“Don’t believe that it’s just a myth” something that many people say when they are told a story so profound they automatically disregard it to be nothing more than a fictional tale with no intrinsic meaning thus missing the very real and true meaning behind them. The most contemporary example of mythology is in modern-day comic books. A monstrous Child with a head of a bull and a body of a man. Myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation. Anonymous. It is as if, during the last seventy years or so, we have been placed in an alchemical retort, forced to live through the fire of transformation, for the most part, unconsciously. One night he had a dream that an angel came to him. As a longtime scholar of mythology myself, I love to do both. In the words of the great mythologist, Joseph Campbell, “Myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation.”. 1 decade ago. Minotaur was actually kind of a dick. It may seek to alleviate the hunger and deprivation in areas where starvation stalks the lives of millions, or the liberation of women from oppression and servitude to religious beliefs and social customs, or the protection of the planet from the failure of governments to take collective action on its behalf. The angel held a book, the book of Abraham the Jew, and spoke these words to Flamel, “Look well at this book, Nicholas. The whole of humanity suffers because the increase of consciousness is so slow and the transformation needed to diminish human suffering and ignorance so difficult to implement. He designed his own tomb and covered it with alchemical images. Myths and Legends are basically the stories we live our lives by. Volume 5, Issue 2, Posted 5:06 PM, 02.01.2013, 10:00 AM - 4:30 PM - Usui Reiki Master Teacher Class (In-Person and Zoom), 10:00 AM - 4:30 PM - Usui Level II Reiki Class (In-Person and Zoom). St. George was a warrior who had to learn important virtues that were necessary to possess in order to defeat the dragon, which was at that time the Christian personification of evil, and marry Una, who was the personification of the Catholic church. The treasure is not power, nor any kind of supremacy over any thing or any one. Earthquakes! Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia are loaded with characters that are rooted in Greek and Roman mythology. In European civilization there was a wealth of ideas that had to go underground, since they could only escape persecution by being hidden in metaphor and allegory. Mythology is important for quite a few reasons. Every culture has their own legends, folktales, and myths – whether it may be Celtic by way of Scotland, Ireland, or Wales for example, or Germanic by way of Gothic tales. I enjoy listening to a good story, so I can pass it on to somebody else, whether it may be my younger relatives or a community of fellow writers or other scholars. Certain myths flow beneath the surface of our lives like a mighty river, connecting our superficial awareness with its roots, ready always when we are ready, to well up like a perennial spring whenever we call upon our soul for help. This is crucially important to members of our age, when morality has deteriorated and seems to have vanished altogether in some distraught places. The partner in the alchemical Work was called the “soror mystica” or “frater mysticus”. For the same reason that myths are important in any religion, because without myths none could have become a religion. Every culture has their own legends, folktales, and myths – whether it may be Celtic by way of Scotland, Ireland, or Wales for example, or Germanic by way of Gothic tales. 0 2. The Brer Rabbit is a trickster character similar to that of Loki in Nordic mythology. He grew up with an appetite for eating other humans with him being half beast and all it wasn’t that of a shocking revelation to be honest. The protagonist, or hero, has to go through struggles against the antagonist, or villain. Such myths can be applied as much to the life of an individual as to the life of a culture or to the whole evolutionary journey of humanity on this planet. For one thing, it makes up a major part of anybody’s heritage. With this small but vital information what do you think this myth is trying to to explain? All people need these stories. He also went around destroying things! Something the ancients did not fully regard back then (even to this day some people sill disregard it). Like the Rosetta Stone, the greatest myths contain a meaning which can be decoded from the symbolic imagery that conceals it and used as a key to a deeper understanding of life. The symbol of the alchemical gold was the circle. The revelations transmitted by awakened individuals in all cultures later become embodied in religious institutions which gradually lose or exclude elements that are vital to our balance and well being. (Apart from the whole head of a bull thing?) The Importance of Myth. It gradually opens our eyes to an incandescent vision of reality. All these myths and religions were formed for the benefit of individual group of peoples. During my time as a student, I learned how to translate Latin and Greek, which I still do to this day. It brings into being a deep state of communion between our consciousness and the invisible dimension of spirit. I also don't go so far as to exclude the possibility of some myths being far … King Minos Called up the famous Daedalus once again to build a giant and intricate underground labyrinth beneath the island of Crete in which know one could escape from. Everybody either likes to tell a good story or listen to someone tell a good story. But the reason why mythology is still important is that it is pure storytelling. There are many examples I could point to but for now I’ll focus on just one. Minotaur was then captured and then locked in middle of the Maze. So, the next time you visit your local public library, consider picking up a good piece of literature that tells a good myth or two. When