Babylon, the Whore

Inspired by D&C 86:4.

The male archetype of evil is a specific being, Satan.  The female archetype of evil is a symbol–Babylon, the Great Whore.

The male archetype of good is a specific being, Jesus Christ.  The female archetype of good is a symbol–Wisdom.

So, concrete male but abstract female.  What does it mean?  I personally have no idea.

We’ve dabbled in applying virtue sets to manhood and womanhood at the archetypal level.  Man and Woman Virtue Sets.  Womanly Virtues and Manly Virtues.

Wisdom is cool virtue.  The Whore is cool vice, I would argue.  As an insult, ‘whore’ tends to mean a woman that people think is overpowered by her lascivious passions.  But actual prostitutes not so much.  They mainly seem to be sad women who are forced into it, either literally by traffickers and pimps, or by addiction or other bad choices.  The actual sex itself would be passionless, purely pragmatic.  The Great Whore, the archetype, is using sex and frolic as an instrument of control (“drink of her cup”).  It is pure cool vice.  Purely practical.

While we are on the topic, the Virtuous Woman in Proverbs 31 is an extremely practical figure.  Her virtues are very cool.