Marianne
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Hi Joanna,
What you wrote above is so beautiful, about the sounds of life. It made me feel good, gave me peace. Overall, my favorite time of day (favorite sun) is dusk. I love the twilight. I also love the early morning light coming in through my east window, the way it softly lights the living room.
Twilight/dusk and dawn are the magical times when the half-light time brings the two worlds together of day and night and is the time then of fairie or magical consciousness. Before I ever heard that, I always felt best at dusk and the moments/hours just after dawn. The noon sun can be beautiful here too in its strength but not when it is overbearing and relentless–like most people, I would suppose!
Wishing you many blessings,
Mary Ann
From The Four Immeasurables Traditional Tibetan Buddhist Prayer, this I pray for those affected by the fires and global warming and climate change:
May all beings have happiness and the cause of happiness.
May they be free of suffering and the cause of suffering.
May they never be disassociated from the supreme happiness which is without suffering.I am not Buddhist, I do not associate myself with any one religion, but I do love this prayer which comes to my mind whenever I become aware of any suffering. I would wish this prayer could “reach” politicians who could help us on this earth heal from global warming. I wish more people would understand that their actions (inactions) cause others to suffer.
Stephen,
I am so sorry to hear about what you are going through with the air quality there. It is such a sad and troublesome state and I send you and your family and all those affected in CA good thoughts for the ceasing of fires and ability to breathe fresh air. I hope there are places you can go to where the air will be better, even if for a reprieve. When I see the fires on the news, just as the last large outbreak of fires, it breaks my heart for all those living near the fires, and the animals and the trees and plant life. Global warming, climate change, wildfires, they all remind me of a song I wish that more people and businesses would have heeded years (decades by now) ago: “Nature’s Way” by Spirit. In the images in this video, at a certain point in the video the bright white sun and air reminds me of what some people were saying above about the relentless white sun and air. It is not the best recording of the song, but I chose this one due to the images it contains.
Wishing for healing for the air and for you and yours, Stephen; I wish you and your wife could come vacation here up north in Ohio to the lake where the north winds are blowing in from the lake–or at least get out of that area of CA for a while. If you ever need a reprieve, you and yours are welcome.
~ Mary Ann
Dear Shaheda, Steve, Everyone,
Shaheda, of course you are excused–I myself am not always as good at remembering names as I am at remembering faces!
Stephen, I too love how this Meet & Greet has brought up discussion. It is a nice atmosphere here in the Meet and Greet for personal and casual discussion on the topics at hand in the forum. Thank you for providing this space in the forum and the entire forum itself.
I am finally back online and back to the forum after a couple-few weeks offline. We got settled into our new place and it took awhile for us to get our online service here. It felt like camping out when we did not have internet connection, TV/movies, or hot water. To shower or do the laundry, we had to drive back to our old place. But we did get the gas hooked up a few days ago finally.
If there were a dream topic space, I would begin posting and discussing some of my dreams, but I am not sure where to place them. I would be happy to help out with the dream topic forum if any help would be desired, along with Shaheda since we are both so into dreams. I studied dream interpretation/analysis through a Jungian lens, and I also enjoy the correspondences to Campbell’s writings and quotes to dreams in the mythic realm, which I think Shaheda is very good at doing.
It is interesting to me that when we moved in here to the new place that my dream images were strange, very much changed. I was seeing images in the hypnagogic state (right before or at the time of falling into sleep) that were not at all typical of my “type” of archetype or archetypal symbols. They were much “darker,” for lack of a better word, and some of the images were disturbing. I may have picked up on some of the previous owner’s psychic (psyche’s) residue, as I sense she had been troubled when she moved about her move and some health matters she experienced before leaving. There were remnants of things around, too, that hinted at health matters. It is possible too that most the “residue” was my own psychic daily residue of encountering/seeing those remnants she left behind that (again) hinted at a health matter. Plus, even though she was happy to be leaving to start a new life elsewhere, she also seemed a bit sad to be leaving this house, even though she was happy we bought it, loved it, and would take care of it.