it was opened years after his death, his body was missing. Native Americans have also contributed to our history of storytelling. Every religion has stories like that, both ancient and modern. Is anything of this true? They describe what has to be accomplished over and over again, if humanity is to reach the goal that spirit intends. The story in a particular myth addresses themes that are part of the common needs of all human beings and thus reflect the experience of all human beings across a large segment of time and the planet. Given the default position of governments which have to act on behalf of national interests, only individuals or groups of individuals can hope to make some contribution towards change. Communism in Thailand: How an Insurgency Came to a Peaceful End, Logistics: The Allied Preparation for the Worst Case Scenario on D-Day. This story was first told in The Faerie Queene by Sir Edmund Spencer, through the character of the Redcrosse Knight. How did Peter Parker become Spider Man, for example? Men and women sometimes worked together as partners to bring into being the treasure of the alchemical gold as did Nicolas Flamel and his wife Peronelle in 14th century Paris, where, amazingly, their house still stands. The evolution of human consciousness on this planet is a very slow gradient of ascent from unconsciousness to self-consciousness and, ultimately, to awakened consciousness. This is a small summary of the origins of the Minotaur! The principle themes of alchemy descend from the great Bronze Age lunar myths of death and regeneration that were celebrated in Egypt, Sumer, Babylonia, and Greece and were originally related to the annual death and regeneration of the life of the crops. Gold is the image that comes to mind when alchemy is mentioned—gold or the mysterious philosopher’s stone. There are many set-backs and long periods of stagnation and incubation. He thought Poseidon would not mind if he kept the white bull and sacrificed one of his own as the white bull was way too beautiful to sacrifice. This gold or stone was said to be not only a cure for all disease and sickness but was thought to represent the awakened subtle or spiritual body that would act as a vehicle for the soul in the worlds beyond this one. The treasure is an enlightened state of being or, in the more familiar language of the West, the wisdom, insight and compassion that are the fruits of a relationship with the hidden ground of life. Minos prayed to Poseidon, the sea god, to send him a snow-white bull, as a sign of approval from the Gods to reign as king promising to then sacrifice the bull as an offering and as a symbol to the gods. Today’s fantasy fiction is especially rich in mythology. However on Crete its even worse of than its neighbours! Alchemy transposes the images and themes of ancient mythology — the rescue of the divine element (son or daughter) lost in the underworld, the quest for the treasure and the image of the sacred marriage — to the human soul. In many images and symbols which have their origin in Egypt, the alchemical quest describes the process which transmutes what we are into what we are capable of becoming; transmutes us from base metal into gold, bringing us from a state of ignorance and fragmentation into one of enlightenment and wholeness. They are about meaning and what makes a meaningful life according to society. We have witnessed the images of incineration in the gas ovens of Auschwitz, the fire bombing of Coventry, Hamburg and Dresden, the obliteration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, death by napalm, depleted uranium and white phosphorus bombs, the horrific fiery collapse of the twin towers, the bombing of Baghdad and all the senseless acts using explosives to destroy lives. C.S. That’s just the continental crust Aegean and Nubian Block sliding between each other. He purchased the book and for twenty one years studied its mysterious twenty-one pages in search of the fundamental secrets of nature. It is a good form of escapism– something new, unique, and different from what you are used to. Look at Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson character, or J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. Although the story of the Minotaur may be scientifically incorrect, it did a pretty good job in explaining why the earth seem to shake the way it did. One notices it a lot in the Christian Bible, as well as in ancient classics, like the Odyssey by Homer. At first you will understand nothing in it but one day you will see in it that which no other man will be able to see.” Not long after having this dream a man came into Flamel’s book shop carrying a book. The Importance of National Myths By Steven Conn. April 2, 2017 André da Loba for The Chronicle Review. The alchemical images yield their secret to those who contemplate them. In 2014 alone Crete experienced more than 1,300 earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.0 and higher. Few people understand any more what the landscape and the language of the soul are like; few can read the images that are like hieroglyphs whose key has been lost. Another good one is the stories of the Brer Rabbit from the Uncle Remus tales by Joel Chandler Lewis. Before Minors was to become King of Of the Island of Crete, he competed with his brothers to rule. During my time @ CSU I learned classical literature from great professors as Bruce Beatie, who plays a major role in keeping the Classical and Medieval Studies department in that college, and Edward Haymes, who teaches Latin as well as German. The gold or stone symbolizes the gift of wisdom, insight or gnosis and the power to heal human suffering as well as awareness of the presence of the subtle soul body. in Sumer, the Descent of Inanna; in Egypt, Isis’s search for the fragmented body of Osiris; In Babylonia, Ishtar’s descent into the Underworld and her rescue of her son Tammuz, and in Greece, Demeter’s search for her daughter Persephone.