So essentially, know Vittoria's blog by heart:) But seriously, she has the bulk of the material from which the material for the test will be drawn. Here are a few of the highlights I caught during the blur of review.
25 questions on the entire exam
The most important line in The Magus: “All that is past possesses our present…
Logos = Word (creative word, word that creates the world) Capitalized W not an accident
Vitoria’s wonderful story of the Kangaroo
1 question from each 6 group presentations
What was the song from the closing credits of group 5 presentation? “White Wedding”
Who was Oprah compared to in Group 2? Zeus
From Group 1 – How many different versions of one myth are there? Infinite
Group 3 – The title from The Shameful Truth came from The Magus.
Group 6 –What was each person’s character in the group? The pirate, irish, Viking, cowboy, Egyptian, chinese
Group 4 - That’s all folks. Darrell in our class had the best one liners, both are mythological, refer to both the end. Here we go again.
Read blogs about individual presentations and see if there is anything that really hits out! Primary passage in The Magus all that is past possesses the present.
Every answer is a form of death. P. 626
Cicada
Ritual of Adonis (were asked to look up and google) death of a person at too young an age.
Sacred – sacrifice to make sacred
Masque a certain type of theater. Look at Tori’s Blog
The collective unconscience
Eliade story of Chung Tzu and the butterfly
Something becomes a sacred action when it is in remembrance of the divine.
The journey up is a mythology
The god game
Orpheus and Eurydice. Divine musician. “Black Orpheus”
The Bhagavada Gita
The Swerve Greenblatt
Eschatolgy
Metempsychosis
Parabola
Asides: I'm not entirely sure if this was just mentioned to be mentioned
Muses taught humans how to sing
We are only here on this earth to do one thing and that is to sing.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
And We Start Again...
"one had to go back several steps, and start again; and know the place for the first time." (Fowles 650)
To say that we are ending this chapter in our education seems almost unfair to the whole theme of the class. Mythologies never end and instead weave back unto themselves and rather than acting as a tree with many branches that reach out and have distinct and final ends, I would argue that the stories are more appropriately traced with a bush where the branches invoke confusion as to where one stops and the other ends and where they appear to double over and under and circle around to a branch seemingly far away but touched for even just a moment. Moments mean everything in myth and a moment can change a lifetime.
To say that we are ending this chapter in our education seems almost unfair to the whole theme of the class. Mythologies never end and instead weave back unto themselves and rather than acting as a tree with many branches that reach out and have distinct and final ends, I would argue that the stories are more appropriately traced with a bush where the branches invoke confusion as to where one stops and the other ends and where they appear to double over and under and circle around to a branch seemingly far away but touched for even just a moment. Moments mean everything in myth and a moment can change a lifetime.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Reflecting on My Efforts
Looking back over my paper, there are so many more elements that I wish I could incorporate. In actuality, I had an entire sheet of paper covered in simply page numbers of the quotes that directly referenced appearance versus reality. I have yet to dive into uncovering the passages with more hidden implications. Here is the list of page numbers that helped influence my topic of discussion for my final paper.
15, 34, 39, 40, 56, 76, 95, 99, 105-6, 119, 120, 127, 132, 137, 148, 164, 170, 209, 219, 231, 235, 239, 267, 271, 279, 282, 285, 289, 302, 309, 310, 312, 325, 338, 339, 362, 381, 399, 400, 404, 409, 411, 427, 449, 489, 499, 516, 532, 539, 552, 560, 569, 589, 598, 601, 606, 627, 629, 643, 647, 654
15, 34, 39, 40, 56, 76, 95, 99, 105-6, 119, 120, 127, 132, 137, 148, 164, 170, 209, 219, 231, 235, 239, 267, 271, 279, 282, 285, 289, 302, 309, 310, 312, 325, 338, 339, 362, 381, 399, 400, 404, 409, 411, 427, 449, 489, 499, 516, 532, 539, 552, 560, 569, 589, 598, 601, 606, 627, 629, 643, 647, 654
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Knowledge of Self
Confusing Confusion
There is a question that we are drilled with almost from the moment when speech is realized. Although it is presumably facilitating our growth and easing our attitude towards the hard decisions that face us in life, it seems almost as if we are being forced into conformity and into a reality that perhaps is not truly our own. Choices are made that perhaps negate the true underlying desires of the one in question and the misrepresentations and appearances of felicity begin. Reality becomes less of a truth and more of a façade by which the lies that began to creep like vines and weave into complex tangles of deceit cling to. This harsh view of reality seems just that at first, some cynical interpretation of the beauty that one sees every day in the world. However, if one takes a closer look at the presumed relationships that satiate a need for interaction throughout the day, certain truths are revealed that highlight the infiltration of appearance into the assumed world of reality. Questions begin to arise in correlation with this realization pertaining to the lies that are being accepted and the truths that are being withheld amongst supposed friends and lovers. These notions of misguided acceptance of personas and misplaced trust of a false reality saturate the pages of The Magus, a novel by John Fowles that profoundly addresses what happens when one fails to first know oneself.
This tale of misconstrued realities even opens with an admonition by the main identity in question, Nicholas Urfe, that he himself “began to discover [he] was not the person [he] wanted to be” (15). His life had adopted a course from the onset that he had not found favorable and thus Urfe had adopted a cynical view on not only his role in the greater scheme of life’s reality, but also in the seemingly miniscule realities of those that met him at a various moments in his life, for it only takes a moment to send the course askew. Throughout the rest of the novel and from the mouths of countless other “players” in the reality of Urfe’s life, the lines of conventional reality and time begin to blur and the appearances of people, place, and time pervade the realm in which the most profound realizations are made.
The most profound analogy for this multiplicity of realities and supposed understanding of them comes in a reference to a door: “It was like walking through a door, going all round the world, and then walking through the same door but a different door” (240). Characters are constantly being warned or warning not to trust what is shown because it is forever altering and changing and the lies compound to form convoluted interpretations of an appeared reality. This dichotomy between appearance and reality is vital in understanding not only the farce or experiment the magician Conchis has imposed on Urfe, but also in understanding basic human relations as a whole. The basest form of this argument against reality stems from the need for a person first to not be able to lie to himself before eradicating his life of the lies around him.
However the complexities of this issue transcend the pages of this book and apply not only to mythology but to contemporary realities being formed this very second. One has to think of all the lies that have been said by him or to him whether for noble reasons or not. Either way, there are crrent realities crumbling and falling into quicksand constantly from both past and present. Old histories thought to be fact are sometimes falsified and new truths are verified. Although a passage is recalled that references that not all truths are indeed verifiable which in itself submits an entirely new complexity.
