SEASONAL
NOTES
AND POEMS
*
MEANING OF
FAIRY TALES
*
ALADDIN
*
TENDER
RELATING
delving in a small circle
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Working with Fairy Tales
Or
What the Story of Aladdin May Tell Us About Ourselves
Nanna Aida Svendsen©
The realm of fairy tale seems to have undergone a revival recently. Bookscontaining clues as to how we may interpret their deeper meanings abound, and
the genre seems to be as popular as ever at the movies. Walt Disney, master
of the art of turning familiar and well loved tales into well crafted
cartoon, has revived many of its golden oldies.
Fairy tales and myths can be powerful. They can capture and feed our
imagination and reflect our emotions. Through them we may speak of things
that otherwise we may never mention. They can tell of the possible horrors
and delights of being a child. And of being an adult. They can indicate how a
culture has attempted to teach its values, and on a deeper psychological
level they can reveal how our psyches may be hurt, how we may recover and how
our individual and collective creative processes might be unfolding.,
If we know how to interpret them and understand their possible deeper
meanings. they can tell us of the necessary journeys involved in becoming and
being whole and healthy human beings. Perhaps this is part why they hold
such fascination ? They can speak directly to the unconscious , and to the
part of us that likes to think in image, dream, fantasy and symbol. And of
course they can delight, and hold us ensconced in a good yarn.
Fairy tales may seem on the surface to be about how to behave. They may
appear to be giving guidelines about what to do, and what to expect from
life. However if we chose only to perceive and respond to them on this
superficial level we are likely to become disenchanted, because quite simply
as codes of conduct or as guides as to how to negotiate life they may not be
true enough. But, if we choose to appreciate them from another perspective
we will invariably find that they are often referring to a symbolic or
mythic journey. That they do harbour a great many valuable truths regarding
our feelings and experiences. It is not for nothing that most fairy tales
take place in far away lands, or begin with the words "Once Upon A time."
Immediately it is clear. We are going to deal with experience and meanings
that are somehow different from those of our everyday dealings. We are going
to enter the mythic and symbolic realm which we do with Aladdin.
Aladdin, originally one of the tales in A Thousand and One Nights, is about a
poor but street wise lad fighting for survival in a busy market town
somewhere in Arabia. The fact that in this tale we are dealing with a young
lad indicates immediately that we are going to be looking at the journey of
the developing male. Depending upon the lens through which we chose to view
Aladdin's story, we can either perceive it as a young mans journey into
self-hood, and/ or we can see it as a way of describing how we, regardless of
our sex, may come on an inner level to develop the kind of skills that one
such as Aladdin embodies. The facility to be outwardly proficient and able
to do things as well as be connected to his feelings, and intuition. If we
wish to we can chose to see Aladdin as a metaphor for developing what some
would call the masculine aspect inside ourselves
In other stories such as the Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast we were
to follow the journey of the developing feminine. Though these stories could
be referring to women, in inner archetypal terms, or in terms of symbol and
myth the feminine frequently refers to our feeling, receptive and
intuitive aspects, our ability to be, if you will. In these inner domains
married and living happily ever after as Princess and Princesses in fairy
tales frequently are wont to do, indicates the happy coming together of our
feelings and intuition with our ability to take action in such a way that
our actions are sourced in a sound feeling and intuitive system. Married and
happy ever after is not meant to imply that one cannot be a whole happy
human unless on has a husband or a wife,
In the fairy tales The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast our
attention was drawn to the journey of the feminine. For many of us interested
in inner work the past number of years have been about precisely this. About
being willing to afford feelings and the healing of feeling and intuitive
systems in men and women alike, as much credence and worth as the development
of our ability to do things, Now with Aladdin we are to follow the developing
masculine. Not that he does not need to be well connected to his feelings and
intuition and deep inner knowing, he does. For he represents a kind of male
who is sourced in his integrity, As such he can be seen as a kind of role
model for males and females alike. Not that we all should be like Aladdin.
Rather the qualities he exudes of being competent and sourced in his
feelings and at the completion of his journey also his wisdom, and not just
the demands and expectations of others around him, are worthy of our
consideration. He is not the kind of male that Jafar his opponent is, who
as we shall see, is sourced in his corruption. And so with this in mind, let
us turn to Aladdin.
Aladdin has fallen in love with the Sultans daughter, but as he is not a
Prince. What hope does he have to wed a Princess? And yet he dreams. There
must be a way for him to become her Prince, And indeed there is,.With the
help of a genie who lives inside a magic lantern Aladdin gradually learns how
to make his dreams real. It is no easy task of course and he is to be plagued
by one in particular a man named Jafar.......
