DBXROHURXAAD MYTHOGRAPHY The Study of Myths and Rituals SECOND EDITION ‘THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS ‘Tuscaloosa and LondonFER 2 The Nature of the Mythical Beast: A Comprehensive, Polyphasic Working Definition (Part 1) One of the major characteristics of myths] worldwide s thelr (Caiinerioatigg rea, «a mythic narrative may be read in marty ‘diferent ways and ct several levels Fr example the myth ofthe (Chinese deity How Chi may be viewed as a myth of the grain go, of the miracdous birth ofa gd, of the child hero overcoming attempts on is if, orf the inauguration of temple sacrifice to the grain god, ‘and again asthe foundation myth of the Chou peopl. Sitar, myths of the Yellow Emyeror may be interpreted a facets of is contradictory roles of warvier-go, bringer of cultural benefits, ‘peacemaker, avenging go, or later in the mythological tradition, the supreme deity ofthe Taoist panthzon, and yet aguin asthe amalgam. of homogenize’ local mythic traditions Anne Birrl, Chinese Mythology: An Introduction "The ol folks saa the stories themselves had the power to protect us cand evento hel us because the stories are live; the storie are our ancestors. In the very telling ofthe stories the spirits of our beloved ancestors and family become present with us, The ancestors Tove usand cae for though we may not ow tis... We areal par of the old stories; whether we know the stores or not, the ald stories Ienow about us, Brom time immemorial the old stores encompass all events, past and fate Leslie Marmon Silko, Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit: Essays on Native American Life Today: Bveryone knows that the expression “mythos” i sed ina variety of ways and has to stand in for al sorts of meanings especially in Journalistic contexts, but also inthe sciences and the harmanities, ‘Some of these include: ideology the collective symbol, the workvew of a group ora society, inden further, the stoves af the gods, ' olbales, religious ances heroic epics, creation narratives, something the “corporate crea images" Others ase ntl poetry” when they want to indicate mavertals cited fiom classical texts—as in the second par of Paust, A third use “mythos” Blumwenberg) “mythos” ison tz ather hand, one ofthe forms of Enlightcrent. For the mythical interpretation of the world serves to orient human beings generally tothe death threatening ‘environments science teats what is garnered fom mythos inspartially lenge any athe paral five materia... The corect. Aiton of th ets a te the comet dition of aman fein ee Maxft Fank, Kaes Her, Unenliche Fars, Neve Mythologie: Motiv-Untersuchungen zur Pachogenese der Moderne, rans Do. sve matrix for understanding many types of myths, ely within distinct social settings yet share a sufficient number be recognizable as imensionality in both origination complex, even algebraic, raxonomy tld be developed, so that particular myths could be indexed by numeri- values, but that is more appropriate for smaller folklore motifs—the tal refBrence is Aarne“Thompson 1961.) is haunted by myth,” si ing myth is an act of something sim by stating a complex definition and delineating its components tially, then I discuss the components in greater ot lesses detail in the jons of the rest of this and the next chapter. First the definition: onal conviction and participation (8) ) of aspect ofthe real, experienced world and co) humankind’ ‘and moral values of a culture ividual experience within (a7) they may provide materials for secondary elaboration, the constit- mythemes (mythic units) having become merely images or reference xA points for a subsequent story, such asa folktale, historical legend, novell, generative rather than narrative aspects of mythological materi [oF prophecy. ‘oading to their perspective, various myths within an interlinked 1ral worldview. Seldom myth actualize the entire worldview, because that apparently Ja collection of many interlocked stories, a canon rather than one In the processes of transmission, constant change and adaptation changed contexts take place. A particular myth may undergo ad- . Trans- (1) Network of Myths Items within a mythological network are interrelated. Just as when we trace the relationships between disparate branches of a large tree, often we can discover within a corpus of myths and rituals relationships between mythemes, myths, and rituals that have at first glance no apparent kinship, ‘The same thing might occur when we are pursuing random cross-sectional sampling, but the more one studies individual myths constituting a corpus, 3s and variations may occur within a necwork, or between two or ‘orially adjacent networks, or—at the most abstract the more one becomes aware of common elements and internal con {cr035 the astonishingly diverse range presented by the tions among them. So Maria Moss, tracking the role of women in four N chologies (see the worldwide surveys by Jordan 1993, Rosenberg, tive American novels: “In order to follow the novels’ web-like structure [Willis 1993; Doty n.d. ["What’s a Myth?"] discusses the range of reflects the interrelatedness of che tribes’ universe, the mind has to follow criss-cross references while thinking in analogies in order to com- prchend the overall significance of native literature and proceed to its cen ter of meaning” (2995 yin this context there is problem for ‘transformations and variations sighted in cross-cultural myth ‘he analyst when only fragmentary selections are extant, but the more fa important fist to study a particular network much as within miliarity the analyst has with all che mythemic units ina corpus, the more fone analyzes the variations of themes within a complex compos itis possible to make accurate guesses about gaps, Jeitmotiv may be recognizable only after hearing all the varia- order to comprehend a mythology, both micro- and macro dl then it may sound rather thin, played alone and without har- 0 complicate the notion of mythol fk contrasts. Sirilarly, there are limits to the usefulness of analytical ogy. John Scheid and Jesper Svenbro (1996) develop the metaphoric imm- ing abstracted from mythological performance contexts: such ab- agery of weaving and fabric in classical Greece. They came up with real fail to carry the narrative dynamics and feeling-tones. problems when they did the usual association of myth and narrative/story: “purest” version may not be temporally “Mytholo in the usual sense of the word) cannot be confined to the sophisticated reworking, so that, for We came to consider the myth not as a story but as yppose the usual consensus that che sim- or concatenation of categories, [a] linking thanks to which it ‘ el of Mark is the earliest, suggesting that it represents instead a becomes possible, within a given culture, to engender mythical stories, im: ed synthesis of Matthew and Luke. Traditional materials are not ages, and rituals” (3). Hence they can search across" s ays expanded, but may be telescoped in the process of transmission, if ing the respective documents an air of close parentage, the origin of which Thave become familiar to everyone or if a zeviser (such as Homer o ‘would be this linking of categories we call myth” (3), and they propose fr one of the evangelist ). ‘guest for the earliest or purest version is often fruitless. Wh possible to posit a hypothetical primal version (an Urtext) by infer seems like the simple Bei doe product of a late a M THE NATURE OF THE MYTHICAL BEAST ‘THs NATURE OF THE MYTHICAL aBaST B7 ‘upon a mass of originally diverse traditions. Already the epic bards were. organizers (Graf 1993: 127), and systemization to fit any corpus requires @ sort of rationalizing and clarifying. Any myth performance takes place tt ‘context that shapes what is being conveyed. ‘While for purposes of historical or other analysis extrinsic to a myth it -may be productive to articulate the meanings of versions within particular ings of Oidipous for Freudian theorists—it is also important of the analysis to focus upon the originating myth and tions simultaneously if we are to appreciate the full psychodynamic range of the powers of the mythic image and to comprehend the unique signifi cance of any one version. The use of the Oidipous myth in the Freudian ipus Complex,” for instance, diverges considerably from the emphe: Aischylos's Otdipous Tyranos (Latinized: Oedipus Rex; R. Champagne 1992 charts the many revisionist perspectives on Oidipous among scholars. influenced by the Gernet Center). : Myths within a network may belong to different classes, depending upon whether the mythographer classifies according to content, type of action, sphere of reference of images, or some other feature. Usual hand: _ book assumptions must be used cautiously. For instance, Albert Henrichs notes that one of the very earliest collections of Greek myths, by Conon. (active in the reign of Augustus, 27 8.¢-14 CB), features a number of myth types, but excludes myths about gods, featuring instead mortal heroes (0987: 245-46) 4 ‘And Robert Parker observes that the initial groupings of Attic myths fo- cused upon the generations of heroes, not upon the Olympians (1987: 100 Even our sense of Aristotelian plot (a narrative with beginning, middle, and end) has to be held in abeyance in mythological contexts. H. A, Shapiro provides a graphic example: on one ceramic, various long separated ex. ploits of Theseus are grouped thematically rather than, as we would expect, sequentially/chronologically. “The narrative structure of Archaic vase painting was confined to the illustration of climactic moments: the begin- ning and end, the cause and effects of a story. These moments, summa: 6 THE NATURE OF THE MYTHICAL ARAST n a single picture; sometimes led to an elision of differences in space s plurality of functions and usages within various periods of a cul- eros culturally, a we will se inthe next chapter. any of the monomythic definitions of the past that emphasized just aspect of the nature or function of myth—that myths pro- ‘cohesion, for example, or that they antedate scientific and philo- lection—have seriously hampered our view of the pol y of myths, even within one culture, Definitions opera 30 easily as to be useless to ‘ion used here provides for @ oF conssitvent features and social functions while recogni cular feature or function may be actualized more or less com ne oF another use or context. inirally Important ‘culturally important” differentiates myths from private fictions lights that myths are stories which uniquely articulate particular establish their personal selfinterpretations. If valorize tradition, 1-3) and Bremmer something extra. Or we mi But as both Powell *b: 3) point out, references to myths in the Greek