Final Exam Information

BLOGS DUE FRIDAY AT NOON!!!

Looked at Tori's blog, she's got the information you need to know for exam!

Sinister- Left handed people:P

Group Questions

group 1: How many different versions of myth our there?

• infinite possibilities!

group 2: Who was Oprah compared to?

• Zeus

group 3: Where does the title of our presentation "The Shameful Truth" come from?

• The Magus

group 4: Darrell had two amazing one liners that refer to the end, What are they?

• That's All Folks! 
• Here We Go Again

group 5: What was the song in the credits?

• White Wedding by Billy Idol

group 6: What were the 6 characters in group?

• Pirate, Cowboy, Irishman, Viking, Chinese, & Egyptian

Individual Presentations

• We referred to in a lot of our presentations that "All that is past possesses our present."

• Every answer is a form of death- JERROD WANTS THIS ON THE TEST SOMEHOW!

• Ritual of Adonis- death of person at too young an age. Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly, Dimebag Darrell...

OTHER THINGS ON FINAL!

Sacri = Sacred

We end where we begin!

Eliade- butterfly dream... ChungTzu wakes up not knowing if he is a man dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being a man...

Remembrance of divine- makes it a sacred action

In the god game, everything is fiction!

Orpheus & Eurydice-Eurydice steps on a snake and dies, goes to underworld. Orpheus, the musician/ husband, goes to the underworld to retrieve Eurydice and is to never look back. He looks back! thats why we have mythology and now she is stuck in the underworld!

Bhagavad Gita-

The father was going to die soon, and had to pick a son to take over the thrown. The older son was blind, he could not be king. The younger son took over. Older son didn't like that and was going to kill his brothers family. Eventually there was a gamble between the families and the older son won. The younger son Arjuna GOOD GUYS and his family were banished to the woods for 15 years and upon their return he was supposed to get the kingdom. Older blind son didn't like that BAD GUYS!. Krishna the god told Arjuna he would battle and win his kingdom back, this he did not want to do. He did not want to kill family. Krishna being the god already knew what would take place in the future and Arjuna did as his path said he would. He had no choice!

Parabola- "Coming in off the side"

The example in class about someone being hurt in front of the church, the priest was busy he had a luncheon on campus to get to, the person you expected to help didn't. the person you didn't expect did!

The Swerve- book by Stephen Greenblatt about finding the manuscript of "On the Nature of Things" by Lucretius, in a library. Manuscript was the way of the modern world so nobody was supposed to see it!

Ant and the Grasshopper-

grasshopper played the fiddle and had fun, didn't prepare for winter. Ants worked really hard and never had any fun. Who is doing the right thing? Have fun and be carefree or work hard to get ahead?

Eschatology- a belief concerning death, or the ultimate destiny of mankind

Cicadas - all they did was sing beautiful songs, started as humans, they died because all they could do was sing, no eating, drinking, or sleeping. god made them into cicadas so they can sing forever!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST.... Sexson says... "DO NOT BECOME NICHOLAS URFE!!!"

Wonderful class, very interesting, it was definitely something new for me to experience, and I loved it.

Day 3: Individual Presentations! THE END!

12/8/11

Abby

• Conchis and Fowles relationship
• All that is past possesses our present!! BEST QUOTE IN MAGUS!
• Answers are a form of death to the reader
• if book ended/ had an ending Nicholas would have died
• We are all stupid like Nicholas, looking @ Nick is looking at yourself
• Come to terms with never knowing 

I love that idea of just letting things be, not needing answers but understanding knowing them means nothing anyways.

Jessica

• The monster in the maze
• Who is the monster? Nicholas... WE ARE THE MONSTER!
• weaved Calasso into understanding of Magus

Read book: The Illustrated Man- living tattoos on body, each one tells a story

Jennifer

• Myth and the word made flesh
• "we are bone collectors" finding buffalo skulls
• give grace - power of eucharist
• god did not withdraw, all is waiting
• T.S. Eliot poem The Dry Salvages

EXAM Q: Logos = Word

Wena

• Olympics - symbol of peace among nations- passing the torch
• Heracles, Pelops started games by killing a guy in a chariot
• Wrestling was started with Zeus fighting his father Kronos
• Precedent behind every action... The Olympics are because of the gods and classical mythology!

OLYMPIC GAMES ARE IN LONDON 2012

Jill

• focused on underworld
• chthonic path... to underworld and back up
• Nick goes through this death and rebirth... except doesn't really grow from experience.
• he focuses on mistrust within others, instead of seeing the mistrust in himself.

American superheros fail @ pattern Fixated & Stuck!!!!

 Danielle

• Nicholas doesn't know himself
• reality could be appearance in facade
• "Know Thyself" how little we know of ourselves

Maryann?

• Mermaids found in India
• Star wars was written for mythological interpretation/ imagination
• Andre the Giant - famous wrestler connection to Princess Bride
• Handed out a mythological newspaper... Olympian Gazette

Very interesting presentations today! I can't say that I thought there were real mermaids and the corpse sure doesn't look elegant like Arial ... Disney changes things they should not... REAL LIFE ISN'T ALWAYS PRETTY!

