Memories

In class on Friday, we were asked to relay a story of our earliest childhood memory.  Mine may seem a little unrealistically early, but I do specifically remember and have had the image burned into my mind for as long as I can remember.  Sometimes, I feel as though other peoples memories of a time and place can make you think that you remember it, but this is one of those memories I know I see it from my own perspective because of the details that I have relayed to my family that they never told me.

When I was one and a half, my family, then consisting of my dad, mom, 2 week old brother and I, lived on territory of Guam.  My dad was in the Navy and was stationed there for two years.  Guam is an island that is, at max, thirty miles long and in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  I don't remember much from there, but one day does stick in my mind.   My mom and I were in the middle of playing my favorite game of "pushing Rachel up and down the hall in a laundry basket" when the house began to shake.  At this point, Mom had pushed me back into the living room by the couch.  She grabbed me and pulled me to her chest, holding me tightly and talking to me, trying to keep both her and I calm.  I remember seeing my Dad over her shoulder with my little brother wrapped in a blanket, also against his shoulder.  Dad tried to get Mom to move outside, in case the house collapsed, but either she didn't listen or was so intent on keeping us both calm, that she didn't move from her kneeling position on the floor.  I can see Dad's back as he moved out the door and vaguely remember seeing a palm tree swaying back and forth in a way that seemed almost like rubber and the ground moved in waves.

                                                        Neptune in the fontana Di Trivia

Now, looking back, I think it was so strange that I can remember something like this even at a young age. But then again, it makes sense because it was a natural disaster.  Because of my reading of Ovid's Metamorphosis, I thought about how in even in the first few pages, the cause of earthquakes was caused by a blow from Neptune's fork.  I also looked into other stories about earthquakes and found a Norse myth about them.  Loki, the god of mischief was involved in the Death of the god Baldr and was punished by being placed under a snake dripping with venom.  His wife would catch the venom in a bowl, but when she would empty the bowl some would drip into her husbands eyes and cause him to move and strain on his bonds which was the cause of earthquakes.   

Norse god Loki
 

The Lamp-post

Once agian, I am so excited to share my latest thoughts, therefore I must right them down before I forget.  On Wednesday,  we were assigned to write about a childhood book and it took me a few days to decide which story is most memorable for me.  Finally, decided on a series that was read to me over and over, and of which my mother still reads to us.  Strange that at my age I would still have my mother read to me at times, but I cant help it.  Between first and eighth grade, I was homeschooled and as a part of our morning routine, my mother would read a devotional passage from the Bible followed by a chapter from the Chronicles of Narnia.  My siblings and I nevered tired of these books and would beg every morning for another chapter, though sometimes I wonder if it was partly to delay the onset of the schoolday.

In class on Friday, though, I was once again reminded of the importance of trees in all myths and I realized that C. S. Lewis also incorporated trees.  In fact, he uses trees multiple times throughout the series.

 In his sixth book,  "The Magician's Nephew", Lewis tells the prelude story of Narnia, discussing the creation story of this world.  It is a story similar to the biblical creation story.  While Narnia is just being created, characters from another world are transported into it.  One of the individuals brought with is a witch with the desire to mold this new world into a land of her own accord.  In order to prevent her from accomplishing this, one of the children from the story, Digory, must bring an apple from a sacred garden.  Once again, the biblical story of Eve and the snake seems similar to Lewis' s version, changed only by the witch eating the forbidden fruit and Digory refraining.  This fruit is planted at the borders of the country and keeps the witch from entering.  A fruit from this tree is plucked and given to Digory to take home to his mother in order to heal her from her illness.  Digory plants the seeds and another tree grows.  From it's wood, a magic wardrobe is built.  This is the same one that is used in the first book, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I have to admit, it took me by suprise how many different elements from class were in these books.  As mentioned above, the story of forbidden fruit, an Ex Nihilo creation story, along with trees involved.  It is one more eye opening example of how much mythologies do play a role in everyone's lives, even at a young age

Discovery!

It finally happened!! I know that my English teacher from high school would be appalled at my two exclamation points,  but I can hardly contain my excitement.  I suppose that my struggle has been trying to find the mythologies in the world around me, anything  to continue and connect me in discovery of this beautiful unknown.  I look around the classroom at all the individuals who are so well read in the classics, Greek, art... everything.I would have to say that at times I feel like a student at the "two plus two" level in a class dealing with algebra.  But there is something about this class that draws you in; the discovery of self.  For the past two weeks I have dreaded blogging for the plain fact I have no clue what to blog about.  How does one take these beautiful stories and apply it to one's self.  Its something, I see now, has been blatantly staring me in the face.  The "ah haa moment."