tradition sometimes 0 “the newest story,” rather than to long-revered (“canonical”) com- a] beliefs. The powerful Pueblo storyteller Lestie Marmon Silko notes her experience of communal storytelling, there is “a self-cortecting ‘which listeners were encouraged to speak up if they noted an 3t fact oF detail omitted” (1996: 32). {TNR NATURE OF THE MYTHICAL BEAST xWe may describe many myths as being socializations of private dre ‘of certain myths: as late as 1760, Uriel Freudenberg was condemned or visionary stories, recognizing that in many societies the inspiration of local Swiss authorities to be burned alive because he published his the individual dreamer or prophet first is tested in the public arena for chat the legend of Wilhelm Tell originated in Denmark rather corporate significance before attaining its wider acceptance. This broad) ception is what Lévi-Strauss refers to as “ ences to the underlying French leads Detienne to coin “mythisin’ for: jomic considerations may be involved: myths may be regarded as a ‘or tribal possession, to be shared only for a price or asa gift, and sted a form of real property (see L. Allen 1975: 23; Rappaport's 1968 of the relations between religious and economic ecological systems Rappaport 1979; Vecsey and Venables inner meanings” of Silio calls “communal truth, not absolute tru which is one way indicating that the myth is considered to pro ive perspect of acceptability 10 a like the soft-Darwinian myth of “the latest is the best” often indicates che presence of truly mythic beliefs, even if that society wou! not identify them as myths, important myths—' sonal themes—reappear repeatedly cy’ otal and written literature, als and iconography. Some materials may be considered highly significa yet reappear only upon specially marked occasions. In this case they often sometimes possible to spot junctures where contemporary persons ents are considered so important that they are mythicized, as North as witnessed in the sort of divinization of John F. Kennedy, or the ongoing mythicization of Elvis Presley, and after the frst emplace- ‘of astronauts on the moon's surface (ee Noel 1986). Work of a crit sti's own traditions may be required to see just “where” culrral ma- ‘are being interpreted mythically for itis not easy to operate both n hic perspective, to hold alternative visions of enterprise of a tern of myth use may be shattered di if such customary usage ceases or is transferred to another social sphere, Conscious manipulation of expectations is possible, therefore—as whe: a scene of a prime, rettes. Many societies frame the recitation of certain impo: ‘he medium of images that social meanings are invented (Latin: in + ‘come upon”), recognized, constructed, and conveyed. We may ak of such constructs as being ctions,” again understand: ‘on not as a pejorative term for the unreal, but with reference to its sng summer among the American Hopi, at the time when snakes are active above ground, The reason given is that snakes may take offense and be- ‘come dangerous to humans at that time if they overhear their stories b ing recited incorrectly. Other sanctions may indicate the cultural impos fictus, rom fingo, hence “something made, con- s THE waTORE OF THE METHICAL BEAST ‘rite NATURE OF THE MYTHICAL BEAST »ings are “invented” and applied (“fictional ‘world at hand. They are the means by which we recognize significances in surroundings includes sacred myth fable or anecdovepoemor ni and sacred ee more than merely seeing Gods and Goddesses and personified figures of the imagination (or uncon: , grand though that is encompassed only by reality. It was suglet 1995: 120, also from a post Jungian perspéc- ‘was applied varichat in its first two decades of operation, the UN might most itions for otherwise inchoate or unrecognized instan- be comprehended as “an imaginative creation” (9) with respect possible. Yellowman, a Navajo storyteller, in response specific historical records and actions (I have developed : ‘to why the trickster Coyote incorporates so many nicative aspects of the ways myths function in Doty r999a). ‘and dualities, seplied: “If he did not do all chose things, Likewise, Morton Klass proposes that one Bauri myth of origin : nald not be possible in the world” (Toelken 1969: 220). ortrayal of reality in words and images” (2995: 130). In my terms, ic program that ignores speculative science fiction ty, what Klass terms a metaphor for reality: Clearly, metaph {ane most uninterested expression overlap; Klass reminds us that neither nonsense, that both help create the modes of apperceptions by which 4 recognize the reality or nonreality of experience. mythological stories is disciplined by narrative gram- sy, by constraints upon various arrangements and manipu- itional mythological formulas, sequences, mythemes, rived from tradition and from the internal (emic) sense of ste” mythic subject matter (more on this in Chapter 10) fof view is also important: we might speak of a myt ‘one feature within which the uniqueness of cul (4) Stories ‘The literary critie William Righter observes that “what the myth does present a concrete possibility. To our openness in the face of ultimate q tions to which we have no answers and for which explanations are si not explanatory the myth poses another question: And what follows lly situated, Myths do not concern trivialities or mere ‘bu issues of substance for the whole society. They are not told ‘comic effect (although there may be comedy or entertaining mis in any particular performance), but because telling them reflection, historical chronicle, legal dictate, demographic statistics, or lic participation in their own and the cul like, Although any of these may be reflected in mythological narra faos Pueblo (New Mexico) elder who spoke w: the primary shaping of the materials is narrative. A story is i ‘whether or not the outward shape is prose or poet or other conventionalized format p marked Ip our father to go across the sky. We do not do this for che whole world. If we were to cease practicing our re- s the sun would no longer rise. Then it would be night : 252} a similar statement from the Delaware may be 3-24). importance of one’s story doubtlessly is related to the ‘story’ conveyed in myths. [ do not refer to history: the historic rather than the historical ‘materials such as genealogies and lists; see Dowden 1992: x0, Vegetti 262; Veyne 1988: 76; Doty 1991: a48-st, “Narrativity and the Universe Story’. Narrative provides a mode of ordering significant plot (Greek mythas, Latin fabula) of experienced or id ‘ae the narrative fictions whose plots read first atthe level of their own stories age then often as projections of immanent transcendent meanings. Such plots mice ‘human potentialities, experiences with natural and cultural phenome ‘and recognition of regular interactions between them. Myths thus pr 2 ‘VHS NATURE OF THD MYTHICAL anasT fue NATORE OF THE MYTHICAL BEASTGallo, Nevion, Einstein, ox Hreu—wil have a greet ting his or her work accepted when i hence a story is something wise fom th sof the day (Gee Kuhn 1970; Poa fdea that can serve asa guide or as part of a worldview (compare er 1993) nates from *weid-: namely, guide/ wise /guise /eidos /wi ve a considerable resistance to accepting such ruling sto- i.e, “knowledge” or “Ihave seen’) fleions. We suppose chat our own culture no longer ‘To be sure, talking about the past has become a proble feaming metaphors, because we now (it is assumed) postmodern culture, We are so accustomed to instant history (boo major happenings published within days of the events, the already second-order abstractions, Thinkin, television “specials” whose commentators go out of their way t ove all objective, we would have trouble with 2 saj- that “history is being made”) that a longer-range view of the past lo that states, “Say the words of a prayer [myth, story], ened, But in y Cicero grasped the importance of the jgner, and the gods will understand” (cited by A. Ortiz story in constituting the ways we humans develop to maturity: "Ne what happened before you were born is to be forever a child. For the span of a man unless it is tied to that of his ancestors by the f of earlier events?” (The Orator 120). And a contemporary poet from n the dour des ("I give that you may give") pattern ¢ that deities must respond when humans perform one ‘two or more different disciplines Cicero in antiquity, and Ortiz today, remind us of the role of. ‘terms in to frame a proposal for stories in providing the frameworks for human consciousness, the taming the disease has as much power in the modern sary linkages between the generations, even the sequences and me or the shamanic healer. ‘ments of the human life span: in some societies the storyteller has the story of each st of, development of a ch ld first takes the aa , first ats lid food, o f the abstracting journals. Both the development of the forth (see Beane and Doty 1975: §§19, 21-22, 50-52). Each of us d y bave contributed to 2 cet personal set of mythostd a means of relating our own existence fie mance Was eatery larger cultural and universal meanit have been treasured in the: Laiuaaleistaio Framing stories are recited most se, the scientific chere are also framing stories that determine what thes analyze, and those that justify economic or racial st. ‘ion. Indeed, the scientist who comes up with @ new: story. f 2 modern research ‘may become just as formulaic, bur my contrast here “ (THE NATURE OF THE MYTHICAL BEAST TE Girona ov vmn wrrecat meas? ='s huge Companion to Literary Myths, Heroes, and Ay where the issue is resolved by recognizing how variably mythic fgures/themes percolate into a wide range o ting “a mythological flavor,” as in Pin« auhletic and military victors, mean the drama both is the myth, in its semi-sacred re-presenta- same time, for the actors, litle more than yet another book’ to be recited effectively (Hatab 1990: 15 al cation fortis revision of Nthograpiy a8 Tell way some yale raphasis upon maraive and plot we have come vo those yay to stress the humanistic values of imaginative storytel: rast ta bloodles scientific abstraction and aithmeticizing. But fundament of Western mythology, Hesiod’s Megalat heiai af Important Women) was ranked equally with his Theogony (see + a48). Genealogies as such were for the Greeks “mythologi than were the toldoth (geneali 1 “begats”) for the Israel- “my move toward “mythicity” away from restrictive concepts sorytelling. Subsequent sections of this book return to issues nh” can mean be- repeated “canonical” ve lodoros sought to synthesize “pantheon-ize”—precisely in that late time when primary belief ific power of Olympians was being overwhelmed science, by what we would today call “protosc