Alright, for today’s “Mythology Deep Dive,” we’re looking at one of my absolute favorites: Prometheus—the Titan god of forethought, trickery, sacrifice, divine fire—and humanity.
Most of us know that Prometheus is the one who “stole fire from the gods.” This is true! And what’s more, he did it to help us—what a guy! In some tellings, he was actually the creator of humanity, alongside Zeus-Jupiter. But there’s a whole lot more to his story, and he’s tangled up in an interesting web of good, bad, and tricky mythological figures.
Let’s start with the traditional Greco-Roman depictions: Hesiod and Aesop are our major sources for Prometheus’s misadventures. Good ol’ Prom was one of the only Titans who defected during the war in heaven; he joined Zeus in the battle against Kronos-Saturn for succession—and he’s often credited with turning the tides.
Prometheus’s name, according to most etymologies, means “forethought.” (pro—, before, and metis, thought/wisdom/disposition, roughly). This fits nicely with a symbolic interpretation of Zeus as representing “focused, conscious will.” As always, there are countless ways to interpret a myth, and there’s definitely no canonical right way; this is just one of many. Myths are magical because they can often be “correctly” interpreted in multiple ways, all at once. I go into much more detail on this in Bound By the Gods, but we’ll start by looking at the Titanomachy as a metaphor for the advent of human consciousness and the struggle to differentiate from our animal nature. The deciding factor in that fight was indeed forethought: humans are the only animals that can play out a complex scenario in the mind before taking action. This, combined with the focused conscious will of Zeus, was an unstoppable combination, both in terms of human evolution, the advent of civilization—and the war for the divine throne. Forethought also neatly explains how humans were ultimately able to “steal fire from heaven,” and master the flame—perhaps the single biggest factor that set us apart from wild animals.
By itself, all this is enough to establish Prometheus as a sort of “divine patron” of humanity. Not only was he involved in our creation, he gave us some of his forethought, and he also conned Zeus into accepting only partial meat sacrifices so humans wouldn’t starve—thanks, Titan-Dad!
Predictably, Zeus was not psyched when Prometheus tricked him, disobeyed him, and stole from him. In one of Zeus’s less cool moments, he binds Prometheus to a rock and curses him with one of the worst of the Ancient Greek Eternal Tortures™️: every night, Zeus’s eagle would come and tear open Prometheus, and devour his liver. Being immortal, Prometheus would regenerate each morning so that the agony could play out again. ROUGH.
And remember—Prometheus possessed foresight: he KNEW that Zeus would do this, and he went through with it anyway, to save us. There’s kind of a happy ending though! Eventually, Hercules shows up and frees him; Prometheus, being wise, manages to get forgiveness from Zeus. Being able to see the future (his name does mean forethought after all), he knows the secret to the success—or destruction—of Zeus’s reign. If Zeus were to have a son with the sea-goddess Thetis, that son would be “greater than his father,” and would continue the curse of succession that took down Ouranos-Caelus, and Kronos before him. “No thanks!” Zeus says, and he marries off Thetis so he won’t be… tempted. Sure, this sets in motion the entire Trojan War, but… at least he can still be king! 🤦🏼♂️
Not finished being an all around bro, Prometheus is also involved with the ascension of Chiron, the tradition of keeping the flame at the Olympic Games, and warning Noah—sorry, I mean Deucalion—about the genocidal flood sent by the gods.
But where did the Prometheus myth come from? There are two prevailing theories:
- Enki-Ea, the Mesopotamian trickster god, was also credited with creating humans, tricking the storm god, and warning us about the flood.
- Matarisvan, a Vedic god known for bringing fire, seen as an aspect of Agni
It’s also worth noting though that many, many cultures across the world have myths of some trickster stealing fire and gifting it to humanity. Maui did it. Coyote did it. Amirani did it. Crow did it. In Norse Mythology, a figure known as Lóðurr assists Odin in the creation of man, providing “color, warmth, and will.” Most scholars equate Lóðurr with Loki—a fiery trickster who also falls out of favor with the high god, and ends up chained to a rock. Womp.
One source tells us that Prometheus was merely an epithet for a deity named Ithax, the herald of the Titans—a role strangely similar to that of Hermes-Mercury for the Olympians. And stranger still, the Orphic hymn to Saturn equates the Titan King with Prometheus—which has caused me personally to lose hours upon hours of sleep. (“Prometheus” is also the name they picked for one of planet Saturn’s moons.)
