Why ‘The Little Mermaid’ Used to Be My Favorite Movie and Now It’s Not:
A Relinquishment of the Divine Feminine and our Addiction to Hyper-Masculinity
“Mermaids possess the love, innocence, and empathy of the water element that is missing from the human conscience. Without it, humans feel half dead. And so they take risks that threaten their own existence. They need constant excitement and external stimulation to cover up that numbness they feel inside. They are unable to appreciate and protect with nurturing love the wonder and beauty of life that is around us. Obsessed with acquiring knowledge, power, and technology, they are unable to change themselves, only the outer world.”
- William Mistele, from Four Days with a Mermaid
I recently received an energy healing session. It was my first LaHo-Chi experience, and it was very powerful. In a nutshell, LaHo-Chi is a hands-on modality that works primarily on the ethereal or subtle energy bodies. I spent one hour on the table, during which time I felt a great deal of energy move and release from my being. Afterwards, the healer had an important message to give me: There were Mermaids all over the place! Mermaids everywhere!
I didn’t know what to think. As far as I was concerned, I knew only one Mermaid (and I have loved her since childhood) – Ariel, from the Disney movie ‘The Little Mermaid’. I thought this was very interesting, but beyond that, I didn’t know what to make of it.
A short time later, still unaware of what the Mermaid business was all about, I went online to do some research. I’ve done quite a bit of reading on different spirit animals and totems, so this type of symbolism is not unfamiliar to me. I set out to discover the symbolic meaning of the Mermaid, and what the presence of Mermaids could have possibly meant within the context of meditation, visualizations and energy healing practices.
What I found out resonated deeply with my inner voice and shook my conditioned mind to its core.
“Mermaids are elemental water beings in the astral realm. Rarely, they incarnate as a human woman with a Mermaid’s aura of water: nurturing, compassionate, and feminine. There is no separation between them and every molecule of water on Gaia (Earth). Mermaids can instantly attune their energy to every ocean, wave, ripple and raindrop. They have but one purpose, to love. Mermaids are aware of their intimate connection to nature. The myriad waters that caress the entire planet are an innate part of their being and they cannot be separate from it. Mermaids heal others with water energy. Their nature is to love freely and unconditionally…She feels that life involves a continual exchange of energy with others. And her connection to water produces highly developed feelings of peace, happiness, contentment, vivaciousness, empathy, and the desire to heal and benefit others.” (William Mistele, http://www.etherealmermaid.com).
The beauty of the ethereal Mermaid spirit is a wonder to behold. As my mind naturally began to consider my dear Ariel, a deep sense of horror crept in. I saw clearly what the Disney movie ‘The Little Mermaid’ actually represents, and folks, it isn’t pretty.
Arial – The beautiful, enchanting Mermaid; Ariel possesses a beautiful voice and a strong, adventurous spirit. She is adored by her father, King Triton, her sisters, and her friends in the Mermaid kingdom. Ariel, however, is completely unaware of the magical being that she is. In fact, after discovering Prince Eric, a human man, she wants nothing more than to abandon her Mermaid status and become a human herself. Ariel sings, “And ready to know what the people know, Ask 'em my questions, And get some answers…” While this sounds lovely and romantic on the surface, the deeper message is more disconcerting. The deeper message is “I don’t trust or value my intuitive femininity, my expression as an elemental water being; I would rather gain the external validation of the rational world, the hyper-masculine…” Ariel represents the relinquishment of the Divine Feminine.
Prince Eric – The handsome, seductive, worldly human man; Eric has no awareness or appreciation of the Mermaid realm. In fact, he not only devalues the Mermaid realm, he doesn’t even believe in it. After seeing Ariel, his interest is based on the fact that he thinks she’s hot, for lack of better wording. Ariel wants to be part of his world, but he has no interest in learning about or being part of her world. He travels the globe, gaining all sorts of kudos and accolades, looking for the right little lady to be his wifey. Prince Eric represents the hyper-masculinity that our world is addicted to.
King Triton – Ariel’s father portrays an archetype that seems to be missing from our world these days, the Divine Male. King Triton is strong, physically and emotionally; he is in touch with his feelings. He is giving and appreciative of his daughters, honoring and valuing their places within the Mermaid kingdom. King Triton sees the beauty and essence of his daughter Ariel and doesn’t want her to sell-out to the human world. He sees that the hyper-masculinity of the world above water is destructive, yet in his wisdom and kindness, he knows he must let Ariel express her free will. King Triton represents the Divine Male, and in this story, he loses the battle.
Ursula – Ursula, the movie’s antagonist, showcases the classic ‘evil bitch’. A “strong woman” is portrayed as an evil, obese octopus. The only ‘powerful’ woman in the story is also selfish, ugly, destructive and fat.
‘The Little Mermaid’ came out in 1989, and I, along with millions of other young, impressionable girls, internalized these hidden, anti-feminine messages. This movie told us “Deny your innate nature as an intuitive, wise, compassionate being. It’s worthless. Instead, gain the approval of a rational, hyper-masculine male. That is the best life you could hope for.”
The good news is this: the Divine Feminine is waking up. It’s awakening in men and women alike. Men and women are learning to develop an internal balance of masculine and feminine energies. We are gaining awareness of the hidden messages and tricks of the world, and we will heal.
My intent in sharing this insight is that we all start waking up to this unbalance, and that we begin to feel and value and embrace the divinity within.
Namaste.
By:
Jessica Wolf