The Deluge: Exploring the Archetypal Symbol of the Flood
Stormy Sea, Ivan Konstatinovich
Water.
Waves churn beneath the ocean surface, roiling, crashing and intensifying, throwing ships around the ocean like battered little playthings.
The undersea earth quakes and a tsunami begins to form, growing and growing ever more massive, until finally, reaching taller than a skyscraper, it crashes against a sandy coastline swallowing an entire city whole.
Monsoon rains endlessly let down sideways sheets of water, quickly flooding lakes and rivers, forming rushing torrents strong enough to uproot even the oldest trees, and sturdiest of homes.
Water is equally a source of life as it is a force of destruction.
The Symbol of the Deluge
Stormy Sea at Night, Ivan Ayvazoski
The flood, or the deluge, is a recurring theme found in myths and stories all over the ancient world.
Most are familiar with the story of Noah’s Ark, but this biblical tale comes from a much older Mesopotamian myth which inspired similar stories in many other cultures. Flood myths appear all over the world. Native North and South American tribes, the ancient Greeks, Europeans, Hindus, Chinese, and Polynesians, all had flood mythos that spoke of the entire world becoming drowned in water.
The deluge is a potent archetypal symbol of upheaval and transformation, of devastating loss, of being stripped down to the very bedrock of one’s being and of the resilience and dedication it takes to rebuild. Floods show the impermanence of life through the destructive power of nature and of the gods. They are catastrophic, overwhelming, but ultimately, survivable.
In many myths, the great flood is a divine act meant to punish humanity for their arrogance, wrongdoings, and hubris. Although floods are a punishment from the Gods, they also present a chance at the salvation of humanity. By recognizing misdeed and mistake, through undergoing the tumultuous disruption that change, genuine change, requires, there is a promise that at the end of it all, we can redeem ourselves and become something even greater for it.
While the Deluge archetype often takes form as an actual flood of water, they can also symbolize it as an apocalypse, like Ragnarok in Norse mythology.
The flood often signals the end of an era, the destruction of an existing order or way of being, to allow for the beginning of another. Similarly, the apocalypse is the complete and utter destruction of the world, but never with finality.
There are always survivors who will rise from the ruin and rebuild.
“...If you can understand what the Flood means in terms of a reference to spiritual circumstances — the coming of chaos, the loss of balance, the end of an age, the end of a psychological posture — then it begins to talk to you again.”
Common Themes Found in Flood Myths
Shipwreck, Francis Danby
1.) Divine Retribution
In most flood myths, the flood is a punishment from the Gods. Humanity is too depraved or too loud or too hubristic and therefore, must pay.
The story of Noah’s Ark tells of God flooding the Earth because of humanity’s wickedness. In the Hindu myth, the god Brahma floods the earth because humanity is too sinful. In the Greek version, Zeus floods the earth because of humanity’s immorality. The Mesopotamian flood myth tells of the god Enlil who floods the earth because humans have become too overpopulated and have grown too loud.
The symbolic flood is much more than a mere natural disaster. It is punishment, but what does this mean archetypally?
Like the gods who decide humanity’s fate, we must develop the ability to discern what is right and wrong for ourselves. We must have the authority and discernment to do away with our wickedness, sin, and hubris. If we can not do this ourselves, there is a superordinate part of the psyche, the Self, which will. Just like the Gods of Myth, the Self will bring about necessary transformation, whether we are prepared or not.
“The divine process of change manifests to our human understanding... as punishment, torment, death, and transfiguration.”
2.) Calamity & Transformation
The flood waters’ rise threatened the entire globe. Calamity ensues and everything is destroyed. As devastating as both mythological and real floods are, they are never the end of something. Rather, they wash away all the detritus that needs to go, all that prevents humanity from virtue and redemptions, and leaves a fertile ground from which something new can take root.
Floods are never the end. They are the beginning of a transformation. In an archetypal sense, the deluge symbol is destruction for the sake of change, not chaos—destruction with purpose and intention, destruction with an end goal in mind. Throughout the upheaval and turmoil that comes with the floodwaters, there also comes the knowledge that something new can and will take root, something full of promise and hope, not hindrance and oppression.
“The choking, heart-constricting surge of instinct is projected outwards as a mounting flood to destroy everything that exists, so that a new and better world may rise from the ruins of the old.”
3.) The Waters of Destruction and Creation
Waters, even flood water, is connected to the primordial waters of creation — the symbolic source of life from which all things emerged.
The flood serves as a reset button, returning humans to the very beginning of creation. By returning to the primordial waters, humans are given an opportunity to start anew and rebuild society in a way that is more in line with the natural order.
Water is the element from which all life emerges, the primordial source from which all life comes and through which all life is sustained. Water’s connection to creation and life make floods more than a symbol of destruction, and show that they are a symbol of cleansing and rebirth as well.
“It is the world of water, where all life floats in suspension; where the realm of the sympathetic system, the soul of everything living, begins; where I am indivisibly this and that; where I experience the Other in myself and the Other-than-myself experiences me.”
4.) The Flood Hero
Throughout the countless flood mythologies, there are tales of heroes who are appointed or guided by the gods during the flood.
Noah was chosen by God, spared, and given instructions to build the Ark and save his family as well as the animals of the earth. Similarly, in the Mesopotamian and Greek versions of the myth, the hero is warned by the gods of an impending flood and urged to build a boat to save himself and his fellow humans. In the Chinese myth, the Hero, Yu, uses his cunning and ingenuity to divert the flood waters, and taught others to do the same.
The chosen hero who fights for the continued survival of humanity represents the vital human spirit alive within each of us during times of great devastation. While the Gods are like the superordinate Self, which guides the transformation, the hero is the Ego that must weather its own destruction to make way for growth and expansion.
“The deluge hero is a symbol of the germinal vitality of man surviving even the worst tides of catastrophe.”
Conclusion
Claude-Joseph Vernet, The Shipwreck, 1772
“Flood evokes not only mythic, but true-to-life images of terrifying devastation — water in gigantic force as torrential rains, overflowing sea levels, massive tidal waves — breaking through all the barriers we have set against such inundation. Houses, unmoored, are carried away in furious currents with survivors clinging to the rooftops; lives are indifferently tossed into the vortex, trees swept away and cultivation leveled, returning some portion of the world to its original elements. Nature’s autonomy in the mingled flood-frenzy of the heavens and the deep has often been depicted in myth as angry, punishing deities, or merely the impersonal activity of the gods.”
The Archetype of the Deluge is one of the most apparently universal archetypes. Cultures all around the world, some independently and some inspired by each other, created myths and stories about a world-wide flood. The symbol of the flood represents the very real human experiences of loss, punishment, grief, but also of hope, potential, and transformation.
The deluge is a reminder that even in the most overwhelming and challenging times, there is the potential for transformation. We are capable of adapting and evolving in the face of life’s hardships. We are capable of radical self-transformation and change for the better. The archetype of the deluge ultimately speaks a millennia old human experience and offers us a reminder that even amid catastrophe, we can find hope and the possibility for renewal and regrowth.
