We have forgotten to remember the fairies and the good witches and the bad witches, the mythical characters that were so honored in our ancients’ lives. Mythology is important for all cultures. We are such eclectic purveyors of our cultures now. I am of Norwegian/Welsh English roots. I am one generation from both. It is part of my heritage. Do you know what yours is? Do you know the myths legends, and stories, the characters of such that were once so important to your ancestral knowledge? What were the stories that speak to the hero/heroine and how your original cultures taught morals and values in your ancestral cultures? I have a sense that is part of why these last generations feel lost and ungrounded. We are losing our ancient ties with our collective ancient consciousness that helped us make sense of our world. We have lost the age-old ceremonies and rituals that bonded us tougher as a people. We tend, I believe, to be wandering because we do not have the connection of historical remembering of events, memories and the values that kept us tied to the ALL. Part, a very important part, of our journey/life is tied to the ancients whether we chose to remember them or not. To lose hold of that thread of meanings and understandings is what is keeping us ungrounded. An African proverb says that Creator made man because he liked a good story. What is our story within the ALL of stories?
We seem to have taken on a few traditions like Christmas, like St. Valentine’s Day, like Easter, like Thanksgiving, but so many of these celebrations have lost the depth of their connectedness to the ancient whole. We have, in a sense, I believe, lost our compass for our journey down here on Mother Earth. Perhaps even our very understanding of our Deity/deities has been lost in the manipulation of religions/politics. I believe we have lost the sacredness of our present journeys. Perhaps we only wanted to hear and follow the stories about good things about where we came from, why we are here and where we are going.
Not all ancient stories were all about good, of course. They were a way of understanding what was going on in Nature, in natural lives of those beings down here on earth. We have lost the stories that tell of warnings, of moral values, of lamentations and celebrations. We have lost the stories of the collective consciousness about morals, about social norms, about connections to ancestors. We show sign s , but very surface signs, of seeking our genealogy and the watered down stories of their time, place, events, and struggles. We have lost the ancient metaphors and analogies that helped explain life as it truly is down here on Mother Earth and how we came to be who we are as a Universe, a world, a people, a community, a family.
Consider the names of big businesses like Amazon (women warriors), Dove (Aphrodite’s symbol), Hermes (Greek Messenger God), Nike (Greek Goddess of victory), Pandora (first human goddess) and any Cereal (Ceres, God of Grain). Consider that Disney has put out movies like Hercules. Although many religions warn against the myths and stories of ancient (consider attempted dousing of ancient Native American stories) and have told their parishes not to delve into such and yet, the myths find their way into modern day norms. In fact, the Catholic church has taken Brigid and made her a saint that was an attempt to take over her old stories. It did not work, now nuns keep the fire burning every day of the year (the Fire Keepers of Brigid).
Learning about and knowing the ancient stories is not learning about false storis nor is it wrong to know other histories other than what we were taught in the bible. There are many old stories and myths that explained others’ perceptions of creation and answers questions about the natural world and the why and how and what of human beginnings. Truths were always taught and the stories are the ways our ancestors understood such things. There are many commonalities of many modern stories. I have read “Daughter’s of Copperwoman”, by Anne Cameron, an ancient Nootka story, their legends and stories. I encourage you to read it. It is a beautiful story that needs not to be forgotten. We are all mirrors of some archetypes in our daily living. Our stories of our lives will one day be seen as myths, fairy tales, simple fictionalized stories. We, too, are heroes of our own stories. We, too have flaws, have to dredge up courage to overcome our own faults and dangers of the natural world. Whoa re they that would say our stories are untrue?
Scientific knowledge helps us know another way at looking at things. Consider the finding of dinosaur bones, of ancient men and woman’s bones and belongings. The findings lead us back to wonder who they were, how they lived, what their societies were like. There are different ways of knowing and so much of these ancient stories are ancient stories still embedded in our soul. It reawakens the stories once we hear them, read them, become familiar with them.
I have deepened my sense of Self by knowing the ancient stories. I have long been, as I have blogged interested in The Divine Feminine. I do not know why we were not taught about them from our beginnings because they are rich and deep and wonderful lessons to be learned in situations that they still apply too today. I have long been a Sisyphus and learn more slowly than I should, but, I have, in the end learned some important stories of my own about surviving, overcoming and thriving. Those stories, of mine, would be my myths and legends of tomorrow, perhaps.
©Carol Desjarlais 2.4.21
“Take Me to Church”, by Hozier, is an explicit hymn to Aphrodite
No comments:
Post a Comment