Note 480 — Chapter V · SYMBOLISM OF THE MOTHER AND OF REBIRTH

531Frobenius (Ibid., p. 393) observes that frequently the gods of fire (sun-heroes) lack a member. He gives the following parallel: “Just as the god wrenches out an arm from the ogre (giant), so does Odysseus pluck out the eye of the noble Polyphemus, whereupon the sun creeps up mysteriously into the sky. Might the fire-making, twisting and wrenching out of the arm be connected?” This question is by this clearly illumined if we assume, corresponding to the train of thought of the ancients, that the wrenching out of the arm is really a castration. (The symbol of the robbery of the force of life.) It is an act corresponding to the Attis castration because of the mother. From this renunciation, which is really a symbolic mother incest, arises the discovery of fire, as previously we have already suspected. Moreover, mention must be made of the fact that to wrench out an arm, means first of all merely “overpowering,” and on that account can happen to the hero as well as to his opponent. (Compare, for examples, Frobenius: Ibid., pp. 112, 395.)