Emerging Archetypal
Themes:
Aquarius, Community & “Milagro
Beanfield War”
WATER! What would we do without it? Our human bodies are comprised of 80% water. Without water, we die. When there is no water, the land dries out and
turns into a desert. When there is no
water (feelings) flowing between people, we are left to stand alone in the face
of the vastness of the universe. The
truth is, WATER IS LIFE!
Like the
Wasteland of the Arthurian legends, our civilization has created a wasteland—both
externally and internally. With the central
pillar of our society the accumulation of profit coupled with rugged
individualism, we have allowed the Earth to be raped and pillaged and the
waters and air to be poisoned. At the
same time, patriarchy has relegated our feeling life to irrelevancy, denying
the truths of the heart. With profit as
the main goal, we are too easily caught up in the old Protestant ethic: if you
are rich, God loves you. If you are
poor, you are a sinner. This religious
belief, coupled with capitalism, creates an inner wasteland of hopelessness and
fear of death.
So despite our external riches,
our inner life suffers. People aren’t
built to survive in the wasteland. Our souls need something more than money to
make life worthwhile, otherwise we fall into depression, anxiety, fear and
anger. That’s why the wasteland can only
be healed by the Holy Grail, the watery feminine aspects of life, love and
community.
Aquarius
What does this gift of water have
to do with the fixed air sign of Aquarius?
Called the sign of the Water-Bearer, the constellation of Aquarius is
most often imagined as the figure of a man pouring water from a jar. The ancients imagined that this whole section
of the night sky was a great celestial sea: Aquarius is surrounded by the
constellations of the Whale, the Fishes, the Dolphin and Eridanus—the River
Po. For when the Sun passes through the
sign of Aquarius, it heralds the rainy season in these ancient lands. The
symbol for Aquarius, two wavy lines ≈≈, seems to represent undulating lines of
water.
But the astrological sign of Aquarius
is considered a fixed air sign, representing rational intelligence and social
interaction. Aquarius is more concerned with
Ideals than feelings—the awakening of the Mind and its vast potentials, as well
as the urge for true
freedom. The brilliance of the Aquarian mind seems to reflect the working of
the Cosmic Mind. That’s why Aquarius is
so often related to the Archetypal world. Carl Jung saw the coming Age of
Aquarius as an age when the archetypes are lived consciously by humanity. If
this is the truth behind the image of the Water-Bearer, than we can say he is
pouring out the watery contents of the collective unconscious for us to
access.
Aquarius
calls us to stand up for our ideals. And
it does this through community. When we
band together, we create a stronger energy than when we stand alone. The water of our feeling life connects us to
each other and to our ideals. That’s why the symbol of Arthur’s Round Table is
so apt for this sign. We are called to
become a community of equals.
The
Milagro Beanfield War
Robert Redford’s 1988 movie, The Milagro Beanfield War, is a poignant
reminder of what we have to lose if we continue to allow profit and consumerism
to displace family, community and our connection to the Earth. The movie is delightfully enchanting without
being preachy, with characters you care about, music that fills your heart and
images of both the beauty of the nature as well as the ugliness and ruin our
modern life-style leaves behind. It is magical-realism
at its best. And it certainly
exemplifies the Aquarian ideal of the strength of community to combat even the
biggest Goliaths.
The movie is multi-layered, thanks to
John Nichols’ novel and screenplay. On
the outer level, it’s a story of the conflict between a poor Hispanic town and
the powerful land-developer who wants to turn the surrounding land into a
high-class resort. On a more personal
level, it’s about a young man’s inability to find work in his own community and
how the very lack of real community makes this takeover of the land possible. It’s a story of passionate beliefs and
surprising accidents which lead to the return of water in their lives. But the deepest level of this story deals
with belief. It’s about belief in the powers
of the unseen spiritual realities, belief in our ability to overcome tyranny, and
belief in the power of community.
The star of the movie for me was the
character of Amarante, exquisitely embodied
by Carlos Riquelme. Along with his Coyote
Angel sidekick, a tricksterish Robert Carricart, they play off each other to
perfection as the old wise man and his guardian spirit. They
stand for what is good and solid in life and so can see the bigger picture
taking shape around them. They know what
needs to happen if they’re to save the village.
And these two old coots do it! Along
with a little help from their friends.
Redford evokes an enchanting
atmosphere from the very first frame.
The desert at sunset—at its best.
The Full Moon infusing the scene with magic and mystery. A strange wind comes blowing through the
night, carrying with it a haunting song, which grows into a joyous shout,
swirling up dust and dancing along the hillsides. There is the Trickster, playing his flute and
dancing with the wind. ‘Til dawn. It’s a new day.
Our Coyote Angle is on a mission, to
wake Amarante up to the dangers facing his community. Amarante is the oldest man in the village and
talks with angels and the dead. He is
open to the Unseen Real and so is the perfect person to listen to the call of
Wisdom.
