PURGATORY II: SYTHEMELOS

“Hiding in places heavily curtained This is my mind’s palace Slipping into fissures down the memory lane This is my grave and solace” Purgatory II: Sythemelos is the second and final chapter of the Purgatory tales, the aftermath of Purgatory’s conclusive battle between good and evil. Heavily inspired by Jungian psychology and the journey of individuation, it is a symbolic adventure in the World-Between-Worlds, the Lands of the Storming, where the writer clashes with the sinister forces of his unconscious. Exploring themes of loss, heartbreak, depression and anxiety, it is a lyrical, over-dramatized representation of the cycle of Life, Death and Rebirth (Love, Heartbreak and Growth): The Battle for Dawn is over. The Dark Triad has been vanquished but the Lands of the Storming remain restless, overshadowed by the gloom of imminent Armageddon. Dreams of love and sweet surrender crumble under their own weight, as the tragedy that begat this illusion of a world repeats itself before our very eyes. Omens of self-extinction twist and bend inside the flames, for the Triad was never meant to be broken, but completed. The Three that were One are approaching, reformed and glorified in encroaching darkness and their Promise is Erasure. And right there, at the end of all things, the first and foremost Purgatorial Tenet shines its universal truth: Erasure is but the crucifixion of Ego. When the outside world and tragedy of life crush on our faces, an inner world is beckoned forth. One must bend above the murky waters of the abyss that is the unconscious and confront the ugliest and most shameful versions of themselves: the Shadow. The Devil incarnate. Only then can the Lady of the Lake awake from Her eternal slumber and reveal the Sword that is the Self.