Appearances in conjunction with reality create chaos whre reality without appearances ignites boredom. Without any mystery, there is no thrill of discovery or revelation. However, to assume reality in an appearance and accept appearance as reality reveals the true crossroads of which myths are written. All the gods were fans of revealing no the reality but the appearance. Zeus for example showed himself in at least four different forms before revealing his true identity. And when humans adopt the mask or "masque" the charades begin and feeling are often harmed in the seeking of the hidden.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Drawing Conclusions or Better yet Correlations
The dreaded final paper that supposedly reveals our genius and complete and total understanding of the semester that has acted as predecessor to our lifelong interpretation and inclusion of myth for the rest of our lives looms before us. It seems almost unavoidable to not think of Dionyssus every time one orders a drink or think of Aphrodite as one embarks on that first or third or three hundred and seventy seventh date. How too can one ignore the power of Posiedon when staring at the vast powerful unknown that is the ocean? There are even some of the smallest nuances that have now crept into our subconcious as studious mythological sponges. So how does one decide who to seclude and who to embrace as the tools by which to reveal this understanding? Even by narrowing the playing field to how The Magus includes or incorporates myth seems hardly an adequate sieve. My answer is to find the most obscure theme or aspect of The Magus and run with it in a million directions to reveal the seemingly unlimited intertwining character of myth.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Inspiration and Inclusion
Here is a list of the quotes that inspired me in compiling the power point presentation the third to go offered:) Although in the end we were the fourth but that is trivial. Also let it be known that this is not necessarily my idea of all of the quotes of importance found in Calasso, and remember not all of them are from the mouth of Calasso. Just as there was extensive editing in the videos and pictures that were used, I had a lot of editing with the quotes I wanted to incorporate as well.
“Imitation is the most dangerous of activities for world order, because it tends to break down boundaries” (358)
“For centuries people have spoken of the Greek myths as of something to be rediscovered, reawoken.” (280)
“The truth is it is the myths that are still out there waiting to wake us and be seen by us, like a tree waiting to greet our newly opened eyes” (280)
“It was exactly what had been missing from life, what life had been waiting for: intoxication"(36)
“This is Dionysus. He arrives, unexpected, and possesses” (44)
“Then Dionysus explained that this new drink was perhaps even more powerful than the bread Demeter had revealed to other farmers, because it could both wake a man up and put him to sleep, dissolve the pains that afflicted the heart and make them liquid and fleeting” (38)
“Dionysus is not a useful god who helps weave or knot things together, but a god who loosens and unties” (45)
“The perennial virginity young Artemis demanded as a first gift from her father Zeus is the indomitable sign of detachment” (52)
“Mythical figures live many lives, die many deaths, and in this they differ from the characters we find in novels, who can never go beyond the single gesture” (22)
“But in each of these lives and deaths all the others are present, and we can hear their echo” (22)
“Only when we become aware of a sudden consistency between incompatibles can we say we have crossed the threshold of myth” (22)
“If it is history we want, then it is a history of conflict.
And the conflict begins with the abduction of a girl, or with the sacrifice of a girl.
And the one is continually becoming the other” (7)
“‘To abduct women…is considered the action of scoundrels, but to worry about abducted women is the reaction of fools” (8)
“The wise man does not give a moment’s thought to the women who have been abducted, because it is clear that, had they not wanted to be abducted, they would not have been” (8)
“Zeus is never ridiculous, because his dignity is of no concern to him” (377)
“Now, when Zeus chose to tread the earth, his usual manifestation was through rape” (53)
“Rape is at once possessing and possession” (53)
“During the age of the heroes the passing of time took its rhythm from the succession of divine rapes” (355)
“to seduce also means ‘to destroy’ in Greek: phtheirin” (20)
“narcissi, ‘that wondrous, radiant flower, awesome to the sight of gods and mortals alike” (4)
“’The craziest type of people are those who scorn what they have around them and look elsewhere / vainly searching for what cannot exist” (59)
“Stories never live alone: they are the branches of a family that we have to trace back, and forward” (10)
“Which is why, they say, Athenian boys have such small, lean buttocks” (15)
“With the heroes, man takes his first step beyond the necessary: into the realm of risk, defiance, shrewdness, deceit, art” (70)
“In the beginning, the hero’s intelligence is intermittent and limited to his role as a slayer of monsters” (324)
“But when he manages to break the frame of this role, without abandoning it, when he learns to be a traitor, a liar, a seducer, a traveler, a castaway, a narrator, then the hero becomes Odysseus, and then, to his first vocation of slaying everything, he can add a new one: understanding everything” (324)
“Whenever their lives were set aflame, through desire or suffering, or even reflection, the Homeric heroes knew that a god was at work” (93)
“If the hero is alone and can count on nothing but his own strength, he will never be able to enter this kingdom [where divine force is supreme]” (62)
“He needs a woman’s help…He doesn’t even realize that it is they who possess the wisdom he lacks” (62)
“The heroic gesture of women is betrayal: its influence on the course of events is just as great as the slaying of monsters” (69)
“The effects of woman’s betrayal are more subtle and less immediate perhaps, but equally devastating” (69)
“After Odysseus, our life without heroes begins; stories are no longer exemplary but are repeated and recounted. What happens is mere history” (349)
“Zeus wanted the death of the heroes to be a new death. What had death meant until now? Being covered once again by the earth” (358)
“But with the heroes, death coincided with the evocation of glory. Glory was something you could breathe now” (359)
“Who could be more hospitable than the king of the dead? His is the inn that closes its doors to no one, at no hour of the day or night” (76)
“Such are the stories of which mythology is woven: they tell how mortal mind and body are still subject to the divine, even when they are no longer seeking it out, even when the ritual approaches to the divine have become confused” (53-4)
“’This is the work of the gods: they brought about the ruin of men so that others might have song in the future” (359)
“For every step, the footprint was already there” (383)
“These things never happened, but are always”
We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
T. S. Eliot
“Imitation is the most dangerous of activities for world order, because it tends to break down boundaries” (358)
“For centuries people have spoken of the Greek myths as of something to be rediscovered, reawoken.” (280)
“The truth is it is the myths that are still out there waiting to wake us and be seen by us, like a tree waiting to greet our newly opened eyes” (280)
“It was exactly what had been missing from life, what life had been waiting for: intoxication"(36)
“This is Dionysus. He arrives, unexpected, and possesses” (44)
“Then Dionysus explained that this new drink was perhaps even more powerful than the bread Demeter had revealed to other farmers, because it could both wake a man up and put him to sleep, dissolve the pains that afflicted the heart and make them liquid and fleeting” (38)
“Dionysus is not a useful god who helps weave or knot things together, but a god who loosens and unties” (45)
“The perennial virginity young Artemis demanded as a first gift from her father Zeus is the indomitable sign of detachment” (52)
“Mythical figures live many lives, die many deaths, and in this they differ from the characters we find in novels, who can never go beyond the single gesture” (22)
“But in each of these lives and deaths all the others are present, and we can hear their echo” (22)
“Only when we become aware of a sudden consistency between incompatibles can we say we have crossed the threshold of myth” (22)
“If it is history we want, then it is a history of conflict.
