Odysseus in The Hero and the Goddess and Calypso and Circe

Odysseus in The Hero and the Goddess and Calypso and Circe

Reflections on the experience of Odysseus as related to Jean Houston's The Hero and the Goddess: The Odyssey as Mystery and Initiation and Alicia LeVan's Calypso and Circe On the lush, luxuriant island of Ogygia, Odysseus spends seven years of his ten year journey home with the beautiful seductive nymph Calypso, who virtually possesses him and compels him to live a sensual but vegetative existence. For ten years, surrounded by men, he lived out the male heroic ideal of warrior, then spent several years further testing himself against otherworldly obstacles. In the process, he lost all of his companions, and has nothing left but the little that remains of himself.

Here on Calypso's isle, he lives in paradise:

"Thick, luxuriant woods grew round the cave,

alders, and black poplars, pungent cypress too,

and there, birds roosted, folding their long wings,

owls and hawks and the spread beaked ravens of the sea,

black skimmers who make their living off the waves.

And round the mouth of the cavern trailed a vine

laden with clusters, bursting with ripe grapes.

Four springs in a row, bubling clear and cold,

running side-by-side, took channels left and right.

Soft meadows spreading round were starred with violets,

lush with beds of parsley. Why, even a deathless god

who came upon that place would gaze in wonder,

heart entranced with pleasure.

Homer, The Odyssey, V:71-82, Fagles translation

Odysseus is now embraced by Mother Earth, in all her verdant fertility, and also living deep within caverns that are only reminiscent of the womb. For seven years, Calypso protects him from Poseidon's wrath. As the devoted and devouring mother, AND the seductive and engulfing mistress/lover, she is both what men most desire, and most fear.

Alicia LeVan wrote:

Perhaps the 'necessity' he has for unity with the feminine, coupled with his yearning for home, (an embodiment of the feminine principle representing relationship, community, cooperation, and non-aggression) represents a need for integration of the feminine principle within his psyche after years of functioning in war, with the constant testosterone of destroying, killing, raping and surviving in the most inhumane, strife torn, blood drenched, barren plains of Troy. After ten years of functioning as a killer and destroyer,he must heal his numbness and desensitivity by connecting with his feelings.