Post by Senbecc on Jul 4, 2007 3:02:07 GMT -5
Katia writes: A journalist friend in a Patterns of Mythology class took years ago, wrote a short paper on the Wiccan Creation myth. Her name is Delani Bartlett, and she was raised Jehovah Witness but turned Pagan when she became an adult. You'll be happy to know that she and her mother escaped from Jehovah's Witnesses when Delani was a teenager, and my friend is now happily married (Pagans call it a Hand-fasting, I think) and raising a little Pagan family.
She discusses here the Creation chapter of Starhawk's book The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. Read thru it, it's not too long, and it's way cool stuff. There is some spiritual Physics, Yin & Yang, and even X and Y chromosomes being manifestations of the balance between God and Goddess:
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The creation myth of the Faery tradition of Wicca, as retold by Starhawk, is interesting for two main reasons: first, it is strikingly close to scientific theories of creation, and second, it describes the creation of the universe as the result of love between two feminine forces. It is only as the creations burst forth from the Primal Mother that the secondary Goddess, Miria, is pushed further away from the Primal Mother and masculinized. It is Miria/God's longing for the Primal Mother that draws Him to Her and defines the earthly wheel of the year (the changing of the seasons and, by implication, the human life cycle).
"Alone, awesome, complete within Herself, the Goddess, She Whose name cannot be spoken, floated in the abyss of the outer darkness, before the beginning of all things. And as She looked into the curved mirror of black space, She saw by Her own light Her radiant reflection, and fell in love with it." (Starhawk, p.31). The description of the void before creation as being a "curved mirror" is remarkably similar to scientific theories that before the big bang, all dimensions existed at the same time, in the same space----in other words, a compressed, curved reflection of itself.
Next, we have the unique idea of creation born out of the love of two feminine forces. "She drew it forth by the power that was in Her and made love to Herself, and called Her "Miria, the Wonderful." "Their ecstasy burst forth in the single song of all that is, was, or ever shall be, and with the song came motion, waves that poured outward and became all the spheres and circles of the worlds. The Goddess became filled with love, swollen with love, and She gave birth to a rain of bright spirits that filled the worlds and became all beings." (Starhawk p.31). Again, the idea of creation as sound waves, spheres and circles is fairly well known among modern physicists. All matter is constantly in motion. And all things, from galaxies to microscopic algae, move in cycles, yin/yanging around and around.
It is only the interplay of yin and yang, or cyclical movement, that creates/destroys. This is echoed in the modern theory of entropy. The rest of the myth describes Miria's separation from the Goddess, and the three stages She goes thru to become God. The concept of the masculine as arising from the feminine is also recognized by modern biologists---the X, or female, chromosome, is present in both men and women. X chromosomes contain more genetic material than Y chromosomes. DNA present in the mitochondria of animal cells (including humans) are passed on unchanged from mother to child, but only females can pass it on to the next generation.
The myth goes on to describe how the God is eternally drawn to the Goddess and how His longing (to return to His source) produces the changing of the seasons. She gives birth to Him at the Winter Solstice, initiates Him to sexuality in the spring and summer, and He sacrifices Himself with the grain of fall so that life may go on.
In this myth, the Goddess is the Primal Source, both womb and tomb, from which all creation is born and to which all creation must return in death. The God is closer to us humans in that He, too, goes thru the human life cycle: birth, growth, sex, and death. This defines and validates humanity's place in the cosmos---neither at the center nor outside of it. We are part of everything, but, like everything, we must yield to inevitable Death. Hope, or at least comfort, is found in the fact that He always returns, just as spring always follows winter, so we humans might return as well. Thus, the concept of yin/yang, death/rebirth is an ancient one in Faery Wicca oral tradition.
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Comments on the above - Faery Wiccan Creation Myth, by Dr. Katia
Miria, the Goddess' Name?
That's the end of Delani's paper. I like the comparisons to Jesus, being born in Winter at solstice time (Dec. 22) and dying as a "sacrifice" along with the harvest grain---for the salvation of all. And isn't it neat that the Goddess' name is Miria, which is sort of half-Hebrew, half-Greek for "Mary."
