Tenth Labour of Hercules - (2468)

The Myth

Here Hercules has to by order of King Eurystheus steal the many head of red cattle from the monster Geryon. 

Geryon lives on an island and has three heads, and three pairs of legs that some legends say all sprout from his waist. Geryon has a terrible lineage, where his mother was one of the monsters that sprang out of the beheaded Medusa. 

The lineage of Geryon is very interesting and the nature of this labour is very interesting in that Hercules has to defeat several monsters, with the Geryon included.

Hercules is attacked by the Geryon's guard dog Orthos, which has two heads and is the brother of Cerberus. Hercules clubs it to death without much toil, Hercules then also clubs to death the cattle's herdsman Eurytion. Just before Hercules is about to make off with the cattle, Geryon appears and Hercules defeats him with his arrows.

It is said that on Hercule's way to the island of Eurhtia, where the Geryon lived which was on the border of Libya and Europe, Hercules rose two columns or split a mountain into two or raised two mountains. This is an interesting detail.

Hercules then journeys back to King Eurystheus to bring him the cattle. However, Hercules has much trouble along the way. Many of the cattle flee and some are stolen by some of the sons of Poseidon. 

Meaning

At this point when the master begins the tenth labour of Hercules, the master has eliminated the ego and of course no ego remains, but there still are some things remaining in the master that must be faced and defeated.

They are: memory, the mind and the free but asleep essence. 

The sleeping but free essence must be awakened and this work extends beyond the tenth labour. The mind continues beyond the third mountain, however the work for the tenth labour is to defeat memory. 

Memories assault the master and it seems as if, becasue the memories are so strongly felt that the ego is alive again. The learning is that the memory provokes the same symptoms in the essence as if the ego is alive, but the ego is certainly dead. 

Once several waves of memory have been passed through and their effects understood and dissolved this labour is complete. 

The monster Geryon had as a father Chrysaor which sprung from the dead body of Medusa, indicates that this labour has to do with what is left over once the ego (Medusa) is dead. 

End (2468).