Frodo the Ring-Bearer, selected to convey the
Ring of Power into Mordor where he can cast it into the fire, is weary on his journey. He is not yet into the dark lands, but already the responsibilities of bearing the
Ring of Power wear heavily on him. Frodo and his band, the
Fellowship of the Ring, spend their last moments traveling together as guests in Lothlorien. There, they meet the
Lady of the Woods, the Lady Galadriel.
Lady Galadriel welcomes the group of travelers, and gives each a special gift along with an Elven cloak. To Frodo, she gives the
Phial of Galadrial, which provides light during their journey. More than that, by touching the vial, Frodo can ease the corrupting power-thoughts induced by the
One Ring. Similarly, the light from this vial (Phial) frightens away the voracious spider Shelob, whose web would ensnare him after he's entered Mordor.
The
Phial of Galadriel also seemed to inspire both Frodo and his companion Sam to call out in the Elvish language. Frodo, in particular, called out a reference to
Earondil the first time that he used the
Phial against Shelob.
Just two days ago, I chanced to watch a segment of
The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of
The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy directed by Peter Jackson and released in 2001. This was the segment in which Frodo was brought before the Lady Galadriel. He was mesmerized by her ethereal beauty, and awed by her gift to him.
Rachel Pollack, in her book,
The Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom, describes this first stage of our adult life-journey as the
Worldy Sequence. This is the time in which we come to know, access, and integrate each of our
core power archetypes. Two of these are like "reserve batteries," and I don't discuss them in
Unveiling. The remaining six are our "power modes": we need each of them to gain our full adult powers.
If this is the case, the Frodo might be a stand-in for each of us. This is not surprising - each of us feels a bit "smaller" than others, and we are each daunted by life's challenges from time to time. And let's recall that the purpose of these "heroic" stories is to exaggerate contrast. We are not simply trying to introduce a new process or product into our company, we are saving truth and freedom by delivering the ring to Mordor and sundering the forces of darkness!
So what does Frodo's encounter with Lady Galadriel, the
Lady of the Woods, mean to us? She would have to be one of the three feminine archetypes of our six
core power archetypes. This means that she could represent the
High Priestess (wisdom and inner knowing), the
Empress (or
Isis, love and nurturance), or
Hathor (the goddess of pleasure and sensuality).
Really, there is not much of the "pleasure and sensuality" aspect in
The Lord of the Rings!
Hathor, as a choice for the
Lady, is clearly out. Also, the
Lady is a somewhat remote figure. She is not about warmth and nurturance. When we connect with our "inner
Lady Galadriel," we are not getting the oxytocin feel-good surge that we get when we curl up with our dog, cat, young child, or our "special someone."
No, there is only one role for the
Lady: she represents the
High Priestess, or inner wisdom. And her gift to Frodo is precisely related to her role in his life; she gives him
light, the ability
see - and also to repel dark forces using this power of light.
This is reinforced with an earlier scene, in which the
Lady pours water into a silver mirror-bowl, and invites Frodo to look within and see. This, very literally, is the role of the
Lady in each of our lives. Our inner
High Priestess is that aspect of us that gives us wisdom; she helps us "see rightly."
When we access our own inner
High Priestess - our own
Lady of the Woods, we gain not only vision and clarity, but also wisdom. Read about her in
Unveiling: The Inner Journey, Chapters 7 & 11.
P.S. Who, in
The Fellowship of the Ring, would represent the other two female power-archetypes? There are really only two other women of note that the
Fellowship encounters during their travels; Goldenberry and Arwen. As a little test for yourself, why not research each of these two - and think them through in terms of the remaining two feminine core-power archetypes: the
Empress (or
Isis, in
Unveiling terms), and
Hathor. Which is which? And why? And do we need them? What roles did each play in
The Fellowship of the Ring? What would the story be like
without them?
