| This fairy tale contains only the primal elements of the shamanic journey. The “hundred-year sleep,” in this case, where she does not experience death, but remains in a sort of “altered state” is the essential point being communicated. Pricking her finger is similar to the pricking of a rose petal thorn, found in other fairy tales, being the entrance into the “other world.” We also have the tell-tale numerical signs of twelve and thirteen, representative of the calendar of months or zodiac signs. The fact that there were supposed to be thirteen, but there are only twelve, is a take back to the time when we had a thirteen moon/month calendar, but it was changed to twelve in early Roman times. The version I took this from is a Grimm’s account. However, another version altogether, found in Lang’s Blue Fairy Book from 1889, gives the number seven as the number of fairies invited to the banquet. The main difference is that an uninvited fairy who had been held up in a tower and thought dead, had arrived and there was no place setting for her. She therefore cursed the child. Again, there is an astrological number indicative of the occult use of numbers. Hansel and Gretel Hansel and Gretel comes from Germany and was originally published in Grimm’s first edition in 1812. The story features a couple so poor they cannot afford to feed themselves and so the couple decide to leave their children in the woods so they will be eaten by wolves and not have to feed them anymore. The children overhear this, and Hansel brings stones to drop to leave a lighted path by the moon that will take them back home. This works the first time, but when this happens again, Hansel leaves breadcrumbs which fails to save them because the birds had eaten them along the way: “They wandered about the whole night, and the next day, from morning till evening, but they could not find a path out of the wood. They were very hungry, too, for they had nothing to eat but a few berries they found growing on the ground. And at last they were so tired that their legs refused to carry them any longer, so they lay down under a tree and fell fast asleep.” This is probably where they made their big mistake; eating berries on the ground. I’d be willing to bet they were red berries. The next day they came upon a gingerbread house and started to eat from it. An old lady came out of the house startling the children, but invited them in and made them “milk and sugared pancakes, with apples and nuts.” She even prepared a bed for them: “The old woman had appeared to be most friendly, but she was really an old witch who had waylaid the children, and had only built the little bread house in order to lure them in. When anyone came into her power she killed, cooked, and ate him, and held a regular feast-day for the occasion. Now witches have red eyes, and cannot see far, but, like beasts, they have a keen sense of smell, and know when human beings pass by. When Hansel and Gretel fell into her hands she laughed maliciously and said jeeringly: ‘I've got them now; they sha'n't escape me’.” |
Of course we all know when the old witch leaned in to show her how to get in the oven, Gretel pushed the witch in, cooking her instead. This is an example of bringing in the cauldron theme but instead we have an oven which is used for cooking. The witch, however, is still an ever-present symbol. In addition, the children take a trip away from home before having to figure out how to return. The bird leads them in their journey back from the “otherworld” to their original starting point. (5) The theme of this story may seem hardly shamanic to many people, but I would say that most if not all forms of cannibalism mentioned in myths and folklore all pertain to consumption of the mushroom and not to human sacrifice or cannibalism. In researching the background for Hansel and Gretel, I’ve located some very early German prints on Ebay, and they include very old A. muscaria symbolism included in them. It’s not the mushroom directly, but both Hansel’s carry pouch is covered with a red cloth with white dots and the old witch is wearing a red scarf on her head, with white dots all over. I’ve located several book illustration and image samples which all have amanita mushrooms in Hansel and Gretel fairy tales. I also located a version of the children’s book cover, with one red mushroom on the grass between the children and the gingerbread house. And another book with images of Gretel wearing the red scarf on her head with white dots all over. What’s more interesting is that I found a modern statue set of both of them and Gretel is wearing an amanita head scarf and Hansel is wearing a psilocybin blue cap. Of course, since this is a modern item, it could be my imagination and nothing more. It’s highly suspicious to me though, that one would wear red and the other blue and one is an amanita cap. There are plenty examples like this though, in our modern world. Don’t be too surprised when you see them. Some of the images I’ve found are more modern and include mushrooms as well. It’s interesting how the tradition is continued. Should we assume these artists are all aware of this hidden meaning, or they just like to include it because its “part of the background of fairy tales” in general? Sometimes its rather difficult to find the source for an image online, so the subtleties are important to notice to see if the symbolism is being communicated. I located one image of the gingerbread house with the candies leading up to it, shaped like mushrooms on the grass. Arthur Rackham has used the mushroom extensively in his illustrations. They are done in a particular distinctive style and he did so many of them for fairy tales at the time, they have become a big part of illustrative literary history. (5) Hidden World, p. 235 |