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The Princess and the blind Blacksmith
Fairy tale text by Undine & Jens [2024]
Interpretation by Undine & Jens in green [2024]
This fairy tale, for once, is not from the Brothers Grimm collection. It’s a free-spirited retelling from our pen, inspired by the 2018 Czech-Slovak fairy tale film of the same name, which tells a wonderful Christmas story about an equally wonderful journey, which we’d like to take a closer look at. As always, we recommend reading the fairy tale in its entirety first, without any interpretation. Let’s get started.
Once upon a time, there was a kingdom that had been declining for several years. The king grew increasingly ill, the people were more and more oppressed, the mood went darker, and good wishes no longer came true. The queen died prematurely after the birth of her only daughter, and the royal advisor knew no better advice than to wage wars to conquer more land and wealth so that better times would come. He also wanted to marry the young princess and become king himself, thus realizing his ambitious plans. And then there was the dark season. Christmas was just around the corner, but the king lay terminally ill in his bed, leaving little hope for him to see the New Year. His daughter was distraught but refused to marry the royal advisor, instead remembering the old legend of King Svarog, who was considered the root of their royal line and, with his miraculous crown, could grant any wish and cure any illness. The fatally ill king told her this was only a fairy tale, a figment of the people’s imagination, and his advisor confirmed it. However, when he realized that his wedding plan was not going to work, he told the princess in private that the kingdom of Svarog really existed and even that there was a secret map that the sick king always carried with him. For both the king and his advisor knew that no one had ever returned from this kingdom. He hoped to take over all power if the sick king died without a successor.
The princess searched for and found the map in the handle of the royal sceptre, and discovered on it the path to a mystical mountain with a crooked peak.
Now she was determined to venture forth, seized an old sword inherited from her grandfather, mounted her white horse, and boldly left her father’s castle. On the way, she passed through a village where a young blacksmith lived with his mother. His father had died young, and he himself had been born blind, as many children throughout the kingdom were born with illnesses. Nevertheless, he had become a blacksmith, for his lack of sight was compensated for by a sunny disposition and his other senses, so that he could feel, smell, and hear all the better, and he loved to smile. So, the young princess came to the young blacksmith, for her old sword was blunt, and the horse had lost a horseshoe. At first, she was very surprised to see a blind blacksmith, but when they accidentally touched hands, they both felt a strange feeling between them that they had never felt before. The blacksmith could not see that it was his king’s daughter. With this deep feeling, he sharpened the sword and shod the horse, and when he learned that it was the princess and where she intended to ride, he was immediately ready to accompany her. But his mother would not let him go, especially not so close to Christmas, for she too knew that no one had yet returned from this mountain and that even the animals were afraid of the place. So, she treated the princess to delicious Buchteln (oven-baked yeast-dumplings with a sweet filling) that she had baked for Christmas and offered her a place to sleep for the night. She gave her son some sleeping tea, and although he was surprised by the unusual smell, he drank it trustingly and did not wake up again until late the next day, long after the princess had ridden away at dawn.
The fairy tale begins with a kingdom that we can, in principle, also find in our country today. Therefore, we will now attempt to examine the diverse symbolism in more detail, to see if perhaps a healing message for a way out is hidden somewhere.
First, we find the game of separation: a father lost the mother, and a mother lost the father, so that they naturally don’t want to lose their children as well and accordingly try to hold on to them. In this, we can already recognize the usual game of opposites of male and female as spirit and nature, and how their children, as a princess and a blacksmith, seek each other to solve the problem of their parents’ separation, just as all unresolved problems are passed on to the offspring. The king in the external world would then be the ruling reason, which is, however, sick and weak because the advisor, as the ego-mind, wants to dominate the kingdom and rise above holistic reason in order to seek his own personal advantage. This path naturally leads to a world of opposites, where there must be separation, death, illness, and war, for the ego-mind is a consciousness of separation.
