The Sacrificial Man

The Sacrificial Man, a painting by Mel Mathews, is the cover image of the novel Menopause Man. This is an image of a faceless man who has lost an identity, or better yet, all the identities that he once believed defined his masculine nature and his very existence. His entire life, up to this point, has been spent searching outside of himself in the ephemeral world, all vain attempts at an inner reconciliation.

Like Demeter, this man’s inner consort, his soul, in raging grief, digs Her heels in and says: “No more! You give me back what is dearest to my heart, you give me back the raped and ravished feminine, and only then will I put an end to the scorching of this dry barren wasteland.

Menopause Man is a story about a transformation that is taking place within a modern day primitive man, concerned only with himself, his insatiable desires. This is a story about the rebirthing of a man’s inner reality, but not without his ego clutching, clinging to those old dead idols whom he once served and who once served him.

This tale is about learning to see with the heart, learning that all that has been searched for over the years can only be found by seeing with the heart, not by falling prey to a various sundry of conventional dogmas that time and time again have failed him and left him lost, wandering about in those old barren deserts of dashed dreams.

Menopause Man is a story about the subordination of a primitive man’s ego and all the futile battles that are waged in an attempt to sustain his illusion of domination, as he slowly acquiesces to the feminine, as he reluctantly learns to bow to the Goddess, to the essence of his soul that is embedded at the very core of his being.

The 2nd book in the Malcolm Clay Trilogy, Menopause Man is available internationally from your local bookstore or from a host of online booksellers. You can learn more about the Malcolm Clay Trilogy and Mel Mathews right here on this blog and by visiting www.melmathews.com

The original rendering is on brown paper with acrylics.