Dedicated to Saga, Goddess of lore. I have had a hard time writing this and so with the help of Saga I can finish my words.
While pregnant the mother told a fellow hippie she wished her daughter would be beautiful. The man hippie said to the mother never wish for such a thing, as those who are beautiful are always unhappy and have too many problems. The easily persuaded mother then began to wish her daughter was as average and boring as the seagulls on the beach. So began my life.
In the last few weeks Rapunzel has been in the fore front of my mind. In a conversation with other Heathen women I had to defend her as a very important story. Another Heathen woman sent me this beautiful portrayal of her.
While pregnant the mother told a fellow hippie she wished her daughter would be beautiful. The man hippie said to the mother never wish for such a thing, as those who are beautiful are always unhappy and have too many problems. The easily persuaded mother then began to wish her daughter was as average and boring as the seagulls on the beach. So began my life.
In the last few weeks Rapunzel has been in the fore front of my mind. In a conversation with other Heathen women I had to defend her as a very important story. Another Heathen woman sent me this beautiful portrayal of her.
And recently I re-watched ‘Into the Woods’, a Broadway play about our folk way. Every time she spoke loudly to me, and now I am honoring her voice. Here is the annotated story:
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rapunzel/index.html
This story touches on so many issues that face modern day Heathens. The first issue here deals with infertility. Infertility is a plague in our society. For the last 5 years or so my husband and I have felt as if we had forgotten something. When we traveled or visited a new place there had always been a feeling of something missing. This is infertility at it’s most painful part. It is so hard for some couples to deal with their marriage fails. The industry it has created is a billion dollar industry. And when one looks closely at adoption things are not as rosy as they appear on the outside. I like the phrase here “they were good people” because when dealing with the pain of being unable to conceive, and seeing drug addicts and smokers having babies it makes it even more of a blow.
Our good couple is now blessed with a child. Here is a part where I am conflicted, and that is a good thing. In one hand the father is a perfect exemplar of the diving masculine, but in the other hand he utterly fails. The father risks his life to provide the needed nutrients for his wife and unborn child. Maria Tatar accuses the wife of selfishly seeking her own gain, but I don’t agree with this assessment. While pregnant the body needs what the body needs. Denying those “cravings” could cause harm to the child and the mother. And sometimes not having a sausage biscuit in the morning is a life or death matter, which I would have given away ½ my kingdom just to get one. So Rampion, sausage biscuits or pickles and ice cream is the way a father can show his true character as provider and protector of his wife and child. Embodying the essence of how to be a tru Heathen male.
But then the father is caught. And what does he do? Shows his utter frailty and in his terror agrees to everything the witch demands. What a pussy. How does he know what the witch will do with the child? As we all know witches like to eat children. Here he willing gives up the child to save his own neck. This is not how a Heathen man should act!
The witch wants the child for apparently another reason. She wants a companion. I get the feeling that the witch really loves Rapunzel. They spend their days together, and Rapunzel knows no other life. When Rapunzel turns 12, the time of menstruation, she is locked away in a tower. A phallic tower with no doors or stairs. Out of sight from society. Instead of celebrating her transformation into womanhood she is punished for it. Why would a witch mother do this? On the surface the appearance of protecting her daughter from the wicked world, but underneath is a boiling cauldron of disappointment and jealousy. No matter how many spells and potions the witch mother does she is still old and past her prime in life. No matter how much Rapunzel hides her beauty and consoles the witch mother she is still the most beautiful under the sun.
While lying in my bed reading my witch mother came into my room. She yelled at me and slapped me for wearing a bra to bed. Tears streaming down my face I tried to tell her I was not wearing a bra. She stormed out of my room. This is just one story of hundreds I could relate about her. Her jealously knew no bounds. She would lash out in anger at her self on a daily basis.
Because Rapunzel is naïve about life the first male that enters her life wins her. This is a dangerous state to be in. In the witch mothers locking her away she created the catalyst for change. If the witch mother had let nature run their course none of that would have happened, and we would have lacked a very good tale.
In Grimms earlier telling of the tale he has Rapunzel asking the witch mother “why is my dress getting tighter around the middle?” I like this version much better as Rapunzel has no idea what her encounters with the prince actually mean. The witch mother in bitter despair cuts her hair off and banishes her. Here we are reminded of Loki cutting Sif’s hair. In the sagas when a woman’s beauty is mentioned it is always about her hair. By the cutting of the hair the woman was violated and her beauty lost. In final retaliation of Rapunzel the witch mother cuts away what made her the most beautiful under the sun. When the prince comes to save Rapunzel he survives his encounter with the witch mother, but is left blind.
Again in the earlier version, Rapunzel is wandering around the desert with twins. WTF? Here is a teenage girl who can barely take care of herself now alone with twins. How she survives we will never know. It seems impossible. She does not leave her twins to the elements which would have been the easy solution. She does not go on welfare and get a cell phone. She survives and eventually meets with the prince again, and lives happily ever after. But I doubt that.
The broadway musical does not end here, and I agree with where they took the story. The witch mother is distraught with sadness and remorse. Rapunzel is a mess, and the prince is tired of her screaming and crying so he goes looking for a new woman to rescue. Rapunzel in her craziness is killed.
How does one recover from a witch mother? I wish I had the answer to this as I deal with it on a daily basis. But fundamentally as the story indicates is to survive. And not to become a witch mother myself. Recognizing when our girls become women as a wondrous ritual is another way to avoid becoming a witch mother.
This is why I feel very strongly about women’s lore. We see our foibles reflected back to us in the tales, and thus we can change them.
