Today

Today is Wednesday, just a normal day of the week to you and me. Today is another work day, school day or hopefully a day off. These descriptions of Wednesday are mundane and routine but it once held greater meaning.

To the old pagan tribes of Europe the very land they lived on was created by the god Odin. Odin not only forged and shaped the Earth with his hands but he fathered many of the key gods that the different tribes worshiped. Because of this, he was known as the all father. Odin had many names: Wotan, Woden, Aldaföðr and Fimbultýr to name a few. Odin “was the personification of the air, the god of the universal wisdom and victory…and the eldest and chief among them he occupied the highest seat in Asgard” (16). Odin was feared and loved by all the ancient tribes. He was wise and a warrior. Those who worshiped Odin could look to him as an example. Odin possessed the traits that all Vikings wished to obtain. But Odin is also “supposed to have given his followers a code of laws where by to govern their conduct, in a poem called Havamal” (41).

“At home let a man be cheerful,
And toward a guest liberal;
Of wise conduct he should be,
Of good memory and ready speech;
If much knowledge he desires,
He must often talk on what is good.”

Because Odin provided his people with so much, they chose to honor him “The first toast at every festival was drunk in his honor” (41). Odin would be remembered and was believed to be present at parties and festivals. He would also be remembered during the week. In fact “one day in every week was held sacred to him, and from his Saxon name, Woden, was called Woden’s day, whence the English word Wednesday has been derived” (41). Happy Woden’s Day!

Guerber, Helene A. Myths Of The Norsemen. New York: Dover, 1992.

Soren Kierkegaard

Thoughts on what it is to exist.

“ It is impossible to exist without passion, unless we understand the word “exist” in the loose sense of a so-called existence…and it is just this that it means to exist, if one is to become conscious of it. Eternity is the winged horse, infinitely fast, and time is a worn-out jade; the existing individual is the driver. That is to say, he is such a driver when his mode of existence is not an existence loosely so called; for then he is no driver but a drunken peasant who lies asleep in the wagon and lets the horse take care of themselves. To be sure, he also drives and is a driver and so there are many who-also exist”

So many in our society are asleep at the reins, asleep at the will....




Thoughts on faith. Faith goes beyond reason. Faith involves risk. You must take a great leap to find faith and in turn become truly self aware.

"There is no other road to faith; if one wishes to escape risk, it is as if one wanted to know with certainty that he can swim before going into the water"

Joseph Campbell interviews.

Tiamat the Dragon

All across the globe images of dragons appear in ancient culture’s folk tales, myths, ceremonies and decorations. In childhood we are told stories of fearless knights rescuing damsels from evil dragons. Dragons are always treacherous, however they also are providers. “Chinese dragons are rain-producing…in India too the serpent kings guard both the waters of immortality and the treasures of earth” (Campbell 120 CM). The Maya viewed serpents as a “channel between the natural and supernatural realm” (Laughton 115). Once the dragon has been slain, subdued or controlled, they provide a doorway to treasure. Dragons appear as a common theme in almost every culture and in the “legends of Perseus and Andromeda, Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra, Siegfried and Fafnir, Beowulf and Grendel” (17 S.E. Hooke).

Explanations for the appearance of dragons could be that ancient people simply found dinosaur remains and incorporated said remains into their lives. Maybe dragons were real. This pattern may have also been derived from Tiamat; a dragon from the ancient culture of Babylon:

Tiamat “is a huge, bloated female dragon that personifies the saltwater ocean, the water of Chaos.” At the dawn of Babylonian creation “nothing existed except Apsu, the sweet-water ocean, and Tiamat, the salt water ocean” (S.E. Hooke 42). These two beings exist alongside the void. They form a union and from that union the other gods are created. Not only are the gods created but also conflict. Now that there are others, Apsu and Tiamat are disturbed by the noisiness of all the young gods. So like any good parent, Apsu decides to destroy them. Apsu’s plan is “disclosed to the gods who are alarmed” (S.E.Hooke 43). The young gods devise a counter attack. The god Ea “casts a spell of sleep upon Apsu (and) slays him” (S.E. Hooke 43). Ea creates a fortress to rest in after the battle. He resides “in profound peace. In this chamber the birth of Marduk takes place” (S.E. Hooke 43). Marduk is beautiful and strong. Marduk would have to rely on his tremendous strength because Tiamat is angered with Apsu’s death and begins to build an army. Tiamat “begets a horde of monstrous beings, such as the scorpion-man and the centaur” (S.E. Hooke 43). The gods are faced with how to deal with these newly born monsters and an angry Tiamat. Marduk, born from the gods who slew Apsu, is given the challenge to fight against Tiamat. In return, he will be recognized as a king among the gods. Marduk arms himself to the teeth with “bow and arrows, mace, lightning and a net held at the corners by the seven raging hurricanes” (44 S.E. Hooke). Riding a storm chariot into battle, he confronts the horde of monsters and “challenges Tiamat to single combat; he casts his net to enclose her, and when she opens her mouth to swallow him he drives in the evil wind to distend her and transfixes her with his arrow, splitting her heart” (S.E. Hooke 45). By killing Tiamat, the hero has slain the dragon bringing great reward. Marduk “takes…the tablets of destiny and fastens them upon his own breast, thus assuming supreme authority among the gods” (S.E. Hooke). A great boon is not only bestowed upon Marduk in his supreme power, but mankind as well. Marduk creates the Earth from the slain dragon’s body and then follows this act by actually creating human beings to inhabit the Earth and serve the gods.