Day 2: Individual Presentations of The Magus

12/6/11

Jarrod- Parenting and Mythology

• Uranos & Kronos, Saturn ate his children
• Gaia- violent taking sickle and castrating father
• Rhea put Zeus in cave - Zeus got help from Wisdom(Metis)
• "There is no such thing as good parenting" Dr. Sexson
• Freudian psychology

Lucy - divine infatuation Urfe posessessed

• Life is a game of chess- Urfe is a pawn
• Ufe and Oedipus- Appointment in Samara
• return to destiny

Zach- relationships to appeal to audience = mythology compelling (book on beach)

• 3 relationships- Nick and Alison= Cupid and Psyche, Nick and Isis/Lily/Julie = Hades and Persephone, Nick and Conchis = Zeus and Apte

 

• Love and Parenting=== All mythological Dr Sexson

Sam

• Magus is world- political leaders and ungovernable forces of past.
• Obsession with judgement and status quo.
• Ultimately created through myth.
• Constantly searching for definition of itself, all is planned

THE MATRIX!!! 

Quentin

• Hidden agendas/ double lives
• "Heart of Darkness" agenda- veil over all other characters
•  Conchis - Hades conceals identity (deceptive)
• "We are by no means united but we are united" in MAGUS during the removal of the masks in judgement. Exemplifies mystery
• Veil is waiting to be removed but at the same time will never be removed

Jeremy

• Nacholas issue with free will.
• "The Adjustment Bureau" Philip K. Dick 
• never run into girl ever again, people wont let them be together. Main Character is going through somebody else's plan. 
• Humans believe they have free will: only the appearance of free will
• would you have stayed in California or was it destined you would end up here. No switching paths?
• We are in labrynth... all part of giant game

Sherwood

• In Illo Tempore Beginnings, Middles, Ends
• Beginning = Escape, Middles= Painful, Ends = Transformed 
• Beginning is included in the end 

Andy

• trying to do something with is life 
• Mysterious, stuck in black cloud. Fail through hero path.
• "Still playing on their script" says Alison to Nick in The Magus.
• stagnant character in whole novel regardless of which path, script has been written for you...
• caught him in fog.

Tori

• in order of the questions she asked these were my answers... 7, 63, 9, 4, d, Denmark, K, Kangaroo, O, Orange.... 
• Bagavagita? don't know how to spell... Knishna determines what everybody does
• Conchis & Knishna = puppet master
• Nicholas & Ishuna = puppets
• exploited knowledge
• FREEDOM & Determinism- master of behavioral psychology

Ashley

• Dante's Inferno- deceive someone cutting bond between two lovers.
• Nicholas and Zeus - travel heros pattern
• dangling- we have heard this many times in everyday life
• Boy meets girl, boy pushes girl away, boy realizes he loves girl, BLANK - dependant on person. PREDICTABLE! out of prediction, into freedom

Darrell

• womanizer, Hercales (can't benefit from women)
• Jason (hero), Thesius (labrynth) speculate out of maze if stayed with Alison, Oedipus back to game , Back to Thesius, Here we go again, Achilles going after Helen, underworld - physically restrained , a few minor details differ, 1,000 faces heard that story before!
• Appointment in Samara- Deja Vu , glitch in loop of film- THE MATRIX!!!
• HERE WE GO AGAIN! Sexson guessed the title of his paper!

Lauren 

• 3 regimes of mankind Conviviality, Rape, Indifference
• rejection of female Venus and Adonis
• wrath of gods abducted instead of rape
• "you sound like Adonis have you been (b)goared?"

• The Great Pan is Dead

Matt

• 7 Genious' are also INSANE!
• "Existence of mysteries" Miracles or disasters we have to embrace insantity!

Justin

• Myth archeotypes ... Nick = Hero, Lily/ Julie/ Rose/ Alison= Helen/ Medusa = Deceitful female
• carried into modern day literature

Hero is used positively in modern society 

myth hero - wrong, problematic, sexually driven

Day 1: Individual Presentations on The Magus

Christine

• Fairy tales, Grimm, and The Magus
• stories bridge generations together
• All countries have similar stories (Walt Disney)

Theresa

• Star Trek- Who Mourns of Adonias?
• Apollo holds ship takes Caroline with him
• GOOD QUOTE: We have forgotten all the things that give life meaning. 
• Paradise is not what they expect.

GOOGLE: Mourning for Adonis ....

What does it mean?

Death and Rebirth

Megan

• Main female characters did conchis' bidding for him
• women = strength and deceit
• mythological women= mysterious 
• passing female secrets

Courtney

• women initation 
• Hercales, Thesius, Persius
• Calasso pg. 19 

Juniper

• Gods and Participants in game 
• Lily/Julie= Persephone GOOD & RIGHT
• Joe= Hades
• Nick and Alison its his view of sex that is the problem
• Somebody somewhere is watching

Madison

• We are all entering a labrynth 
• Stranger than Fiction- movie Will Ferrell
• reality is second to new reality- we're drawn to it.

Eric

• The Lesser Blessed- comparison to Magus
• telling stories therapeutic 
• The dead can live by love.