Now with this introduction, you probably preparing yourself for this huge over the top story or coincidence, so I hope you are not too disappointed.  I think it was talking about Laurel wreaths that started a wheel turning.  I started to see to see athletes and Olympics and Roman gladiators, then with the story including Hercules, I couldn't help but think of the Olympic games.  As extreme as it is, I started to be more curious about the now and then comparison.  What modern day sports event, closely intertwined with my own self, reminded me of Ovid?  One word: wrestling.  For the past 14 to 15 years, I have been involved with the sport one way or another.  Whether attending practices as a young six year old or attending a tournament for a younger brother as a college a student,  this sport has followed me from childhood to adulthood.  In fact,  just this last weekend,  I was able to watch the youngest of my two brothers wrestle in Belgrade.  Although I had wondered at a connection last Friday,  I wasn't able to see if one existed until listening in class.  I was curious, though, why victors wore this adornment.  The answer soon seemed to show that Apollo himself was the embodiment of success and victory, encouraging mortals to engage in the wearing of the laurel wreath, or crown.  (Wikipedia).  Even now, I am doing more research into wrestling, of which I will share when I find what I am looking for.

Although this may seem to be a very loose association,  it was something that excited me because I finally got the idea that we had heard since the first day of class.  This was that just as Dorothy learned at the end of her adventure, everything she needed was right in her back yard.  For me, finding mythologies within myself was vital before I could see the mythologies around me.  As soon as I realized that I could see a connection within myself, mythologies began pouring in around me (I started making a notes of things I saw).  Trees suddenly were everywhere; Facebook, the gym, in the house of the my employer.  I can't tell you how excited I was.  And it is all thanks to Dorothy and her discovery in a journey to find something as well.


"I won't look any further than my own backyard; because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with." (Wikiquote)



http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wreath
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz

Trees!

This weekend, I tried very hard to make sure I accomplished the assignments given to me for mythologies.  The tree one was most definitely the easiest of these to accomplish.  Autumn and I, who have been best friends for close to a decade, picked two trees that stood lonely in my backyard. 

Belonging

Initiation.  Every group, organization, school or activity seems to always have some sort of initiation.  This isn't always the case, but for the most part there is always some sort of ceremony to welcome new individuals "through the door."  Over the years, I would have to admit that I have gone through too many initiations to even count them all.  Whether it was a short meeting for cheerleading in high school, or a boring initiation into college,  I feel that this mythological tradition is an important part of our lives, even after centuries and longer.

        My first real initiation was my freshman year of college at a smaller Catholic school.  Sports and pride in the s hool were an integral part of the environment and experience of this university.  After all the freshman had moved in and parents had left,  older students led freshman into a small gym and squished into one level of bleachers.  You could feel an electric level of excitement as students found seats with new friends and roommates.  The noise levels increased and decreased as time passed, but the high energy buzz around the room lingered.  Then,  a much older student, dressed in school colors to the extreme suddenly took stage.  Commanding our attention, he soon made it perfectly clear that we had been selected as chosen students to take part in the long standing traditions, honor, loyalty and pride in the school and that we would soon be officially a part of carrying on all that we stood for.  Loud, upbeat music and students standing and pushing forward in a confusing mass were followed by flashing lights and a run to see if we really wanted this.  The thing that sticks most in my mind was the older students stopping every student and specifically and enthusiastically, half talking half yelling, if each if us was ready to be a Zag right before swinging us into a flashing gym to run through a winding maze of students clapping to you.  This kind of initiation, being very painless, was an experience that made me feel a part of a bigger picture, which is what initiations are for,  to bring new people into a group.

Not all initiations are painless, though.  Thankfully, most group ones are, but cultural initiations are not always, and mythological initiations are most definitely not.  In some cultures,  if the initiated person can withstand the pain presented to them,  they are considered to be worthy of joining.

http://listverse.com/2010/07/17/10-incredibly-painful-rites-of-initiation/

The link above tells stories of multiple different cultures that perform ceremonies that are extremely painful, and are the only way that individuals can prove themselves and join the ranks of womanhood, or manhood.  Why do we do these types of ceremonies though, painless or not?  I believe it is a sense of belonging for some and proving to ourselves and others that we belong.

Metempsychosis

I have to admit,  I had fully expected to enjoy the lecture given in this class, but I didnt expect to be so caught up in the importance of literature, and stories, to the human race.  As one of those "science" students, I often become caught up in the black and white of the world.  Listening on Wednesday, I realized that often I forget to look at the "colors," or my own interpretations of the world around me.

I loved the idea from lecture of metempsychosis; that nothing ever really dies.  Our family will carry on our legacy even after we are gone.  In the physical scientific way, we are dead, but everyone has a history.  I decided to ask my mother for some details on my own family to see what my own history was.  What I found most interesting was a myth from my Dad's side of the family.  According to the story,  a young girl in Germany, born of higher birth married a poorer farmer against the will of her family, as a result, she was cut off from the family and given only a small portion of her dowery.  When they were married, the farmer and girl were given a new name which is the creation of my own last name.  Is it through these kind of stories passed down through generations that a kind of metempsycosis occurs?

In this same was creation passed down.  There are thousands of creation myths.  But what is a myth.  Since it is derived from the word mythos, it is the precedent behind all actions.  In this since, these creation stories are the precedent.  They have been passeddown through generations through many cultures,  but after looking through the sumerizations ofa handful of these myths, a pattern appeared.  While I didnt look at enough of the myths to completely confirm my thoughts, it seemed that a pattern of a diety, or many dieties came together in a nothingness to create the world, with the order and way of creation varying throughout the different myths.  If creation is a mythology, or mythological story, it makes melean more toward the side of mythology being the truth of stories.