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| Labyrinth |
Endless, labyrinthine passageways, from which the dreamer can find no way out, are a frequent dream image. In Greek mythology the Cretan labyrinth was the dwelling-place of the Minotaur, the son of the bull-god. The Greek hero Theseus defeated the Minotaur after being given a ball of wool by Ariadne, the Minotaur's sister. He fastened the end of the ball of wool (referred to as Ariadne's clew) at the entrance and was thus able to find his way out of the labyrinth again after killing the Minotaur. Theseus owes his life to Ariadne's ball of wool, and so she here symbolizes the intellectual aspects of womanhood. The bull-like monster in the labyrinth, the Minotaur, appears as a symbol of the sex drive, something which for the consciousness must remain impenetrable. Man's intellectual and spiritual relationship to woman, symbolized here by Ariadne's clew, enables the hero to survive the dangerous adventure and to conquer the bull within himself. In the myth, though, a resolution of this conflict is already anticipated. A labyrinth in a dream usually signifies solely the dangerous elements of the story. |
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