Rosemary

• The Proscenium of the Magus revealed... revealing words on cards AWESOME!
•  

Kevin

• missed this one....

Bailey

• past possesses our present - future is predetermined

Parker

• rituals in Bourani confine him
• Julie- infatuated in 3 days world was reinvented
• unrealistic dream- couldn't stay with Alison
• Beginnings, Middles, Ends

Stephani

• reflection into future- All knowing
• you are constantly changing - crack in mirror is never the same
• gods are here in cracks in the mirror, Love, sky, all precious gifts are said to be the gods around us.

Life's Mystery

Life’s Mystery

       The future is a mystery waiting to be unfolded. Sometimes it seems predictable but one wrong move may change the game, or maybe the outcome won’t change at all. In The Magus, Nicholas Urfe is the main character in a game called the “god game”. Urfe must think about every move he makes. Maurice Conchis, the magician or the sorcerer, must help Urfe see a side of him that he has never cared to see. Conchis does this by manipulating Nick’s actions, predetermining what he will do and constantly staying one step ahead of him. In The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, this is explained as “the precedence behind every action (Calasso, 383)” as in The Magus, Conchis explains, “All that is past possesses our present (Fowles, 311).” Every footprint has already been made; the future has already been planned, and this is what Conchis is doing to Urfe to help him correct his imperfections.

      Maurice Conchis has been playing this “god game” for years. Each year with a different “victim,” as Urfe would put it. Conchis is trying to teach these individuals something they chose not to see in their everyday lives. He manipulates them based on their circumstances, what imperfections they need to change, though they do not have to change if they don’t want to. John Leverrier was one of Conchis’ pawns from earlier years. Though Leverrier will not specify to what happened when he played, it seems as if he learned a valuable lesson and was not willing to spoil Urfe’s experience by giving him answers. Leverrier states, “My dear man, you don’t want charity from me. You want confessions I am not prepared to make (Fowles, 571).” Conchis knew Urfe would go to Leverrier, and try to push him for a confession; much like Conchis knew Urfe would wander to his home after finding T.S. Eliot’s Collected Book of Poems, strategically placed under a towel and fins where Urfe would be sure to investigate. The passage Nicholas opens up to, underscored in red ink, is the beginning of the game of his life.

       Upon opening up the book Urfe finds on the beach he reads, “We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time (Fowles, 69).” Conchis was setting him up to read this passage for a specific reason. It could have awoken Urfe at that moment if he wasn’t so self-centered but instead he wanders further to find answers. Conchis set him up perfectly; he knew exactly what would make Nicholas want more. He must be taken out of his element, pushed out of his boundaries to experience the effects of the “god game.” Conchis faces him with lies and deceit, unable to trust anyone he spoke to. He does this so Urfe will realize these are similarities he should see in himself. Conchis planned out characters, and knows how they must treat him to make him react in a certain manner. Nicholas has imperfections, which he sees in the trial, such as egocentric deceitful, shallow, and vain.

      Nicholas displays these traits on a personal level, in his relationship with Alison throughout the book. He leaves her to go to Greece, ignores her letters, gets intimate with other women, physically abuses her, and tells her to bug off. Soon after, he finds out she has committed suicide and starts to feel remorse and guilt for the way he had mistreated her. Alison is an actress in Conchis’ game to show Urfe his imperfections. As Nicholas and Julie, another actress, discuss what is taking place on Bourani she states, “The place of mystery in life. Not taking anything for granted. A world where nothing is certain. That’s what he’s trying to create here (Fowles, 339).” It is as if she is pushing him to go with it, whatever happens is happening for a reason. Though Urfe didn’t realize Alison was participating in this until much later, once he does he feels anger and has many questions, questions that will never be answered. He must find his own answers from inside himself, not by asking others.

       Showing Urfe his past by utilizing the present was a great way to prove his narrow-mindedness. He can’t stop dwelling in everything that Conchis, Julie/ Lily, and Alison have done to him instead of focusing on why they have done this to him. While questioning Lily de Seitas and calling their actions evil she asks, “are you absolutely sure our actions have been nothing but evil (Fowles, 604)?” If he would have known what they were doing the ending wouldn’t have turned out the same way and he wouldn’t have learned anything from the game. Every action Conchis made was planned only to help Urfe come to a realization. Sometimes the truth hurts, but doesn’t create a change in character. Urfe had to be completely stripped of what he knows and turn to what is now, the present, in order to believe there is a reason for their actions. What this game has done, is only evil if there is no learning from it; as Urfe disregards the purpose and continues to be selfish, and vain, he will take nothing from his experience in Bourani.

  

       This game can be considered sick and evil, or it could be considered helpful and refreshing, depending on the player. Choosing to see the good in it is something not everyone can do. Conchis took Nicholas out of his nest, sent him through a wild initiation, and brought him his future. As Conchis takes Urfe through many changes, he shall end up where he started, knowing nothing more, but being a new man. “The end of our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time (Fowles, 69).” It was a mystery in the beginning and continues throughout, as the mystery of the future can never be unfolded until you get there, which makes it the present.

