Meduse, de retour

Carravagge. "tete de Meduse," huile sur bouclier en bois, Uffizi, Firenze.

Has anyone "really" ever seen Medusa?   Or is she simply a figure in Greek myth, or "a figment of the imagination," a historical-political allegory, or a (Jungian) archetype, or a Freudian reference (castration complex)?

Persée tenant la tête de Méduse (Cellini, 1545), en bronze, Loggia dei Lanzi, Firenze

http://clg-debussy-la-guerche-sur-aubois.tice.ac-orleans-tours.fr/eva/spip.php?article370

Persee, au bout de compte, comment a-t-il pu remporte sa victorire sur Meduse, sans se faire changer en pierre comme tant d'hommes au paravant?

Mais jusqu'a present on n'a pas encore suggere qu'en lui faisant voir son propre reflet a elle dans le bouclier-miroir de Persee qu'il aurait egalement pu eradiquer le monde de la Meduse?

Mon opinion c'est que Persee aurait pu trouven une astuce pour que Meduse se regarde dans le miroir-bouclier et alors lui donner le choix de, soit nier sa laideur et ses crimes et en raison de cela se faire transformer en pierre, soit reconnaitre la verite tout en evitant cette transformation ahurissante. 

In Greek myth, it seems a relief when the hero Perseus valiantly cuts off Medusa’s head, 
liberating her defenseless victims from being turned to stone. However, Medusa was a victim 
herself, a beautiful queen cursed by Athena to become the monster we know. Ironically, we each 
embody Medusa, often turning others to stone by objectifying them and robbing them of their 
humanity. By surrendering to Perseus’ sword, Medusa is liberated from the curse while her 
streaming blood becomes a powerful life-giving component that can heal, and Pegasus, symbol 
of poetry, is born from her neck. Her victims, having experienced coagulation, the alchemical 
state of solidification, emerge from their prisons of paralysis and are freed to live their lives with 
new awareness. Encountering frightful Medusa is an initiation of epic proportions, and Medusa 
herself, an ancient shaman, demonstrates that embracing death is a key to transformation and 
new ways of being.




Objectification: Turning Others to Stone

Author Hazel Barnes, exemplifies this theme as she explores the work of French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in relation to Medusa. Sartre, in Being and Nothingness, sets the scene by 
urging the reader to imagine looking through a keyhole. From my vantage point behind 
the door, whatever I see outside becomes the object of my attention. In this scenario, I am the 
center of consciousness, the “doer”, the subject who wields the power by directing my gaze to 
the objects of my regard. There is no need or call to reflect on myself. Then, however, I am 
prompted to listen to oncoming footsteps in the corridor! I look up to meet the eyes of another 
who has already been regarding me as I was busy looking through the keyhole.

In a cataclysmic reversal of roles, I suddenly realize I have become the object of someone 
else’s gaze. Without warning, I am forced to take into account that I am also an “other” for 
others. The tendency of assigning other people their place in the world in order to maintain my 
own controlling position is turned on its head by sudden (self)awareness. The look of another 
threatens me, taking away my free subjectivity, and making me an object of their actions. My 
natural reaction, Sartre suggests, is to respond to this perceived danger by neutralizing the Other 
before he neutralizes me, taking away his agency by rendering him into a powerless object 
without autonomy or feeling that I can control at will. 



from
"Facing Medusa: Alchemical Transformation through the Power of Surrender"

http://www.depthinsights.com/pdfs/Facing_Medusa_Alchemical_Surrender-BBright-052010.pdf