The Golden Key Interpretation

This delightful tale, though short, contains revealing motifs that illustrate the deeper meaning that is often found in fairy tales. When a story gives a season, this is usually significant. This tale occurs in the depths of winter. The pure snow is deep. In wintertime life appears to have withdrawn. Leaves have fallen and trees stand stark and bereft . Seeds have not yet germinated but lie dormant underground; buds have not unfolded. The days are short and light is muted. Winter is a symbol of a time when spirit is most hidden. The crystallizing power of the cold suggests materialization; things in the material world are, in a sense, fixed and limited as though frozen in time and space. Yet as pervasive as the cold of a winter’s day, the apparent reality of the material realm can dull the awareness to things of the Spirit and the life of the Soul. Yet, paradoxically it is also the time of the birth of a saviour (both Mithras and Jesus are said to have been born in deep mid-winter). It is a time of hidden spiritual beginnings.

The only person in this short tale is a poor boy. His poverty is not one of character – as he is out working and is resourceful. It appears to be a poverty of spiritual warmth or enlightenment. Even doing his work, he is frozen – or thoroughly held in the apparent reality of the material realm. His wish for warmth suggests a yearning for something beyond his current limitations. He represents all those who, in the realm of material limitation, follow an inner urge for something that is truly warming to the Soul. This urge is universal, for all Souls seek their true home. However, the decision to act on this urge is individual. When he acts, to make a fire, he uncovers the golden key. As with all fairy tales, there is not one ‘right’ interpretation of any particular symbol. The meaning in a specific tale will be suggested by the context as well as the particular qualities of the symbol itself. The key is small and is discovered when the snow is cleared. This is not a story of someone battling with their lower nature; rather it is a tale of discovery. This suggests that the golden key is that that enables the ‘poor boy’ to discover something of value to him. Gold is precious and is associated with purity, perfection and royalty as well as with the sun (the alchemical symbol for gold is a representation of the sun, and gold has the colour of the sun). A key has the power to lock and unlock. It enables movement from one space and place, to another (as when a door is unlocked). To be given a key is to be given access.

In this tale the golden key suggests the power of spiritual intuition. This is the capacity to know the truth of things in their essence and in relation to the whole of which they are a part. Intuition, used in this way is quite different to instinct (a power shared with animals) and is an ability that knows spiritual truths directly. With such a power, the tiny (almost hidden) keyhole in the iron box is revealed. Iron is a baser metal than gold. It is forged in fire and has limitless practical uses. The unearthing of this iron box, with its minute keyhole, suggests the hidden properties and potentialities of the material realm when it is approached in the right way. This is why the one who opens the box with the correct key can expect to find wonderful things.