The Homeric "Hymn to Demeter" is one of the oldest, primary sources for the Demeter and Persephone myth. This myth tells of the separation of a mother and daughter through a supposed abduction and rape of the daughter and the mother’s suffering for her loss. Because the Homeric Hymn is from Demeter’s perspective, much emphasis has been placed on the pains of her separation with Persephone’s story to be understood… Continue reading
Archive for the ‘ mythology ’ Category
Reshaping “Cupid and Psyche” into Twilight: Mythopoesis and the Demon Lover
Author: PriscillaJul 28
In Interpretation of Fairy Tales, Marie-Louise von Franz makes a passing comment linking the myth of “Cupid and Psyche” to the fairy tale of “Beauty and the Beast,” citing that they both have the same archetypal story of the extremely beautiful girl who gains the attention of a forbidden figure, whom she is expected to love without ever properly beholding him. In the case of Psyche, the lover is a… Continue reading
Filed under: Essays, Fairy Tales, mythology, Popular Culture | Tagged as: Cupid and Psyche, demon lover, mythopoesis, Twilight
Mickey and Friends: Psyche’s Formula?
Author: PriscillaJul 27
Working my way through the Disney cartoon canon, it’s interesting to note how the Disney characters don’t only work in concert to entertain us, but they seem to function as components of myth/psyche (depending on how you want to approach this). Furthermore, at any given time, any one of them can function as a hero (especially Mickey, Donald and Goofy) or a group… Continue reading
The Power of Myth: The Hero’s Adventure
Author: PriscillaJun 27
I constantly find myself revisiting this episode in the Power of Myth series. It’s one of the best interviews between Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers, probably because it plays into Campbell’s expertise much better than the other ones. Or maybe it’s because I’ve seen it so many times, it just seems this way because it is so familiar to me. So a bunch of us gather in the living room… Continue reading
Filed under: Joseph Campbell, mythology | Tagged as: hero, Joseph Campbell, mythology, Power of Myth
The Importance of Cultural Context
Author: PriscillaJun 15
After my last inspired post, I went semi-consciously offline for awhile – literally and figuratively. I’ve spent the last couple weeks delving into the core research for three dissertation chapters, and have come to the conclusion that too much reading is not conducive to either writing or blogging. But every now and then a question pops up that I feel a need to address, in large part because… Continue reading
Filed under: Culture Thinking, Disney, mythology | Tagged as: cultural context, Disney, myth, mythology
Some Thoughts about Modern Mythology
Author: PriscillaJun 6
A question was posed over at mythicmusings.com that came to me via Twitter: Are we missing a modern mythology? My initial answer, which should come as no surprise to anyone who either knows me or has been reading this blog for awhile, is an emphatic NO! that is quickly followed with a series of examples (Disney, Harry Potter, Buffy, etc.). Gut reactions aside, this is a… Continue reading
Joseph Campbell and my Mythopoetic Workshop
Author: PriscillaMay 30
Yesterday, I lead a roundtable for a local study group The Hubs and I have been participating in for awhile now. The group started as a study of the Manly P. Hall book, The Secret Teaching of All Ages, but when the book ran out, it was time to find something else to do. The idea of a Joseph Campbell… Continue reading
Pirates Week: Mermaids and Siren Songs
Author: PriscillaMay 18
One of the new characters in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a 
mermaid named Syrena (I haven’t met the prounciation of her name yet, but I’m hoping it’s a proper play on “siren”).
Mermaids are half women (or men)/half fish (type thing). They are personifications of the sea itself, being both beautiful and seductive but also… Continue reading
The Myth(s) of Tangaroa
Author: PriscillaMay 15
In honor of the first birthday of my kitten, I thought it would be interesting to
explore the myths of his namesake. One would think that – for a mythologist – this would be an easy task. Apparently, my myth collections gloss over Polynesian mythology. In these collections, Tangaroa is reduced to a player in the creation or the trickster’s (Maui) father… Continue reading
On Religious Education
Author: PriscillaNov 5
Every semester, I dread the religion unit for a variety of reasons, the main one being that it is so difficult to generate good, quality discussion from my students. Most of them were either raised in a Christian home, are still practicing Christians, and/or are self-declared atheists, who, regardless of actual religious affiliation, have been raised in a social paradigm that is fundamentally Christian: our educational system, our government’s relationship… Continue reading
Filed under: mythology | Tagged as: religious education