Apollodoros’s Library (1 (1976) is invaluable for ion of modern scholarship. Jean Sez Graves's The Greek Myths as our closest modern count although Ganta’s Barly Greet Myth (993) is now new scholarly standard, since it incorporates materials, When “primary myth’ i seem only “natural” and authori syarrativity, plot structures, and what “my og ‘oversimplifying collections such as Thomas Bulfinch, Myths cand Rome, ox Gustav Schwab, Gods and Heroes Myths and pes of so far as 1 am con lar: see Kirk x974: m1), Loraux notes that “anyone w: take a walk without everywhere encountering the city pre lus myths would probably though in the countryside ar where to citizens of the criticizes overemphasis (both reprinted in many edi fo be avoided as much as possible today). oric and Symbolic Diction on narratives as such), Such materials were open to constant revisioning and chan, nguage is not just an arena for huma 1992: 104), to an extent that a canon-observant West can today ‘medium for the incarnation and ‘deed, already in the medieval centuries’ engage sensual experience as a THE NATURE OF THE MYTHICAL BEAS . {THe NATURE OF THE MYTHICAL SEAST °| arguments about administrative efficiency, -y emotions tivations that such arguments never could spplying the root metaphors, che ruling images, of a society, mytho- Janguage provides a coding mechanism by means of which the ex: i apparent randomness of the cosmos can be stabilized. Myths the overarching conceptualities of a society by structuring its spresentations of reality (Gieling notes how they thereby “mo- 1993: 13, 46). Myth expresses how we feel about re symbols are an endlessly inter-marrying fa shat we know rationally (33). Protorypical mythical accounts stated in general terms, appears only the first namings of the features of the landscape or of cultural apparent simplicity of the stat Jal isolation children are taught mythological stories as a means (albeit often feagment, which, in its natural place, the infin recognized) of socializing them into a worldview and ethnic ‘of ethical behavior (Mannheim 1936 is sill valuable on the devel- of ideologies from myths, now usefully supplemented by Gisling lood 1999). ‘proficiency is always linked to power, and hence rhetoricians the teacher interpreters are always subject to careful scrutiny lest “words become merely the ideological support of domination of oth- ay 1993; 148). Representative mythological images and language are , but purveyors of a culture's worldview and ethics. ‘manifestation of mind. Metaphors and symbols touch upon, but do noe hhaust, the sensual and affective. Gesturing toward rather than explic: they develop pictures out of the everyday at its very boundaries, forth images and experiences of the world beyond what is presen tional, or corporate in order to seed new appropriations of meaning allow them to become embodied and spoken realities. W. B. Yeats spok the presence of such open-ended qualities: “It is the charm of mythic rative that it cannot tell one thing without t truths by living fibres" (Comments on Blake, quoted by Block 1980: Waardenburg 1980). And Richard Slotkin refers to the way a mytholo, corpus can dramatize “the world vision and historical sense of 2 peopl culture, reducing centuries of experience into a constellation of co ling metaphors" (1975: 6-7, cited by Jewett and Lawrence 1989: 43). As units of information that are not bound by the immediate cont of what pre i legories provide concrete conveyances for (abstract) thought. Embodying meta: photic and symbolic meanings, they allow experi images, ideas, and concepts tobe engaged. Ritu ing out ideas dram reek art as barbarians outside the bounds of che shield of Athene Parthenos ng the Amazons on . the Giants on its back, while decorations on her sandals showed de with the Kentauroi/ Centaurs: “Together they encapsulated the fes of Athens and declared her image to the world.” (A similar point scthe account of che autochthonous birth of Erichtonios that evenea- Jjastifies Athenian practice in war as well as'democracy itsclf is made max 1991: 343) of the mythic starement: when myths speak only of the absolute reali rituals ground itin the relat »gical image, as Hank Lazer bas shown in a s sng the Lege (a Banta people of East Zaire), initiates learn lie that echo the Alabama Law Code (1992: 91-128), ds of traditional proverbs. ‘These are taught one by one, but an right of monarchs, or the concept of “the just war,” were not derived from initiate comes to view the entire experienced universe through the ~ ‘TH NATURE oF tHE MYTHICAL seas Thx NATURE OF THE MYTHICAL BEAST xtude and discordant noises, in order once again to be experienced, ‘V, Tuner 1965). The extended human body, society, also fined, and heard. Another explanation would focus upon reactions : saphic expression to mythic imagery. We need only refer progressive tendencies toward abstraction and depersonalization in smological geography represented by images of the Earth factimpacted society. the life-giving fluids of the various Rivers of Life. Myths al and social exis- Myths play out expression not abstractly but, a5 we have seen, experienced pola tes and images. Because mythical language operates as an aesthetic living versus dead, and (and in other ways as well, of co expresses meanings throug! isorder. cl awareness of the stages crete and graphic imagic diction. 