Groups 5 & 6 Tuesday

Group 5- Amazing acting, loved the way they threw in a bunch of the words we have learned in class, Awesome filming... it was like watching a movie :P Bonus points ++ for POPCORN! The dog was adorable, and the costumes were great too.

Group 6- The funerals was pretty interesting. I liked seeing all of the different cultures thrown together, fighting over how to properly bury poor dead Kyle Miller. All of you were hilarious, I thought it was a cool point of view... Apple juice was delicious and so were the cookies:D

Thursday 12-1 Last Names A - H
Tuesday   12-6     ""              I -S?
Thursday  12-8     ""            T-Z
approx.

Have paper ready to hand in after presentation... No longer than 5 minutes!!
Good Luck!

Notes

Seperation, initiation, return - not specific enough for paper

completely planned/ seemingly unplanned - don't read paper word for word

practice in front of mirro

chose specific important parts of book

Dont use words LIKE & STUFF

25 to 30 blogs by the end

15-18 Startlingly awesome blogs

quality of blog/ engaged blog!

Stranger that Fiction

An IRS auditor suddenly finds himself the subject of narration only he can hear: narration that begins to affect his entire life, from his work, to his love-interest, to his death.

How did it all begin? Calasso god abducted bull

curse or gift of the alphabet- Cadmus

MOST IMPORTANT LINE IN MAGUS pg 311 "All that is past possesses our present."

masque --> music dancing stage professional actors hired

Nick- all staged deconstructing Urfe's mind.

Conchis looks like Pablo Picasso.

Semian monkey?

Precedent behind every action-same as quote from pg 311 Magus.

Carry pressure of past with you. lives are quotidian small talk, world is present.

Hi(s)tory

-guys play with tonka trucks

mythical baggage- Urfe was unaware of

Collective Unconscious

Carl Jung.  It is  a part of the unconscious mind

  the structure of the psyche autonomously organizes experience. "the collective unconscious collects and organizes those personal experiences in a similar way with each member of a particular species."(WIKI)

 I have trap door to birth? also everyone else's baggage

its all been planned, choreographed

every man must make a trip to see Persephone in the underworld.

Creator, Preserver, & Destroyer

"Every answer is a kind of death" Magus, Lily De' Seitas says to Nicholas on pg 626

Impersonal, not about you... Visit with Lily and Roses mother painful discovery- it's not about us. Don't stop being you just start seeing it's not about everybody else.

"Betrayal is a function of deconstruction!"

I love it !!

Ignorance is stupidity, to hide behind veil

Black widow- gets male into web, uses him for something (impregnates), eat him ...

Mae West- devouring female... no soul

gives him good time, devours him.... JULIE is a Black Widow

Eliade- Taoism

--> dreamed he was a butterfly, enjoying himself he woke as a man and didn't know if he was dreaming of being a butterfly or butterfly dreaming of being a man.

Butterfly mirrors the Soul

As I read The Magus, I came across multiple instances where butterflies were recognized. I found this astounding, as we discussed in class the butterfly is the Greek image for soul. Fowles used butterflies to signal a sense of freedom, of calming in the air, or a weight off his shoulders. " We were silent. Two coupled yellow butterflies flitted heavily, saggingly, past." As Urfe finally told Allison of Julie/Lily, the butterflies were released to purposely flutter past them, as to say, you can relax for a moment and gaze into your soul.

Butterflies make me feel that way. When I am gazing upon a butterfly all else is disappeared, unimportant, life is blissful for that endless second. As if looking into your own soul. I started searching butterfly mirrors and came across this picture, which led me to nothing other than ALICE IN WONDERLAND! The girl who made this lovely piece of art was thinking of transcending into a butterfly realm through a portal, the mirror. Which is exactly how I feel when watching a butterfly. I thought this artwork was marvelous and I had to share it with all of you!

Here is the link if you would like to read what the artist wrote :)

http://prolificsoul.blogspot.com/2010/03/alice-in-wonderland.html

Destiny has brought me footy pajamas!

I was told to do community service at the Salvation Army last September. At that same period in time, I was looking for an awesome pair of footy pajamas for the cold, harsh winter ahead. As I hung clothes, clothes, and more clothes... I stumbled upon  the most perfect pair of footy pajamas and not only were they MY size and exactly what I was looking for... MY NAME was written on the butt flap!!!!! BAILEY in big white letters, right there for me to read:D That day I knew I was destined to be at the Salvation Army, hanging that piece of clothing. I couldn't believe it! It still baffles me, what are the chances!!! "It was destined(256)." Nick did not want to walk with Alison for 6 hours, only to be alone with her all night, in a small hut, where surely she would want to do the deed. At that very moment, frantically trying to find a way around this, a man with a mule stopped and let Alison ride packsaddle. Sigh of relief, things worked out in the nick of time, due to destiny. But he didn't get out of it anyway. Because destiny "Conchis" had controlled the outcome, meaning Alison pretty much forced him to have sex with her... it's just part of the game right? No big deal or anything.

Transformation...

"Toujours the done thing(247)." Forever the thing done? I need help understanding this paragraph on page 247... Where did this come from? One minute they are talking about the hotel room, next this? It threw me off balance a little bit. I understand what it means, in translation, but does it have to do with Nick and Alison reuniting? About remember their past? HELP maybe I'm overlooking something...

