Konrad and Alexandra (PDF) - Rolf Gross

fail to grasp."Alexandra smiled at him. "The nature of the subject makes it impossible to describe it in psychological terms, but I couldtry to use my own experience and the Greek myths to give you an idea."Dahl nodded. She gave him a beguiling smile. "You have to understand, we don’t talk about this 'women’s knowledge.That is one reason why men—who have to talk and to create myths and religions to explain the world—have such limitedunderstanding of what a woman knows. The secrets of women are handed down from mother to daughter. They areways of dealing with the world, with death, love, and childbirth, and with the ignorance of men. And even between motherand daughter these things are not discussed in words. They are learned by doing. They constitute the ultimate, esotericknowledge."Dahl smiled. "As always, you have succeeded in disarming me. Ab initio you essentially dispose of any analysis I couldoffer!" He laughed. "I admit to being seduced and all yours!"Alexandra gracefully inclined her head accepting his surrender and went straight to the heart of the matter. "Youremember, in München I once told you the story of Dato and my abduction. I did not tell you, that afterwards I went to seePersephone for advice. It was a horrifying experience. In a half-drunk trance she accused me of having spared Dato. Bythe old ‘matriarchal’ rules, she said, I would have had to seduce and kill him in my arms at the height of his ecstasy. Nowhe would have to live a miserable life, the weak man, and one day he would come back to demand his death from me."She paused a moment. "These are the ancient laws of matriarchy…. Persephone’s prophesy is still unfulfilled. So farDato has not returned."Dahl glanced at her with an incredulous smile but said nothing.Alexandra, registering his surprise, continued thoughtfully. "I was shocked. On that day I decided to marry Konrad, tofollow him into exile and learn how to become conscious of my own actions in order to come back to Georgia and helpother women to escape from these millennia-old ways. But I am sure Persephone will be proven right. Dato will returnone day with such a request. I am terrified by the thought, but Georgian men go crazy or commit suicide when they haveto live in exile, separated from their women."She briefly considered the efficacy of the old myths. "Do you recall the Greek myth of Medea? She was a Georgianwoman and the priestess of the Great Goddess in the Kolkhis. Her story is a good illustration of the rules of matriarchy.She did not seduce but compromised Jason by stealing the Golden Fleece from her brothers. She obliged him to takeher home as his wife. When Jason later left her for a woman of his own tribe, she did not kill him or herself, but thechildren she had borne him."Dahl nodded. "I am familiar with this archaic tale. You are not the only one who is using it to illuminate our subconscious.But to my knowledge, nobody has seen Medea as an exponent of matriarchy. Her pedicide already shocked the Greeks.It is still unexplained."Encouraged, Alexandra boldly applied the myth to the present. "In less dramatic ways this is how Georgian women stilltake revenge on their men. They don’t lay a hand on them, they make their men feel so ashamed and guilty that they killthemselves or go stark raving mad."Dahl caught on. He raised his hand. "Alexandra, may I contribute to your myths? The Greek example is the Oresteia.There the matriarchal content is quite explicit. Orestes murdered his mother Klytemnestra. To avenge this matricide, theErynnies, the executioners for the Goddess, pursued Orestes all over Greece, until he went mad.""Yes," said Alexandra. "And a thousand years later Sophocles, the New Greek, undertook to recast the old matriarchallaw to suit patriarchal logic. Sophocles’ Athene, the Goddess not born of woman, absolved Orestes of his crime beforethe court of the elders of Athens—I owe this insight to Konrad’s excellent familiarity with the Greek drama."She smiled at Konrad. "The Georgians, unlike the Greeks, were never conquered by Indo-Europeans. They still speaktheir six thousand-year-old language, and below the surface the age-old ways of the women are much alive. What youperceive as patriarchal customs in Georgian society today is a very thin veneer covering the unutterable ruminations ofthe Goddess.""And the men?" asked Mrs. Dahl. "What are the men like who suffer this kind of maternal rule?"Alexandra burst out laughing. "We like our men to be chivalrous, quiet, romantic poets, with a sense for the tragic." Sheshot Konrad a loving glance.All eyes turned on Konrad."Konrad," asked Vladimir, "how do you manage to live with this Georgian Priestess of the Great Goddess?"Konrad smiled roguishly. "Does she frighten you? I don’t have that impression."Alexandra waved their words aside with her hand and laughed her father’s laugh. "Konrad appeared like Apollo in my life.He slew the Sacred Snake and rescued me from the chthonic powers of the Goddess. Since then a dark shadowattaches to his innocence. He has become the protector and spirit of the Delphic Oracle. The revenge of the Goddess isunfathomable!"They all laughed with her, only Dahl said with a serious face. "These powers are no laughing matter. There is a newschool of psychiatry, gathering around one of Freud’s students. His name is Carl Gustav Jung. He has set out to describethe images of man’s subconscious by way of what he calls ‘archetypes.’ They are exactly what you describe, and they142