In the blacksmith, we can see a symbol of the human spirit, that force of consciousness that forges future destiny, as the (German) saying goes: “Everyone is the blacksmith of his own fortune.” For a good blacksmith masters the forge fire so that it doesn’t erupt in passion, resulting in “burnout,” and burning down the entire forge, but can be used to create happiness. Likewise, the horseshoe that the princess’s horse lost, is an ancient symbol of good luck. People often hung it over front doors with the opening facing upwards to catch luck and light and ward off dark spirits, or with the opening facing downwards as a symbol of protection and blessing. With the opening facing right, it represented a “C” for Christ consciousness, holistic reason as the light of the world. The blacksmith’s innate blindness is a reminder of our spiritual ignorance, preventing us from recognizing our true soul. This would then be the princess as a pure soul of nature, who, on the other hand, seeks her pure spirit so that holistic reason can reign again in a healthy and healing way. Therefore, she also did not want to marry the ego-mind, because that would completely kill reason.
The young blacksmith’s mother would then be external nature, which provides us with nourishment for our journey and naturally does not want to lose the spirit, just as the king, as reason, does not want to lose the soul of nature. But if the parents cannot find each other, then the children must do so and search for each other as spirit and soul, and neither the father’s secrecy nor the mother’s sleeping potion can help against this.
Thus, in the external world, we find the following main roles with the usual star cast:
King: human reason as a spiritual unity
Advisor: ego-mind, conceptual thinking in opposites
Princess: soul of nature, order through cause and effect
Mother: nature as natural diversity that nourishes the spirit
Blacksmith: human mind, spiritual power
Horse: animal body in the external world
Here we already notice that the entire fairy tale shifts more and more into the inner world of a human being. Accordingly, the path is pointing to “a mountain with a crooked peak,” which one cannot climb to the summit externally, but rather conquer and win internally.
And the guiding map to this can be found in the “handle of the royal sceptre.” Truly, anyone who doesn’t know and hasn’t walked the path to this mountain shouldn’t become a ruler and seek dominion over the world, for the true strength and power of rule is rooted in this mountain. Otherwise, such a ruler is among the many people who want to rule others without being able to rule himself. Which is certainly also a reason for the king’s infirm illness and the decline of his country.
So, it all happens shortly before Christmas, in the darkest time of the year and often also in the darkest time of our lives, and we now want to see how we can rediscover the true light within ourselves.
Shortly after noon, as the winter sun was already beginning to sink, the blind blacksmith heard the princess’s horse returning, but alone and without a rider. There was no stopping him now; he grabbed his cane and mounted the horse. His horrified mother had just enough time to give him a bag full of Buchteln as provisions for the journey. As he left, he said, “Dear mother, I promise you, I’ll be back with the princess for Christmas.” Then he let the horse lead him along the same path the princess had taken through the forest. After a while, the horse refused to go any farther, and he knew that the mystical mountain, which even the animals fear, couldn’t be far away. He continued on foot, feeling his way with his cane, and soon, in the middle of the winter forest, the wonderful scent of summer blossoms filled the air. Thus, he reached the mountain at dusk, entered the interior, and found himself in a summer world, the sun shining warmly, and the birds chirping merrily.
Similarly, we, too, are carried through the world by an animal body that even has a memory and can remember the paths it has already travelled. However, it cannot enter the interior of the mountain, a symbol of the physical world. Only the spirit and soul of nature enter this inner or spiritual world. And the blind blacksmith finds his sunny disposition here, even in the dark winter. Thus, our inner self can be bright, warm, and friendly, while the outer world appears dark, cold, and hostile, or vice versa. This is how many people today suffer from depression because their inner self feels dark, cold, and hostile in contrast to the outer world. Such a person will naturally be reluctant to go into his inner self, whereas for our blind blacksmith, it is a joy to search there for the princess or his soul. So, it becomes interesting to see what we can find in this inner world.
Suddenly, the blind blacksmith heard a deep, fateful voice speak: “Welcome, welcome, don’t ask questions! If you want to get on any way, you have to pay!” The blacksmith replied that he had nothing but Buchteln. Then the deep voice changed into the high voice of a small goblin and cheered: “Delicious, delicious, I love Buchteln with jam or plum puree!” The blacksmith then told him that he was looking for the princess and gave him a Buchtel that was almost as big as the goblin himself.
He then asked the delighted and overjoyed goblin what he was supposed to pay for, and the goblin gave him some good advice:
Drive away the princess’ frown
With the miraculous crown.