And the conflict begins with the abduction of a girl, or with the sacrifice of a girl.
And the one is continually becoming the other” (7)
“‘To abduct women…is considered the action of scoundrels, but to worry about abducted women is the reaction of fools” (8)
“The wise man does not give a moment’s thought to the women who have been abducted, because it is clear that, had they not wanted to be abducted, they would not have been” (8)
“Zeus is never ridiculous, because his dignity is of no concern to him” (377)
“Now, when Zeus chose to tread the earth, his usual manifestation was through rape” (53)
“Rape is at once possessing and possession” (53)
“During the age of the heroes the passing of time took its rhythm from the succession of divine rapes” (355)
“to seduce also means ‘to destroy’ in Greek: phtheirin” (20)
“narcissi, ‘that wondrous, radiant flower, awesome to the sight of gods and mortals alike” (4)
“’The craziest type of people are those who scorn what they have around them and look elsewhere / vainly searching for what cannot exist” (59)
“Stories never live alone: they are the branches of a family that we have to trace back, and forward” (10)
“Which is why, they say, Athenian boys have such small, lean buttocks” (15)
“With the heroes, man takes his first step beyond the necessary: into the realm of risk, defiance, shrewdness, deceit, art” (70)
“In the beginning, the hero’s intelligence is intermittent and limited to his role as a slayer of monsters” (324)
“But when he manages to break the frame of this role, without abandoning it, when he learns to be a traitor, a liar, a seducer, a traveler, a castaway, a narrator, then the hero becomes Odysseus, and then, to his first vocation of slaying everything, he can add a new one: understanding everything” (324)
“Whenever their lives were set aflame, through desire or suffering, or even reflection, the Homeric heroes knew that a god was at work” (93)
“If the hero is alone and can count on nothing but his own strength, he will never be able to enter this kingdom [where divine force is supreme]” (62)
“He needs a woman’s help…He doesn’t even realize that it is they who possess the wisdom he lacks” (62)
“The heroic gesture of women is betrayal: its influence on the course of events is just as great as the slaying of monsters” (69)
“The effects of woman’s betrayal are more subtle and less immediate perhaps, but equally devastating” (69)
“After Odysseus, our life without heroes begins; stories are no longer exemplary but are repeated and recounted. What happens is mere history” (349)
“Zeus wanted the death of the heroes to be a new death. What had death meant until now? Being covered once again by the earth” (358)
“But with the heroes, death coincided with the evocation of glory. Glory was something you could breathe now” (359)
“Who could be more hospitable than the king of the dead? His is the inn that closes its doors to no one, at no hour of the day or night” (76)
“Such are the stories of which mythology is woven: they tell how mortal mind and body are still subject to the divine, even when they are no longer seeking it out, even when the ritual approaches to the divine have become confused” (53-4)
“’This is the work of the gods: they brought about the ruin of men so that others might have song in the future” (359)
“For every step, the footprint was already there” (383)
“These things never happened, but are always”
We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
T. S. Eliot
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
The Third to Go
"In a presentation revealing the aforementioned shameful truth of the mythological world of Bozeman" (from our power point presentation)
Oh, how I wish we could just write a paper completely on the work that went into our presentation. We had so much fun putting out entire project together and although it may seem as if our focus was simply on fun and intoxication or fun through intoxication. However, although we were obviously entusiastic about one god in particular, any guesses, we spent many preliminary hours planning our attack on the city of Bozeman. Nearly every aspect of our presentation had something relevent at work going on, there were very few things we threw in just for giggles. As mentioned before our presentation began, we incorporated a lot of different things from both Calasso and Fowles and as I chose the title for our project and the quotes to use for each section, I did not take the job lightly. We threw around ideas of simply doing a silent movie to harken to the "final disintoxication" found in The Magus however as we sat around and began to listen to music, we could not escape the fun in using these to hint at the gods we were trying to convey and discuss.
Oh, how I wish we could just write a paper completely on the work that went into our presentation. We had so much fun putting out entire project together and although it may seem as if our focus was simply on fun and intoxication or fun through intoxication. However, although we were obviously entusiastic about one god in particular, any guesses, we spent many preliminary hours planning our attack on the city of Bozeman. Nearly every aspect of our presentation had something relevent at work going on, there were very few things we threw in just for giggles. As mentioned before our presentation began, we incorporated a lot of different things from both Calasso and Fowles and as I chose the title for our project and the quotes to use for each section, I did not take the job lightly. We threw around ideas of simply doing a silent movie to harken to the "final disintoxication" found in The Magus however as we sat around and began to listen to music, we could not escape the fun in using these to hint at the gods we were trying to convey and discuss.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
What's Love got to do with it
"If Maurice were here he would tell you that sex is perhaps a greater, but in no way a different, pleasure from any other. He would tell you that it is only one part - and not the essential part - in the relationship we call love. He would tell you that the essential part is truth, the trust two people build between their minds. Their souls. What you will. That the real infidelity is the one that hides the sexual infidelity. Because the one thing that must never come between two people who have offered each other love is a lie." (Fowles 602-3)
Who knew that one could stumble upon such profound and honest and revealing insights into the intricacies of life as this in a mythologies class. I could not help but underline this section and even go as far as drawing little hearts around this section not only because its subject but becasue I myself loved the duplicity of this statement. It seemed so simple yet the execution of this practice of not telling lies to a loved one seems so complex in this day in age. I have seen far too many people divorce of this very issue and it saddens me to realize that some even dive into a marriage knowing their relationship is void of this key cornerstone.
