[Catherine Svehla]

Hi Robert,

I also found the Green Knight interesting, Gawain’s character in particular. The one story about him that I know is the one with Lady Ragnell and the question: “what do women want?”. In that story, Gawain behaves so admirably. Then I looked into the various knights of the Round Table a bit and discovered that he was the lusty one, susceptible to sexual temptations. I appreciated that this was the Gawain created in the movie and thought they made good use of his weakness, but your reflection goes deeper. Thank you!

Mercurius and alchemy. Reading your comment, I realize that when I think of “trickster,” I think of a figure that embodies a dynamic in the world and in my self, and reflects that dynamic back to me. As you point out, the alchemical Mercurius, who gets his name from the Greek trickster god Hermes/Roman Mercury,  is a “trickster” or trickster-like energy that one  deals with in a conscious process of psychological transformation. Is he a catalyst? I haven’t spent much time with alchemy–might have to remedy that!

warmly, Catherine