The voice from the spirit world, “Le Cri de Merlin”

Marie-Louise von Franz compares Jung to the wizard Merlin in her book C. G. Jung: His Myth in Our Time (1998) originally published in 1975. What she has to say about Merlin is based on Emma Jung’s research regarding the Grail Legend, as most of what we know of Merlin was written in the Middle Ages, like Wolfram von Eschenbach and his book Parzival (1034) which provided Joseph Campbell a great deal of material. The oral legends were in the old French dialect, which resembles English. Merlin’s Cry is heard from the stone or place he entered in death. And so it is with Jung, he cries out from the past through the pages of the books he wrote and the students who learned from and followed him. The process of individuation and becoming whole is the work of every human being. We must rise above the collective consciousness of our culture and delve into the inner depths of the soul. We must encounter the unconscious and enter into dialogue with it and in this way expand our awareness of who and what we are. If we hear and respond to Jung’s cry from the spirit world (Le Cri de Merlin), there is hope for balance and healing in the world.

Although helpful from a psychoanalytic standpoint, Emma Jung’s information on Merlin doesn’t approach the thoroughness of Norma Lorre Goodrich, who published Merlin in 1987, after having researched all of the literature available to Jung, von Franz, and that found by other historians. According to Goodrich, Merlin lived during the Roman evacuation of Briton in the 5th century of the common era.  During 400 years of Roman rule, the conquerors married the Celts. In order to protect Rome from the invading Huns, all of the Roman forces were called home.  Without military support for the Roman/Celtic chief-kings, a political vacuum was created, which encouraged the Saxon Vikings to invade Briton.

The old Celtic tradition had blended with Roman religion and, after Emperor Constantine, it had become Christianized.  The Celtic Christian Church was not connected to the Church of Peter, Bishop of Rome, but rather to the Church in Jerusalem.  The Celtic legendary basis of their tradition was that after the Crucifixion of Jesus, called “the Anointed” or Messiah in Hebrew (the Christ in Greek), the owner of the tomb from which Jesus disappeared, Joseph of Arimathea, had sailed to Briton. Therefore the Celts’ allegiance was not to the Church of Rome.  Instead they followed the practices of John the Baptist. Goodrich argues that the Celts were independent of the Pope because their form of Christianity was based on the early church fathers. If this is true, it explains how Merlin manipulated Arthur’s being crowned king.  If Merlin was a Bishop of the Celtic Church, he could have crowned Arthur himself. Goodrich argues that the Celtic tradition of fostering through matriarchal lines explains how the baby Arthur would be given away to an “uncle” like Merlin.  So who was Merlin?

He was a bastard son of his royal mother, who entered a convent rather than disclose the name of the father.  Merlin was of royal blood, he was a cousin of Uther Pendragon. In the legends Merlin is called “the son of the devil and a pure virgin”, which would account for Merlin’s psychic abilities and shapeshifting skills. Renouncing his father (the devil) gave him some measure of respectability.  Merlin was very hairy (like Pan, the goat god, and hence like his supernatural and fallen archangel father).  He had a loud and annoying laugh, which no doubt came from his ability to “read people”.  This description of his abilities, when viewed from a higher perspective, would explain his association with the hawk, which sees clearly from a distance. Merlin could see deeply into the souls of people. This makes him feel lonely, because psychic knowledge of this sort cannot be shared with those around him. Either you “get it” or you don’t. Either you have abilities, or you don’t.   Abilities can be cultivated with the right teacher, so many young people sought out Merlin.  They wanted him to be their teacher.  He was evidently well educated.  He grew up in a convent attached to a university. How much magic he learned, we do not know, but judging by the stories told about him, he must have been able to do lots of things which were unexplainable at the time. He had the knowledge and abilities of the old Druid’s ways (hence association with the devil from the Christian perspective).  Merlin was brought up by the Abbot/Professor, who recognized the boy’s nobility. Being a bastard son meant there would be no patriarchal inheritance.  But the Celts were part of a matriarchal tradition.  This aspect of the story shows up in the recent Disney movie “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice“.

This retelling of Merlin’s story has a little known but very important motif.  Merlin ages backwards.  The new Merlin is called David, which means “beloved by God”.  The old Merlin dies back in 740 AD, but intrusts his magic ring to his Apprentice Balthasar, who does not age until he finds the original and youthful form of the Master, called “the Prime Merlinian”.  This is the essential, or prime, aspect of Merlin, the one who can defeat and transform the enraged feminine’s negative and destructive side.  Like all of us beloved children of God, the hero must (1) acknowledge who he truly is and (2) rise to the call of the magic within him.  The new Merlin of the 21st century uses his knowledge of physics to defeat the destructive powers of the dark wizards.  David, the beloved of the Divine Source, wins, not only the love of his life, but a new father and mother in the bargain.  Sounds like a Disney ending, but that is actually how the soul’s journey works.  If we can embrace the repressed and discarded parts of our souls, we win the androgynous character which makes us “wizards with family”.  This is exactly what happens to Harry Potter in the end.  When Harry accepts death, he can choose rebirth without the symbiotic relationship with the Dark Lord, and be reborn, just like his friend and redeemer the phoenix.  Merlin dies and is reborn as David.  It’s a great and ancient story told by Disney Studios with good acting and fun special effects.