Aside from that...

"She spoke as if we had last met the week before. But it didn't work. The nine months stood like a sieve between us, through which words came, but none of the emotions(246-247)."

 This hit home with me, reuniting with people you haven't seen in a year or so. Especially after going through such a transformation as Nick did. Nick thought he met someone new, Julie, and no longer had feelings for Alison. He felt a new life forming, in a new place, with new people. He didn't want anything to do with her... later, as you know, Conchis used his awesome mind playing tricks on Nick to go see her, by hiding everyone and everything in Bourani. My transformation wasn't quite as drastic, yet after three years it seems like I am staring at a stranger, their actions seem different, or maybe it is my actions that are different... I can't help but feel separated from the people I once felt most connected to. I choose to roll with the changes, there is nothing I can do... I have been transformed.

The Unexpected

Kevin was beat up on 8th street in front of the Methodist church.
Priest doesn't have time because he has to go to a sack lunch on campus.
Middle-eastern man living in attic takes him to Pickle Barrel, and gets him a delicious sandwich.


Moral of Story: The person you thought would, didn't! The one you didn't think would, did! 

I have experienced this in my life with a couple friends. I only make it home once or twice a year to see my high school friends and when I got there I had plans to hang out with my best friends. I thought both of them would get together with me, neither of them did. The friends I hadn't even told I was coming home, I saw randomly and ended up having a great weekend with some old friends I didn't know I still had. 

Moral of Story: The people I thought would, didn't! The people I didn't think would, did!

Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, & the Tooth Fairy

 Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

"VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."

I feel connected to this concept, just like we can make a rock sacred to our Mythology class we can make Santa Claus real. The rock doesn't appear different, it merely is because we believe it is. I saw a commercial for best buy today that made me think about this more. Santa came to a house to put presents in the stockings and the mom comes out, laughs, and says something like "looks like there's no room for your gifts!" I was horrified by the idea that a little kid was going to see that and possible be turned away from the belief in Santa Claus for Christmas. It tore me up because, though I know he, the one individual person, isn't real, doesn't mean I don't want to continue believing in the spirit of him. 

Similarly, I am amazed by the idea of most modern technology. I don't know how they put together a computer, or how making phone calls works. I have never taken the time to try and figure it out, and break it down, it probably wouldn't be as spectacular to me if I were to find out. I choose to stay oblivious to such details. Don't ask questions, just believe. :)

Exam Review

Calasso
pg. 209-212

• 4 stories that make up quarternity* Thinking- Zeus, Feeling-Dionysus, Sensation- Athena, Intuition-Demeter

• Terms of Space- Zeus=UP, Athena=OUT(polis,goddess of city), Dionysus=DOWN, Demeter= IN
• Persephone(Kore) getting abducted by Hades while picking a narcissis flower, narcissist= obsessed with them self.
• Triple Goddess= Mother, Maiden(daughter), & the crone

pg. 225-226

• Athena came from head of Zeus

pg. 224

• half has to do with mysteries of Ulysses, why Greeks respect Ulysses more than anything?

pg. 336

• How would you define Homeric theology? 

• Supremacy of the invisible
• All that you get is what you see
• When you can no longer see you have nothing(daylight and light)
• Ephigonal asks to look at light one last time "Stop and smell the roses" The Visible

pg. 359

• Why do we suffer?

• so we can take a course in mythology
• wouldnt have anything to sing about (write blues songs)
• sacrifice so we can be happy... thanks Quentin

pg. 383-391

• Precedent behind every action
• invasion of mind and body
• What did Cadmus give to Greece? Necklace

pg. 387

• What conclusions can we draw? 

• life without meaning or life with disaster? YOU BETTER CHOSE DISASTER!
• Cadmus, founder of city of Thebes
• Greatest disaster was flys feet (gift of mind, vowels, & consonants) 
• He gave the Alphabet!

Eliade

• The Eleusinian mysteries
• The Tarboleum (rights & rituals)
• The Dionysus material from Bachae

