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which continues in the background as of the chaotic sexuality of Focidin,
who is, after all, as Souza has pointed out, "a symbol of primordial chaos,
and his bisexual activities revel the anarchy that precedes the organization
of the creative forces. "
67
The sexuality expressed here is bound up in
the toils of ecstatic experience which entails a loss of consciousness and
consequently of the Self; familiar symbols confirm this: "avanzaban protegi-
dos por un palio, sostenido por cuatro lanzas que remedaban serpientes que
ascendian entrelazadas para terminar en un rostro que angustiosamente se me-
tamorfoseaba en una punta de falo, partido al centro como una boca" (1,379).
The minotaurs ("la carroza estaba tirada por unos toros minotauros"; 1,380)
are another reference to the bestial nature of Man, and indeed woman, as in-
dicated by the large black bow covering the vulva in the procession ("Un la-
zo negro, del tama`Ko de un murci4lago gigante, cubria la vulva ...
"; 1,380).
The very disembodiment of the phallus and vulva in this orgiastic rite shows
that their creative potential is wasted due to the idolatry afforded them by
the crowd, which is unaware of their true value. The procession represents
a stage in human sexuality which Cemi' must renounce.
Fronesis' struggle must be victorious if Cemi is to be free to act, to
visit the Unconscious without becoming trapped. Foci6n is present in the
background of Fronesis' and Lucia's courtship because that courtship involves
Fronesis in a brush with danger, with Chaos itself, in the ecstasy of union
with the girl. Cemi is on hand to analyse the movements of Foci6n and the
others, and to act as a point of balance between them, although he is clearly
identified with light already: "el azar me une con Foci6n en el Hades del
cine y el azar nos une con Cemi en la luz" (1,387). The episode of the
red-haired youth and the antiquarian with the Chinese artifact is introduced
at this point to show that Foci6n still has a chance to reach beyond him-
self but his agitation in the absence of Fronesis, who is by now taking his
chance for spiritual growth with Lucia, suggests that any opportunity for