I wondered if the woman who used to live here was a Tim Burton fan–so many of the images I saw were of his style of animation and I did even see some of the characters as I fell asleep! It seems she had grandchildren here with her a lot and perhaps those were some of the films they watched together… <Smile face emoticon could go here!>
Oh, I could go on, but will stop here!
Could we do dream discussions in one of the other already existing forum topics? Maybe I will post one under the place where we can discuss our own work, etc.
Shaheda,
Thank you for your warm wishes for me in my new abode! I do feel it will be a new lease on life to be in a space in which there will be more space, space for more harmony!
My significant other’s name is Dennie. I do have a cousin named Kenny 🙂 Dennie has been a big Campbell fan for years ever since he saw/heard The Power of Myth, which he finds a lot in common with his musical experiences. He is not much into computers or technology other than electronics with his music speakers, electric guitars, microphones, or sound boards, etc. He is not much online, very rarely on Facebook, and rarely uses email–most his music business as well as conversations with friends and family is all on phone or in person. (Very old school!) So it is doubtful he will come into the forum! 🙂
My daughter is good–she found out on the 8th that her covid test was negative, thank goodness; we were all on “pins and needles” for a while because of the outbreak of covid where she works at a nursing home. My granddaughter is well also–she just had a birthday, my dear little Leo lioness! She is certainly the lion-hearted. Thank you for asking.
I am so glad to hear the good news that your son has a good job and that your daughter is well and that you had the opportunity to visit her in Denver and walk the trails in the Rockies. We could share our stories of hiking in the Rockies sometime–for me it was decades ago since I have been there except for the airport! We have no mountains here in OH, so it was quite a treat to be in the mountains.
I hope you find the books you are looking for! Your search sounds like a fun adventure! The bookstore you mention reminds me of a bookstore I used to frequent in Ann Arbor, MI that was in the “underworld!” It was in a sort of tunnel going down some steps under another building on the street and it was second-hand books. I have stumbled across some interesting books there–I don’t even know if it is there anymore, I would have to search or visit again, it’s been so long.
Your dream of Campbell and his birthday sounds like quite a nice gift from the dreamworld; how special that you got to meet Joe! 🙂
My dream world has been very rich and detailed. I write my dreams down in my journal with my interpretations always, so my journal has been very full. I am looking forward to the dream topic on the forum that Stephen mentioned he might launch. There is probably a Campbell quote that could apply to many a dream we have had, since dreams and myths (as we all know) come from the same place as Campbell stated.
Looking forward to more discussions!~
Wishing you blessings as always!~
Mary Ann
Stephen,
I want to respond more to your response here later, but for now I just want to say it is so cool to see pics of your journal! Thanks for sharing pics of it! Maybe I will post some pics too! That sounds like a fun idea!
Mary Ann
What Norland responded above stands out to me:
This brings me back to Stephen’s wonderful paraphrase which I think is worth repeating:
‘If I understand correctly, you are saying that a living mythology isn’t something one believes in, like choosing a religion today, but is experienced simply as “what is” – part of the warp and woof of a culture – what a member of that culture knows to be true, perhaps akin to the way we experience gravity or know the world to be round.’
I am thinking now about religion, how being a child raised in a religion is then simply a “what is” to that child who accepts that religion because they are told that their religion is true. Many people grow up believing in the religion they were taught/raised to believe in, whatever that religion just so happens to be. So I am thinking about how the “what is” to so many people is a matter of happenstance–until they get older and begin to question things, if they indeed begin to question things and get to wherever that may lead. We often accept the happenstances of our culture–its beliefs and conditionings. Also, I am now reminded of a book on the reading list for a class I took in Complex Theory called The Cultural Complex: Contemporary Jungian Perspectives on Psyche and Society Edited by Thomas Singer and Samuel L. Kimbles that I can highly recommend for this topic in this thread. Below are some key phrases, ideas, and quotes from the book in reference to mythology and living myths:
- […] the inner world of trauma, [and] the outer domain where myth, psyche, and politics intersect”
- […] to illustrate the reality of the collective psyche and the power of collective emotion to generate living myths [or more appropriately here to Norland’s terminology “archetypal psyche”]
- Thomas Singer wrote about how Donald Kalshed (1966) had published his book, The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defenses of the Personal Spirit and how there are not only archetypal defenses of the personal spirit but also archetypal defenses that protect the collective spirit or any traumatized “group soul.”