There’s an ancient dame,
Cunning and sly, is her fame,
And so she must live, like an old mouse,
down by the river in a little house.
Be wise and catch her Kitty,
But watch, its paw is witty!
Although the blacksmith was sceptical about taking advice from a goblin, he still remembered the words, continued on his way, and laboriously crossed the river because he couldn’t see the bridge on which the goblin sat, giggling:
If you can’t see a bridge,
You’ll have to walk through the ditch.
What a bathing and wading!
On the other side of the forest, he encountered the ancient woman in search of food. She lived as a witch in a cottage down by the river, as the goblin had predicted. With the promise of telling him more about the princess, she lured him into her gingerbread house to remember everything there. But really, she only wanted to give him a cup of fly milk with a sleeping potion, then boil him in her large kettle and eat him.
Well, the first thing we find on the journey into our inner selves is usually a greedy nature, an insatiable desire that seeks more than just sweet dumplings. In this, we can recognize our natural unfulfillment, a constant feeling of deficit, so that we are always lacking something, and no external wealth can permanently satisfy this unfulfillment. This natural desire is beautifully portrayed in the fairy tale as a little goblin in a colourful dress made of mushrooms, flowers, and leaves of nature, as can be seen in the picture above. As long as this desire appears in this form of natural diversity, it is certainly good and useful in leading us to what we truly lack. Therefore, we should not ask this goblin too many questions or trust him too much, and yet with his “good advice” he leads us to our inner problem, first to the river and then to the witch.
The river reminds us of the life story of body and person, a river of transience that flows from its source through time and space, letting everything come and go, bringing it in and then carrying it away again. The sighted man finds a bridge over this river, while the blind blacksmith must laboriously wade through the water in which we become usually carried away and also sink. And here, too, natural desire is already sitting on the bridge, enticing us to seek and find this bridge. This symbolism is ingeniously drawn, for this river naturally has two banks as boundaries, otherwise it would not be a river: the natural-physical boundary is formed by the witch, and the spiritual-personal boundary is formed by the ego-mind, which also clearly illustrates the separation and opposition between spirit and nature, in which we usually live, and between which the river of our physical-personal life story flows. Indeed, if the river had no boundaries, then it would be the entire sea. And the bridge? It should not be a dizzying bridge, where one fears falling into the water because of its narrow boundaries, but a true bridge where all boundaries disappear…
By this river, we find the old witch (in German: Hexe) again, whom we have already met in many other fairy tales. She lives in a gingerbread house, that is, a physical house built of food, just as our body is practically made of food. And the five senses, with thought as the sixth (“hexa”), are constantly searching mentally and physically for such nourishment. And everything that comes into this house, this witch wants to boil in her kettle and prepare as food, just as our modern science knows that chemical soups for the body’s metabolism are being cooked throughout the bodily cells.
We could also interpret Goethe’s famous “Witches’ Magic Formula” from [Faust I] as follows:
Make ten of one, - (wholeness is everything and nothing)
And two let be, - (separation, opposites like good and evil)
Make even three, - (Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)
And rich thou’lt be, - (in wisdom and all-being)
Cast o’er the four! - (four elements of the body)
From five and six - (five senses and thought)
The witch’s tricks - (as guardian of the physical boundary)
Make seven and eight, - (reason and mindfulness or awareness)
Tis finished straight! - (perfection)
And nine is one, - (everything is one)
And ten is none. - (neither everything nor nothing, the incomprehensible)
This is the witch’s once-one’s-one!
…
The lofty skill
Of Science, still - (pure consciousness, information)
From all men deeply hidden! - (because it is formless)
Who takes no thought, - (no conceptual ego-mind)
To him ‘tis brought, - (by God)
‘Tis given unsought, unbidden! - (because it cannot be lost)
In this regard, one might now consider why the witch lures us into this body of food, and what memories she promises us? Why do we live in this body, and what are we seeking within it? Yes, perhaps it’s precisely about remembering who we truly are, about “self-knowledge,” so to speak. But how can the old witch help us with this?
