NARCISSE NECROMANTIQUE
J. W. Dotson, MD
“Earth’s keys to thee, illustrious king belong, Its secret gates unlocking, deep and strong.” Orphic Hymn to Hades
“Sacred to Pluto was the narcissus…” PLUTO, Fritz Brunhubner, 1934
Pluto was discovered in 1930 and named by an English 11-year-old girl… a charming story unless you believe she was a child medium impressed by the invisible world to announce this planet’s association with the god of the Underworld.
By 1934, German astrologer Fritz Brunhubner had published the first monograph on the subject, in which he hints at guidance from visions as well as his studies of the classical accounts of Hades and Pluto to develop the correspondences and influence of Pluto in individuals as well as world events.
He gave Pluto rulership over the pineal gland, the mystical “Third Eye” which grants occult powers, and by coincidence 1934 was also the publishing date of H.P. Lovecraft’s story “From Beyond” in which a scientist creates a device to stimulate the pineal gland thereby opening a gateway to visions of inter-dimensional horror.
The Narcissi (narcissus, jonquil, daffodil) have been firmly placed with the dead since antiquity, found in Egyptian pharaonic tombs, and filling the Fields of Asphodel (daffodil) in Hades.
Ovid’s version of the myth of a self-obsessed Narcissus has dominated the storyline, but an alternate reading is the story of Narcissus, a child perhaps of the moon goddess Selene or a river god, who is a seer into the realm of the dead.
He is not enamored by his image but is in fact using the spring water as a magic mirror, and becomes drawn into the imaginal world and perishes.
The narcissus plant name is thought to be derived from the Greek narkao mean- ing “to be numb.” It contains a number of potent alkaloids and currently daffodils are grown as a source for the compound galantamine, a cholinesterase inhibitor used to treat dementia. But galantamine is also notorious for its peculiar side effect: it induces intense lucid dreams.
Like Pluto, narcissus controls the keys to the deep gates of vision and has entered into magical lore as a perfume for inducing astral travel, clairvoyance and mediumistic gifts.