- These protective archetypal agents are, he says, the daimons.
- These archetypal daimons can be individual, collective, or both; Singer wrote that, “Perhaps they even found their earliest historical expression in group life rather than that of the single person, when the psychology of the individual was less developed and the survival of the group more in the forefront.” The group as the collective might apply here nicely to Norland’s theme here because this quote can help describe how the archetypal psyche can be both individual and collective and not belong to just the individual or a group–it helps demonstrate (for me, anyway–it might not speak to each person here the same way, of course) a difference between what might be regarded as the archetypal psyche as opposed to the collective. As Kevin Lu has said/written, we are all born into a group, implying that the group psyche is already in motion from our earliest days and that thus our cultural complexes have in that sense already begun when we are born into a family that is within a cultural group in the then larger societal culture. This too can apply as Norland says into the types of caste systems of other cultures besides Indian culture. (The paraphrasing I provided of Kevin Lu is taken from an article of his article on a response to Singer and in personal communication–I would need to find that article in order to cite it and my home office is pretty much all packed up at the moment as I am still in transit to my new house.)
Singer also wrote, which is in lieu of this Mythblast,
Jung’s earliest work at the Burgholzli led to the development of his theory of compelxes which even now forms the foundations of day-to-day clinical work of analytical psychology., In fact, there was a time when the founders of the Jungian tradition considered calling it “complex psychology.” Later, Joseph Henderson created a much needed theoretical space between the personal and archetypal levels of the psyche which he called “the cultural level of the psyche.” This cultural level of the psyche exists in both the conscious and unconscious.
- This chapter in the book is chapter one and is written with this description to introduce the purpose of the chapter to to then, elaborate upon Jung’s theory of complexes as it manifests itself in the cultural level of the psyche. There are several examples of this archetypal level of the psyche as pertains to groups in this chapter such as political upheavals and hatred against various cultural groups and even the split between Freud and Jung to help illustrate cultural complexes in which the archetypal defenses (part of archetypal psyche–defenses would be survival instincts and instincts as archetypal) in regards to groups or individuals, since individuals ‘belong in’ or at least live within a group.
- With all the group protectiveness currently operative in group psyches and in individual psyches in our current times (including Stephen’s “I can’t breathe!” Mythblast, I kept thinking of this material that it may be a good read at this time, this book on the cultural complex and how it relates (or seems to, to me) to both Norland’s and Stephen’s recent Mythblasts.
The more I think on this Mythblast and do close reading, closer and closer each time, the more I am getting out of it. It is so rich and layered like the many “levels” or strata of the psyche (for illustrative purposes only, not actual floors of a skyscraper!)
Animal Myths in general, from any/all cultures. At a time when so many humans are alienated from the natural world, at a time when children are for the most part unable to play outside alone or see animals unless at the zoo, the animal myths offer a way for humans to engage imaginally with the natural world.
—The Phoenix
—Native American animals/totems
Firebird tales (Russian/Slovakian)
Baba Yaga tales (Russian)
Beowulf
Gilgamesh
Sumerian myths/pantheon
Mesopotamian myths/pantheon
Myths of the Constellations and Astronomical Zodiac and Planetary Gods
Norse Myths
I wrote a lot about your post here James. I emboldened the things you wrote and then responded to your thoughts in each emboldened section. I am sure this could be a much longer conversation. And then I would also want to respond to Stephen’s response.
As adults we write all the time; we write about all kinds of things; we write on social media; we write at work; we write letters to people; we even write diaries sometimes that contain our secret thoughts; but are we really in touch with our deepest parts of ourselves; our fears and our dreams; who and what we love and hate and what we feel about the things we are connected to?
