THE 8 PATHWAYS: PATHWAY 8
Educators & Counselors
Educators and counselors are at the front lines of the future. They interact with the youth that form the fabric of democracy, populate the arts, and ultimately make modern life functional, or, dysfunctional. Hermes’ Web and its toys are tools for communicating with the young about essential principles, about errant behaviors, about troubling needs, doubts and wounds. Without those interventions that reach youth in their own styles of learning, their generation is hollowed out and civilization diminished
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Duran & Duran
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Idea 1: Mirroring deficits, a plus or minus sign in the core, determines whether someone suffers from THE HUNGER or not. The vampiric hunger can overpower goodness and never sees the light of day, hiding in the core, except when it goes out hunting.
Idea 2: The Web is perfect for explaining the 12-Step program and why it works. The Hoberman demonstrates the effects of drugs on a human being, including the jailbreak phenomena.
IQ & EQ
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Role Models
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Women’s Issues
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Quick Overview: Drawing on Circe from The Odyssey, this figure explores what happens when men approach a powerful woman with entitlement versus respect. A useful entry point for discussing consent, respect, and healthy versus exploitative desire.
The reverse of the “core whore” is the woman of power, who, though all may long for her, chooses carefully who deserves the right to touch her. The Necromancer is modeled after Circe in the Odyssey. Odysseus shipwrecked and marooned on her island with his men. They started building a ship from scratch so they could escape again. Odysseus’ sailors who wandered near Circe’s domain were turned into pigs because of how they approached her., making for a lot of pork rib and roast dinners for Odysseus and his crew. Eventually Odysseus safeguarded his remaining crew so he would have enough men left to work on re-building the ship – even though it took many years. In the meantime, he approached Circe respectfully and they eventually became lovers. Odysseus apparently had some erotic intelligence! Both his brains must have been working at the same time!
This toy is great for probing into this whole turbulent area. The Necromancer & pigs become transitional objects, a way to play with the concepts as they infiltrate one’s awareness and raise questions about one’s values and behaviors.
To get a vivid pictures of why Circe turned the seamen to pigs, watch this episode of Law & Order: Special Victim’s Unit: Season 23, Episode 15.
Quick Overview: This archetype represents the wise outsider people turn to only when desperate — and too often disrespect once the crisis passes. A useful discussion piece on gratitude, humility, and the consequences of dismissing the help that got you through.
This is the old woman who lives in the woods, usually estranged from the populace. People only go to her when they’re desperate for a solution, a fix, an answer. People are afraid of her, expect trouble, but she almost always knows what’s up and has a solution. Unfortunately, people don’t always follow the directions, as in the Wurm story.
There is also the tradition of the 13th Witch: the tendency of humans to seek help from places they would never go otherwise, then, when things are going well, they refuse to honor the source of their well-being. Sleeping Beauty features 12 Wise Women invited to bless the child born to the King & Queen. One was not invited – the 13th – and she came to the christening anyway and cursed the child, saying it would die. The 12th witch hadn’t given her blessing yet. She couldn’t undo the 13th Witch’s curse, but could moderate it: Sleeping Beauty would not die, but fall into sleep until someone could break through the barrier of thorns grown up around her castle over the years, and awake her with a kiss, bringing her back to life!
In many cultures, it is women who carry wisdom, experience, medicine. In modern times, it is more of an embarrassment to seek that kind of assistance, well outside the bounds of the prevailing religions. Better not to “invite” it, not give it a place of honor. And what is not honored will often undermine our lives, cursing us from the shadow world that Jung often speaks of!
One could argue that the world today is moving once again away from honoring the feminine and treating it with more disdain if it should not march in lock step with the values at the top of the food chain. Nature itself, often identified as feminine, is facing a similar disrespect. Will the old Wurm story play out and the world reach a terrible state where once again it looks to this old feminine archetype for assistance?
Psych Testing & X-Rays
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