Note: this one has Jungian Psychology. The Board of Directors Here at Spo-Reflections loathes this sort of entry. This is a puzzlement as they are archetypes themselves, so why the fuss? I suppose they are mad-jealous. The Greek gods are, on the whole, are more interesting than thems in Asgard, and they regularly wash. Spo.

I’ve been thinking lately on Hades, Lord of the underworld in the Greek Pantheon. I am not sure why he’s coming front on stage in my consciousness but thems trained in Jungian psychology go with whose around and see what they are trying to say here.

People put a lot of glory to Gaia, or The Earth Goddess, or The Great Mother – whatever name floats your boat – but underneath the fertile feminine, deep down at the base of things, is the masculine Lord of the Underworld. She rules the subconscious but he rules the unconscious, and carries Shadow energy more often than she does.

Hades gets a lot of bad press. Modern folks, who see gods as either all good or all bad, tend to dress Hades up as the Greek version of Satan, full of malice and diabolical machinations, which he is not. He did his job which is running the underworld – where all go, good or bad. He did this with dignity and he wasn’t one to run around doing shenanigans like his younger brothers, Zeus and Poseidon.* There is that myth of him abducting Persephone for a wife, but the actual tale shows a) this was arranged by Zeus (the real villain of the piece) and b) he was a faithful spouse who loved his wife with whom he ran the underworld in partnership. Not bad that – and for a Greek god !

I find Mr. Hades’ attributes attractive. He takes his lot and makes what he can from it. He holds his role with dignity and he does it without fuss and drama. He allows others like Gaia/Demeter to take the glory and adoration while he takes satisfaction with a job well done. He doesn’t need direct worship, but keeps people on their toes that regardless what you do in life, he is yours in the end, so do the right thing and make your life and each day count.

Finally he has a cool pet, the three-headed dog Cerberus, the name can be interpreted as ‘spotted animal” so his dog is literally named “Spot”. The guy has a wry sense of humor to boot.

*As the oldest child of Chronos and Rhea, by birthright he should have been in charge, but he and his two brothers drew lots for the ruler of the sky, the sea, and the earth – and he came in third. Rather than throwing a hissy fit he took his fate fair and square.