Perhaps “fly milk” is interesting in this regard. Yes, there are also flies that have small mammary glands with which they feed their young, such as the tsetse fly. But in the witch’s house, we think more of a potion made from fly agaric, as is clearly portrayed in the film. Then the “flying” signifies more of a spiritual flight into fantasy worlds, as caused by various drugs and, essentially, also by the witch in her control over our senses and thoughts. Here, too, the question of fantasy or truth always arises, and some even claim that all our thoughts and sensory experiences are more dreams than reality because we only perceive everything indirectly, so that, for example, the sensory and mental world of a dog is very different from our world of perception.
The root for the sleeping potion in the film is reminiscent of a poisonous mandrake root, which was once often used as a magic potion and is also said to have hypnotic, soporific, and narcotic effects.
The miraculous effects of plants and their chemicals on our human mind is a big and fascinating question, one we won’t delve into too deeply here. It’s not for nothing that our intestinal system has so many nerve cells that it’s been called a “second brain.” Drugs have also played an important role in human life since ancient times, as shamans know. What kind of information or “memories” controls the witch?
Incidentally, there’s also an interesting story about this in the ancient Indian Markandeya Purana about a “flying ointment” that, when applied to the feet, could transport the spirit to faraway worlds. Only the return wasn’t so easy:
O Brahmin, through the power of a herb that, through magical formulas, blesses with unlimited mobility, I can walk a thousand yojanas in half a day... (Markandeya Purana Chapter 61)
But the blind blacksmith smelled the same sleeping potion his mother had given him and swapped the cups, so the witch fell into a deep sleep. When she awoke, she was hanging from a rope over the boiling kettle, wailing and, fearing that she would be boiled in her own kettle, told him: “I couldn’t harm the brave princess at all. No spell worked because she carried a sword sharpened by an honest man. With a sword like that, any spell can be easily cut through. Now she is in King Svarog’s castle, but once inside, anyone who is there will never get out alive. For Svarog is eternally cursed, and anyone who looks at him for even the briefest moment will be turned to stone. If you want to get to that castle, you must climb over the mountain that stands at the end of the valley.”
What happens if, instead of letting the witch numb and cook you, you turn the tables and numb and cook the witch? In our fairy tale, the serious decision to do so is apparently enough for the witch’s “memory” to return, and she speaks of the princess and the path to her. Perhaps it’s not a good idea to want to kill the witch. Perhaps it’s enough to not let her control you, and then she’ll find her place in the body where she belongs, to cook up the chemical soup in the cells. For, as the goblin said, “And so she must live… down by the river in a little house.”
An ancient symbol is used here: the sword sharpened by an honest man. It reminds us of the sword of wisdom and mindfulness, which simultaneously kills and enlivens, because it cuts through illusion at its root in every direction and penetrates with its point into the depths of truth. Therefore, it is the task of the human spirit to sharpen this sword, which we inherited as humans, but which has become blunt through the many blows against stone or matter. In Zen Buddhism, this “sharp and pointed sword for cutting and stabbing” is described as follows:
A sabre to kill, a rapier to enliven: This was the custom and rule of the ancients; it is still an indispensable necessity today. If the purpose is to kill, not a single hair will be harmed. If the purpose is to enliven, both body and life must perish in the process. Therefore, someone says: All the thousand sacred traditions cannot show you the one path that leads upwards and beyond. Scholars strive to give it form. They are like monkeys grasping at their reflections in water. (Zen Words in the Tea Room, Three Pounds of Hemp in the Bi-yan-lu, Akaji Sōtei)
So, who could point the way to King Svarog? This voice can only come from deep intuition, when the witch is bound in her activity and the ego-mind is silent. Then nature begins to speak from her memory, and the blind blacksmith also learns the path to the end of the valley and then over the mountain. This probably means that when nature begins to speak, one should penetrate to the bottom and then climb to the heights and the summit of the spirit. Just as our modern science penetrates the depths of nature to the depths of its memory, and as the quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger says: “Information is the primordial substance of the universe.” Now we only need to climb to the summit of the spirit, but our science has a very difficult time with that... Let’s see which path the blind blacksmith takes.
After the witch had spoken thus, he seized the witch’s black cat as punishment for trying to numb and cook him. He left the gingerbread house to the cheers of the greedy goblin, who called to the blind blacksmith:
Be careful and don’t set the cat free.
You’ll need it later, you will see.
