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March 31, 1964
Thank you very much for your letter of March 18, containing Dr. Federn’s information. I have just finished a German essay called Mitteilung zur Sphinx. This could in my opinion fit into a chapter of the planned book The Great Fear, the Gorgon being nothing else than the head of Plinius’ terrible comet. The impression it made is reflected in the development of different art products, as e. g. the sphinx, the imago clipeata as well as the ankh, in all of these successions an undeniable trend to glorification is manifested, either by the picture of some pharaoh or, as in the case of the Coptic crux ansata or the christian imago clipeata by the emergence of the representation of Christ. The motif of the Gorgo does actually not only influence art where it sometimes finds its way into consciousness, it dominates our unconscious attitudes and drivings to a much wider degree than we realize. The connection of the ankh with some Schreck-Symbol becomes apparent in the cases only where the ankh bears the Gorgo’s head. What I actually wrote was: “The Gorgo-head [...] is the primordial cause of all fear.” What I still maintain is that the ankh is the archetypical picture of some comet which in a dualistic way might have impressed humanity as a life-spending and as a destructive power. About this I intend to write in another article. Please, let me know, if you think the manuscript about the sphinx or the intended one about the heavenly marriage might be useful for The Great Fear. Cordially, |