The Jumping Man and Mrs. Tremond’s Grandson are one and the same, as made explicit in FWWM by the grandson having the Jumping Man’s mask and wand. I read here recently (I think) about idea the Jumping Man as the “key master” of the boundary between worlds, and this is an idea that has been around since FWWM to an extent, and now with The Return I think I must accept it as a given.
Is it too far out of left field to look to Greek Mythology for a framework for the lodges? With the rituals of the woodsmen, I am not so sure. (This is a serious question, I don’t know enough about Lynch’s groundings). If not, then the Tremond husband, the grandson in FWWM, aka the Jumping Man, seems a good fit as Hermes.
Hermes is the god of boundaries and a trickster (magician), most often portrayed as a youth. There are many interesting roles assigned to Hermes, including shepherding the dead to Hades.
Hermes' most distinctive attribute was the herald's wand (photo credit to my old haunt - Twin Peaks Gazette)
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The etiology of Hermes may come from the term herms, or phallic shaped stone markers (which Jerry would know as a “cairn.”)I’m now reading Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual By Walter Burkert, and there are some interesting passages about Hermes to be sure. Let’s see if I can type this all out: hopefully not too many typos,
I don’t have much to add to that! The Jumping Man/Tremond is the masculine energy of the lodge, and the guardian of the boundaries between “out” and “in.”“Let us start with a shocking but memorable case from the Greek religion: the herm. More than two thousand years have done their best to mutilate extant herms and to obliterate what would still today be scandalous in public; but anybody familiar with vase-paintings knows what a classical herm looks like: a rather dignified, usually bearded, head on a four –cornered pillar and, in due place, an unmistakable, realistically molded, erect phallus. What is more, the Greeks did not even speak of “herm” as an object, but of Hermes, the god . . . but in fact there is not much evidence for the fertilizing power of the herm . . . but who is to be kept away by such means, and why? The indecencies rather catch the sight – and this is why they avert the evil eye.
In fact I cannot find any real explanation before ethnology observed that there are species of monkeys, living in groups, of whom the males act as guards: they sit up at the outposts, facing outside and presenting their erect genital organ. This is an “animal ritual”. . . the basic function of sexual activity is suspended for the sake of communication; every individual approaching from the outside will notice that this group does not consist of helpless wives and children, but enjoys the full protection of masculinity. . .
People consciously or unconsciously know what this action of display means: a demonstration which transmits a message of potency in its double sense. Thus the position of the herms at the entrance of a house, at crossroads, and at boundaries is explained at once.” P 39-40.