The witch soon freed herself from the ropes, stepped before the magic mirror, and warned her cousin, who appeared in the mirror like a black cloud and was none other than the sick king’s advisor. When the latter learned of a blind blacksmith on his way to King Svarog, he was frightened, because the curse, of course, has no effect on blind people and Svarog could be freed by him. Now he devised an insidious means.
The greedy goblin is probably celebrating primarily because of the cat and offers some good advice for the journey ahead: “Be always mindful, and you will see.” In the black cat, we can see the witch’s animal nature, which of course also has its meaning in nature, just as we too will “see.”
The magic mirror is again a profound symbol for our reflective consciousness, in which all forms are magically reflected. For in a mirror, we practically always see only ourselves, but primarily in some form, without seeing that which sees, the formless consciousness that sees and recognizes everything, or, to put it more scientifically, the information that shapes and forms everything. Thus, in this mirror, the witch can look from the inner world into the outer world and sees there her cousin, with whom she is closely related, just as ego and mind are closely related. And this ego-mind appears like a black cloud that obscures the light of holistic reason. Why? It is a conceptual mind of imagination that separates things and seeks to hold on tight. Meister Eckhart says of this:
The smallest creaturely image that ever forms in your mind is as great as God is great. Why! Because it prevents you from a whole God. Precisely where this image enters (into you), God and his entire divinity must give way. (Sermon 7)
Thus, we will now also see how the egoic mind seeks to prevent the human spirit from rising from the depths of nature, where one finds diversity in the sea of causes and possibilities, to the summit of the spirit, where one then finds the unity of a holistic reason or divinity.
Meanwhile, the blind blacksmith followed the indicated path, feeling his way forward with his cane. Soon he reached a steep mountain, which he began to climb. The greedy goblin was already waiting at the top, but fearful for him, he tried to dissuade the climber with some good advice:
Don’t climb any higher, I tell you hard.
After a plunge you will fall apart.
Then you’ll be torn to pieces...
But he couldn’t think of any more rhyme to answer that. The blind blacksmith tried to calm the frightened goblin, replying that he always followed the first rule of climbing: never look back. The goblin had to laugh at that, because he knew the blacksmith was blind.
When he was just before the summit, the black cloud suddenly appeared from the magic mirror and enveloped the goblin in a dark whirl, transforming him into a stone that rolled down, dragging the blind blacksmith down with it. But the stone didn’t shatter into pieces on the ground, and the blind blacksmith was magically caught halfway up and able to hold on tight again. Then the black cloud spoke with the goblin’s voice: “You almost fell to your death. But I saved you.” The blind blacksmith thanked him, and when, despite all the warnings, he refused to be dissuaded from his path, the goblin’s voice gave him the following advice: “If you truly want to save the princess, then you should know: As long as Svarog lives, the kingdom will be cursed, and with it your princess. So, there is only one solution: Kill King Svarog!” The blind blacksmith was surprised that this advice did not rhyme as before, but he accepted it and successfully climbed the mountain.
This symbolism, too, is very profound. We are all certainly familiar with the fact that desire is always already at the goal, waiting impatiently for us, and also with the fact that this desire quickly turns into fear, for whoever wants to win something and hold on to the gain must naturally also be afraid of losing it. This is the play of natural opposites, which is why one should also climb to the spiritual summit, where all natural opposites reunite at one point. This is the mysterious play of natural diversity and spiritual unity.
It becomes problematic when this natural desire, which leads us with hunger and thirst along the paths of the world, is seized and used or abused by the ego-mind. Then this desire literally hardens and petrifies, for the ego-mind does not want to follow any path, but, as e.g., the name “understanding” suggests, to stand still and hold on. These are our so-called “positions” and “viewpoints” to which the ego clings, practically placing them like stones in its own way, from which entire castles are built. This then becomes the physical ego-castle, in which the ego seeks to protect and defend itself, and from which it attacks others. This is why the ego-mind also tries to keep the human spirit clinging to the stone between the ground of nature and the summit of the spirit, as we know from our current worldview of materialism. And it even claims that by doing so it is preserving and saving the human spirit. Yes, this is the black cloud and magic of the ego-mind that tells us: Truth is what can be grasped and held.