Prometheus is seen as both a Luciferian figure, and as a savior; he challenges the authority of the high god to empower humans, and steals some of the divine essence for us. This is seen as a little Satanic (but like, in the cool way), especially from the classical world view where humans are matter, matter is bad, and it’s bad that our spirits are trapped in said matter. A few writers even point to Prometheus’s theft as the moment humans were cut off from the divine. But at the same time, Prometheus also ends up betrayed, tortured, and damn near crucified—all for the sake of saving humanity.
Although Prometheus doesn’t have a planetary sigil like Jupiter (♃) or Saturn (♄), a strong case can be made for using the following:
The alchemists used this as the symbol for Phosphorus. Phosphorus, as you may recall from middle school, is an actual element on the actual Periodic Table™️—and it actually glows. Under certain conditions, phosphorus emits light: a sort of natural glow-in-the-dark. The Alchemists saw Phosphorus as containing a bit of spirit, just like the divine spark Prometheus gave to all of us. And the symbol itself can be read both as the element fire moving downward (from heaven), and as a perfected version of Sulfur (🜍)—the alchemical symbol associated with soul.
And to tie it all up, Phosphoros is the original word that was translated as Lucifer in the Bible. AND in some versions of the Bible, Lucifer is also used as an epithet for Jesus—after all, it just means “light-bringer.” Just like Prometheus, it’s both.
So what can we do with all this info? Beyond impressing people at very specific parties, I think Prometheus is an inspiring, challenging, and useful symbol. He’s complex: tied up in archetypal notions of fire, wisdom, sacrifice, betrayal, martyrdom, will, the trickster, and the higher Self (capital “S” Self, in the Jungian sense). Prometheus is that which connects us to the divine: when Prometheus is finally allied with Zeus in the end, the divine reign is secured: if the higher Self aligns with the conscious will, anything is possible. But if the two are at odds—if divine forethought is silenced, if the fire from heaven is extinguished, if you ignore your higher calling, then Prometheus is bound, tortured, and disorder reigns. Prometheus is, to me, part of the same mythical complex as the creative Hephaestus-Vulcan, and the unstoppable godbeast Typhon—roughly, three ways of integrating the conscious ego with the rest of the psyche. More on that soon!
Practical Myth Takeaways
- Prometheus represents forethought; the divine gift that sets us apart from the other animals. Remember this next time you’re about to do something reflexive or impulsive!
- Forethought is exactly that which allows us to envision a better Self; a “me” that’s closer to my highest potential. This is what I’m referring to when I say “divine” in a practical context; an actualized, individuated, effective life where one is continually moving toward their potential.
- Prometheus represents divine fire: not just fire, not just wisdom, but that divine knowing sometimes called the Self, the Daimon, the Superego, the Holy Guardian Angel, or the Acorn (or whatever the hell Hillman was going on about). Check with yourself often about whether you’re acting congruently—do the events of your day line up with that higher dream you carry?
- Prometheus represents cleverness used for a selfless cause—the Trickster isn’t always bad!
- Prometheus represents the knowing sacrifice for something greater. Understanding sacrifice is tied up with forethought, being human, and seeking to grow. We all understand sacrifice, but we really don’t live like we understand sacrifice. Sacrifice in and of itself isn’t good unless you’re clear on what you’re sacrificing, to what, and why. You cannot reach your highest Self/divine potential/true calling/whatever you wanna call it, without thoughtfully making the right sacrifices. Where in your life are you lacking? What sacrifice are you failing to make?
- If Prometheus is knowing what to do so that we can inch closer toward the divine, Zeus is the focused willpower that will empower you to actually get there. The two really can’t be separated, as the myth shows us, or the result will be torture on the one side and paranoia on the other.
- Where in your life is your ego consciousness repressing, for lack of a better word, your dreams?
What’d I miss?! What else do you take from the Prometheus myth that can practically change the way you live your life? If the symbol of Prometheus could look at you right now, WHAT WOULD HE SAY?! Remember that practical myth starts to really take off when you look not at individual figures, but at whole systems of myth—but we gotta start somewhere!
Prometheus loves you—thanks for reading! You can follow more writing like this over @standupforthegods. Stay tuned for more articles, videos, and interviews—and keep an eye out for Bound By the Gods: Better Living Through a New Understanding of the Adversary, my book that talks all about the psychology of Prometheus, Typhon, Loki, Lucifer, and a whole lot more!
We made an oracle deck! Check out the Panopticon Symbolic Oracle—built from symbols found in alchemy, astrology, and the tarot—including card number LVII: Phosphorus/Prometheus!
Pre-orders available now over at https://standupforthegods.com!
—John Selig writes about the intersection of myth, psychology, and the occult—with an eye toward making life a little more interesting for all of us. Follow along at @standupforthegods