The Magic Tinderbox
part three...

the text:
“When you open the first door, you'll see a big dog with eyes like saucers, guarding a large chest of copper coins.
Behind the second door lies a treasure of silver coins, guarded by a dog with eyes the size of mill stones.
When you open the third door, you’ll come upon another dog, with eyes the size of a castle tower, beside a treasure of gold.

Now, if you lay this old apron of mine before these dogs, they’ll crouch on it and do you no harm.
You’ll be able to carry away all the coins you want.
What do think of that?”

However, the soldier suspiciously asked:
“What do you want in return?”

“Just bring me back an old tinderbox my grandfather left down there, long ago!”

So the young soldier tied a rope round his waist and, not forgetting his trusty sword, he lowered himself into the hollow tree.
To his great surprise, he found the three doorways and the three dogs, just as the witch had said.
Soon he was back, his pockets bulging with coins, but before he handed the tinderbox to the old witch, he asked her:
“What do you want it for?”

The witch hurled herself at the soldier, screaming:
“Give it to me! Give it to me at once, or else,” as she tried to scratch him.

When the witch attacked him, the soldier exclaimed:
“Aha! So this is the thanks I get!
Now I’ll show you!”

He undid the rope from around his waist and tied up the old woman.
Then away he went, whistling cheerfully.
When he reached the town, he said to himself:
“Now I can feast as much as I like - at last!”

kristo’s interpretation:
*So these doggies tend to represent human instincts...or as I said previously, the capacity to assimilate the knowledge required to master the arts of astrology, witchcraft, and alchemy; all of the so-called occult arts.

And they are indeed occult, i.e. hidden or secret, from the Latin occultus, meaning secret...and as defined by The American Heritage© Dictionary...Beyond the realm of human comprehension; inscrutable... Available only to the initiate.

Ultimately, what is secret to the conscious, logical mind, is perfectly plain and obvious TO the unconscious...or as in this fairytale, IN the unconscious.

Our penniless soldier has braved the first part of this journey by entering into the realm of the unconscious, and must cross that initiation threshold within in order to collect the goods to be found there.

So what might that mean in terms of our everyday, real life?

Ha! You’re gonna have to wait for me to spill the beans on that.
Remember, we're talking Initiation here.

The transformational initiation secrets of all times and places (one of the most famous in the West being the Eleusinian Mysteries) remain truly unknown, and what was transmitted by the best of those secret societies was essentially that which our fairytale hero here has endeavored to obtain.

And no...we’re not talking cash, and not just because cash no damn secret...but because what we read here (and in all fairytales) is simply NOT LITERAL!

Whatever this secret is / was required the insightful eyes of those dogs in order to see and understand...hence the wild and crazy magnitude assigned to each of them.

Now, if you lay this old apron of mine before these dogs, they’ll crouch on it and do you no harm. You’ll be able to carry away all the coins you want. What do think of that?”

So the old witch / crone / baba yaga / wise woman archetype gives this prospective initiate his instructions.
This is ALWAYS essential for ANY initiation.

Yet just think...that in today’s society, ritual initiation into the mysteries of manhood (and / or womanhood) usually takes place without benefit of the wisdom and experience of any wise ritual elder.
(and if you doubt this why do you really think there are gangs and teen pregnancies?)

In this case, we've got a young man being initiated by a wise woman. Now this may sound sexist...but whatever happens...it can't be everything our boy needs.
Young men require the guidance and initiation of mature masculine consciousness. And what we’re presented with here can only be a partial initiation...however useful and potent.
The Eleusinian Mysteries were essentially women’s rites, but included both men and women as initiates and participants. So, of course, there is much more to say here...and I expect that I’ll be compelled to return to this in order to explain what I (and the fairytale) mean...but for now, let’s move on and see what this more feminine initiation actually accomplishes.

Now, if you lay this old apron of mine before these dogs, they’ll crouch on it and do you no harm. You’ll be able to carry away all the coins you want. What do think of that?”

Now what man (who is not in the food service profession) carries an old apron around with him...except one who is still tied to his mother’s apron strings?
So it would seem that in the realm of the unconscious there is something to be said for the practice but only IN THE UNCONSCIOUS!
Not in everyday, conscious life...for goodness sakes!

And yet, here we are...many men acting as boys their entire lives...never getting initiation beyond what the military (or organized sports) can provide...or worse, beyond what corporate culture can provide.

So aha! this is a young man who has already been through the military. His initiation into manhood (and death) has apparently already taken place. A not so subtle point that needs reinforcing.

