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Written by Christina Margeti.
Happy New Year, with health, love, joy, and whatever each woman, each person, may need in their life.
From the outset, I wish to express my deep sorrow as well as my anger over the murder of the poet and activist Renée Nicole Goude. Eternal memory — forever in our hearts.
The following text is written in response to certain — in my opinion — absurdities circulating on some social media platforms that I happened to encounter. It is clear that some people — either unintentionally or, in some cases, quite consciously — attempt to beautify shameful behaviours of mythological (or even non-mythological) figures, deliberately shifting attention away from the essence: their actions toward other human beings. Instead of focusing on these actions, they resort to narratives about “monsters,” extraterrestrial beings, “encounters,” and supposed spiritual trials, with the aim of making perpetrators seem sympathetic.
A characteristic example is Odysseus. Many choose to speak about the “sufferings of the poor man” during his journey back to Ithaca — the Sirens, Circe, the Cyclops, and all those supposedly “charming” episodes. However, they deliberately omit his deceitful nature, his imperialistic behaviour, and the fact that his punishment by Poseidon was entirely justified. The same pattern appears in the case of Heracles. Instead of focusing on his essential character — namely, that he is a figure who killed even his own children, systematically shifting responsibility onto Hera (a pattern well documented in psychological literature), and that he invaded foreign lands and stole — they prefer to speak about the “monsters” he faced, assigning imaginative and questionable “symbolisms” to the so-called “labours.”
This is not accidental. It is a classic form of “whitewashing,” designed to divert attention from actions in the material world and to present the perpetrator as a hero dressed in a metaphysical cloak. Personally, I reject this subtle “narcotic” of thought. Such narratives are not harmless. These patterns poison the collective unconscious. Heracles, who killed his children, resembles modern cases such as the Glyka Nera case, where a man murdered his wife and their dog, initially blaming imaginary “burglars,” or the case of a young mother who confessed to killing her infants and claimed that “her mother was to blame for everything.” The same pattern appears in many other cases where perpetrators almost always shift responsibility for their crimes onto third parties. The displacement of responsibility is the constant feature.
So what does the myth of Odysseus transmit to the collective unconscious? Adventurism, cunning opportunism, dishonesty, imperialism. This is the essence — not his “charming adventures.”What does the myth of Heracles transmit? That it is acceptable to invade others’ lands, steal, kill, and always shift responsibility elsewhere, like a textbook narcissist and Machiavellian figure. This does not mean that anyone exposed to such models will become a criminal, but the poison of thought is subtle and operates on a collective level in its own way.
Also, the struggle against patriarchy is not a “gender war.” It is self-defence of femininities — and of every thinking human being — against phallocrats, as well as a struggle for rights through continuous individual and collective action. There can be no peace without justice, equality before the law, and human rights.
Within this context, I also feel the need to refer to another phenomenon: the elevation of certain individuals into “self-illuminated sages,” who present various theories woven skillfully with excerpts from ancient texts.What is dangerous, however, is the complete devaluation of the physical world, matter, and everyday reality through theories claiming that “nothing here is real.” Such beliefs indirectly cultivate apathy, fatalism, resignation, and submission — and serve systems and regimes very effectively. Authentic spirituality does not devalue matter or the body. It is the harmony of the spiritual and the physical, the balance of mind, soul, and heart. Regardless of conditions or any “soul contracts” we believe we chose in multiple incarnations, our lives are not “roles” as long as we exist and breathe in this world. The femininities and beings lost daily due to gender-based violence and patriarchy represent a harsh, undeniable reality — not a philosophical abstraction. It is therefore preferable that we strive to make life on Earth a better world, as much and as far as we can, rather than remain inactive hoping only for post-mortem paradises. Let us at least try to work toward, alongside any engagement we may have with the spiritual realm.
The peak of hypocrisy is that some people denounce the “commodification of spirituality” in general while simultaneously selling their books. Of course, there is nothing wrong with selling books; hypocrisy, however, is not a positive trait. My personal position regarding payments for spiritual or energy-based work has been analysed in my article here: ABOUT REIKI FEES