Don't Eliminate the Sacred Masculine
Reading this, I have to remind myself that Starhawk is a die-hard feminist, because she seems to over emphasize the love of two FEMININE forces. Not that that's a bad thing. But I hope, in our efforts to bring back the Goddess, the Sacred Feminine, we don't eliminate or down-grade the role of the Sacred Masculine. That would simply be turning the tables and making the same mistake the masculine-loving priests and church authorities made. We want to merge the tables, not turn them.
Mergers and Marriages
The concept of "getting it together." That's what Jungian psychology calls "individuation." Means getting yourself together. Unifying your personality. The original myth that Starhawk used as the basis for her adaptation is almost exactly like her new version (discussed above). But the second divine force is masculine from the start, he doesn't "evolve" into masculinity after beginning as a goddess. In the original myth, the Goddess sort of creates her own lover, by the simple act of loving.
New Creation Myths Needed
Wouldn't it be nice to see a Myth where the two somehow evolve together, simultaneously? I like everything to be fair and egalitarian! But then, nature does start all babies out with that X, and "modifies" the ones that are to become males. Chickens do seem to come before the eggs.
It's so linear, though. Why does one thing have to come "before" the other? Who says time moves in a linear path, plodding along with befores and afters. Let's get into physics here!
The Universe is a Merging Place for the personalities of God/Goddess?
I still like the Jungian concept of balance, that we're each both feminine and masculine at once. Not androgynous or neuter, but we have an "other side" to us. As I've pondered before on the GoddessChristians discussion list, maybe God and Goddess are going thru this individuation/personality merging and clarification process and we are all stuck in the middle of it. We are aspects of Their personalities, helping or hindering Their merging into wholeness.
The Over-Mind
If the universe is made up of any one thing, it does seem conceivable that the one thing might be "Mind." The great Over Mind, as Arthur C. Clarke would say. So, inside a "Mind" we have thought waves zipping around, forms taking "shape," etc., and psychology. Minds have psychology happening in there! So this universe is all a big shrink session for God and Goddess while they get their psychology straightened out?
Top
www.northernway.org/creation.html
She discusses here the Creation chapter of Starhawk's book The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. Read thru it, it's not too long, and it's way cool stuff. There is some spiritual Physics, Yin & Yang, and even X and Y chromosomes being manifestations of the balance between God and Goddess:
************************************************************
The creation myth of the Faery tradition of Wicca, as retold by Starhawk, is interesting for two main reasons: first, it is strikingly close to scientific theories of creation, and second, it describes the creation of the universe as the result of love between two feminine forces. It is only as the creations burst forth from the Primal Mother that the secondary Goddess, Miria, is pushed further away from the Primal Mother and masculinized. It is Miria/God's longing for the Primal Mother that draws Him to Her and defines the earthly wheel of the year (the changing of the seasons and, by implication, the human life cycle).
"Alone, awesome, complete within Herself, the Goddess, She Whose name cannot be spoken, floated in the abyss of the outer darkness, before the beginning of all things. And as She looked into the curved mirror of black space, She saw by Her own light Her radiant reflection, and fell in love with it." (Starhawk, p.31). The description of the void before creation as being a "curved mirror" is remarkably similar to scientific theories that before the big bang, all dimensions existed at the same time, in the same space----in other words, a compressed, curved reflection of itself.
Next, we have the unique idea of creation born out of the love of two feminine forces. "She drew it forth by the power that was in Her and made love to Herself, and called Her "Miria, the Wonderful." "Their ecstasy burst forth in the single song of all that is, was, or ever shall be, and with the song came motion, waves that poured outward and became all the spheres and circles of the worlds. The Goddess became filled with love, swollen with love, and She gave birth to a rain of bright spirits that filled the worlds and became all beings." (Starhawk p.31). Again, the idea of creation as sound waves, spheres and circles is fairly well known among modern physicists. All matter is constantly in motion. And all things, from galaxies to microscopic algae, move in cycles, yin/yanging around and around.
