“The idea that the passage of the magical threshold is a transit into a sphere of rebirth is symbolized by the belly of the whale. The hero, instead of conquering or conciliating the power of the threshold, is swallowed into the unknown, and would appear to have died.

“This popular motif gives emphasis to the lesson that the passage of the threshold is a form of self-annihilation… But here, instead of passing outward, beyond the confines of the visible world, the hero goes inward, to be born again.”

A. The First Threshold

1. The World is bound in all directions…

2. by custodians/guardians at the gate

• Gargoyles
• Dragons
• Lions
• Devil-slayers
• Resentful dwarves
• Winged bulls

ALL guard the entrance to a zone of magnified power.

3. Often called the “walls of paradise”…

4. they represent the coincidence of opposites, the paradox of opposites existing in the same time and space at once.

• being & not being
• life & death
• beauty & ugliness
• good & evil
• hope & fear

5. They mark the transit into a sphere of rebirth.

B. Belly of the Whale

1. Entry causes a metamorphosis.

a. The hero’s secular nature remains without.

b. Like shedding one’s skin to return…

c. to the “world womb.”

C. If the hero does not comprehend the passage…

1. She has effectively remained without (even if she has physically crossed the threshold).

2. She sees God as the devil

3. and is defended from approach.

D. The hero…

1. Appears to have been swallowed into the unknown/to have died…

2. Instead, he can pass back and forth across the threshold at will…

3. wherein lies his power to save.