Campbell, Joseph. Creative Mythology. New York: Penguin, 1976.

Hooke, Samuel H. Middle Eastern Mythology. Baltimore: Penguin, 1968.

Laughton, Timothy. The Maya. New York: Barnes And Noble, 2004.

The Bhagavad-Gita

"Just as one sun illumines this entire world, so the master of the field illumines the entire field."-Lord Krishna

Tales of Creation: The Void

Many of the world’s creation myths share common patterns and themes. There may be a central myth that all myths sprang from, sharing the same origin point as mankind. During the evolution of the human species, language developed as oral tradition. Written language could have originated long after oral tradition developed. Over long periods of time societies began to emerge. They each developed their own language and script. Along with language and writing, religion flourished. Common themes and patterns in mythos could be caused by developing societies influencing or borrowing from other civilizations, or it simply could be coincidence. It could also be that these myths originate from one common myth; a single myth that developed shares the origin point of mankind. This myth started as an oral tradition shared by the first tribes of mankind. This myth could have been changed over time, growing and morphing according to the person retelling the myth until the myth barley resembled what was originally said, like playing a game of “telephone” or “pass it along.”

In the outset there seems to have been nothingness, some call it “chaos; a rough, unordered mass of things, nothing at all but lifeless bulk and warring seeds of ill-matched elements heaped in one” (Ovid 3). Some describe nothingness as a vast cosmic ooze or cloud. The ancient Mayas believed “according to the sixteenth-century-CE Popol Vuh, in the beginning nothing existed except the sky and a vast primordial ocean” (Laughton 94). There is an ancient Chinese myth where “Before heaven and earth had become separated from each other, everything was a great ball of mist, called chaos” (Campbell 223). In many myths, beings and planets spring from the void. In a Maori myth, the earth and sky extend “from the nothing the begetting, from the nothing the increase, from the nothing the abundance, the power of increasing, the living Breath. It dwelt with the empty space, and produced the atmosphere which is above us” (Campbell 234). If creation is not a child of the void, then in many myths it exists along side it. The Tahitian god Ta’aroa had no place of origin, he “simply lived in the void” (Campbell 238). Ta’aroa existed in an egg or shell and from this he created the world and placed it in the void. “There was no land, nor sky, nor sea. Land was nebulous: there was no foundation” (Campbell 238). Once Ta’aroa broke from his shell or egg he used the shell to shape the earth. Creation takes shape out of the darkness by God’s works. “In the beginning god created the sky and the earth. The earth was empty and had no form. Darkness covered the ocean, and God’s spirit was moving the water” (Genesis 1:1). God fills the emptiness physically. He shapes the planet physically from the cosmic egg, or by using his own hands to gather elements present in the void.

Whether God existed before the void, created the void or sprang from the void, many myths acknowledge nothingness at the beginning of time, or man’s conception of time once he is created. The void and other commonalities in myths and religion are important in understanding the culture and history of man. If clear links can be made and traced through historical evidence, maybe one day a single myth can be discovered as the creator of creation myths.

Painting-Giovanni di Paolo, 1445

Refernces

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero With A Thousand Faces. n.d.

Holy Bible New Century Version. Thomas Nelson Inc, 2003.

Laughton, Timothy. The Maya. New York: Barnes And Noble, 2004.

Ovid, Publius. The Metamorphoses. New York: Barnes and Noble, 2005.

Abandoned cars and houses litter the hillside.
Pillars extend out of the ground waiting for a fence to
be built around them. The signs warn of mountain roads.
Slow speeds traveling along cathartic, rocky mounds and snake winding trucks
spackled with mud. A paint bucket exploded along the long stretching blackness,
leaving one spot tie-died white, as if this was the only spot in the world where it snowed.
The road bends on forever. Chasing the virgin river now soiled by wheels and asphalt.

(written on my phone, while descending into the gorge.)

I'm staying in a home my parents have recently built in Utah. The desert is beautiful. Every time I look outside I am moved. I feel so connected to my soul. I want to wander into the desert naked. So if I ever disappear, just come find me in Utah and go mad with me.