Old Coyote tells Amarante the truth:
It’s your town that’s dying. Amarante
treats him as the nuisance he is because of course the first time we recognize
a deep truth we don’t want to hear it. It
will disturb our routines.
Next we get to meet all the
townspeople of Milagro (meaning Miracle), who are unique and delightful. There’s Ruby (Sonia Braga), the town mechanic
and passionate energy behind renewal whose motto is, ‘Let’s get to work’. There’s Bernie (Ruben Blades) the local law
officer, mediator and peace-maker of the village, who’s open to the Unseen Real
himself and senses a change coming with the wind. We have forest rangers, and the old men’s
brigade, local characters and Shorty (James Gammon), Devine’s gruff but kind
overseer and Flossie Devine (Melanie Griffith), relegated to the role of dumb
blond with a heart-of-gold wife. Not
only is this story about community, it also creates community with these unique
characters.
Then
we finally get to meet our hero Joe Mondragon—perhaps the new Pendragon? Joe (Chick Vennera) and Nancy (Julie Carmon) Mondragon
are poor, still in love and have 3 kids.
Joe can’t get construction work with the new resort going up (Miracle
Valley) and in his frustration and righteous anger, he kicks open the water
gate by his father’s old bean field. The
bean field has gone dry and brittle because the town’s water rights have been
taken away—and the water diverted for use at Mr. Devine’s resort.
Joe
is the only hold-out on selling his land to Devine, but out of work with a
family to support, he’s now considering it.
Old Amarante lives across from the bean field and seeing Joe there, begins
to describe how beautiful the field used to be when his father worked it. As Joe allows himself to see the beauty of
his home and the water sinking into the land once again, his anger turns to
determination. He’s going to let the
waters flow and plant his family’s bean field again.
Amarante
heads into town to casually mention that Joe is watering his bean field. The news quickly spreads through town, causing
consternation, curiosity and excitement.
Ruby rushes over to the bean field and joyfully acknowledges that she
always knew Joe had some greatness in him.
Soon the whole town comes to watch as Joe plants his beans. The town’s energy is shifting, spiraling
around the running water and the bean field.
As
the news spreads to Mr. Devine, the inevitable conflict starts to take shape
between the rich land-developer and the poor farmer. But first, we need more characters to help
Amarante and Coyote carry the story forward.
We’ve seen the waters of feeling come back into play. Now we need the head to follow suit, because
we need to unite our heads and heart in order to overcome tyranny.
First
there’s Charlie Bloom (John Heard), a burnt-out, retired hippie lawyer—big time
progressive lawyer and crusader of lost causes—whom Ruby tricks into helping explain
exactly how hurtful the resort will be for the townspeople. And then there’s Herb, an Eastern graduate
student come to study indigenous people in the Southwest. His eager openness to experience is coupled
with an innocence that is endearing. His
journey at Milagro grounds him in his body and leads him to a belief in the
power of Spirit. Herb becomes fascinated
with Amarante, who prays to saints, especially to St. Jude, Patron of Lost
Causes. His love for Amarante opens his
mind to the power of archetypal energies.
I’m happy to say both of these intellectuals do learn to think with
their hearts!
And
then of course there’s the villain—over and above Mr. Devine (Richard Bradford),
the developer. It’s Christopher Walken
as Kyril Montana, and as old Coyote tells Amarante, ‘the bogeyman just came to
town’. Need I say more? He is the brains
behind various schemes to stop Joe. In
his marvelous way, Mr. Walken continues to portray the male repression of
feelings which comes out as violence.
As
Montana strategizes ways to stop Joe and Bloom from rallying the townspeople,
Coyote Angel tells Amarante, ‘you’re gonna need a big sacrifice here’. The idea of sacrifice—to make sacred—is important
to remember as we work to change our world.
Yes, it does involve sacrifice—sometimes even a death. This wonderful story reminds us that if we
stand for our ideals and aren’t afraid to embrace the sacrifice—of time,
energy, vision, death—we end up succeeding.
This
marvelous movie speaks to all of us who want to change the way the world works. As Ruby says, “What good is a hometown when
everyone you know is gone”. Aquarius
speaks to our need for community. And it
also speaks to the need to open up to the archetypal forces of Spirit. As Amarante explains to Herb, “People have
forgotten how to talk with angels, who have time to spare.” The
Milagro Beanfield War reminds us of the important things in life.
Mr. Redford is a well-known environmentalist,
a true Bard in the old sense—the storyteller and wisdom keeper of the tribe
that has a responsibility to comment on the welfare of his people. The Milagro
Beanfield War is Mr. Redford’s love-song to the Earth and to the beauty of
the human spirit. It’s a moveable feast of sensual delights,
feeding our ears, our eyes, our hearts and our spirits. I think this is his best film.
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