This is such an interesting question, are we really connected to what we feel about things. I write in my journal almost every morning for at least an hour. I find I do a lot of what Stephen describes, of really facing my soul there. Or rather, my soul faces me—yes, it pours out upon the pages. There are times, however, when I find I cannot journal as much. At those times, I am distracted, there is “too much to do.” Sometimes, when I am distracted, I go to social media instead and then there are all the quick interactions to read and respond to and before I know it, I am psychically overloaded, and at times that overload has a numbing effect. I do not feel those things when I journal. Some of the things I journal about end up on one of my blogs—usually in a much less personal way unless I am describing a dream I have had and revealing the keys to my psyche through the sharing of them. So there is a point I think both you and Stephen are making James, one about the difference between personal and public writing—much the way Campbell stated that dreams are private myths and myths are public dreams, our personal journals are our private myths, or our lived experience. But not just our ego experience as you both discuss, but the soul experience. This is all so beautiful I am getting tears in my eyes. I get very emotional about writing and writing down the soul.
But there is another reason, perhaps, that I get tears in my eyes thinking about this. For a long time, I have felt that on Facebook I am expected to put my best most positive face forward even when I don’t want to and don’t feel like it. While I am all for the power of positive thinking, some days when I am miserable about this virus in our world, I just want to visit with my Shadow-misery for a while, to be “allowed” to grieve before moving onward, but most people it seems cannot bear to hear anything negative on Facebook because of what I see/interpret as the positive psychology/positive thinking trend in society now. However, I also believe in paying attention to the Shadow and the negative feeling as part of the healing process. Truth is, I hate this corona virus, I am sick of the sickness it causes, what it has done to us world-wide. I get depressed at times to think this is the world my 7-year old granddaughter and her friends have to grow up in and I worry about what her and their futures will be and then I feel helpless because I wish we all could simply will this virus away. When a teacher quit her job with preschoolers because she felt she could not withstand not being able to comfort a crying child at school and would have to tell the child, “I am sorry, I cannot comfort you because we have to stay at least 6 feet apart,” well, that is how I feel as a grandmother right now and as a mother of an adult child. I would love to hug them both. And then I wish I could hug and comfort my mother or be at the nursing home—plus, I know how much I would love to be comforted too if only I could share a hug with my mother. We are all in one way or another grieving the death of life as it just recently was prior to this virus outbreak. We are trying to piece Osiris back together again.
One of the things I think that we sometimes don’t do enough of is “write”. I don’t mean quick emails to so and so; or memos or post cards sent about this that or the other as a quick way of touching base; but how often do we write to people or ourselves about what deeply matters to us; and there is where the good stuff is. And you recognize this when you go back later and reread something and it gets to you in your gut. (You know those moments in your life where upon reflection you see that it really was important; maybe even putting a lump in your throat.)
I miss the old-fashioned days of letter-writing to a pen pal or friend with pen and paper. When I was young, I even had a bunch of those seals to melt wax on to seal the envelope—I loved that! I can barely remember the last time I wrote an old-fashioned letter to someone. Just the other day, I was searching for some of the waxes and sealers online. I guess during the time of this virus it occured to me to indulge in some “real” letter-writing–tangible.
Now there are all kinds of YouTube videos on writing technique; and one can find plenty of reasons on why “not” to start writing about something. But there is a thing inside each of us that deeply longs for expression. James Hillman calls this the “Daimon”; a kind of guiding spirit that looks over you and helps you; and like the symbol of the acorn seed of an Oak Tree that once planted has a root system that goes deep into the ground anchoring the trunk and canopy as the seasons pass; this seed has a kind of “code” that’s full of potential for this thing that’s been planted. But then ask yourself: “What if this seed never gets planted; what does this metaphor represent?” The answer is: “the unlived life”. And there is an old saying that could be applied here: “That which you bring forth will save you; and that which you deny and do not bring forth may destroy you.” Think of this as your deepest dreams and wishes that lie waiting for you to find and live them.
I love what you write here (above), James, and recognizing the “unlived life” is so important We might be able to find potential in our journals, our heart’s desires. Journal-writers might find our vocations that way, meet our daimons in our writing and soul to show us our way. I do know that a large part of my life (soul’s desires) has so far been unlived and I am not getting any younger. I did not have or make enough time in my life thus far to fulfill my life dream insofar as vocation. However, as far back as my 20s, I imagined the type of grandmother I would want to be in my older age—and so my dreams of being a mom and grandma have been fulfilled.
I also don’t think that the form is that important for one’s journal—scribble words in circles if you want to—it’s not an English essay for a class you’ll get graded on.