Jafar is the Sultans most trusted servant who would, unbeknownst to the
Sultan usurp him and steal his throne. Who would make the sultans daughter
the Princess Jasmine his wife, even though she does not want him. Jafar who
wants all the power in the world, so others can know that he is powerful. So
he can appear to be worthy when deep inside he probably feels worthless. Not
that anyone must know this of course. There is no love in him..
Jafar is a thief. Robber of other peoples souls he is one who would steal his
wisdom and power from others, Perhaps because he has lost his trust in these
forces within himself? Jafar servant to those he considers above him, is also
a tyrant to those he considers beneath him. He is a symbol of the kind of
male. who can only exist within a hierarchy. He has no real freedom to be
himself: to experience and express any real joy, rather he tries to find
happiness in his ability to manipulate others. The idea that mutuality could
be interesting or even desirous is abhorrent and to him mostly unknown,
Jafar displays many of the attributes of one whose true connection to his
feelings, his loves, his joys and his deep inner wisdom or wise-dame has be
lost or destroyed. O he may react, but as he has no way of coming to
understand why he feels to react as he does - as his reaction are not
tempered by his understanding and wisdom he does not act well. His actions
are not sound. Probably because when he was small and expressed his true
responses he was told that they were wrong. Probably when was small his
essential self when he expressed it with his true responses was shamed in
some way similar to the way that his parents probably were shamed before him.
Probably he was shunned in a way that made him loose his connection to
his own inner sense of grace self respect and love, Probably he was rewarded
when he denied his own feelings So he learned to hide and try to deny them
rather than to understand their real meaning. He learned perhaps how to hide
his true pain from those around him and how to try to find resolution to his
inner conflicts by seeking revenge. Or maybe he found that to feel what he
really felt was simply too painful and so he disconnected.inside. Who can
really say? Nothing is said directly about his childhood experiences in
Disney's film version of the story , but his personality makes it seem likely
that he has lost his internal connection to his inner wealth. So he tries
to find and steal it from others, . Just as it has been stolen from him. And
steal it he will. And he is smart. He knows precisely where his booty is
hidden.
He knows that deep within the earth there is a cave full of magic treasure
in which there lies a lamp and in that lamp there lives a genie, one who has
the power of genius and Jafar will have it. He wants the genie. The one with
the power to grant three wishes to whom ever the lamp belongs to, He knows
though he does not know that he knows intuitively that the lamp containing
his wisdom is to be found by going down. Into the earth. For such is so
often the way with the treasure, it is hidden from view,. And to find it we
must go down enter the darkness of our own inner caverns if we are to seek
and hopefully find the lost parts of ourselves that are still lying there
hidden awaiting discovery. But Jafar when he comes to the cave where the
treasure is hidden is not afforded entry. A tiger god , symbol here of our
instinctual knowing perhaps, defends it and tells Jafar that only one who is
pure of heart may enter here.
And here with the words of the tiger god we receive our first clue. Only one
whose heart is pure - whose feeling system is intact and unharmed, one who is
willing to find the truth of his experiences may enter the magic cave and
receive its gifts. Only the part of the personality that still has integrity
can guide us perhaps, to the place of our own deepest treasure.
And the one of pure heart is Aladdin of course. He is a precocious bright
youth. His will, his spontaneity and his ability to act have not been done
in. He is not like Jafar. Either he is another sort of man, or he represents
an essential and unwounded place inside ourselves. And Aladdin has a mother.
He is the only main charater in our story to have one who features as part of
the plot. Maybe this means that Mother was present for him when he was small?
Maybe she happened to offer him a true mirror for his soul? For Aladdin is
sound, in some essential way, though he is not very mature. When we first
encounter him he has no conscious connection to his own wisdom or inner wise-
dame** nor to his own genius. These are to come as the story unfolds.
We are to meet the outer representation of his inner wise-dame in the form of
the beautiful Princess Jasmine, with whom Aladdin instantly falls in love
when he meets her in the market place. But what can he do? She is a
Princess and he is but a poor lad.
Jasmine is unhappy. It has been decreed, that she must be wed by her next
birthday which is in three days. But she will not have it. There is not a
suitor that suits her. She does not want to be wed. She wants to find and
live her own life.
Jasmine wants to know and discover herself. She does not want simply to be,
what she has been told, that she must be. She is, and she wants to be
something more. Jasmine is or wants to be the empowered feminine. She wants
to feel alive and connected to her own feeling system. She must find of a
way of recognizing herself. So she leaves the palace behind her, and goes
to the market. Just as so many of us did when we felt that in order to find
ourselves and fully express who we are, we had to leave home.