Unfortunately, in this day and age, initiation by the tribal elders has been relegated to an Uncle Sam or a Saddam Hussein or some Osama bin Laden character. And no matter which territorial / geo-political tribe you might belong to or wish to vilify, none can be psychically wholesome, healthy, effective or complete for every initiate i.e. every boy.
(Just as it must be true that some men and yes even those of the Osama / street thug persuasion may have actually gotten just the right and proper initiation approriate for themselves, despite the decidedly unhealthy aspects of the particular system.)

Regardless of the effectiveness (or not) of the various brands / forms of masculine initiation, we’re specifically told that the particular initiation into women’s mysteries implied in this fairytale (the bringing to consciousness of these more unconscious tendencies within the psyche...these unconscious (and more feminine) instincts) will do no harm.
And this all implies that the instincts themselves (represented by the dogs) are just about synonymous with the riches.

One cannot simply steal from the unconscious, or practice the dark arts for personal profit (as in, say, black magic) without coming to harm by way of those very arts.
One does not control the unconscious....
Not even through magic.

One who tries would then be, essentially, a hobo. Unrooted and homeless. A man carrying those strange, dark anti-riches tied up in a bandanna on a stick...as opposed to this properly authorized version of the symbol of feminine power: the apron.

However, the soldier suspiciously asked: “What do you want in return?”

Our soldier shows that he is no mama’s boy / Parsifal. He knows enough to ask questions! They may not be terribly subtle, but they certainly aren't naïve!

They indicate street smarts. An active, somewhat reliable indicator of masculine initiation.

“Just bring me back an old tinderbox my grandfather left down there, long ago!”

So the soldier’s question hits the mark. There IS, of course, something.

And while I debated quite some time on what the significance of this old object might actually be, it struck me that the tinderbox, being the equivalent of a box of wooden matches, is the centerpiece of the story and deserved a bit of research:

At the PittRivers Museum website one reads (about fire):

All over the world people (lit) fires with sparks caused by striking flint and metal together. A kit includes flint, steel (or another metal), and tinder, usually carried in a container designed to keep the contents dry. With this method, creating fire can take up to 30 minutes, most difficulties resulting from wind or damp tinder.
Containers for the kit vary enormously depending on whom they belong to and where they have been made.
In Asia they were often suspended from the waist.
Elsewhere in India, the Lhota Naga covered their vessels with skin from goat’s testicles.
A soft leather pouch made by a Hausa or Fulani craftsman for use in the hot climate of Nigeria contrasts with a well-sealed enamelled box from the damper climes of St. Petersburg, Russia.
These objects show the variety of styles and materials favoured by different cultural groups as well as the extent of a worldwide technology.

So the tinderbox is one of many types of tools necessary to do something magical, i.e. (as according to the Gnostics) to release the fire encased in wood or matter. And this is simple alchemy, in fact. Finding the gold hidden within all matter. Even a kind of active form of pantheism, if you will. An occult art requiring some early from of technology to assist the adept.

In this case we have an alchemical, technologic device left by the crone’s grandfather. A gift of the masculine, and another archetype: the wise old man. One who is wise not only through experience, but also through study and contemplation. One who has actually used his time to reflect upon his experience...and learned from it.
Often, we see elders who have simply grown old without becoming wise...without having learned from their experience. And we call these people senile....or cranky, or bitter...or worse.
They are no different from anyone else...and are, in fact, nothing more than thoughtless young people with too many decades of poorly processed experience.

Questions remain for me here as to why the tinderbox was not left in the witch's personal possession. This is her birthright, it seems, but it was left out of her reach for some reason that is just not obvious to me...yet.

The word “dry” which is a necessary component of the fire-making process suggests a fragment of Herakleitos, viz: “The dry soul is the wisest and best.”
referring, perhaps, more to the dry nature of logic, as opposed to the moist nature of feeling and emotion.

So the young soldier tied a rope round his waist and, not forgetting his trusty sword, he lowered himself into the hollow tree.

Soldier boy gives himself a new umbilical cord, and lowers himself back into the uterus, so to speak.

I suppose the Freudians might say that this is another kind of (pretty obvious) initiation, especially considering that he made sure to bring along his “weapon.”

And in the spirit of Herakleitos (and therefore, Paradox) it must be said that all interpretations must be “Both / And” as opposed to “Either / Or.”

But if Transformation were as simple as getting laid, then we’d all be living in a kind of perfect, alchemical paradise, no?