1 suspect that mythological figures ing through myths has become espe ned to most receptively when the ly problematic, when the abstract seems $0 re from experience that people become painfully aware of a mindibody| cation that seems to exclude meaningful embodiment and inco:pori am struck by how many contemporary spe 1¢—may reveal conceptual patterns oth- stories culminate in disclosures that “perfect beings” live a completely maginal psychot ied existence; Romanyshyn 1994 puzzles through the nature of peels ee at ae body in electronically fac : seem to be awaiting yet the full developments of Lévi 1 of the concrete,” attention to the actual types of graphic , ad philosophers abost 22-27) nndroids Dream of Elect than forins,chey fix the unconscious, they provide us with a ‘we may correlate the widespread contempa t reading of our destiny” (preface to Bachelard ro7ra: xv). If dy movernent’—yoga, tantrism, meditation, peya ide a rich resource to demonstrate synthesis, “mindful aerobics,” and the like (what [named above #5” : analysis closer to iconographic Coast”)with a search for more satisfactory integration of flesh and sp @elcourt ‘These programs emphasize this integration, and each reflects a freq 1998, Brice 1978, Shapiro 1994, and Wyman 1983 provide exam feature of mythological symbolism, namely, the graphic use of the hums ‘ways iconography can corsect and supplement written records; body as a master symbol for spi (Chapter 10). We can refer Im (e.g. J. W. Martin and Ostwale 1995] remind us that tradi traditional figures of speech, such as the Christian church as the Body oF the Jewish Kabbalistic tradition, in which the arrangements elements of the Sephirothic diagram may be interpreted as a mult ‘mensional interfacing of the worlds of reality, and the component m Conviction and Participation bers of the human body. ] The body serves as a rich source of mythological symbolism through out the world; some e pe fist benefits of myths, suggests the fourth-century Saloustis, cy stir up our intellects by causing us to ask questions about what cin myth and ritual (Douglas 1966 int (Nock 1926: par. iii). Mythic narratives are a form of know- nents contribute the essential color s TMS NATURE OF THE MYTHICAL BEAcT IME ATURE OF THE MYTHICAL BEAST 5ing (note the Indo-Isuropean cognates from the Proto Indo-European foe (i folisog apect of mye "Miynh has chs aloe “*gno-: know/cunning/ken/cognition/nacrative/gnosis). The kno than separates or divides; it provides ways other than the ‘not just that of the rational, ideational aspects of human conscio » grapple with undifferentiated experien: but that of the sensual-aesthetic, moral, and emotional as w Murray Stein can speak of a certain “elusiveness to the int of myth; he refers, tone chat can draw illiterate culture such as some college instructors con- dy today, confronting mass-media informed but usually non- fh emotionally powerful images. flection than would otherwise be likely” in the daily newspaper. The ancient Greeks noted, alongside the pedagn value of myths (Buxton 1994: 171), “the power of myths to arouse fee , and to offer consolation for present sorrows by past adventures” (173). Si feria Pere deeb and emblems, even the archit tus shapings Myths both cor believer of their relevance and lead one 16} bf tie sacred and secular environments, and the character of the pres a never understand Friedrich von Schlegel’s romantic de ore than any other “explains” the emotional powers at work: covers the presence of mythe within one’s own story, or within the lives of those around us, “We af ration of imagination and love” (as cited by Bogan 1946: 12. ‘what we myth,” and we are always in the process of becoming ano: the cultural reductions of such perspectives, myth remains in the realization of our potential selfhoods, another enactment of the deities al vicinity of the mysterious. Some angue that both terms rest in the “muttering” or “closing of the eyes” (the Greek muetn) of But this is not the well-known mountaintop isolation of fc nature-cxperience; rather, it is socially interactive: a8 some believe, [myth] leads us on 2 journey out of We leave the isolation of our perspective and enter the larger, if ultima limited, universe in which others see what is true to them” ditionally, the personal lassical Greek mysteries were precisely un-mnystical. They were We are convinced by the mythie story, and recognize our participati ‘in front of thousands of participants in a sealed i tonal within it, when we fet im to unite rather than to separate aspects of ‘The Greek muésis was translated into Latin as initatio, oa our existence, when it both explains and honors the inexplicable, accept, {623 Christian “mysteries” were precisely the preached dogmas of the ing rather chan denying that what cannot be examined and demonstrat ther than private bel mathematically may have a very powerful re: myth exists beyond the usual pales of every- RE OF THE MYTHICAL BEAST 7 56 (TUE NATURE OF THE MYTHICAL azast Secayness—if it were just so much stenodiction about the past, no be arrested by it, stimulated by it, led to imagine one’s society through it. John Girling observes that “the inspirational ch delineate the orders of relationships between “our ‘the gods” A person who does not define his or her the culeure’s primary myths—that is, someone who be- ghic