Great Pan's Dead
WB Yeats: The Second Coming

Student Questions

• What does spiritus mundi means?
• Spirit of World 
• At the marriage of Cadmus & Harmony, who was drawing the chariot?
• Boar & Lion
• What country are nacirema's from? 
• America(USA)
• Which of the three things, important of Eleusian Mysteries was the origin of Theater?
• Things done= drama= dromenon
• Things done, seen, & said
•  What is the study of soul, in mythology?
• Psychology, NOT THE STUDY OF MIND
• At birth(pg. 204), whose beauty was only appreciated by father? 
• Persephone
• What is the origin of our legal/ justice system? 
• Athena story
• acquits Orestes for killing his mother
•  Women's one free night of retaliation is called? 
• Tote Toge (Day of the Dead)
• What animal is associated with Taurboleum?
• Bull -sign of taurus
• What makes something sacred? 
• in class, making the stone sacred
• if you truly believe something is made sacred
• Who is the real hero, according to Sexson? 
• We are all heroic, ME, US all work for answers
• James Joyce novel... modeled on which hero? 
• Odysseus
• According to Irish poet, WB Yeats, in Second Coming, history is to cycle every 2000 years, which comes from visitation of a BLANK who impregnates a BLANK.
• Bird; Woman
• What is the greek image for soul? 
• Butterfly
• Zeus ate a goddes named BLANK, meaning wisdom?
• Metis
• Which word best typifies a space carved out in which sacred rituals are carried out?
• Temenos
• Who is the god of the double door? What does it mean?
• Dionysus (born 2x) of mother's womb(Semele) and father's thigh(Zeus)
• Dithyramb(os) will be part of question
•  Someone heard a divine voice at end of Pagaen world and they said BLANK & initiate religious age
• Great Pan's Dead
• Fundamental difference between gods and heroes? 
• Mortality
• Who has more fun gods or heroes? 
• Heroes- gods envy 
• When do the Furies arrive?
• When you kill a blood relative, Kill you mother
• What is the religious significance of Cupid & Psyche, according to instructor?
• The Psychological development of the feminine
• Which ritual came up multiple times in presentation?
• Australian Rain-making ritual
• What is the name of the girl that the king threw sandal at?
• Charila
• What Greek play, young woman buries brother even though forbidden, shows clash between tradition & state?
• Antigone
• From what term do we get our word Senator?
• Senex
• What is the definition of Archetype?
• Ancient or primordial image which is found universally in Mythology, fairytale, & fantasy
• Which Eleusian mystery pertains to fertility during certain month?
• Maypole - phallic symbolism
• Study hero pattern / 22 point formula(unsure of question) Might ask... Who covers most of 22 points?
• Oedipus- most, Jesus- not so many, Hercales- some
• In this class, what christian ritual did we discuss that had to deal with death and rebirth?
• Baptism
• Why was Demeter putting a baby in the fire?
• To make him immortal
• If you have someone in your family that is a "daddy's girl," Whose classical archetype is she modeling? 
• Athena

That should be the majority of what we talked about in review today. There were a few questions we didn't find that he will most likely put on the test so check blogs for important notes!

•  

Rituals of the Gods- Marraige of Cadmus & Harmony

A few rituals I noticed when reading Cadmus & Harmony...
"Their sham takes in the admirers of Sparta in other cities, who thus butcher their ears to imitate them, put leather bands around their legs, go to gymnasiums and wear short tunics, imagining that these are the keys to Sparta's supremacy among the Greeks."

"They put earrings on crocodiles. When they died they laid them out in huge subterranean vaults. Cities of the Crocodiles. When there was a fire, the only thing they worried about was saving the cats. And the cats, in turn, threw themselves into the fires."

"They had to respond to that invasion, and in so doing they chose their own way of communication with the gods: they would share the same victim, eating its blood and guts and leaving the smoke to the gods. That was the basis of the "Olympian sacrifice." That is why thyein, "to sacrifice," actually means "to fumigate": it was a slightly hypocritical homage to the divine."

"The most discreet and delicate way of having the gods understand the irreversible, scourge of all mortals, was the libation: you poured a noble liquid onto the ground and lost it forever. It was an act of homage, of course: the recognition of the presence and rights of an invisible power. But it was something else as well: an attempt to make conversation. As if men were saying to the gods, Whatever we do, we are this liquid poured away."

"First they helped Hera to bathe the statue like a bride in the river Asopus. Then they followed the chariot as far as a clearing topped by oaks on the summit of Mount Cithaeron. The goddess ordered them to build a big bonfire. She placed the statue with its torn veils in the middle. And all around, on the trunks forming the bonfire, the faithful heaped up their animals. the richest even offered cows and bulls. They poured on wine and incense. The the goddess set it alight. The statue was reduced to ashes while the shrieks of the animals being burned alive drowned  out the crackling of the flames. Many years later, in the same place, the ceremony was still being performed. Pausanias saw the pyre and said: I know of no fire so high, nor visible from so far off."

Happy Halloween Mythology!

"Two sovereign lines descend from Zeus: that of Dionysus and that of Apollo. Dionysus's line is more obscure than Apollo's; only rarely does it emerge from the shadow. Since he is both snake and bull, all history before Zeus is recalled in him and begins again with him. Apollo's line is more visible, yet even more secret than Dionysus's when it comes to Apollo's transgression against his father. Apollo is neither snake nor bull, but he who kills snake and bull, either loosing off the arrows himself, as with Python at Delphi, or sending his emissary, Theseus, to bury his sword in the Minotaur in Crete or capture the bull in Marathon."

At a bar in a small town of Fall River, WI there was a costume contest. First place was a minotaur! Awesome costume! Second has nothing to do with this but it was Alan from The Hangover, figured I'd throw that in. Last but not least, third place was Hercules (my boyfriend)! I got really excited when 2 of the 3 winners were mythological! I'm not really sure what to make of it but I thought there was a reason for it I just don't know about.

"Dionysus and Apollo: one is the weapon, the other uses the weapon."
Minotaur is the weapon, or the Dionysus... Hercules uses the weapon, or the Apollo... that's kind of what I was thinking.

