The myth of the Virgin and the Unicorn was known in India, Syria, and various parts of Europe. It tells the story of a mystical animal that could only be approached by a virgin, a pure soul who could feed it from her bare breast. Hermetic analysis connected the myth with Hermes and, therefore, with tin and mercury, of which it soon became one of the alchemical symbols. Dust from the precious horn was an ingredient in the most refined magical formulas, while the touch of the horn was said to hold the power to heal all diseases.
Many have tried to prove the animal’s existence with unreliable fossils, depictions in sources and endless hunts through the Scottish forests and along the Scandinavian coasts. Beyond personal experiences and descriptions by all of those who saw the animal, the only proof that hunters ever managed to present was the unicorn’s precious and spiral-shaped horn.
It was later said that the horns adorning the most prestigious royal collections or enriching the dusty workshops of pharmacists and alchemists were nothing but the protruding tooth of a marine mammal who lives and travels the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the narwhal. This was supported by all the scientists who followed Newton’s newly proposed methods. From that point onwards, it became widely accepted that unicorns had never existed. The only ones disagreeing were those who claimed to have seen the animal with their very own eyes or experienced its magical existence. It is said that the latest was no less than Harry Potter himself, who made sure to turn his life into a fairy tale in order to protect the Craft and the fantastic animals.
There is no question whether these fantastical animals exist(ed) or not or if they are simply the result of people’s imagination. An answer to such a question will not affect the outcome in any way. Unicorns are found in the minds and souls of many. They are worshipped for what they represent, the yeast, the purity, the light of goodness.
The only useful question might be: What is it that makes the unicorn so special, popular and attractive? And then: What are exactly its magical abilities and metaphysical properties? It is, primarily, the diversity that makes the unicorn so special and so attractive, and secondly, it is the power that this diversity has in people’s narratives, generating rituals and miracles.
This reflection came to me during my stay in the village of Aars, among the forests and the fields of the northwestern lands of Denmark. Perhaps the landscape invaded my mind and conveyed it with thoughts and images. Perhaps it was when I touched the real horn of a narwhal or a unicorn in the office of our kind and good host, Kim John Callesen. It is certain, though, that the experience helped me see the reason for our gathering there with a clear eye: the European-funded project “ExhiBIT”. The project centers on the creation of an App that will empower museums to broaden their curatorial narratives and inclusion practices. I felt the importance of diversity and how magical it can be for the people who carry it as well as for the rest of humanity. And, of course, my account of the unicorn confirmed how basic yet essential the power of narrative can be. With the combination of these two, narrative and diversity, new worlds can be born filled with magic and goodness.