mind set, another n sy field ethnologists have discovered sng in Bali in 1958, discovered that they were “intruders, “and the villagers dealt with ws... as though we were 20 “ye were nompersons, specter, invisil ted as real people only after they un x ftom prosecution for attending a cockfight ‘nyths are resolutely chauvinistc: whatever cannot be because there are as yet no words to enable us to get there” (98 ‘origins in the primal accounts will have tobe justified by words—and yet myths are comprised of images and words: the a conundrum is a paradox, a mysterious irony of human express ‘myths are an emotional fulfillment of personality” (1993: 170) In today’s language, we may note that myths balance the rat brain functioning (V. Turner 1985: 287); they represent the trans secondary interpretation, Such a phenomenon may in attempts to base modern social legislation upon ‘implicit in the national constitution, Cognitive disso ‘a contemporary social setting differs so radi ad in the foundational document that sufficient rei (8) The Primal, Foundational Accounts “Myths are perceived as essential accounts, the primary stories of 2 the stories that shape and expose its most important framing justify contemporary practices, statuses, relation self-conceptions, its “roots.” A Mexican Huichol begins a myth. ances, technologies, and the like, and/or to provide origins of the fod plant maize (corn) this way: “This is che stony ianetions. It is certainly not onl ne that eti- roots, Itis a story of the maize that we adore, that which we bol 0 technological tool for manipulating the object. We re because itis our nourishment, iis our life, That is why we tus cy of place, such tals promise conti s define o (Tireless Heares}, who bro y the chief of the children is loved for keeping uab oe concern of myth-genealogists is to map a world € of her kin, so you, tireless hearer, will be cherished by us doses a aeeh Meee ipped by men for keeping unbroken the Stoties of Creation a er we cell of past days and future” (Tyler 196: 63) Zuni and other stories of creation define what “hurnan” shall mes 8 HH NATURE OF THE MYTHICAL apasTre-ligio: “links signified together”) that the primal stories are the mg perfect and the most potent, that “salvation” is attained by rect ‘with the spiritual energies that first were given nary. Rituals may seek to engage directly and to reactivate this potene) ‘make it available to the participants often as a form of healing either 3 sion. Hence initial episodes of rit al geography that recapitulates 3 step toward identifying the spatial locus of health or salvation. Indeed, ti ‘most modern religious, political, or academic ritual will inchude a cezen nial “processional” that introduces the boundaries of the sanctified sp and identifies the statuses of the primary ritualist. 4 Mythic accounts, especially chose that narrate beginnings, emb ideas of wholeness, of order replacing chaos. Hence they may be e sized strongly during periods when fragmentation or attenuation d structures. A period of cultural breakup may produce a conservath on, leading to an almost magical reaffirmation of the normat breakthrough of order into chaos in the primeval era. Questioners oft sacral validity of the mythic origins at such a time may find d classified as traitors to the tribal or national cause, Erik Erikson wat against “originology.” “a habit of thinking that reduces every human si tion to an analogy with an earlier one, and most of all to that earliest, est and most infantile precursor which assumed o bet ‘ign 18, cited by Mitchell and Black 1995: 145). “There is a fine line between plumbing the treasures of the special tim of the origins and remaining tapped, merely recycling experiences that longer seem appropriate in a later situation. Girling notes that myths not only conservative agents, but may be altered in response to his change 2 [Myths are symbolic representations of critical changes; they do not “ex plain’ these changes. What an interpretation of myths can do i to help understand why people (ourselves) respond in certain ways to the situations | they encounter, thats, why they behave with such intensity commitment nd . ‘rip NATURE OF THE wYFHIcAL aBast ively mobilizing popular energies, even agninstirra- “emocratic’ myths—for example, the civil rights move- else mobilizing the same psychic energies, bt on a 2 in “will o power” myths, suchas those evoked by the sperienced World ‘the mythical cosmos ingredient to the network of veive the represented events, persons, times, and so on ‘or imaginary, but sees them as reflections of what ac- ‘some level). In general, mythical personages are be- ‘existed, or really to exist, at particular times in the such perception has reference to “mythic chronol- ime itself experienced as beating meaning,” 85 the sort of historicality to which we so often refer, ehas merely happened. n language distinguishes meaningful history, Geschichte, s chronicle, Historic, a distinction similar to that between, falsifiable so long as sympathetic retelling or rit \ geschichtliche) and the merely historical (German: his- i observes that the myths around Dionysos, for instance, actual historical events, yet “they contain much more that ‘were repeating that which had once sche suggested that “there could be a kind of history that common fact in it and yer could claim to be