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.