Siegfried the Lonely Hero and Self-Made Man

A Psychological and Symbolic Understanding of Siegfried

The Ring Cycle tells of authoritarian fathers obsessed with acquiring power and the effect for three generations on sons and daughters. Adult children raised to be extensions of a parent's ambitions or needs find themselves--like Siegfried, asking "who am I?"

With his innate strength, lack of empathy and fearlessness, Siegfried personifies the lonely hero who becomes a self-made man. He awakens Brunnhilde whose punishment for disobeying Wotan was to be made helpless and unconscious.

The opera is rich with symbols and symbolic figures: the woodbird, Fafner the dragon, the dwarves Mime and his brother Alberich, the Wanderer.

Lessons from Wild Geese

It was fun for me to compare wild geese flying in "V” formation to women's circles in my book Urgent Message from Mother. Except for the shape, a circle functions as geese do. They rotate leadership -When the lead goose tires, another takes the lead position. By flying in formation, they fly 71 percent further together than one goose could fly alone. As each goose flaps its wings it creates an uplift that supports the goose flying behind it. The support of the others makes it easier to go where they want to go. They honk while in flight to encourage the lead goose to keep up the speed.

The lessons are applicable-we do go further with support of others; their thoughts, ideas, and prayers add an uplift, and our "honking" does need to be encouraging. I've ended some workshop circles where I talked about Lessons from Wild Geese in a lighthearted, playful way -I had participants be pretend geese, flapping arms as wings and honking. It's also been a delight when, from time to time, I get an email that ends with "Honk! Honk! Honk!"

Page 73-74 of Moving Toward the Millionth Circle 5WCW Energizing the Global Women's Movement

Moving Toward the Millionth Circle

It began with an "AHA!" that led me to write The Millionth Circle (hundredth monkey, millionth circle—Bingo!). The book seeded circles with a sacred center. inspired the Millionth Circle Initiative, brought me to the UN in 2002, and led to my advocacy for a UN 5th World Conference on Women (5WCW), the first since Beijing 1995 and internet communication.

Jung’s collective unconscious and Rupert Sheldrake’s morphic field theory provides an understanding of how deep change happens at the archetypal level. Soul journey, individuation, “assignment.”

The book is available on Amazon