A Ritual of Power: Occult Symbolism in "Seed of the Triad"
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| Title: | A Ritual of Power: Occult Symbolism in "Seed of the Triad" |
| Creator: | Linda Frankel |
| Date(s): | February 1986 |
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| Fandom: | Kirk/Spock (TOS), Star Trek: TOS |
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A Ritual of Power: Occult Symbolism in "Seed of the Triad" is a 1986 essay by Linda Frankel.
It was published in K/S & K.S. (Kindred Spirits) #18.
The topic was a Kirk/Spock (TOS) story by Marilyn Cole that was printed in Greater California K/S called Seed of the Triad. The summary of that story: "When Kirk and Spock beam down to an arctic planet, Spockʼs telepathic abilities accidentally kill the male of the last of his species but with Kirkʼs help is able to take his place is creating a "child" with the last female."
The essay's opening sentences: ""Seed of the Triad" is a complex story that can be read on two levels — simple narrative and symbolic. The purpose of this essay is to explore the symbolic aspect."
Some Topics Discussed
- sex magic
- references to the story Broken Images
- magical, meaningful male ejaculations, penises like snakes, and the "psychic joy of their orgasms"
- tarot cards and their messages, specially "Emperor," "Temperance," "Charioteer"
- the metaphor of the image of Kirk as a hawk flying toward the sun: "Horus Hawk might well fly toward the sufi because the sun as fimon-Ra was the chief god of the Egyptian pantheon. Horus is the Emperor in Tarot. The Emperor is the card of masculinity."
Excerpts
It seems to me that the triad encounter between Kirk, Spock and the last of a race called Silcarans, described in the story, is an act of sex magic. Sex magic is to be defined here as the raising of energy for a specific purpose through sex. The activities of the Warriors' Circle in BROKEN IMAGES by Beverly Sutherland would also fit under this definition, but this story by Marilyn Cole uses specific imagery from Eastern and Western mystic traditions.
One of the things that makes a ritual work is the presence of all the elements. All four of the elements from Western magic were present. Kirk is said to represent Earth, Spock is said to be Fire and the SiIcaran is said to be ice which is Water and Air combined. Thus the stage was set.
The central metaphor is consistent with the Hindu paradigm of kundalini energy. Kirk and Spock are said to be raising a cobra. The snake was widely regarded as a symbol of rebirth and renewal because it sheds its skin. It is also an obvious phallus symbol.
In the Egyptian BOOK OF THE DEAD we read "I am the serpent Sata, whose years are infinite. I lie down dead. I am born daily." This is easily seen as the phallus at rest and the phallus tumescent. So a cobra is particularly appropriate to represent an act of sex magic that will bring about the rebirth of the SiIcaran race. In the story, the snake uncoils at the base of the spine and the energy moves up the spine to be fired off by the brain. This is exactly how the process of raising kundalini energy is described. There is one difference. Kundalini energy is said to accumulate when a man doesn't ejaculate and dissipates when he does. Since both Kirk and Spock did come, yet the energy did not dissipate, Marilyn Cole is proposing that sexual satisfaction is possible in sex magic. In fact, she seemed to be stating that it was necessary since the psychic joy of their orgasms was a significant part of the power raised. Like Beverly Sutherland, Marilyn Cole is taking the revolutionary step of denying asceticism. A pro-sex theory of sex magic has been needed desperately. Who would have thought it could be found in K/S?
References