Who knew that one could stumble upon such profound and honest and revealing insights into the intricacies of life as this in a mythologies class. I could not help but underline this section and even go as far as drawing little hearts around this section not only because its subject but becasue I myself loved the duplicity of this statement. It seemed so simple yet the execution of this practice of not telling lies to a loved one seems so complex in this day in age. I have seen far too many people divorce of this very issue and it saddens me to realize that some even dive into a marriage knowing their relationship is void of this key cornerstone.
Monday, November 7, 2011
The Final Disintoxication
"'Why should I struggle through hundreds of pages of fabrication to reach half a dozen very little truths?'" (Fowles 96).
The Magus. There is so much from this book that I found absolutely astonishing and relevant and fascinating and there is simply not enough adjectives to explain how much I enjoyed and loved this book. It has made its way onto my list of favorites. I cannot escape the complete and utterly sumbersive quality this book invokes and forces upon its reader. One cannot help but want to finish and uncover the mysteries and reasons behind everything as Nicholas Urfe is trying as well. There are a few unanswered questions the book leaves on with which mirrors Urfe's situation perhaps intentionally. However, this unavoidable mystery is yet another thing I absolutely cannot credit as a dissapointment. Rather it would have been more of a dissapointing ending if all loose ends had been neatly tied or cut off. The book as a whole is far more intriguing as an experimentation itself.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Preperation Again (Quiz 2)
Calasso book pages you need to know:
Page 209-212 : Deals with the four stories that make up the quaternity (personality profile; myers briggs test which has to do with feeling, sensation, intuition and
Stories of zeus – thinking (everything up)
Stories of Athena – sensation (everything out) related to polis (politics/city)
Dionysus – feeling (down function, everything that is not thinking or not sensation or intuition, pure unadultered feeling, incubus (demon possesses a males body and impregnates a woman’s body) chthonic – of or pertaining to the underworld. Disassemble your social identity to get you in touch with feeling
Demeter – intuition (In function)
Page 209 chapter 7 : Persephone being abducted by hades; narcissus flower (narcissist – obsessed with themselves)- Calls her by kore (maiden)- Triple goddess : mother, daughter and the crone
Page 225-226 chapter 8: story of Athena, how Athena came to be
Page 244: half has to do with mysteries of Eleusis, why the Greeks respect Eleusis more than anything else
Page 336: “how would you define Homeric theology?”- What we call Homeric theology is…supremacy of the visible- Religion is that which we see; Greek- When you can no longer see you have nothing (daylight and light)- Iphigenai asks to look at the light one more time
Page 359 chapter 11: comes from the odyssey; Zeus has prepared a woeful destiny for us so that in the future we may be sung about by the bards..”why do we suffer?”- This is the work of the God’s - they brought about the ruin of …. So that we may celebrate them later
Page 383-391 chapter 12: Definition of mythology: precedent behind every action- Invasion of the mind and body- What Cadmus gave to Greece; necklace which passes from hand to hand causing disaster- What conclusions can we draw – page 387- A life in which the God’s are not invited isn’t worth living…inviting them causes disaster(387)- Why do we talk about Cadmus? Founder of the city of thiebes- Greatest disaster was fly’s feet (gifts of the mind, vowels and consonants; the alphabet)
Great Pan’s Dead
WB Yeats : The Second Coming
Eliade:
The Eleusinian material
The Tarboleum (rites and rituals)
Dionysian material from the bachae
Questions:1. What does spiritus mundi mean? (multiple choice) : spirit of the world/earth2. At the marriage of Cadmus and harmony who was drawing the chariot (two animals)? Boar and the lion3. What country are the Nacirema tribe from? American’s4. Which of the three things important to the Eleusinian mysteries was the origin of theater? The things seen, said or done…It was Done (dromenon: things done)5. What is the study of the soul? Psychology – word psychology isn’t the study of the mind6. Who at birth, was her beauty only appreciated by her father (had two faces, four eyes and horns that sprouted from her face, page 204)? Persephone7. What is the origin of our legal or judicial system? The Athena story – where by she acquits Orestes for killing his mother, STORY OF ORESTES is at the origin of our judicial system8. What is the term where women take over the night where they have free reign over the men; no retaliation from men? Tote toge (day of the dead)9. What is the animal that is associated with the taurobolium? The bull10. What makes something sacred? If you truly believe something is…”made sacred, doesn’t come that way” , make them sacred through ritual11. According to your instructor who is the real hero? Yourself, we are all heroic, not just people in stories12. James Joyce’s novel … which talks about an ordinary person going about an ordinary day is modeled by what Greek story (Greek name of the hero)? Odysseus13. According to the Irish poet, WB Yeats, from the second coming…history is composed of two thousand year cycles; which comes from the visitation of a _____ who impregnates a _____? Bird , Woman14. What is the Greek image for soul? Butterfly15. Zeus ate a goddess named____? Metis (goddess meaning wisdom)16. Which word best typifies a space carved out in which sacred rituals are carried out? Temenos17. Who is the God of the double door and what does it mean? Dionysus, born twice (born of a mother and a father; mother’s womb and fathers thigh)- Dithyramb(os):18. What was said to end the pagan world and initiate the religious age? Great pan is Dead19. What is the fundamental difference between the God and the hero? Mortality; God’s don’t die20. When do the furies arrive? Kill your mother **(blood murder, don’t kill people in your blood line)21. What is the religious significance of Cupid and Psyche according to your instructor? The psychological development of the feminine22. Which one of the rituals came up no less than four times during the telling of our rituals? Australian rain making ritual23. What is the name of the girl that the king threw a sandal at? Charila24. What Greek play shows the clash between tradition and the state; religious rituals? Antigone- Play in which young woman buries her brother even though its forbidden by the state, punishment by death25. From what term do we get our word senator? Senex26. How would you define an archetype? An ancient or primordial image which is found universally in mythology, fairy tale and fantasy27. Which Eleusinian mystery pertains to fertility during a certain month? Maypole **(Phallic symbolism)28. 22 points of the hero formula? **Hero pattern- Who covers most of these more than anyone else? Oedipus, covers almost 21/2229. In this class, which Christian ritual did we discuss that had to deal with death and rebirth? Baptism30. Why was Demeter putting a baby in the fire? To make him immortal31. If you have someone in your family who is a daddy’s girl, whose classical archetype is she modeling? Athena
Page 209-212 : Deals with the four stories that make up the quaternity (personality profile; myers briggs test which has to do with feeling, sensation, intuition and
Stories of zeus – thinking (everything up)
Stories of Athena – sensation (everything out) related to polis (politics/city)
Dionysus – feeling (down function, everything that is not thinking or not sensation or intuition, pure unadultered feeling, incubus (demon possesses a males body and impregnates a woman’s body) chthonic – of or pertaining to the underworld. Disassemble your social identity to get you in touch with feeling