Anyways, after the contest the prizes were given, and what better gift than a 1/4 barrel of beer (16 pitchers) for being Hercules for one evening:) So we proceeded to intoxicate ourselves as the gods would do.

Happy Halloween Mythology!

Mayan sacrifice

Mayan rulers were considered intermediaries between Mayan people and gods. Rulers were considered semi-divine themselves.
Jaguar (symbol of night) was the figure of the Mayan underworld, majority of Maya including rulers went to this underworld.
Heaven was reserved for these sacrificed and people that died in child birth.
human sacrifice was a religious practice for
-incourage fertility
-demonstrate piety
-propriatate the gods
Bloodletting/ sacrifice was seen as the only way of making contact with the gods. If neglect these rituals there would be cosmic disorder and chaos.

The chosen sacrifice is painted blue, laid down on a block upon a large temple, priest then rips heart out and places it in a pot with fire.
Sacrifice is then decapitated and the head and body are thrown down the steps of the temple and taken away to be buried.

Rituals/ Initiations myths

Tuesday we discussed rituals and initiations for many cultures, some more intense than others, but none the less, they are still important! The rain- making ritual came up the most often, as Dr. Sexson also stated in class multiple times, similar to the way the Earth- Diver myths came up frequently in our creation myths.

Eric C. ~ Karamundi *rain-making*
Stefanie H. ~ Mourning Dead Cats
Cortney B. ~ Egyptian Mummification Process
Christine B. ~ Aztec New Fire Ceremony
Lucy K. ~ Smudging
Jerrod M. ~ Blood Initiation
Sherwood N.~ Karamundi *rain-making*
Zachary M. ~ Bullet ant Gloves
Matthew S. ~ Nacirema *democratic ritual*
Jason O. ~ Taurobolium
Bailey G. ~ Mayan Ritual/ Human Sacrifice
Darrel S. ~ Spartan Marraige
Jessica T. ~ Seppuza *Japanese ritual/suicide* (Mishima)
Jenny T. ~ The Mary Month of May (Corona/ Crononis)
Rosemary C. ~ Dia De Los Muentos/ Day of the Dead... Under the volcano- novel or film
Tori P. ~ Frozen Dead Guy Day
Jill Y. ~ Eastern Star Ritual
Madison ~ Karamundi *rain-making*
Parker D. ~ Bridger Whale
Sam M. ~ Beowolf Funeral
Theresa B. ~ Bear Ceremony
Andrew O. ~ Irish Wedding Ritual
Kevin E. ~ Phuket Vegetarian Festival
Wena T. ~ Chinese New Year
Ashley R. ~ Family Tradition *Night before Christmas*

Tidy or OCD...

My ritual for leaving the house...
1. Put on shoes
2. Put coat on
3. Find purse
4. Find keys and phone
5. Get in car
6. Plug phone in and pick song
7. Put my purse on floor
8. Seatbelt
9. Drive...
 I'm sure this is like most others sort of ritual make sure the windows are shut, or make sure the oven is turned off. Every little thing we do down to the way we write our notes or write our name on our homework assignments is a ritual. We are creatures of habit. Their are some more intense cases like people with OCD, who have to do the things such as flipping a light switch off and on 5 times or opening and closing a door 3 times. I organize my closet by color, length, and style, so I know exactly what I'm going to find. That isn't to say I am a clean freak... I can barely remember to do laundry EVER! Everyone has got a thing they do precisely and when someone else does it for you it bothers you. For example, back when I was in middle school, my mom would put my clothes away when I was a tournament or just with friends, and I would come home and not be able to find a thing or she just didn't hang my clothes the way I would, or put them in the drawer the way I liked. I find that OCD because I was super happy that she put my clothes away for me but for some reason, it was always more of a burden and I would take all the clothes back out and reorganize them. I do love clothes more than the average bear though.
 My boyfriend, on the other hand, is clean and organized in a much different manor. Everything has an exact location, on his desk or in the bathroom cabinet, everything is strategically placed. Then his roommate comes along and moves or takes one thing from his toolbox and he can tell something is missing immediately. I think it is very interesting what you can learn from someone through their daily rituals.

Lord Raglan's Hero Pattern

1. Hero's mother is a royal virgin;
2. His father is a king, and
3. Often a near relative of his mother, but
4. The circumstances of his conception are unusual, and
5. He is also reputed to be the son of a god.
6. At birth an attempt is made, usually by his father or his maternal grand father to kill him, but
7. he is spirited away, and
8. Reared by foster -parents in a far country.
9. We are told nothing of his childhood, but
10. On reaching manhood he returns or goes to his future Kingdom.
11. After a victory over the king and/or a giant, dragon, or wild beast,
12. He marries a princess, often the daughter of his predecessor and
13. And becomes king.
14. For a time he reigns uneventfully and
15. Prescribes laws, but
16. Later he loses favor with the gods and/or his subjects, and
17. Is driven from the throne and city, after which
18. He meets with a mysterious death,
19. Often at the top of a hill,
20. His children, if any do not succeed him.
21. His body is not buried, but nevertheless
22. He has one or more holy sepulchres. 

