Pegasus

In folklore and religion we find frequent mention of the winged horse. This symbolises the sexual or instinctive drives that have not been repressed, but allowed, in conjunction with consciousness and reason, to develop the higher possibilities latent in them. Put in plain language this suggests that the sexual drive rises like a wave that carries our conscious desires with it. This energy wave rises, but in fulfilling itself in genital sex the wave falls again, self-awareness with it. However, if the energy is released, and yet not allowed to spill out in the full sexual release, the energy keeps on rising – flying in fact – lifting awareness with it, until it becomes a vast awareness of life and death. Observation of this suggests it awakens parts of the brain that were not really functioning before.

The white horse can have a similar meaning. For instance a woman turning her love of her children into social caring suggests a way of expression that goes beyond personal drives or the instinctive urges toward personal survival. She ‘flies up’ into a wider social context.

In mythology Pegasus was born from the blood when Perseus cut off Medusa’s head. Pegasus then lived roaming freely until Bellerophon caught him with a golden bridle given him by Athena. Bellerophon went through adventures such as the slaying of chimera with the help of Pegasus. But Bellerophon tried to ride Pegasus to Mount Olympus (Heaven) but Zeus caused Pegasus to throw him off and fall back to Earth. However Pegasus arrived at Mount Olympus where he served Zeus. The symbolic meaning of this is that when the uncontrolled and undirected processes of thought and intellect are stilled, a new level of experience or energy is released. This new way of relating to sexuality or life energy can uplift or expand consciousness to the point where we arrive at cosmic consciousness. But the old human personality cannot manage this and falls away as a new being emerges. Chimera, the destructive and illusory view of life arising from a purely sensory view of life is killed in the process

See: Horse.