Demeter – intuition (In function)
Page 209 chapter 7 : Persephone being abducted by hades; narcissus flower (narcissist – obsessed with themselves)- Calls her by kore (maiden)- Triple goddess : mother, daughter and the crone
Page 225-226 chapter 8: story of Athena, how Athena came to be
Page 244: half has to do with mysteries of Eleusis, why the Greeks respect Eleusis more than anything else
Page 336: “how would you define Homeric theology?”- What we call Homeric theology is…supremacy of the visible- Religion is that which we see; Greek- When you can no longer see you have nothing (daylight and light)- Iphigenai asks to look at the light one more time
Page 359 chapter 11: comes from the odyssey; Zeus has prepared a woeful destiny for us so that in the future we may be sung about by the bards..”why do we suffer?”- This is the work of the God’s - they brought about the ruin of …. So that we may celebrate them later
Page 383-391 chapter 12: Definition of mythology: precedent behind every action- Invasion of the mind and body- What Cadmus gave to Greece; necklace which passes from hand to hand causing disaster- What conclusions can we draw – page 387- A life in which the God’s are not invited isn’t worth living…inviting them causes disaster(387)- Why do we talk about Cadmus? Founder of the city of thiebes- Greatest disaster was fly’s feet (gifts of the mind, vowels and consonants; the alphabet)
Great Pan’s Dead
WB Yeats : The Second Coming
Eliade:
The Eleusinian material
The Tarboleum (rites and rituals)
Dionysian material from the bachae
Questions:1. What does spiritus mundi mean? (multiple choice) : spirit of the world/earth2. At the marriage of Cadmus and harmony who was drawing the chariot (two animals)? Boar and the lion3. What country are the Nacirema tribe from? American’s4. Which of the three things important to the Eleusinian mysteries was the origin of theater? The things seen, said or done…It was Done (dromenon: things done)5. What is the study of the soul? Psychology – word psychology isn’t the study of the mind6. Who at birth, was her beauty only appreciated by her father (had two faces, four eyes and horns that sprouted from her face, page 204)? Persephone7. What is the origin of our legal or judicial system? The Athena story – where by she acquits Orestes for killing his mother, STORY OF ORESTES is at the origin of our judicial system8. What is the term where women take over the night where they have free reign over the men; no retaliation from men? Tote toge (day of the dead)9. What is the animal that is associated with the taurobolium? The bull10. What makes something sacred? If you truly believe something is…”made sacred, doesn’t come that way” , make them sacred through ritual11. According to your instructor who is the real hero? Yourself, we are all heroic, not just people in stories12. James Joyce’s novel … which talks about an ordinary person going about an ordinary day is modeled by what Greek story (Greek name of the hero)? Odysseus13. According to the Irish poet, WB Yeats, from the second coming…history is composed of two thousand year cycles; which comes from the visitation of a _____ who impregnates a _____? Bird , Woman14. What is the Greek image for soul? Butterfly15. Zeus ate a goddess named____? Metis (goddess meaning wisdom)16. Which word best typifies a space carved out in which sacred rituals are carried out? Temenos17. Who is the God of the double door and what does it mean? Dionysus, born twice (born of a mother and a father; mother’s womb and fathers thigh)- Dithyramb(os):18. What was said to end the pagan world and initiate the religious age? Great pan is Dead19. What is the fundamental difference between the God and the hero? Mortality; God’s don’t die20. When do the furies arrive? Kill your mother **(blood murder, don’t kill people in your blood line)21. What is the religious significance of Cupid and Psyche according to your instructor? The psychological development of the feminine22. Which one of the rituals came up no less than four times during the telling of our rituals? Australian rain making ritual23. What is the name of the girl that the king threw a sandal at? Charila24. What Greek play shows the clash between tradition and the state; religious rituals? Antigone- Play in which young woman buries her brother even though its forbidden by the state, punishment by death25. From what term do we get our word senator? Senex26. How would you define an archetype? An ancient or primordial image which is found universally in mythology, fairy tale and fantasy27. Which Eleusinian mystery pertains to fertility during a certain month? Maypole **(Phallic symbolism)28. 22 points of the hero formula? **Hero pattern- Who covers most of these more than anyone else? Oedipus, covers almost 21/2229. In this class, which Christian ritual did we discuss that had to deal with death and rebirth? Baptism30. Why was Demeter putting a baby in the fire? To make him immortal31. If you have someone in your family who is a daddy’s girl, whose classical archetype is she modeling? Athena
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Twas the Night Before Christmas...
Ashley's ritual was fantastic! I loved how she used this simple yet timeless children's classic to help illustrate a very important time in her year. It reminded me of all of the traditions and rituals that surround my families Christmas and made me decide to start my own family tradition of always reading this wonderful masterpiece on Christmas eve.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Late for the Appointment
I was running late for an appointment today and couldn't help but think of "An Appointment in Samarra" and decided it was about time to add it. I think the irony of the entire encounter is wonderful and the reality that in attempting to escape ones fate, one ultimately seals it. Oedipus anyone?
"The Appointment in Samarra" (as retold by W. Somerset Maugham [1933])
The speaker is Death
There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture, now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threating getsture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.
"The Appointment in Samarra" (as retold by W. Somerset Maugham [1933])
The speaker is Death
There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture, now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threating getsture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Room of Requirement
Reading through the blogs, I was reminded that we were instructed to post a picture of the room we spend the most time in in our house. Well, we are currently in the process of redecorating so sad to say I would rather not display the jumbled chaos for all the world to see:) However, I do know of a room that I would love to have...the fabulous room of requirement from Harry Potter.
How wonderful would it be to be able to walk into a room that knows what you need from it and have everything ready for you. As it is I have a really hard time reading with a lot of distraction and thrive with silence, an interesting concept for those who have read that far in The Magus. To be able to lock myself away in a room where complete and total emersion into the book is facilitated would be marvelous. This would be the room I would spend the most time in if fairy tales were real.
How wonderful would it be to be able to walk into a room that knows what you need from it and have everything ready for you. As it is I have a really hard time reading with a lot of distraction and thrive with silence, an interesting concept for those who have read that far in The Magus. To be able to lock myself away in a room where complete and total emersion into the book is facilitated would be marvelous. This would be the room I would spend the most time in if fairy tales were real.
