What happens after you reclaim the power you once feared?

In this third step of Theseus’ journey, we follow the young hero as he leaves Epidaurus and travels across the narrow land bridge of the Isthmus — that grey, shimmering strip between two seas. There, he faces two strange and symbolic trials: Sínis, the Pine-Bender, and the Crommyonian Sow.

Each encounter reveals a new challenge in the work of self-transformation. Sínis confronts us with the trap of black-and-white thinking — the urge to divide our inner world into “good” and “bad” and call that judgment virtue. But when Theseus survives that tension, he enters a new and more dangerous terrain: the grey space where discernment can easily dissolve into chaos.

The Crommyonian Sow, raised by the mysterious Phaea (“the Grey One”), becomes the living image of what happens when our psychic energy turns inward and begins to devour itself. Theseus’ slaying of the Sow is not an act of destruction, but of transmutation — the moment we stop being consumed by our own patterns and learn to reclaim their energy for life.

In this episode, we explore: • The Sínis reflex — why judgment feels safe, but keeps us divided • The meaning of the grey path between opposites • The paradoxical symbol of the pig: sacred and profane, nurturing and devouring • How envy, apathy, and repression become our own “Crommyonian Sows” • A reflection on Nelson Mandela as a modern example of the heroic psyche that holds tension and transforms it into compassion

This is an episode about nuance, discernment, and the sacred middle way — the path that asks us to see clearly without condemning, and to act wisely without being swallowed by extremes.

Before the monster in the labyrinth, before the sword and thread, there was a boy in Troezen — and a stone that would not move. In this episode, we return to the very beginning of Theseus’s story: his uncertain birth, the quiet wisdom of a mother who knows more than she says, and symbols of readiness waiting until the hero is strong enough to claim them along with his destiny.

Along the way, we’ll face the choice between the safe, straight road and the long, dangerous path that shapes the soul. What waits under the stone might surprise you — and it might just have something to say about your own next step.

You can find an expanded transcript for this episode on www.theinwardsea.com which includes extra notes, reflection questions, all my reseach sources.

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Audio Sources:

All music composed by Dimitri Roussopoulos

Ambient atmospheres mixed on https://www.ambient-mixer.com/

Environmental sounds include the audio elements from:

hammer_stone01 by http://freesound.org

Bouzouki by http://www.freesound.org/people/xserra/

Oxen Cart by https://tabletopaudio.com/

Seagulls in the distance by inchadney from freesound.org

Chatting Crowd by Leandros.Ntounis from http://freesound.org

Folding Fabric Sheets by nebulousflynn from http://freesound.org

sheep flock by sandeepkurissery at freesound.org

Harbour Ambience by www.soundsnap.com

Horse Snort by ERH from http://freesound.org

Horse on dirt by Free File

Horse Whinnies by https://www.sounddogs.com/

Deep Forest morning by kvgarlic from http://www.freesound.org

Child Laughing by Hoerspielwerkstatt_HEF from https://freesound.org

Crowd Talking Outside* by http://freesound.org

Children Playing by https://www.freesound.org/people/evertonsebben/

footsteps in sand by kessir from https://freesound.org

waterfall by Nsmusic from freesound.org

Mountain Wind Ambience by Taira Komori's Japanese Free Sound Effects: http://taira-

cicadas day by blaukreuz from http://freesound.org

Bird Song by InspectorJ

bird flapping by Soundfxforfree from Youtube

Quiet Breezy Leaves by Spleencast from http://freesound.org