This pole of the feminine archetype culminates in the Mysteries of Drunkenness, as described by Erich Neumann (The Great Mother 74):

The negative pole of Axis A . . . pertains more to the character of spiritual-psychic death than to that of physical death, which played so significant a role in the death mysteries of the Terrible Mother. . . . In the negative mysteries of drunkenness and stupor the personality and consciousness are “regressively dissolved”; poisoned by negative orgiastic sexuality, narcotics, or magic potions, they succumb to extinction and madness.

Here we find negative ecstasy and intoxication that weaken and destroy the consciousness of the ego/hero; drugs and alcohol, for example, are often symbolized as feminine, as in the name Marijuana or the folksong "Nancy Whiskey" (". . . the more she kissed me, the more I smiled. I forgot my father's wishes; Nancy Whiskey had me beguiled."). This Roman wall painting depicts the Sirens, mythic females with the faces of women and the bodies of birds, whose seductive song was so irresistible that they lured sailors to death by drowning when their ships crashed on the rocks. Comparison of the Sirens to another sea-monster, Scylla, provides a good illustration of the difference between the direct destruction/devouring of the negative elementary and the indirect destruction by allurement of the negative transformative.

wall painting of Odysseus and the Sirens from Pompeii; London British Museum

The biblical story of Salome also illustrates how the seduction of negative transformative figures destroys the ego/hero; here the beheading of John the Baptist symbolizes loss of the higher powers of consciousness and rationality. Contrast the following images of Salome with that of Judith, who is portrayed with a negative elementary emphasis; Salome's seductive dancing indirectly leads to John's beheading, while Judith wields the knife herself.

13th century narrative panel of Salome and John the Baptist; Siena Pinacoteca

narrative panel of Salome and John the Baptist; Siena Pinacoteca

An excellent example of what Neumann calls “the phenomenon of reversal,” whereby a figure at one pole can shift into its opposite, is provided by the lithograph that Edvard Munch entitled “Madonna” (1895-1902, MOMA),

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