Wednesday 25 August 2010

the lion and the unicorn

What is it all about? The unicorn symbolises Scotland and the lion symbolises England, and they were fighting for the crown until they got married....

According to the nursery rhyme, the lion beat the unicorn all around the town.... And when he had beat him out, he beat him in again; He beat him three times over, his power to maintain.. Hmmm.. clearly written by an Englishman....



I was concerned about the chaining of the Unicorn, but that predates the union with the lion, as witness the pre-union coat of arms of the King of Scotland, to the right.

Wikipedia explains:according to legend a free unicorn was considered a very dangerous beast; therefore the heraldic unicorn is chained
So what's this about? The unicorn, a spiritual creature, a vegetarian, is considered so dangerous it must be chained up, while the rampant lion, a vicious and base carnivore remains unfettered? What kind of barbarism is this?




It is time to free the unicorn from its chains. No need to chain up the lion - it will be no match for an unchained unicorn.

Consider the tarot card for Strength: the Unicorn, in full possession of her own spiritual strength, easily subdues and tames the more base and physical lion. The lion lays down with the unicorn, in peace. No chains required.

The lion did not defeat the unicorn through strength. It did it through trickery. Through trickery the Unicorn was chained.



Unchain the unicorn!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

This is really interesting. I was also wondering why the beautiful unicorn was chained up.

Unknown said...

An interesting blog! I was also wondering why the unicorn was chained up. Thanks!

deepian said...

Thanks for the feedback, Jess. It amazes me how much lies "hidden" in symbolism that is right before our eyes. Hidden in plain sight!

Mu1 said...

It seems to me, that in the picture on the right - pre-union, the uniocorn (the both of them) appear to both have chains on, just as in the coat of arms with the lion.....????

deepian said...

Yes Mu1, and I pointed it out in my post: "I was concerned about the chaining of the Unicorn, but that pre-dates the union with the lion ... according to legend a free unicorn was considered a very dangerous beast; therefore the heraldic unicorn is chained". So we Scots cannot blame this chaining on the English!

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