Naturally, the fear of loss is never far away. Just as our contemporary worldly rulers, who neither know nor have taken the path to the crown of King Svarog, like to rule with fear, create terrible enemies, and wage deadly wars against them, primarily for their own personal gain. And behind this fear, of course, lies the fundamental problem of separation, for only through separation one can lose something that is impossible in its entirety. Just as the goblin is afraid that the body could be shattered into pieces, but he can’t think of any rhyme for that...
What does that mean? We sometimes say in German, “I can’t make a rhyme of that.” And by that, we basically mean that we can’t discern the deeper meaning here. And so, in the inner-spiritual world where we currently find ourselves, it makes no sense that the human spirit could “break” or even “lose” its life. That’s why this rhyme is so important, for the goodness of advice comes not from the outward words, but from the inner meaning, which should resonate within us from the depths of intuition, and thus also from the realm of King Svarog with his miraculous crown. Of course, the ego-mind cannot find this inner meaning because it neither wants to recognize nor acknowledge the depth of nature nor the height of the spirit, and therefore there is no rhyme in the advice of the black cloud. But the blacksmith doesn’t yet see this dark cloud because he is blind, but precisely this blindness will help him greatly, for he won’t let himself be led astray.
At the top of the peak stood King Svarog’s castle. He entered without further obstacles, but was met by a heavy and dark silence, for it was the silence of death that reigned throughout the castle. After a long corridor, guided by his cane, he came into a large hall where his foot struck a bright, ringing metal. It was the princess’s old sword, which he had sharpened himself. It had slipped from her hand, and she stood petrified beside it, as he could now feel and also understood that she was not the only one who had been turned to stone here. Then grief and anger rose within him, he exchanged his blunt cane for the sharp sword and cried out in a loud voice: “Svarog! Where are you? Svarog!” A hesitant reply echoed through the hall from the throne: “What do you want? Here you will find nothing but death. Anyone who sees me must turn to stone. That is the curse imposed on me by my advisor, who overpowered me with dark magic and seized power for his own personal gain. But why doesn’t that happen to you?” He said: “I am blind and cannot see you. I came here in search of the princess and I know there is only one way to end the curse: I must kill you.” The king replied: “I would do anything to redeem my kingdom and the princess. If that is the way, then complete it! In return, you shall also receive my golden crown, which my advisor could not seize with his dark magic.” The old king stepped down from the throne and knelt before the blind blacksmith, sacrificing his life for the lives of everyone else in his kingdom. The blacksmith saw himself at the end of the path, raised his sharp-edged sword, but could not bring himself to deliver the fatal blow and said: “I cannot kill! There must be another way to break this curse.”
Who is “Svarog”? We find this name in Slavic mythology as “creator of all life, god of light and heavenly fire, and smith of the sky.” Etymologically, “Svarog” is said to mean “sky,” derived from the Sanskrit word “svarga”. But how does one find this god inside a mountain?
Well, Werner Heisenberg, the Nobel Prize winner and father of quantum physics, once said: “The first sip from the cup of natural science makes one an atheist, but at the bottom of the cup, God awaits!” And yet, it is primarily natural science that has ensured that this god has been disempowered in our modern worldview, and we practically live in a dead universe. Whether we look deep down or high up, we always find only dead things, the smallest elementary particles and the largest stars and galaxies, as well as a great deal of dark energy and dark matter. Is this the black magic of the ego-mind that materializes and petrifies everything around us? Have we simply given it a different name today, calling petrification “materialism” and the black magic of the ego “commerce”? Aren’t all areas of our lives becoming increasingly commercialized? Not only medicine, doctors, hospitals, postal services, trains, buses, telephones, television, the internet, universities, research centres, and vacations, even the holy Christmas celebration is dominated by commerce, and everything must bring financial gain. Thus, you can find advisors everywhere who think primarily of their own wealth and advantage. This is completely normal today, and no one is surprised anymore when leading politicians abuse their office to enrich themselves. And the people follow...
What kind of dark curse is this? How can it be broken? The ego-mind tells us: If God is the creator of everything, and this world is in trouble, then he is to blame and must be killed. Then the ego-mind can take control, become the creator itself, and shape the world according to its own will.
