medea

Author’s Note: This is non-fiction, my musings on Medea and her history.

Content Advisement: This references homicide (including violence toward children).

As with most myths/stories/fairytales (and all of history), there are different versions and perspectives of Medea, some that are wildly different or in direct opposition to one another. Medea has been examined thoroughly and reinterpreted extensively. Toni Morrison and Christa Wolf have spoken about this in a much more insightful way than I do here. 

What we explore here, in this trip to the Underworld, is just one way of looking at this story. We’re turning just a few facets of this diamond toward the light so we can look at them. 

The barest bones of the story are thus: Medea is the wife of Jason. She helps him achieve his goal of claiming his throne. He abandons her for another woman, and embarks on the life they were supposed to have together. She kills the other woman and their own children to punish Jason. 

So who was Medea? Many say she’s a direct descendant of the Sun God, imbued with divinity and her own magical sources. Others say she’s only partially divine (or entirely human) and imbued with power from goddesses like Aphrodite and, in particular, Hecate. 

In some versions, she was forced (by others’ magic) to fall in love with Jason so that she could be manipulated to carry out the whims of the gods. What’s undisputed is that she's far more powerful and magical than her wounder. She helps him, frankly, to do the impossible. He would not have succeeded without her.  

There is a birthright to power and magic, and she’s brought down by the pain and suffering of the mortal world, she’s brought down by a dismissive and devaluing relationship. She becomes defined by what was done to her (and what she did in reaction to that harm), rather than what she was truly capable of.

Whether or not Medea was justified in her vengeance, she is wounded in her need to wound. In fact, in destroying her children, she’s destroying extensions of herself and her magic. Even in a version where she doesn’t kill her children herself, they are killed by others as punishment for her revenge.

So, as we stand in front of Medea’s door, in her presence ask yourself: what are the precious parts of self that I sacrifice to punish others? 

Where have I been forced, manipulated, or chosen to give my magic away for those who don’t have my best interests at heart?

When do I use my magic to exact revenge on others, rather than turning my magic inward and having it serve me directly?

Where do I wound myself to wound others?

You might be wondering what this can look like in the Overworld. Here are just a few examples:

• Anyone who feels so defined by their wounds that they can’t see themselves or their gifts clearly. Almost like they are their wounds, and that’s all they’ll ever be.

• Those with gifts that go unnurtured because the pain is too demanding or too loud. There’s many an unwritten novel, un-composed song, and un-filmed film in the Overworld. 

• Those whose energy/magic/life force/time is put into service of those who do not or cannot reciprocate. This can be seen in feeling forced to continue in abusive or harmful relationship dynamics. Any time we hope that if we just “get it right” or “give them enough time” that we’ll finally be loved, valued, and cared for in return.

• This is not always a call to cut-offs (remember, cutting is often part of the problem here), but a call to noticing and, perhaps, reclaiming. 

• Just like Jason, these people (or systems/institutions) throw us away once they get all they want from us.

The most popular question on our tours is: but what do I do? And unfortunately, answers are not part of the tour package. There are more answers than there are questions and there are more solutions than there are problems. We can only bring you to the door, you have to decide what it takes to walk through it.

“I’d act more sanely, if I only could, 

but this new power overwhelms my will; 

reason advises this, and passion, that; 

I see the better way, and I approve it, 

while I pursue the worse.” -  

Ovid. (2004, p.224). Metamorphoses (C. Martin, Trans.). W. W. Norton & Company.