von Franz

This dream is about forty-six hundred years old. Still today we can find modern parallels for the language of the unconscious has changed much less than the language of human consciousness. So if we interpret this dream from a modern stand-point we could say that up to the moment before the star fell upon Gilgamesh, he fulfilled the collective role of a king. He was the hero-king. He is typical of a man who ambitiously follows a collective pattern. Nowadays, he might be a great politician or a movie star — a man who has followed up certain collective alleys and reached a goal.

Looked at from within, such a person reacts in a very collective way fulfilling a collective role of power. They are generally not very individual.The star, on the contrary, represents his uniqueness — every soul has one star in the heaven. We can say that up to the appearance of the star Gilgamesh, with all his collective power and achievement, had not done anything unique. On the contrary, he had only fulfilled the typical pattern of the hero-king. The, probably, about the middle of life (because that is where it most frequently occurs), something changes.

While he is walking around among his subjects, proud of his own power position, a star falls from the sky onto his back. It turns out to be a very heavy load. That is the moment when his unique destiny befalls him, literally falls on his back. That means that just as Christ had to carry his cross, Gilgamesh now has to carry the burden of having to become the unique, chosen individual, a task which he as avoided by being an ambitious, collective man.


The Way of the Dream
Pages 69- 70.





Source of Text
http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab1.htm




Source of Image

http://www.historywiz.com/galleries/gilgameshking.htm










Atalata Fugiens XXXVI: The Philosopher’s Stone

by Stephen Parker, Ph.D (Article Selection and Commentary) on July 5, 2011

From Michael Meier’s Atalanta Fugiens





Epigram 36

The Stone that is Mercury, is cast upon the
Earth, exalted on Mountains, resides in the
Air, and is nourished in the Waters.




Discourse 36:


All persons that have once heard of the name or power of the Stone, unless they are altogether incredulous, ask presently where it may be found, that so they may run directly to it. The Philosphers answer is twofold: First Adam brought it with him out of Paradise, that is, in you and in me, and in every man that, birds flying, bring it with them out of far countries. Secondly, it may be found in the Earth, Mountain, Air and Rivers. Which path therefore must be taken? I say, both, but in a different respect, although the last pleases us best, and seems most safe…









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