What Lies Behind Our Eyes

Assignment: Dream

I hadn't had a dream in a couple months until the night we were assigned to which I thought was going to be impossible. I tried to find "The Fall" on Netflix, thinking if I watched something mythological it would spark something up in my mind to get creative. I couldn't find the same one we had talked about in class but I picked a movie with the same title. It ended up being pretty dramatic and exactly what I needed! Simultaneous to this movie experience, I was reading over chapter 4 in Cadmus & Harmony and one section actually struck my interest!

"When the phantom, the mental image, takes over our minds, when it begins to join with other similar or alien figures, then little by little it fills the whole space of the mind in an ever more detailed and ever richer concatenation. What initially presented itself as the prodigy of appearance, cut off from everything, is now linked, from one phantom to another, to everything. At one extreme of the mental image lies our amazement at form, at its self-sufficient and sovereign existence. At the other lies our amazement at the chain of connections that reproduce in the mind the necessity of the material world."

I feel I had to let the mental images of "The Fall" consume my mind until the moment I fell into a deep slumber. This movie was filled with scenes of murder, rape, creepy sexual fantasies/ fetishes, affairs between lovers, abduction of a child, stalking, and hysteria. As she was being followed, I felt she was worrying about Zeus overseeing her in bed, or of her father kidnapping her child.

I dreamt of murder, of running as fast as I could to get home, to be safe, and home turned out to be the worst place to turn. Images of my own father trying to hunt me down with another mans voice. I woke up in a cold sweat to say the least, the movie did its job and I completed my assignment.

Erastes & Eromenos (Lover & Beloved)

I am so shaken up about the men and their fetish with little boys. It is plain creepy but any ways...

"But very soon he is back in that tempest, and in a new role: instead of being eyed, nude in the gymnasium, he is himself cruising around younger boys, in the same places, nosing out his prey. Transformed from eromenos into erastes, he would finally discover, as a lover, what it means to be possessed by love. Only the lover is entheos, says Plato. Only the lover is "full of god.""

This got me thinking. Ill explain more after dinner!

Sorry for the delay! I feel people go through this in immature relationships that most often don't work out. One person is the lover the other the beloved. You do as they wish to make them happy, act as a slave(extreme but true), act as they wish you to, etc. Until you grow up and then become the lover. Hopefully finding someone who has also once been the beloved and can understand more in depth... Aka don't go for a younger lover or you will be forced to be the lover:P

Creation Myths

In class 9/13 & 9/15 we are presenting creation myths from a variety of cultures. We were asked to find similarities in the stories that were read. Here is a list of who spoke on Tuesday the 13th and what story they told...
Justin- the moon & death
Megan- a tale of African origin
Lauren- turtle creation story
Juniper- the saga of the legend of the stag
Sam- origin of mount everest
Theresa- who can say from where it came & how creation happened #56
Wena- la llorana "the weeping woman"
Andrew- the beginning of the world #50
Jennifer- legend of the lady slipper
Ashley- iroquis- beginning of the world
Madison- origin of medicine
Lisa- flood/ creation myth yutuk tribe
Vittoria- the Norse creation myth #61
Jill- legend of devils tower
Parker- crow- old man coyote creates earth
Matt- creation of the lamp post in narnia
Thursday 15th
Zachary- Norse creation myth # 17
Bailey- the stone & the banana #69
Rosemary- la llorona
Jessica- the cast skin
Zach- how the night sky got it's stars
Lucy- who can say whence it all came#25
Jeremy- creation from genesis 1
Christine- the origin of the hidden people
Kevin- the creation of the earth & the great flood
Jerrod- the origin of death (a cruel bird)
Sherwood- commanche creation myth
Stefanie- how the elephant got his trunk
Abby- creation by thought
Cortney- how a snake lost it's legs
Danielle- Thompson Indian creation of man #65
Quentin- the first lyre
Darrell- Thompson Indian creation of everything #64

The Wine of the Gods!

"It could both wake a man up and put him to sleep, dissolve the pain that afflicted the heart and make them liquid and fleeting." pg. 38

Ampelos' body being used to create the vine of which wine was created was extremely interesting. Opening your mind up to such a way of creation, yielded many questions for me. Dionysus was crying for his bisexual partner, Ampelos, which was abnormal for a god. Dionysus was not a cry baby and he was touched so deeply by Ampelos death it "changed his nature, and the nature of the world." Bisexuality! Wow, it was not frowned upon back then... What is going on with the world? We can't live freely like the wonderful mythological times! Ridiculous!

The way Calasso described both, Ampelos and wine, made me see them as one being. The wine is Ampelos but also the way people feel while drinking wine now. Wine is one of the best creations ever and is notorious for making people giggly and happy, as was Ampelos. Dionysus loved him for being just that. It's ironic that wine was created to help Dionysus to forget the pain and bring joy, when now we use intoxication as a horrible coping mechanism for death and a million other things. It seems like the idea of wine has came full circle.

With Age Comes Wisdom

My wonderful friend Kristin took this pic for me the other day. This is the tree outside mi casa and we play on it all the time. It brings my roomies and I much joy at all hours of the day. There is a rope to climb up to his branches and chill in his high tower. He is filled with wisdom and has seen many years of life on 9th Ave.