Friday, October 14, 2011
The Path of a Hero
Lord Raglan's Hero Pattern
1. Hero's mother is a royal virgin;
2. His father is a king, and
3. Often a near relative of his mother, but
4. The circumstances of his conception are unusual, and
5. He is also reputed to be the son of a god.
6. At birth an attempt is made, usually by his father or his maternal grand father to kill him, but 7. he is spirited away, and
8. Reared by foster -parents in a far country.
9. We are told nothing of his childhood, but
10. On reaching manhood he returns or goes to his future Kingdom.
11. After a victory over the king and/or a giant, dragon, or wild beast,
12. He marries a princess, often the daughter of his predecessor and
13. And becomes king.
14. For a time he reigns uneventfully and
15. Prescribes laws, but
16. Later he loses favor with the gods and/or his subjects, and
17. Is driven from the throne and city, after which
18. He meets with a mysterious death,
19. Often at the top of a hill,
20. His children, if any do not succeed him.
21. His body is not buried, but nevertheless
22. He has one or more holy sepulchres.
1. Hero's mother is a royal virgin;
2. His father is a king, and
3. Often a near relative of his mother, but
4. The circumstances of his conception are unusual, and
5. He is also reputed to be the son of a god.
6. At birth an attempt is made, usually by his father or his maternal grand father to kill him, but 7. he is spirited away, and
8. Reared by foster -parents in a far country.
9. We are told nothing of his childhood, but
10. On reaching manhood he returns or goes to his future Kingdom.
11. After a victory over the king and/or a giant, dragon, or wild beast,
12. He marries a princess, often the daughter of his predecessor and
13. And becomes king.
14. For a time he reigns uneventfully and
15. Prescribes laws, but
16. Later he loses favor with the gods and/or his subjects, and
17. Is driven from the throne and city, after which
18. He meets with a mysterious death,
19. Often at the top of a hill,
20. His children, if any do not succeed him.
21. His body is not buried, but nevertheless
22. He has one or more holy sepulchres.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
In Preperation
Know the following items from the Eliade book:
Hainuwele
Apollo
Earth mother of all
Enumelish
Hesiod’s theogony
(Not required to know any other things from the book for the exam)
From Calasso:
Page 5 – the basket (we carry it all the time, on it is the picture of your story, its around you all the time)
Page 15 – etiology “why do men have slim hips”
Page 39 – goats (whole page has to do with Erigone and her father. The word tragedy – the song of the goat Page 81 – etiology “who has more fun making love, the man or the woman”; will give you the answer to this question. Sooth sayer named Tiresias - blind for giving the wrong answer
Page 94 – ate – know what it means, “infatuation”. Divine infatuation, extreme interesting conclusion, a life without divine infatuation isn’t worth living, will bring a certain ruin to you
Page 383 – definition of myth – The precedent behind every action; every step you take there has been somewhere there before you - belated
- model of something that has already been done
(definition of the phrase in illo tempore; “in the beginning”, “in the dream time”, “Once upon a time”)
Page 52 – megan’s blog, in depth of this page in the book, Calasso’s major theme. Constantly declining from one age to the next, age of conviviality, age of rape, we don’t know the god’s anymore (we are in different)
- now we just hear stories about the past
Page 176 – Calasso telling how it all came about, not just how it began but how it came about, that all those people went to wore. Phelops…who was phelops?
- Son of the man of tantalus, the word tantalized, “something you really want but you can’t get”
- Father , tantalus, chopped his son up and fed him to the God’s
- Tormented him in the underworld, apple tree would bend down, but then when he went to grab one it would retract
- Agamemnon, Menelaus - Trojan war
- Leda and the swan - http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/865/
- A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
- Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
- By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,
- He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.
-
- How can those terrified vague fingers push
- The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
- And how can body, laid in that white rush,
- But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?
-
- A shudder in the loins engenders there
- The broken wall, the burning roof and tower[20]
- And Agamemnon dead.
-
- Being so caught up,
-
- So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
- Did she put on his knowledge with his power
- Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?
Kinds of creation stories:
Multiple choice:
1. Who was the mother of the muses? Mnemosyne
2. What was Persephone doing when she was abducted by Hades? Picking Flowers
o Particular flower, the narcissus
3. The suggestion that we are all prisoners attached to a wall, refers to what “myth”, allegory of the cave? Plato was responsible for writing that myth
**Question about what happiness brings about, regarding to ate **
4. Who was always described as deceitful and beautiful, she was also thought to be a phantom? Helen
5. Who was Europe named after? Europa
6. What arrives unexpected and possesses? Dionysus
o You’re sitting and next moment he is there, materializing unexpectedly
7. What is the mythological root of “enthusiasm”? en-theos (God inside you)(To be God possessed)
8. Who says ‘One more time Athena love me as much as you can’? Odysseus
9. Abduction is always followed by what? Metamorphosis; in Calasso
10. Which Goddess was born from Uranas dismembered body? Aphrodite
o The Goddess of love
11. Who was the mother of the Minotaur? Pasiphae
12. What word means the tearing of limbs or ripping of flesh? Sparagmos
13. Omophagia….
14. The great desire is to arrive where he started? Having to do with the stages of mythology,
o Wants to return to the beginning
15. Define Anamnesis? You already know what you need to know, Recollection
o We have forgotten anything of importance, our teachers remind us of things we have forgotten
16. What does the word ‘Apocalypse’ mean? Removal of the veil
17. What does ‘Eschatology’ mean? Study of the end of time
18. What in the Greek mythology was housed inside the labyrinth? The Minotaur
19. Who was the destroyer of the delights? Death
20. Zeus came in many forms…
o To seduce Io he took the form of Cloud
o To seduce Europa he took the form of a Bull
o To seduce Leda he took the form of a Swan
o To seduce Danae he took the form of Gold
o To seduce Semele (daughter of Cadmus) he took the form of Himself, the God he really was
Hainuwele
Apollo
Earth mother of all
Enumelish
Hesiod’s theogony
(Not required to know any other things from the book for the exam)
From Calasso:
Page 5 – the basket (we carry it all the time, on it is the picture of your story, its around you all the time)
Page 15 – etiology “why do men have slim hips”
Page 39 – goats (whole page has to do with Erigone and her father. The word tragedy – the song of the goat Page 81 – etiology “who has more fun making love, the man or the woman”; will give you the answer to this question. Sooth sayer named Tiresias - blind for giving the wrong answer
Page 94 – ate – know what it means, “infatuation”. Divine infatuation, extreme interesting conclusion, a life without divine infatuation isn’t worth living, will bring a certain ruin to you
Page 383 – definition of myth – The precedent behind every action; every step you take there has been somewhere there before you - belated
- model of something that has already been done
(definition of the phrase in illo tempore; “in the beginning”, “in the dream time”, “Once upon a time”)
Page 52 – megan’s blog, in depth of this page in the book, Calasso’s major theme. Constantly declining from one age to the next, age of conviviality, age of rape, we don’t know the god’s anymore (we are in different)
- now we just hear stories about the past
Page 176 – Calasso telling how it all came about, not just how it began but how it came about, that all those people went to wore. Phelops…who was phelops?