It is only the interplay of yin and yang, or cyclical movement, that creates/destroys. This is echoed in the modern theory of entropy. The rest of the myth describes Miria's separation from the Goddess, and the three stages She goes thru to become God. The concept of the masculine as arising from the feminine is also recognized by modern biologists---the X, or female, chromosome, is present in both men and women. X chromosomes contain more genetic material than Y chromosomes. DNA present in the mitochondria of animal cells (including humans) are passed on unchanged from mother to child, but only females can pass it on to the next generation.
The myth goes on to describe how the God is eternally drawn to the Goddess and how His longing (to return to His source) produces the changing of the seasons. She gives birth to Him at the Winter Solstice, initiates Him to sexuality in the spring and summer, and He sacrifices Himself with the grain of fall so that life may go on.
In this myth, the Goddess is the Primal Source, both womb and tomb, from which all creation is born and to which all creation must return in death. The God is closer to us humans in that He, too, goes thru the human life cycle: birth, growth, sex, and death. This defines and validates humanity's place in the cosmos---neither at the center nor outside of it. We are part of everything, but, like everything, we must yield to inevitable Death. Hope, or at least comfort, is found in the fact that He always returns, just as spring always follows winter, so we humans might return as well. Thus, the concept of yin/yang, death/rebirth is an ancient one in Faery Wicca oral tradition.
********************************************
Comments on the above - Faery Wiccan Creation Myth, by Dr. Katia
Miria, the Goddess' Name?
That's the end of Delani's paper. I like the comparisons to Jesus, being born in Winter at solstice time (Dec. 22) and dying as a "sacrifice" along with the harvest grain---for the salvation of all. And isn't it neat that the Goddess' name is Miria, which is sort of half-Hebrew, half-Greek for "Mary."
Don't Eliminate the Sacred Masculine
Reading this, I have to remind myself that Starhawk is a die-hard feminist, because she seems to over emphasize the love of two FEMININE forces. Not that that's a bad thing. But I hope, in our efforts to bring back the Goddess, the Sacred Feminine, we don't eliminate or down-grade the role of the Sacred Masculine. That would simply be turning the tables and making the same mistake the masculine-loving priests and church authorities made. We want to merge the tables, not turn them.
Mergers and Marriages
The concept of "getting it together." That's what Jungian psychology calls "individuation." Means getting yourself together. Unifying your personality. The original myth that Starhawk used as the basis for her adaptation is almost exactly like her new version (discussed above). But the second divine force is masculine from the start, he doesn't "evolve" into masculinity after beginning as a goddess. In the original myth, the Goddess sort of creates her own lover, by the simple act of loving.
New Creation Myths Needed
Wouldn't it be nice to see a Myth where the two somehow evolve together, simultaneously? I like everything to be fair and egalitarian! But then, nature does start all babies out with that X, and "modifies" the ones that are to become males. Chickens do seem to come before the eggs.
It's so linear, though. Why does one thing have to come "before" the other? Who says time moves in a linear path, plodding along with befores and afters. Let's get into physics here!
The Universe is a Merging Place for the personalities of God/Goddess?
I still like the Jungian concept of balance, that we're each both feminine and masculine at once. Not androgynous or neuter, but we have an "other side" to us. As I've pondered before on the GoddessChristians discussion list, maybe God and Goddess are going thru this individuation/personality merging and clarification process and we are all stuck in the middle of it. We are aspects of Their personalities, helping or hindering Their merging into wholeness.
The Over-Mind
If the universe is made up of any one thing, it does seem conceivable that the one thing might be "Mind." The great Over Mind, as Arthur C. Clarke would say. So, inside a "Mind" we have thought waves zipping around, forms taking "shape," etc., and psychology. Minds have psychology happening in there! So this universe is all a big shrink session for God and Goddess while they get their psychology straightened out?
Top
www.northernway.org/creation.html