called in the objective” (1997: 01). that myths are regarded as expressing lasting nodal points cance, they present unquestionable truths, which are con- reinforce: ‘0 evoke emotional participation, Itis when someone from fork calls into question the reality of the mythic frame- {THE NATURE OF TID MYTHLCAL BEAST @‘work itself that we begin to feel its nature as something human: ess the first image that occurs when these names posed upon the world, Hence Herbert Mason's comment that * f 4 specific man and woman). perceive myth to be, not a mere uatruth, but a story rooted s taught us, midcentary, that the relationship of the ‘where one has been past and that one has to reach ‘id might be present and that someone at a crucial point on the way says ies that, according to the Itis astory, like most, of facts familiar to oneself but to which, thing happens to make returning to them impossible in the tone gives almost no thought” (1980: 15). Mason helps us to ap imporcance of studying many myths: one thing they do is to tify the many parts of our selves and our social conventions ‘other times increasing the contrasts (“What have AAs part of the real, experienced world, myths may establish af ‘do with each other?”). A volume of essays edited normal behavior; or x actually experienced racted and reinforced re sorld (economic) matters and mythology (Doty these issues) ‘more neutral s.c.s. and ¢..—appé shated by Christianity and Judais and rituals model possible behavioral roles, Jntained even today may be seen in cases whei : ‘ange of possibilities conceived as “human” within s—such as archaeologists and cultural anthropologi ic figures provide projective mythic identi have ignored findings that would demand re ‘contemporaries, the figures functioning sequen- time schemes. The Olduvai Gorge excavations xr psyche models, providing opportunities to play for example, were ignored for some time, whereas ‘selves we may desire to explore or to become, have been many confirmations of African origins of the hum: ‘establish pecking orders, genealogical relation: importance of various social groups within a soci- ides an example in the distribution of meat at sacrifices: those carefully orchestrated observances As deposits of experience or as indicators of types of cons myths pass along traditional adaprational patterns and thus s functions; for those for whom the myths have become inert, ho scious modeling of the self according to mythic prototypes malt . ize the “hierarchical ordering of society, with the strate, priests, and most eminent citizens’ jected, even while subterranean traces in consciousness live of such traces in languages, which may harbor mythological associat both pragmatic and psychological orienta after the underlying myths are forgotten (and so tropical storms il cosmos. Changes in social status may be. day are gi ses), or in the unconscious psyche (ath ‘by myths and rituals, especially insofar as ceremonies that facilitate transitions wi ae THE NATURE OF THE MYTHICAL BEAST | twa navonr oF THE weTmacaL BEAST 6a society: hero myths, initiation, marriage, and so on. (In addition, 1 and rituals may inculcate social standards that are given public cence, while participants follow private models and goals: contem politics often seems based on such procedures!) ‘The role of heroes and heroines is especially marked: they see represent the extremes of human behavior on behalf of the cven though often imaged in terms of the lone individuals serugae 6 termine a proper course of behavior that initially seems antisocial. ‘hero or heroine—perhaps every initiate—goes beyond the expected ‘norms in order to return to confirm the norms or to reshape them history of the ways the heroic is defined will be as well the history definition of selfhood: active or passive, conquering or receptive, toward or accepting of traditional models, and so on (my long essay on hero/heroine tracks some of this history and 19922). The dominant myths of an era reflec psychosocial maturity or health, and undergi heroines. Various subgroups may support differing mythic models, eading presence of more than one norm for human fulfillment (making ruling a kingdom, attaining enlightenment) "Tribal or familial myths provide incentive to understand oneself as having a special status wit larger social whole (a leader, a servant, a prophet). In this way they provide a justification for understanding one’s group as “God's people? « period of suppression by others. So the Okanagon (a Salish tribe) that the first Indians were made “from balls of zed earch or mud, and ‘is why we are reddish-colored. . ,. As red earth is more nearly relate {gold and copper than other kinds of earth, therefore the Indians are: +0 gold, and finer than other races” (first published in sox7 after contacts European-Americans; in Sproul 1079: 243, my emph Societies may stress different types of A group may even set forth a mythical eco as noted eatlier, Perki “% ‘THo NATURE OF THE MYTHICAL nEast ly, that “Mother Earth” was no primordial Na- ity, but a contemporary creation of twentieth-century accepted retrospectively as anciently Native be- influential voice (for once) in popular culture, and Americans conform now to usage of the term (negt- so strong that Gill left the field of Native American aul upon Australian materials, 1998). THE NATURE OF THE MYTHICAL Bast 6