That, anyway, is what i have learned

            “Mythology”, what an abstract word. During this class we have covered the board on all that the word Myth entails. After coming to class a few times I quickly fell in love with this word, “Mythology” and all of the crazy, intense stories of Greek gods and beautiful nymphs that come along with it. Mystery, that’s what captured my interest really, it was the mystery of this different world of mythology. However, professor Sexton had other ideas about what my reality would be, because you see, myth just happens to be everywhere! It’s not set apart in this magical separate world that doesn’t exist. It’s there with you in the morning when you’re eating you’re cereal, you stare directly into the eyes of myth when you glance into a mirror, the goddess Demeter whispers in your ear when that first snowflake of the season brushes by your cheek. You can’t escape myth! After receiving this information, a certain realization hit me and is still with me and I hope never leaves me. This epiphany being that even the smallest most seemingly insignificant thing in life has a purpose and a degree of mystery behind its existence.

            Subsequently, because we as humans are mythic creatures and this class was learning about myth and everything surrounding it, I also learned a little about myself. Professor Sexton encouraged all his students early on in this semester, including myself, to spend time reflecting upon yourself. I remember a certain class where Sexton told the class that if I were to participate in self-reflection, my life would be set aflame. I didn’t at first understand what that really meant, set my life aflame from merely thinking? I tried to come up with the best way to really focus in on my thoughts. Surprising enough, I ended up trying yoga for the first time. If you knew me a little more you would understand why even the idea of yoga would just be ridiculous. However, I decided to have an open mind towards yoga and gave it a shot. I absolutely loved it and am currently joining a few of my friends most mornings to start our day with yoga and meditation. I wont go off on a “why yoga’s so good” rant but I do want you to know how much I appreciate all this Mythology class has taught me.

            Myth has taught me so much about the world and myself. I’m exceedingly glad I ended up taking this coarse with Professor Sexton and I promise it wont be a class I simply disregard after all my assignments and responsibilities for the class are done. I will continue to raise the bar for myself, improving myself constantly. Always reaching for higher and better. I will try my best to be on the watch for the myths surrounding me no matter how sneaky or hidden they are. After understanding the importance of stories I don’t plan on passing up the opportunity to hear a new one or to pass up telling one of my own.  That, anyway, is what I have learned. 

The Storyteller

The Storyteller by Mario Llosa reinforced many of my ideas on how important stories are. We as a people can not survive without stories, stories are what keep traditions and culture alive. Why would we even want to go through life without knowing the rich meanings behind everything that is apart of our worlds? I for one would hate such a drab boring existence. Before reading this book i already had a intense love for stories, growing up i was always the annoying kid who'd ask a million questions. I appreciate what this book has taught me about different cultures and the interesting little quirks and strange aspects of South American traditions.

Suffering and Pain- Imperative to having an interesting life? I think not.

Today the subject of suffering and its importance to human life has been on my mind a great deal. It seems to me, everyone thinks that it is only possible to have an exciting life if suffering and pain are present. Why is that? Can one not have a exciting life without going through horribly traumatic experiences? I have gone through my fair share of traumatic and extremely painful areas of life, and i'm glad i have. I don't regret any of my decisions i've made in life, they've all shaped me into the person i am today. I happen to rather like the person I am, but there of course is always room for improvement. However, it seems to me that even if a person hadn't experienced suffering, pain and had an incredibly happy life who's to say that persons life isn't interesting? There is much more to life then just pain, there is also adventures, friendships, fellowship and learning. I know that it is impossible to experience a full life without ever going through trials and tribulations, but I want you to think of how the world looks through the eyes of a child. Most children haven't experienced what i would define as true pain and suffering, does that mean that child's life is boring? Of course not! The life of a child is the exact opposite of boring, their lives are full of wonder and excitement! Children have the most amazing imagination, they don't need suffering or pain to enhance their way of living. Alas, humans were not meant to stay in this state forever, we grow and somewhere along our travelings we forget how to turn a stick into a scepter and a tree into a castle. Our innocence is lost and we have a yearning to search out the "real" things in life for ourselves. Life doesn't need to be painful to be enjoyed or interesting, life merely needs to be appreciated. Who's to say whether or not a life is interesting anyways? Why should we care what others think of our own lives as long as we are satisfied with who we are?

