The Threshold and the "Belly of the Whale" - temple parallels

I - Departure
     5 - The Belly of the Whale

"The idea that the passage of the magical threshold is a transit into a sphere of rebirth is symbolized in the worldwide womb image of the belly of the whale.  The hero, instead of conquering or conciliating the power of the threshold, is swallowed in the unknown, and would appear to have died."

"....This popular motif gives emphasis to the lesson that the passage of the threshold is a form of self-annihilation...here, instead of passing outward, beyond the confines of the visible world, the hero goes inward to be born again.  The disappearance corresponds to the passing of a worshiper into a temple - where he is to be quickened by the recollection of who and what he is, namely dust and ashes unless immortal.  The temple interior, the belly of the whale, and the heavenly land beyond, above, and below the confines of the world, are one and the same.  That is why the approaches to temples are flanked and defended by colossal gargoyles: dragons, lions, devil slayers with drawn swords, resentful dwarfs, winged bulls.  These are the threshold guardians to ward away all incapable of encountering the higher silences within.  They are the preliminary embodiments of the dangerous aspect of the presence, corresponding to the mythological ogres that bound the conventional world, or to the two rows of teeth of the whale.  They illustrate the fact that the devotee at the moment of entry into a temple undergoes a metamorphosis.  His secular character remains without; as a snake its slough.  Once inside he may be said to have died to time and returned to the World Womb, the World Navel, the Earthly Paradise.  The mere fact that anyone can physically walk past the temple guardians does not invalidate their significance; for if the intruder is incapable of encompassing the sanctuary, then he has effectively remained without....Allegorically, then, the passage into a temple and the hero dive through the jaws of the whale are identical adventures, both denoting in picture language, the life-centering, life-renewing act."

Joseph Campbell
The Hero With a Thousand Faces