Snow White and the 7 Dwarves

What is in a name?

So many things....this is why we have to be careful when picking our children's names. There may be symbolism, word puns, association to others with no identity for self, and the opportunity for mockery on the playground with some names.

Let's take "Snow White" for instance. We researched this wondrous fairytale at our StoryBook Club (Children's Literature for Adults Only) last night. We found some pretty amazing things.

Snow White was named for her fair skin. "Hair dark as ebony, skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood." The fair skinned lass was purity in essence, vulnerable, pale, and kindness in motion. Some philosophers believed it was an Alchemical formula, as lead goes through a process of purifying which requires three stages: blackening, reddening and whitening.

So it is with our lives, spirits and souls as we traverse this world, going through the process of living and ...hopefully...becoming.  In this simple (?) children's fairy tale, there are symbols of life, denial, vanity (which could be soul searching awareness if it wasn't so shallow, with the whole mirror thing),  friendships, 7 stages of consciousness with the dwarves (body, sensations, emotions, concrete mind and spirituality represented by  pure mind, intuition and will), treachery against own self and others, and well...death, and resurrection.


A simple children's tale. Amazing.

There were also symbols of Christianity and Paganism....although, once again, pagans get the bad rap here (Why does the magic person always have to be evil with their Powers?) There is the fight between Good and Evil and yes....even Eve with her poisoned apple.

But when we dug into it, the main character really wasn't Snow White so much...as the Evil Queen. Actually, when we got into it, we found that maybe....just maybe....they were the SAME PERSON thematically.

Proving that we fight our own self more than anyone else.

Evil Queen/Snow White could be the 2 sides of a person. The whole Yin/Yang or the Evil Twin sort of thing.
Snow White was the Evil Queen's alter ego.
(Hey, talk about a name....this royal character never really got a real name....just "Evil Queen"...try living up to THAT moniker...talk about your self fulfilling prophecy!)
 
So then there is a transformation....
or an Alchemical process of character, if you will, that happens to this person. (Who may be our own self?)

It goes like this:

Evil Queen is on her own. Feels her Power. Gets greedy for more power. Does some self searching, but stops just shy of actual soul searching while looking within (mirror). She only wants what others don't have.
She wants perfection and beauty. So she tries to get it by killing anything that is not as beautiful. (irony. Beauty is as beauty does). By eliminating Snow White (or trying to), the Evil Queen only makes herself more ugly,even casting herself -making herself, an old ugly hag (here goes the morality thing banging here again on witches being ugly and evil ...sigh)
Snow White on the other hand, is beautiful because of her Goodness, helpfulness, hard work ethic, frienships. The more good she does, the more beautiful she becomes. The Evil Queen tries pulling out all the stops and finally tries poisoning Snow White with the apple. (apple has represented knowledge, and also this can be our evil thoughts about ourselves and others which poison us...) Once comatose, Snow White goes into a static state. You seen, once the Evil Queen actually killed the good part of her own self (so to speak), she realized that she wasn't beautiful at all anymore without her Goodness. The coma represents that time of Soul Searching that a person must do, to really see ones' own self. Once the evil thoughts and beliefs about self are dislodged (apple heimlich :) then Snow White LIVES and the Evil Queen DIES.
The rebirth or resurrection to a new and improved self happens when the old ways die....

Mayhaps we are not ALL GOOD...
Nor ...
ALL EVIL...
but we have to make the adjustment to be the best we can be, which includes accepting our lightness and not letting the darkness and negativity take over our lives.

This is a story about Self Growth, and we thank the Evil Queen for showing us this!
She's really not as evil as we thought, but only a part of us that needs pity and understanding.
Some people live to learn...and if they can't learn....they live as an example to others.

Goodness isn't Weakness.

 Beauty isn't Cruel.

Goodness can be Strong.

Vanity is just a reflection of a shallow soul.

Mean people never really win. They destroy themselves with every bad thought about someone else....which is only a commentary about how they feel about themselves inside.

Thank you Evil Queen. You show us how NOT to be.
And thank you Snow White. You rocked those dishes and really worked hard!

Our StoryBook Club feasted on Venison Stew (for the hunter...altho' Merlyn made it out of beef :), a most delicious forest salad, wine from the Queen's wine steward, and amazing Apple Bread, Baked Poisoned Apples, and an Apple Crisp (and when those 3 last dishes were put together, I think many of us had a Magickal Moment). SO delish!

Next month, for September, we will take a walk in the woods with

Goldilocks and the 3 Bears!