Yet theses same alchemists insist that their elaborate operations (to extract the spark of Life from nature) are both “Women’s work, and Child’s play.”
So is this then a Tantric tale of transformation?
And I can only answer: Perhaps.

But from a Jungian perspective (or simply in somewhat Jungian terms) this sliding back into the birth canal ... this return to the maternal source that “Grandfather” has obviously visited long before.
...is preparation for a re-birth of some sort.

And as soldier boy is meant to eventually become wise old man himself (and not wise old woman), it’s imperative that he make this journey and recover the old man’s goods.

To his great surprise, he found the three doorways and the three dogs, just as the witch had said.
Soon he was back, his pockets bulging with coins, but before he handed the tinderbox to the old witch, he asked her:
“What do you want it for?”

Now that’s interesting.
Why would he be so surprised?
What reason is there to doubt the word of the witch?

The only answer that comes to mind might be that the witch represents one of the so-called Auxiliary functions...and NOT the Inferior Function (or Shadow), as I had originally assumed.

And in dreams this more unconscious, less developed function of our integrity is usually busy screwing things up...for the sake of ousting ego from it’s illegitimate place of privilege.
Or...as I said before...just shaking things up.

And why?
Well, in dreams, we’re usually working and seeing things from the habitual (and tired) perspective of our Dominant function.
And if you remember, the working definition of ego that I’m using concerns a one-sided, problematic identification of ourselves with / as our Dominant function.
In order to reach our psychic depths, and the Inferior function, we need to get out of that all too comfortable (and blind identification with) Dominant.

The auxiliary function simply throws a well-timed monkey wrench into the works of the Dominant.
And in dreams, this function always comes across as shifty, annoying, or worse.

Soon he was back, his pockets bulging with coins, but before he handed the tinderbox to the old witch, he asked her:
“What do you want it for?”

More assertive, masculine questioning and behavior again, as well as a kind of Grail Question.
Instead of “Whom does the Grail serve?” it’s: “What is this (Grail) good for?”

Wow!
Sometimes I surprise even myself.

And once again, I run into the inevitable fact that it’s time to read the Essenbach version of the Grail legend and see for myself what’s what.
The wise old woman Emma Jung may have started the project of interpreting The Grail Legend but unfortunately, I haven’t much enjoyed her take on things.

The witch hurled herself at the soldier, screaming: “Give it to me! Give it to me at once, or else,” as she tried to scratch him.

And so maybe Emma wouldn’t have been quite so nasty about it, but even Carl Gustav himself deferred to her with the tinderbox of the Grail legend. Possibly out of guilt...but then, that’s his life, not mine. And he had plenty of other fish to fry, so it seems.

Anyway the crone is screaming for her birthright and yet, this thing really belongs to the soldier.

He needs to step up against the nasty gashes and storms of his own unconscious in order to claim the prize; for without the prize that leads to transformation...without this Grail...there is NO story...and HIS story becomes just another typically long road towards senility....

She tries to wound him and almost turn him into a mini-version wounded fisher king, but:

When the witch attacked him, the soldier exclaimed:
“Aha! So this is the thanks I get!
Now I’ll show you!”

Okay, a little sarcasm here, but he’s making a conscious decision to do something about this unconscious function / archetype in direct response to her seemingly unreasonable actions.

He undid the rope from around his waist and tied up the old woman.

He gets rid of the umbilical cord and wraps it around the woman.
And of course, there's something very serious about this that smacks of major psychological importance and seems to have a real Freudian flavor to it.
Is this “cutting of the cord” anti-Oedipal behavior????

Or speaking of Oedipus, has the witch become the Sphinx???
And has the soldier become the anti-Oedipus by ignoring her demands?
Except the Sphinx made no demands.
She simply asked a (somewhat meaningless) question.

This soldier seems to be a more streetwise Parsifal who knows how to ask Grail questions, and deal with the unproductive demands of (essentially, infantile) compliance coming from within.

If he were to have handed over the goods to the unconscious without a fight...he would surely have lost this current battle for integration and individuation...and miscarried his re-birth.

Then away he went, whistling cheerfully.

There's something about the simple idea of whistling that tickles psyche and hints at some interesting, deeper meaning. But for now it's obvious that the soldier is quite a bit better equipped to deal with life and to take on the challenge of the Inferior Function i.e. the Shadow.

And if nothing else, he’s got one more possession i.e. fire. An essential component of each of the 3 occult arts of astrology, witchcraft, and alchemy.

Whichever Function fire represents, we’re now at two (functions) down and two (more) to go...I should think.

When he reached the town, he said to himself: “Now I can feast as much as I like - at last!”