The Return of the Giant SquID

Heracles vs. the Hydra

Sea monsters were back in the news last week:

Whale dismasts yacht in South Africa

Octopus with cold resistant venom is discovered in antarctica

“Giant” jellyfish stings over 100 people in New Hampshire:

“A jellyfish the size of a TRASH CAN LID raised a posthumous ruckus yesterday, stinging up to 150 at a New Hampshire beach and sending five of those to the hospital. Beach officials had apparently tried to remove its carcass earlier, causing it to break up into pieces that floated through the water stinging swimmers. Officials responding to the scene found a pavilion and beach packed with children crying like they had been stung by a bee, says a firefighter.” --David Abram

Note the TRASH CAN reference, resonating our collective, posthumous Junk DNA. All these monsters broadcast on a chthonic frequency, the whale is Moby Dick and Monstro, while both the poisonous octopus and jellyfish resonate the Hydra:

The Lernaean Hydra was an ancient nameless serpent-like chthonic water beast (as its name evinces) that possessed seven heads — and for each head cut off it grew two more — and poisonous breath so virulent even her tracks were deadly.

The grand daddy of chthonic monsters is the giant squid or Kraken, and I was amazed when my mom tells me she’s reading 'The Highest Tide', a coming of age story about a 13 year old boy who discovers a giant squid washed up on a beach in Puget Sound! Hollywood uses the giant squid to great effect: J. J. Abrams envisioned a monstrous squid attacking New York in Cloverfield, and the avenging Romulan mining ship in Star Trek was decidedly squid like. The tripods in Steven Spielberg’s The War of the Worlds were basically three legged squid, including even the elongated head, two enormous eyes and the central, devouring orifice. The tripods are interesting also because they lied buried in the EARTH for perhaps millions of years... waiting. Buried in the subconscious?

In analytical psychology, the term chthonic was often used to describe the spirit of nature within, the unconscious EARTHLY impulses of the Self, one's material depths, but not necessarily with negative connotations. See anima and animus or shadow. In Man and His Symbols Carl G. Jung explains:

"Envy, lust, sensuality, deceit, and all known vices are the negative, 'dark' aspect of the unconscious, which can manifest itself in two ways. In the positive sense, it appears as a 'spirit of nature', creatively animating Man, things, and the world. It is the 'chthonic spirit' that has been mentioned so often in this chapter. In the negative sense, the unconscious (that same spirit) manifests itself as a spirit of evil, as a drive to destroy."

The Id resonating Iron Giant was also a giant weapon capable of massive destruction, but it acted only in self defense. Perhaps the Id is also acting in Self defense? The judo chop of the mind.

In the War of the Worlds, Tom Cruise plays Ray Ferrier - the “dragon slayer”. His wife was played by Australian Miranda Otto, who also played Éowyn, “Shield maiden of Rohan” in the LOTR trilogy. She was able to slay the dragon because she was “no man”. “No man” is the meaning of the latin “Nemo”, the captain of the Nautilus who also defeated the giant squID. In the Iron Giant, it was the captain of the Nautilus who targeted a nuke directly at the giant - the “giant Id”. Last week’s yacht destruction by the “right whale” carried the insignia of The Saint, who is Simon Templar. The Templars take their symbol, the red cross, from St. George, the dragon slayer. Coincidence? I think not!

Much as I admire the dragon slayers, I think it is time to stop cutting off heads, and come to some kind of terms - lower the shields. After all, we’re only cutting off our own right brain, and they say that two heads are better than one. The war on terror only creates more terror, our modern “St. George” proved that rather well. Instead of being No Men, maybe we can finally become Real Men: friends, and even protectors, of the Id.

NOTES:

There are some great synchs with The War of the Worlds - there were 3 movies released in the same year with the same title and subject. The number three resonates the trident, the time-traveling weapon of Shiva, AKA the destructive impulse of the Godhead.

Otto is a palindrome. A mirror of consciousness.

Miranda is a satellite of Uranus: Uranus is the sky god and first ruler.

Miranda is the name of a planet in the Firefly universe that was the home of the “Reavers”. The Reavers are animalistic, bloodthirsty killers, at least, according to myth.

A “Miranda Warning” is a warning that is required to be given by police in the United States to criminal suspects in police custody (or in a custodial situation) before they are interrogated to inform them about their constitutional rights.