ABSTRACT
The deeper significance of the appearance of the horses will be seen for the first time in the further course of our treatment of the mother symbolism. The meaning of sun cycle of myths mentioned here is clear; it is the longing to attain rebirth through the return to the mother’s womb, that is to say, to become as immortal as the sun. Nicodemus, in the speech regarding rebirth, cannot forbear understanding the matter very realistically. Man tries to sneak into rebirth through subterfuge in order to become a child again. Thus we understand why the Indian fire-bringer Mataricvan is called “the one swelling in the mother”; the ark is a symbol of the womb, just as is the sea, into which the Sun sinks for rebirth. The overcoming of the mother in the Mithraic sacrifice, which had almost an ascetic character, took place no longer by the archaic overpowering, but through the renunciation, the sacrifice of the wish.