Whilst she is in the market place many adventures befall her, When she gets
into a particular difficulty and is in need of creative action to defend
herself from the abuse of another, who should come to her aid but Aladdin.
For this in inner terms is one of the functions of the our ability to take
action on our own behalf. It is to protect our feelings and intuition and
our basic integrity from those who would abuse it. It is the needed
ingredient to help sort out and back up our feelings with appropriate action.
For Aladdin and Jasmine this is to be the first encounter with the beloved.
Here soul and its potential to manifest itself seem to receive an accurate
reflection in the eyes of the other, Though as so often is the case, full
realization of that love will take a while.
There is work to be done. Jasmine must prove that she will not be beguiled
by a false prince - by Jafar when he offers himself to her, or by Aladdin who
comes to her in disguise, when not trusting that he can be loved for being
himself pretends to be other than what he is, in hope of winning her heart.
She must prove that her feeling system and wisdom is sound. And Aladdin must
prove that he is able to act in recognition of his own will, in ways that
do not murder his soul.
To get to this place inside has not been easy. Aladdin has had to go on a
precarious adventure, he has had to go down, enter the cave of the tiger god,
follow his instincts to find and connect with the genius of his being, his
own natural talent. He has had to find a magic lantern as well as the genie
who lives inside it. And it was dark in the cave. There were many trials to
be over come. Many false treasures to be refused. Many old griefs to be
recognized and released. Many tears shed. For this decent down to the cave
represents in it way the crying years. in which old wounds are recognized for
what they are and let go off.
This is hard work and perhaps it is necessary so as to come to understand
and appreciate the truth of our experiences and of our being? For Aladdin it
is anyway. So he goes down, but it is not he who finds the lamp. No it is
Abu his trusted small monkey. Symbol here perhaps of the wise inner child.
That sensitive vulnerable to feeling, spontaneous, open, creative, child
like place inside us. That is the one who finds the lamp and its attendant
magic genie. Only that pure and trusted place inside us can find the magic in
the truth of our being and our natural abilties perhaps. Can find a way of
connecting with ones ability to be ones own master. With ones ability to be
free to be who one is.
A thing that does not happen in our story until several things are in place.
Jasmine and Aladdin have had to recognize know and honour one another as the
beloved, just as they have had to recognize know and honour them selves.
Aladdin has had to find and connect with his genie and genius, And he has had
to learn how to do so with integrity. Otherwise he cannot be as a Prince to
his Princess. And perhaps hardest of all, Jafar the old soul murdered and
soul murdering male, or that part of the personality perhaps, has to be be
transformed.
His need to gain a power by manipulating,usurping and enslaving the will of
others, or other parts of the self, just as his own have been enslaved, must
seen to be what it is: an unhappy misguided entrapping and dangerous dance.
As an authority figure he has to be disenfranchised. Which he is by Aladdin,
who strong in his love for Jasmine -the feminine, Abu - the child, and in
his promise to set the genie his own natural talent free, is able to do. He
is able to lure Jafar into a trap of his own making.
Jafar has gotten hold of the magic lamp. He has stolen it of course from
Aladdin. The genie must now grant Jafar three wishes. Jafars greatest desire
is to be all powerful. He is well on his way to dominate and destroy all
around him with the help of his first two wishes. But though he may be able
to dominate others by making them fear him, he is not wise. He does not have
the wisdom of our young hero. He does not have his love for Jasmine. Abu and
the genie and what they represent. And so he is to fall into snare of his
own making when Aladdin points out to him that he will never be all powerful
be as long as there is a genie....
And hierarchical being that Jafar is, how can he refuse this particular
challenge? He who knows no other reality that one in which he is either
surrendering his will to that of another, or forcing someone else to
surrender their will to him, has to respond in accordance with his experience
and his belief.
And so Jafar's wish is granted and he becomes a genie, His genius is trapped
by his own corrupt soul inside a lamp. Or on an inner level perhaps his power
has been transformed by Aladdin's ability to accurately name the mechanics of
his behaviour. For such is the way we frequently heal and free ourselves on
an emotional level from the clutches of a wounded aspect: by accurately
naming what is going on. As for Aladdin ,his joy brimming over sets his
own genie free. There is no further need for it to be held hostage inside a
lamp. Now that Aladdin has found the way to be fully connected with his true
love and his true gifts, to be fully connected to himself as it were, in a
wise way, he is free simply to be. And so you see the story of Aladdin
although it was first introduced to the west in 1701 still may have
something to say that we can use and enjoy about what it may mean to be more
fully ourselves.
Nanna Svendsen ©
Copyright © Nanna Aida Svendsen 2002