Well, that’s where we are today, and even Nietzsche, as a philosopher, said: “God is dead!” Yes, we live in such a world. But we should recognize that the path of killing never leads to God or wholeness, for killing is a separation, just as the blind blacksmith wanted to cut off Svarog’s head, but then wisdom emerged from the depths and recognized the ego-mind’s bad advice.
Then, in the king’s hall, the black cloud appeared from the magic mirror and spoke in a voice the blind blacksmith recognized from his king’s advisor: “You blind fool! One fatal sword blow, and my curse would have been complete. But now my patience is at an end, and I will bring you such unbearable pain that you must die.” Immediately, the black cloud transformed into a terrible whirl and rushed towards the blind blacksmith. The king cried: “Stab!” And the blacksmith plunged the sword, which could break any spell, deep into the heart of the black cloud, which collapsed with a loud howl and tried to flee as a small black mouse. Of course, the black cat, who was peeping out of the blacksmith’s backpack, saw this. It was now very hungry, for it had no taste for the sweet Buchteln. With one leap, it jumped out, grabbed the fleeing mouse, and devoured it whole.
What does one do with this black cloud of the ego-mind that obscures holistic reason or deity? Here, the Sword of Wisdom helps again. At King Svarog’s request, it penetrates deep into the truth, into the depths of reason, but does not kill the ego-mind, but rather returns it to where it belongs: into the body of the witch’s animal being. There, it has its natural place and, under divine rule, ensures the body’s functions. Yes, this is how the conceptual mind should subordinate itself to holistic reason, and the tale of the cat and the mouse provides a good symbol for this. Then creation lives, and with all creation, God also lives.
Thus, we can briefly identify the following symbolic roles in the inner world:
Goblin: natural desire, hunger of unfulfillment
River: life story, driven through space and time
King Svarog: divine reason, god of light
Golden crown: white magic of the spirit
Black cloud: black magic of matter
Witch: limitation of nature to the body
Mind: limitation of the spirit to the ego
Cat: animal body
Mouse: ego
Thus, the black cloud of the ego-mind ultimately proves to be only an illusory shadow of our true nature of pure light or consciousness:
Suddenly, miraculously, the hall became very lucid; the bright sun broke through the dark clouds and illuminated the royal throne. The entire kingdom became bright and cheerful again, the dark curse was broken, and a happy smile appeared on the young blacksmith’s face. For his eyes opened, and he beheld a wonderful world the likes of which he had never seen before. Before his eyes, the young princess came back to life, and all the other petrified figures also returned to life; even the goblin awoke at the foot of the mountain.
King Svarog took the hands of the blacksmith and the princess, led them to his throne, and placed the blacksmith on his right side and the princess on his left. Then he bestowed the miraculous crown upon the blacksmith and said: “This crown is only an outward symbol of the inner power in my kingdom. Now this power awakens alive within me, and together we will grant all wishes and cure all illness. You two have redeemed me, and my first official act shall be to shorten your long journey back to the outer world a little, so that you can keep your promise to your father and mother.”
Thus, the curse of black magic is broken, the white magic of light regains its power, and with it, the spiritual eyes of the human spirit are opened. And this spirit of light, or pure consciousness, brings back to life everything that the dark ego-mind has killed and petrified in a material world. This can also be seen beautifully in the image above, how the inner light awakens and breaks through the petrified matter to become alive again. The Bible says: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no use. (John 6:63)” And in the sense of the harmony of spirit and nature, perhaps we should better say: “It is the Spirit who gives life; otherwise, the flesh is of no use.” Thus, the human spirit rediscovers the living soul of nature, and both find their place on the throne of the Godhead, where they are reunited with holistic reason. Wonderful! And with this, the external world comes back into harmony with the internal world, the earthly blacksmith with the heavenly blacksmith, so that now the external eyes of the earthly blacksmith also open:
Amid the cheers of the entire court, the two said their goodbyes, and at the same moment they found themselves just before the mountain’s exit. There they met the goblin once more, whom the young blacksmith and king could now see in his colourful natural guise. He thanked him especially for the good advice about the cat, to which the goblin confessed:
The cat should just leave there,
Because it wasn’t a good place for her.
She was always chasing me,
When the old woman was out of her gingerbread house,
And I was gnawing on the hut like a mouse.