Well now; what if you don’t know what they are; or maybe you have doubts that you are worthy enough to fulfill them. Joseph Campbell calls this your “Dragon”; and on every scale of that dragon is a: “Thou Shalt”. And the Hero within is to kill that Dragon and open him up to release the gold that lies within you. So how do I find and recognize this stuff? Well one recommended way is to: “write about it!” (These are just some thoughts to get this thread started.)
Yes, exactly—here be dragons!
One of my favorite metaphors Joseph used was the: “Marga Path”; a path that leads an animal back to it’s den; which in this case represents the: “Human Heart”. And the Hero Journey one might say is a road that leads one to this specific destination. (That’s my interpretation of this anyway.)
This is beautiful. Where can I find Campbell’s quotes on the Marga Path? I don’t remember that at all or else never encountered it.
_____________________________
So here are my thoughts about this that may or may not be worth a moment of your time. (Some of you may already be doing this); but since we are already in the midst of this horrendous Pandemic; why not “write”? Write about your thoughts and fears and dreams; write about your frustrations; write about yourself; write about what you love and what you think is beautiful; “but Write”! Make a sacred space for yourself to do this and keep a little stash of your musings and your passions; what you think is Funny; what you think is Sad; what you think about Anything; and then come back to it later and reflect on it. And over time a few things might start to work on you; and so you write some more. And as Joseph suggests here is where some of the gold of your life may reveal itself. If you are already into this sort of thing; great; do it some more and maybe share a few things with others; because this virus situation is like nothing we have ever faced before; and maybe it might help to talk about it with someone else! It might even help them; you know like supporting someone. That’s a pretty darn cool idea I think. People are sacred right now; and participating in the sorrows and pain of others is a pretty nice thing to do; (imho). So hopefully some of you have thoughts on this you want to share.
_________________________________________A couple of important addendums I want to add to this topic:
One is in: “Reflections on the Art Of Living – A Joseph Campbell Companion”; by Diane K. Osbon; on pages 269-271; Joseph goes into great detail about his thoughts on writing and the creative process that in my opinion would definitely apply here.
Also; here is a link to an article that may be of help to add some clarity on James Hillman’s theme of the “Daimon”:
“The daimon link above is linked to the dragon you discuss above: One of the reasons people silence the “voice of vocation” is due to the perceived risks of following it – one must sacrifice short-term comfort, status, and wealth, and engage in work where the outcome is uncertain. Yet to repress this inner calling is destructive, and often leads to the formation of what may be called a silent rage: “the absence, the anger, and the paralysis on the couch are all symptoms of the soul in search of a lost call to something other and beyond.” (Hillman). The individual who loses touch with their daimon becomes an empty shell of the person that could have been.” ———-Yep. The only time I do not feel like at least a half-empty shell is when I am writing regularly as my vocation. When I have to squeeze writing in here and there it is not the same (for me) as being happy.
Thanks for this post.
Thank you for including the Arabian myths, Shaheda. I have always loved the 1001 Nights and the tale of Aladdin’s Lamp and flying carpets.
I love this, what Stephen wrote: “One is the awareness that mythologizing is always going on, under the surface, both in our individual psyches as well as the collective psyche of the greater society – but these are unconscious processes: we are generally not aware of them.” This seems befitting for everything going on also with the “I Can’t Breathe” Mythblast.
I want to include a mention and quote here and also in the reference section, if I may: a book by archetypal psychologist (and as I regard him, mythologist also) James Hillman, Re-Visioning Psychology. As for mythologizing, he calls it psychologizing, and wrote, “There are Gods in Our Ideas.” He states,
Archetypal psychology the fundamental ideas of the psyche to be expressions of persons–Hero, Nymph, Mother, Senex, Child, Trickster, Amazon, Puer, and many other specific prototypes bearing the names and stories of the Gods. These are the root metaphors. They provide the patterns of our thinking as well as of our feeling and doing. They give all our psychic functions–whether thinking, feeling, perceiving, or remembering–their imaginal life, their internal coherence, their force, their necessity, and their ultimate intelligibility. These persons keep our persons in order, holding into significant patterns the segments and fragments of behavior we call emotions, memories, attitudes, and motives.When we lose sight of these archetypal figures, we become, in a sense, psychologically insane: that is, by not “keeping in mind” the metaphorical roots we go “out of our minds”–outside where ideas have become literalized into history, society, clinical psychopathology, or metaphysical truths. Then we attempt to understand what goes on inside by observing the outside, turning inside out, losing both the interiority of all events and our own interiority as well.
