Crossroads

The word crossroads, illuminates an image of roads coming together, intersecting at a junction with other roads, a fork in the road:  or one can pause at the crossroads and chose another path then the one currently on, or one can stay for a while at the crossroads until we have figure out which way to go.

These moments of indecision that we found ourselves on at different times in our individual lives, take on psychological and philosophical meaning when we pause at the spot where the roads come together. And pause we must, while we ponder which road.   

There we find ourselves contemplating the center of the crossroads, which is the domain of the Ancient Chief Goddess Hecate, presiding over magic and spells with pillars called Hecataea which stood at crossroads and doorways. Hecate is always there while we decide what to do next. 

This crossway at the fork in the road has a 2020 timely ring to it. I feel it all around me and I feel the vulnerability inherent in being an exposed human being at such a juncture.

The following story is another favorite of Robert Johnson, (Story Time With Robert, 2020). It focuses on the decision making of the venerable feminine, which is inherent in both genders and it seems worth telling to give promise to both sides of our being, at such an intersection in our personal, community and global lives.

The Woman at the Crossroads

There once was a remarkable young woman, who sat herself down naked at the crossroads between the north, south, east and west roads. She just sat there and everyone who went by jeered and made fun of her or ignored her and some tried to help. She just sat there looking at the roads in all directions. 

Soon a woman dressed in beautiful clothes dripping in diamonds and pearls came by and offered her this richly woven dress. The naked woman said. “ But it is so heavy.” The richly dressed woman said. “Yes it is heavy! It is heavy with the rules I must bear. If you wear this rich garment you must pay allegiance to the rich man who owns this beautifully ordained garment. You must be shown off and seen wearing this garment and always be at the beck and call of this wealth, man with no decisions of your own.  

Our naked young woman said, “Then NO thank you! Your garment is much too heavy”

The richly adorned woman sat down next to our heroine to wait with her.

Then another woman came by dressed in a plain gray dress and offered our naked woman her dress, “you do not have to be naked here”.

Our naked woman said, “This dress look less heavy than the other but it sill feels heavy to me”. She asked the woman in the plain gray dress why it felt so heavy?

The other woman said, “If you wear this dress you give up all your freedom, you never rest, you never have a vacation, never will you have time to yourself, because you are busy, cleaning, cooking, diapering and running the household.

The naked woman said, “ NO, I could never put on that much of a weight.” That’s too heavy, I would rather be naked!”

You see where this story is going, lots of choices for our young naked woman.

And of course another woman came by at the crossroads and offered her a flashy, very short and bright red sexy dress. This exotic woman said, “You pour thing, Let me give you my dress.”

The naked woman held it in her hands and said “Why is it so heavy?”

The other woman told her, “If you wear my dress, you will be at the beck and call of any man who wants you and your life will be a series of unknown men who don’t stay.”

Of course you know what our young naked woman says, as she gets wiser every day, 

“No way will I put that dress on!” 

The third woman sat down beside her to wait.

Then a nun came by and saw the naked woman’s circumstance and offers her habit.

She told her, “You may have my dress, and it is a dress of safety.”

Yes you got it, the young woman held it up and said, “But it is so heavy too.”

 The nun told her, “you’re right, it is heavy with obligation to help others, raise the children of others, help women with husbands, with none of your own. You will never know the joy of being a human being. 

Again our naked woman said, “NO!” 

The nun sat down beside the young woman to wait with her.

As often is the case when a group of women get together, they began to talk and exchange views about the young woman’s situation. They decide that they can take apart each of their garments and make a new one for the young naked woman that represents each of their stories found in each garment. They tell the young naked woman that even though they did not have their own life, there were things that were enjoyable and good. Things such as: being rich with all its beautiful jewels, being with one’s children, being in a brothel having fun and finding safety.

They put on the new garment representing each story and paraded around the young naked woman at the crossroads. I don’t think our young protagonist in our story liked the choices available to her at this crossroads. 

She said,  “No Way!” and decided to go to a different crossroad!

Analysis:

Our story tells us that we are offered choices as we go about our life. The crossroads is the archetypal image of these moments of choice.  The naked woman is the venerable feminine in the psyche of each of us that is demanding authentic choices. The symbol of the crossroad is asking us to investigate the price of our choices: Is handing over our sovergeignty worth the price even with diamonds, adoration, home, wild fun, and safety. 

What Carl Jung called the Divine Self, the center of ones soul is at stake when we are driven by the choices of our ego self. Crossroads have always been there, that is the way ancient stories tell us deep truths about ourselves with the archetypal symbol of the crossroads. 

From this telling of our ancient story and my experience of reading it, I want to ask this question. Does the story of The Woman at the Crossroads speak as an allegory to illustrate and give meaning to today’s controversies and what is our personal relationship to these conflicts? Controversies such as: What is the true nature of our health bodies; our political body, the society body in the form of equality and fairness, and the concerning vulnerability of the body of the Great Mother our Earth?

These are considerable crossroads on our horizon both personal and universal. They require reflection in the company of the ancient Goddess Hecate. She is always there at the crossroads minding the hearth for us as we check all this out. It seems clear to me that our young naked woman gave serious thought to the choices presented. In my imagination, she rejected the egos choice of the status quo and picked her naked venerable Greater Divine Self up and courageously set out to find a crossroads with more imaginal and creative paths.

That is my hope for myself and for us as a collective body.