Admetus the Hospitable

I was interested by the story of Admetus and Alcestis and decided to spend a little more time reading into it. I found this story on pages 73 and 74 of Roberto Calasso's "The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony".
After doing a little more research on this story i discovered that Admetus, who Calasso claimed to be hospitable, turned out to be a King of a small Kingdom. His kingdom was named Delphi. Admetus was a very kind king who took the time to know all of his subjects. One day a beggar came to the door of the King, he of course took care of this man and ended up accepting the beggar's proposal and let him become his slave for a single year. This beggar turned out to be the powerful god Apollo. Go figure. Admetus now has this gods blessing for all time and has the gods promise of help if needed. It obviously doesn't take long for Admetus to request the help of Apollo. (since humans have a strange need to put themselves in a situation that they can not control) Admetus' request for help, like many other heroes, concerns a beautiful women. Her name is Alcestis.  Long story short Admetus gets the girl with the help of Apollo. He also gets a special gift from the gods. If Admetus wishes, when Admetus should die, someone else may choose to take his place. After they had lived together in happiness for a long while, it came about that Admetus fell very ill and was close to death. It was at this time that they remembered his gift from Apollo. Alas, no one was willing to take his place, no one but his beloved wife. Without her husbands knowledge, Alcestis gave up her life for Admetus. When he discovered what Alcestis had done Admetus was horribly heart broken. However after morning over his wife all night he began to feel life flood back into Alcestis. Unimaginable joy filled Admetus. Apparently Alcestis love and loyalty was apreciated by the gods so much that Hercules was allowed to go down to the Under World and return her to the life of the living. It was also told that Persephone (The Queen of Hades) was moved by the story this beautiful lady had told her and made The Shadow Leader bring her back to the surface of the world.
This story was very interesting to me because of how a women takes on the role of another historical character, Jesus. She gave up her own life for someone she loved more then her own life. This love and devotion that she displayed ended up being her own savior. I love how Callaso brings up the fact that back in this time it was rare for a women to be able to take the place of someone dying due to how most women where not known to posses philia. But this women Alcestis had philia and proved to the world that women could have this love. 
Philia (φιλία philía^[3]) is "mental" love. It means affectionate regard or friendship in both ancient and modern Greek. This type of love has give and take. It is a dispassionate virtuous love, a concept developed by Aristotle. It includes loyalty to friends, family, and community, and requires virtue, equality and familiarity. In ancient texts, philos denoted a general type of love, used for love between family, between friends, a desire or enjoyment of an activity, as well as between lovers.

Rituals of Love

There are many rituals i practice throughout the day whether or not i notice them. The most important ritual i preform is my nightly calls with my boyfriend. For you to understand this rituals importance to me you must first understand my man's importance to me. His name is Ocean, and i can honestly say i have never loved anyone as much as this totally ridiculous, completely beef-headed yet amazing man. Ocean has certain qualities that i wont get into due to how i doubt you are intrigued to read about a mushy love story, but these qualities truly captured my soul. We have been together for a year and half now and since dating we haven't spent much time apart, til now. Montana and Alaska are, sadly enough, quite far away from each other. Long distance relationships are something that i never thought i would be participating in. And now, here i am calling my man every night before i go to bed. This is a ritual of love.

                                                                           (Ocean)

How Raven Gave Light to the Land

Gunalcheech!
In the beginning the land was covered in darkness. Raven, who has existed since the very beginning of time was tired of bumping into things in the dark. So he decided to go out into the land at search for the light so he could share it with all the people of the Land. While wandering throughout the world Raven stumbled upon a long hut. A chief and his daughter lived here. Through Raven's slyness and trickery he discovered that the Chief had all the light of the World locked up in a bent wooden box. The Chief was a very jealous man and wouldn't let anyone near his box of light. So Raven thought and thought and thought of how he was going to steal the light from the Chief.  When the Chief's daughter came down to the rivers edge to collect water from her basket, Raven saw his chance and transformed himself into a hemlock needle, sliding into her basket. As the daughter took a drink from her basket Raven slid down her throat into her warm belly. Here again Raven transformed into a tiny human baby. 9 months Raven rested until the day the daughter gave birth. Raven was a strange looking child with dark eyes and straight black shiny hair. Although his grandson came from such a mysterious way the Chief still loved him as much as any grandfather would, denying Raven nothing. One day Raven was playing with his grandfather, and Raven reached for the bent wood box with a playful look in his dark eyes. The Chief at first refused his grandson, not wanting to share his treasure. But Raven pleaded and used his trickery to get the Chief to hand him the box. As soon as the bent wood box was in his hands, Raven opened the box! Freeing the sun moon and stars!! As Raven did this he transformed back into his original form and flew away with the light out the chimney and into the sky! Raven released the light back into the sky and all the people of the land were amazed and thankful to Raven forever for what he did for them.

Be Original

Everyone has his or her own stories. Yet at the same time, everyone has the same story. We all start off in this life with a smack on the bottom and a small shudder of a breath. This start of your life is known as Separation. Next you go into Initiation, figuring out life, going through pain as well as joy. But is there anything new left to be done in the place?

"What has been will be again,

   what has been done will be done again;

   there is nothing new under the sun." Ecclesiastes 1:9

The great mythological book The Bible seems to believe that there is no longer anything new to be done down here. How boring would that be though? Never anything different, nothing surprising. I know that personally I would go crazy if this was totally true. Thankfully there is a small loophole to this seemingly life long curse; you must take what's already been done and make it your own. Use your own style. Because you know what is new in this world? You are. We are. There has never been a person alive on this earth that is exactly like you! This is what you have to work with. Now go and be original!! 

Axis Mundi Love

                                                           

First Impressions

Mythology, lies, folklore,  a cultures traditions; within all these have the ability to create a spark of wonder that i feel is sometimes lost in modern day tales. Stories, are an important factor in any cultures history. Although not entirely true, myths are based on some kind of basic truth. I really enjoyed the first quote of Roberto Calasso's book, "These things never happened but are always." -Saloustious
I'm looking forward to seeing what mythologies will be able to teach me this year along with the witty guidance of Professor Sexson.