Contest: Journeys into the Underworld

From Orpheus to Duncan Shriek, the descent into the underworld has long been a recurrent motif in world literature. Passing the threshold, the hero undergoes a sort of transfiguration: facing the perils of the nightlands beneath the earth, the protagonist conquers the demons of his own dark half.

Joseph Campbell, in his seminal work The Hero With A Thousand Faces, wrote, “And so it happens that if anyone – in whatever society – undertakes for himself the perilous journey into darkness by descending, either intentionally or unintentionally, into the crooked lanes of his own spiritual labyrinth, he soon finds himself in a landscape of symbolical figures…In the vocabulary of the mystics, this is the second stage of the Way, that of the “purification of the self,” when the senses are “cleansed and humbled” and the energies and interests “concentrated upon transcendental things”; or in a vocabulary of more modern turn: this is the process of dissolving, transcending, or transmuting the infantile images of our own personal past.”

Ultimately, in most tales, the result of this transmutation is a reconciliation of opposites. Conquering his or her shadow side, it is absorbed and integrated into the psyche. The warrior is made whole; capable at last of crossing the final threshold, claiming the prize of his quest and returning to the land of everyday things.

I am fascinated by caves and the underworld - both in their more mundane incarnation and as symbols of transformation and rebirth. Where I live, there are no caves. A powerful statement, maybe, in this context.

I’d like very much to hear of your own favorite anecdotes, stories, thoughts and experiences involving the underworld, both literal and metaphorical. However, I would not expect for you to take this perilous journey into the deep unnecessarily: I am offering a prize: a small collection of books on caves, caving and other speleological pursuits.

I will select one winner from your comments on Monday, my final day here with you at Ecstatic Days, and contact this person to arrange shipping of the books. The winner will be the person who offers the most interesting, entertaining or enlightening entry on the underworld. I may ask Jeff to assist in selecting a winner.

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