- Son of the man of tantalus, the word tantalized, “something you really want but you can’t get”
- Father , tantalus, chopped his son up and fed him to the God’s
- Tormented him in the underworld, apple tree would bend down, but then when he went to grab one it would retract
- Agamemnon, Menelaus - Trojan war
- Leda and the swan - http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/865/
- A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
- Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
- By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,
- He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.
-
- How can those terrified vague fingers push
- The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
- And how can body, laid in that white rush,
- But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?
-
- A shudder in the loins engenders there
- The broken wall, the burning roof and tower[20]
- And Agamemnon dead.
-
- Being so caught up,
-
- So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
- Did she put on his knowledge with his power
- Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?
Kinds of creation stories:
Multiple choice:
1. Who was the mother of the muses? Mnemosyne
2. What was Persephone doing when she was abducted by Hades? Picking Flowers
o Particular flower, the narcissus
3. The suggestion that we are all prisoners attached to a wall, refers to what “myth”, allegory of the cave? Plato was responsible for writing that myth
**Question about what happiness brings about, regarding to ate **
4. Who was always described as deceitful and beautiful, she was also thought to be a phantom? Helen
5. Who was Europe named after? Europa
6. What arrives unexpected and possesses? Dionysus
o You’re sitting and next moment he is there, materializing unexpectedly
7. What is the mythological root of “enthusiasm”? en-theos (God inside you)(To be God possessed)
8. Who says ‘One more time Athena love me as much as you can’? Odysseus
9. Abduction is always followed by what? Metamorphosis; in Calasso
10. Which Goddess was born from Uranas dismembered body? Aphrodite
o The Goddess of love
11. Who was the mother of the Minotaur? Pasiphae
12. What word means the tearing of limbs or ripping of flesh? Sparagmos
13. Omophagia….
14. The great desire is to arrive where he started? Having to do with the stages of mythology,
o Wants to return to the beginning
15. Define Anamnesis? You already know what you need to know, Recollection
o We have forgotten anything of importance, our teachers remind us of things we have forgotten
16. What does the word ‘Apocalypse’ mean? Removal of the veil
17. What does ‘Eschatology’ mean? Study of the end of time
18. What in the Greek mythology was housed inside the labyrinth? The Minotaur
19. Who was the destroyer of the delights? Death
20. Zeus came in many forms…
o To seduce Io he took the form of Cloud
o To seduce Europa he took the form of a Bull
o To seduce Leda he took the form of a Swan
o To seduce Danae he took the form of Gold
o To seduce Semele (daughter of Cadmus) he took the form of Himself, the God he really was
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Don't Forget to Read
"If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are. Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads." Robert Pattison
As I was taking a break from reading Calasso and Fowles, even though we don't have to have The Magus read for a bit I figured I would get a jump start, I came across this quote online and quoted help but smile.
As I was taking a break from reading Calasso and Fowles, even though we don't have to have The Magus read for a bit I figured I would get a jump start, I came across this quote online and quoted help but smile.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
The Hummingbird
My mother's birthday is coming up and whenever I think of the women in my family, I can't help but picture a hummingbird for a number of reasons. Growing up, all of my grandmothers had hummingbird feeders around their homes and absolutely loved watching them flutter by their windows. While searching for a card for my mother, I came across a card company called Papyrus that uses the hummingbird in their logo. On the back of the cards I came across a beautiful quote that made me love the association with these beautiful birds even more. The following is from their website explaining why they use the hummingbird. "Legends say that hummingbirds float free of time, carrying our hopes for love, joy and celebration. Hummingbirds open our eyes to the wonder of the world and inspire us to open our hearts to loved ones and friends. Like a hummingbird, we aspire to hover and to savor each moment as it passes, embrace all that life has to offer and to celebrate the joy of everyday. The hummingbird’s delicate grace reminds us that life is rich, beauty is everywhere, every personal connection has meaning and that laughter is life’s sweetest creation."
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Why People Choose What They Choose?
I decided to explain a little about why I chose the creation myth that I did. It has always been more interesting to me to know the why behind the what. I really struggled between this myth and Hesiod's Theogony simply because I loved the beauty that could be found in both of them. Hesiod's description of Chaos birthing all the gods and the interactions between them as they tried to usurp each other was full of life and color. However, I kept coming back to that last sentence of the myth I chose where upon taking your last breath in this world, "you will be covered by her flesh as a blanket, under which your bones will rest in peace." It just created such a warm and comforting image of the one thing that seems to frighten nearly everyone, that unknown that is death and will he will come for you.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Creation Story
A Thompson Indian Myth on the Creation of Man
Before the world was formed, Stars, Moon, Sun, and Earth lived together (as people). Earth was a woman, and Sun was her husband. She was always finding fault with him, saying he was nasty, ugly, and too hot. At last the Sun grew weary of this scolding and left her. The Moon and the Stars went away with him. Earth-Woman was very sad.
The Old One appeared and transformed these people into their present forms. The Sun, Moon, and Stars he assigned to the sky, commanding them never to desert the earth again. Earth-Woman became the solid land: her hair became trees and grass, her flesh day, her bones rocks, her blood springs of water. 'You will be as the mother of people, for from you their bodies will spring, and to you they will go back. People will live as in your bosom, and sleep on your lap. They will derive nourishment from you, and they will utilize all parts of your body.'
After this the Earth gave birth to people who were very similar in form to ourselves; but they knew nothing and required neither food nor drink. They had no appetites, desires, or thoughts. Then Old One traveled over the world and among the people, giving them appetites and desires. He caused all kinds of birds and fish to appear, to which he gave names and assigned functions. He taught women to make birch baskets, mats, and lodges, and how to dig roots, gather berries, and cure them. He taught men how to make fire, catch fish, trap and shoot game, etc. He instructed couples how to have intercourse and how to give birth to children.
