In the summer of last year, I offered a series called Stealing the Key, in reference to the motif in Robert Bly’s rendition of the fairy tale “Iron John.” This is the book that launched a thousand men’s groups and ignited a generation of men to go into the woods to reclaim their essential “Wild Man.”
(Side note: previous episodes with mythologist Michael Meade as well as the co-founder of the ManKind Project Bill Kauth go deeper into the origins of the mythopoetic men’s movement).
When I first attended the Tamera Healing Biotope in 2015, to shoot & produce the documentary The Village of Lovers, I discovered they also have their own dedicated research into similar terrain.
** Don’t miss the global streaming premiere of The Village of Lovers Feb 7-14, 2024, alongside a 5 day summit A Cry From the Future. **
In episode #5 of The Mythic Masculine, I interview Benjamin von Mendelssohn, the co-founder of the Global Love School at Tamera. I highly recommend listening to that episode before proceeding.
In that conversation, we speak about the concept of the “son-man”, that is, the boy who has grown into a man, but did not receive an initiation away from the Mother, and therefore has not stepped into an adult relationship to the feminine. (Which, by the way, is almost all men in modern culture)
On Instagram I also published a post that further defines the link between the mother-son relationship & the rise of patriarchy.
As explained in this quote from co-founder Dieter Duhm, there is a connection between the unresolved tension of the pure love a boy seeks to offer his mother & the erotic awakening that arrives with adolescence.
In modern society, this is the realm of taboo. Boys are often shunned or shamed for their blossoming eroticism - left to feel rejected when they long for acceptance from their mothers.
They are faced with a terrible choice: hide this part of themselves or lose their mother's love.
This unresolved complex can result in the need to over-compensate by seeking to dominate the feminine instead, just as modern industrial capitalism dominates The Great Mother.
This is why Tamera believes healing this relationship in 'son-men' may usher in the pathways of a mature partnership to the feminine, one based on equal respect and reciprocity.
During my last visit to Tamera in May 2019, I attended a talk at the Aula, their community gathering hall, where a longtime resident Frederick Weihe gave a powerful talk about his own journey in healing the son-man within myself, and touching the power that lies beyond it.
Frederick was born and raised in the United States, and has been living and working in Europe since 2000.
My paid supporters are welcome to listen to the full 30 minute lecture below. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
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