"ЛЕСТНИЦА ДО САМОГО НЕБА И ПОД ЛЕСТНИЦЕЙ ЗМЕЙ": ВИДЕНИЕ ПЕРПЕТУИ

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of some of the images that occur in one of the Perpetua’s visions. Her first vision comes in response to her brother’s question: he asks whether the martyrdom really awaits her. Perpetua sees a ladder of great length reaching up to heaven and a serpent of great size lying at the foot of the ladder. Here the heroine finds herself at a moment of choice: she has a way up and a way down. The image of a ladder can be commonly perceived as an ascent to a deity or to a new knowledge, skills, stages of initiation. A serpent (or dragon) tried to prevent ascension and here it is a symbolic representation of the devil. But the snake’s symbolism is incredibly complex and diverse. The dragon signifies Perpetua’s own instinctive origin, her will to live, and her feminine essence. The uniqueness of the text lies in the fact that the visions described are not constructed literary works, but real dreams of the heroine reflecting the state of her psyche during a period of extreme choice and spiritual transformation. A similar combination, i.e., a ladder and a serpent, is found in a completely different context, namely in the structure of the ancient Indian self-knowledge game «Leela». In the game board ladders (or arrows) symbolize “good behavior” that allows people to move to a higher level, and snakes are correspondingly “bad acts” leading to a descent to a lower level of spirituality. The article argues that in the history of Perpetua the two images converge. In some surprising way the described vision, being on the one hand very personal, on the other hand fits into another existing cultural tradition, describing the difficult path of the soul, trials and temptations awaiting it, as well as a spiritual ascent to heaven and higher level of spirituality.