When he had finished teaching the people, he bade them goodbye, saying, 'I now leave you; but if you . . . require my aid, I will come again to you. The Sun is your father, the Earth is your mother's body. You will be covered with her flesh as a blanket, under which your bones will rest in peace.'
The Old One appeared and transformed these people into their present forms. The Sun, Moon, and Stars he assigned to the sky, commanding them never to desert the earth again. Earth-Woman became the solid land: her hair became trees and grass, her flesh day, her bones rocks, her blood springs of water. 'You will be as the mother of people, for from you their bodies will spring, and to you they will go back. People will live as in your bosom, and sleep on your lap. They will derive nourishment from you, and they will utilize all parts of your body.'
After this the Earth gave birth to people who were very similar in form to ourselves; but they knew nothing and required neither food nor drink. They had no appetites, desires, or thoughts. Then Old One traveled over the world and among the people, giving them appetites and desires. He caused all kinds of birds and fish to appear, to which he gave names and assigned functions. He taught women to make birch baskets, mats, and lodges, and how to dig roots, gather berries, and cure them. He taught men how to make fire, catch fish, trap and shoot game, etc. He instructed couples how to have intercourse and how to give birth to children.
When he had finished teaching the people, he bade them goodbye, saying, 'I now leave you; but if you . . . require my aid, I will come again to you. The Sun is your father, the Earth is your mother's body. You will be covered with her flesh as a blanket, under which your bones will rest in peace.'
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Tree Hugging
When we were told to go hug a tree I couldn't help but feel like an environmentalist out there trying to find the perfect tree to embrace. This is not me of course, technical failures, however I absolutely fell in love with the simplicity of this picture. And I couldn't help be reminded of one of my all time favorite books The Giving Tree. Now it is not necessarily about tree hugging by any means but the way in which the simple interactions with a tree explain a far more important story in the long run made me wonder what other stories we may be missing out on by simply trying to impress the wrong people.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
A Moment to discuss Adding Blogs
"It was just that she slipped his mind for a moment, a moment that might be any moment." (Calasso 16)
So in class on Thursday it most definitely slipped my mind on how exactly to have links to everyone's blog right on your page that were functional, meaning one click and your to someone else's blog rather than having to find them in your favorites section. However, I have taken a moment and now remember how easy it really is:) For those who use a blog where you can edit the design of your blog, blogger for sure but I am sorry I am really not familiar with that many, it is just one click away. Well literally its like five but still really easy. On the same page where you can publish posts, there should be tabs that mention things along the lines of settings, design, and stats. Under design there should be an option to add a gadget around near where followers is listed. Click on the add a gadget section and under there is a long list of extras to add to your blog to "beef" it up. The best one to use for the purposes of this class would be, in my opinion of course, the one designed specifically for blog lists. I like this one because you can chose to have the list updated by most recent posts on the blogs you list there so it is easy to keep up with what classmates are talking about. When you click on this option, you can add a blog which simply involves typing in the url for the blog you want to add and then it is added to your list to easily be accessed by simply one click. I wish you would be able to use mine to see how easy it is to access other blogs but I am unfortunately one of the class members how mysteriously did not make it on to the list serve. However, my section for fellow classmates does exist it is simply waiting to be populated. Good luck and I hope this was helpful:)
And so it begins...
..."But how did it all begin?" (Calasso 4).
Definition of myth - precedent behind our actions. From The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony p. 383 "For the first time she felt pricked by a goad that would not leave her be. In her mind she began to say words of farewell....And all at once she understood what myth is, understood that myth is the precedent behind every action, its invisible, ever-present lining. She need not fear the ncertain life opening up before her. Whichever way her wandering husband went, the encircling sash of myth would wrap around the young Harmony. For every step, the footprint was already there." Destiny appears in the footprint that Harmony need only to step into to fulfill.
There is no beginning or original to myth. Calasso reiterates and narrows this notion to not only all of myth, but to mythical figures as well: "Mythical figures live many lives, die many deaths, and in this they differ from the characters we find in novels, who can never go beyond the single gesture. But in each of these lives and deaths all the others are present, and we can hear their echo. Only when we become aware of a sudden consistency between incompatibles can we say we have crossed the threshold of myth" (22). Ariadne for example died at least five different ways. So which is the original? Which is true? In myth, Ariadne is not Ariadne without acknowledging all of her deaths. Original and true simply don't exist or matter (23).
Mythos-story: Some of my favorite quotes so far from Calasso just happen to pertain to what we have been discussing so bare with me:) "Stories never live alone: they are the branches of a family that we have to trace back, and forward" (10). So as we uncover these myths or stories, it is important not to think of them in a linear fashion but as a more fluid intermingling tangle of braches as Calasso points out as a way to better understand them. That is way I love the way Calasso starts out in the middle, then traces back with the question "But how did it all begin?" It emphasizes this idea while simultaneously reiterating how many times this question really can be asked because the "beginning" persay does not exactly exist.
Origin myths: How we came to be: So we were instructed to find Eliade's From Primitives to Zen online and read the chapter on creation stories and find one we really like. I may be a little biased being that I have already read the work for another class but Hesiod's Theogony is really one of my favorites. The language and imagery of the creation of the first generation of gods is really intriguing. I also enjoyed the Thompson Indian myth of the creation of man. Once again the beautiful imagery captivates me and leaves me wanting to hear more. "When he had finished teaching the people, he bade them goodbye, saying, 'I know leave you; but if you ... require my aid, I will come again to you. The Sun in your father, the Earth is your mother's body. You will be covered with her flesh as a blanket, under which your bones will rest in peache.'"
Disney's Aladdin: Yes we did briefly talk about this wonderfully accurate and incredibly important tale of the Arabian nights. It was mainly brought to life how the genie proclaims at the end of the movie "I'm not history, I'm mythology" or something along those lines:) Calasso too addresses the difference between history and mythology. Rather, he finds the history in the mythology. "If it is history we want, then it is a history of conflict. And the conflict begins with the abduction of a girl, or with the sacrifice of a girl. and the one is continually becoming the other....Out of these events history itself was born: the abduction of Helen, the Trojan War, and, before that, the Argonauts' expedtion and the abduction of Medea--all are links in the same chain." (7-8)
Things to look forward to!: Prompted by a passage read on pg. 122 in The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony where we learn of a plot to go down into Hades by Theseus and Peirithous, we have been promised the answer to a question I am sure we have all been dwelling on for some time now: Why do Greek men have such small bottoms?
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