“I thank you nonetheless,” said the blacksmith with a smile:
Because your constantly greedy cake tooth
Has done my search a lot of good.
And now, at last, the knowledge is mine,
That good advice must always rhyme.
So, they returned from the interior of the mountain to the Christmas winter world, where the princess’s white horse was waiting, on which they rode together to the village and arrived just in time for Christmas.
Anyone who returns from the inner world on this path will recognize that spirit and soul always ride together on the horse of the animal body, and that it is a white horse, not a dark and sinful body. Dark sin comes from the black cloud of the ego-mind and essentially means nothing other than separation from God or the Whole, from which all other separations arise: between spirit and nature, inside and outside, mine and yours, life and death, as well as all other opposites that the mind imagines with conceptual thinking, so that it also believes it possesses its own body separate from God or the Whole. When this dark magic disappears through the sword of wisdom, then white magic regains its power, and “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5)”, even in the outer world:
The houses were beautifully decorated, candles glowed in the windows, and in the village square stood a Christmas tree with lots of fruit, gifts, and lights. The mother came out of the house full of joy, hugged her son, and greeted the princess, and her joy grew even greater when she noticed that her son could see. A horse-drawn sleigh with a royal entourage drove up the village street. It was the king himself, who had been miraculously healed and was now searching for his daughter, joyfully finding her again and embracing her. The whole village gathered, and everyone was happy when the blacksmith and the princess also embraced and kissed each other. And the old king became even happier when he heard the young king’s story and saw the legendary crown of King Svarog, so that he could not have found a better successor. The mother hurried into the house full of joy and fetched a large bowl of freshly baked Buchteln, which the old king especially enjoyed. And the young king’s Christmas wish was: “I wish that all people’s Christmas wishes come true!” At the climax of the Christmas festival, the wedding was celebrated, the inner light was reborn, and the whole kingdom shone brightly and cheerfully again, so that everyone lived together in health, happiness, and peace.
A beautiful dream? What does it mean to grant all wishes and cure all illnesses? Wouldn’t that create a world of chaos if every wish came true? The farmer wishes for rain, the hiker for clouds, and the vacationer for sunshine. One wishes for this, and another for that. And what is illness? Is no one allowed to die anymore? Does no one have to take care of his body anymore? That’s probably not what it means, for when holistic reason prevails, then spirit and nature are harmoniously united and no longer struggle with one another. The soul of nature ensures order in diversity, and the spirit ensures wholeness in unity. What is missing then? Then the ego-mind, with its insatiable desire, always lacking something, and its selfish desires for personal enrichment, no longer reigns supreme. Can we even imagine living with true reason and without an illusory ego? Isn’t reason the greatest wealth of humanity, enabling us to rise above the animal kingdom? Is the growing egoism we cultivate today, with its materialism and commerce, perhaps a dream that is increasingly becoming a nightmare? May we find the way to King Svarog again!
With that, we wish everyone a happy and peaceful Christmas and a good start to the New Year! May we rediscover the pure light within we truly are, and may it be reborn on the outside. May we rediscover the living soul of nature and love it at least as much as its outward forms. Then we will see this world, through which we have so far wandered like those born blind, with completely different eyes. May we, too, celebrate the marriage between spirit and nature, the climax of Christmas, and may it be a true wedding, in keeping with the times in the here and now! Thus, we are all the blacksmith - or as the English say - the architects of our own happiness. Amen - OM - Hallelujah
• ... Table of contents of all fairy tale interpretations ...
• The poor Girl and the Star-Money - (topic: poverty in spirit)
• Death and the Goose Herder - (topic: geese and wholeness)
• The Fox and the Geese - (topic: mind and wholeness)
• The Goose-Girl at the Well - (topic: spirit, soul and nature)
• The Golden Goose - (topic: recognize true wholeness)
• The Goose-Girl and Falada - (topic: unity and diversity)
• King Thrushbeard - (topic: holy and healthy marriage)
• Saint Solicitous - (topic: beard and violin)
• The old witch - (topic: true Love and Reason)
• The Jew among Thorns - (topic: Reason and Mind)
• The Princess and the blind Blacksmith (topic: Christmas)
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Sayings and text inspiration: Die Prinzessin und der blinde Schmied, 2018, ARD/Kika |