Yet “psychologizing” is only 1/4 of a mythic/polytheistic psychology. For Hillman, the four stages of what he calls soul-making are: 1) Personifying or Imagining Things, 2) Pathologizing or Falling Apart, 3) Psychologizing or Seeing Through, and 4) Dehumanizing or Soul-making. Hillman also makes sure to tell us that a polytheistic psychology (that drives away from egocentric monotheistic ideology) is not a religion, but a psychology that stays with “the soul’s native polycentricity.”
This idea of mythic psychology coincides with Campbell’s thought:
I would say that all our sciences are the material that has to be mythologized. A mythology gives spiritual import – what one might call rather the psychological, inward import, of the world of nature round about us, as understood today.There’s no real conflict between science & religion … What is in conflict is the science of 2000 BC … and the science of the 20th century AD.
–Joseph Campbell, from Thinking Allowed: Understanding Mythology, with Joseph Campbell (and host Jeffrey Mishlove)
So, we “lose our minds” when we lose our myths, pretty much as Campbell said, as has been stated in the forum Mythblasts that in our day the myths are not commonly recognized or even known so much.
Hi James, All
Tonight while responding to another post or remark elsewhere in the forums, I stumbled across this Joseph Campbell quote about the hero from The Power of Myth.
MOYERS: So if my private dreams are in accord with the public mythology, I’m more likely to live healthily in that society. But if my private dreams are out of step with the public –
CAMPBELL: — you’ll be in trouble. If you’re forced to live in that system, you’ll be a neurotic.
MOYERS: But aren’t many visionaries and even leaders and heroes close to the edge of neuroticism?
CAMPBELL: Yes, they are.
MOYERS: How do you explain that?
CAMPBELL: They’ve moved out of the society that would have protected them, and into the dark forest, into the world of fire, of original experience. Original experience has not been interpreted for you, and so you’ve got to work out your life for yourself. Either you can take it or you can’t. You don’t have to go far off the interpreted path to find yourself in very difficult situations. The courage to face the trials and to bring a whole new body of possibilities into the field of interpreted experience for other people to experience — that is the hero’s deed.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of MythHere are kind of some side questions:
Do you think covid-19 challenges us all to be a hero of sorts and on the verge of neuroticism?
Could that neuroticism, though, be partially what is responsible for so many people acting so odd in the face of this virus by getting in other people’s faces?
Could it be we are called to the hero’s journey one and all now but how we react to the call will determine what kind of hero we will or will not be? Do we wear the mask or do we not wear the mask: as an answer to the hero with a thousand faces–who will don the mask? Who is illusional seeing windmills as dragons? Who will and who will not breathe fire? Will the vaccine help?–so what will and what will not breathe fire and covid and what and at what numbers will eventually not breathe?
Could it possibly partially be a defiance against their own neuroticism rearing its head and not just defiance against the “rules” that they are thinking interferes with their freedom?
Is it perhaps not that they do not want to admit their own possible physical weakness (mortality, for sure!) but also do not want to admit to their own emotional/mental weakness.?
Also I am all for positive thinking but I do see in some instances where the positivist psychology is misinterpreted by many to think that if you think positive then absolutely nothing can go wrong or against our wishes. Have you ever noticed this in any individuals today and/or see it in the collective?
That is such an interesting statement that reads like a question. I agree that there could be more simmering under the surface. Many people are seeing it now as a sort of synchronicity constellating so much of the ills of the world that then culminate into the manifestation of this corona virus (a name I refuse to capitalize so as to not give it a “proper” name or title!); however, for all we know there is much more that could surface; after all, the “I Can’t Breathe” archetype surfaced first with corona virus and then with the death of George Floyd after years of warning about air pollution/global warming and all the raging wildfires in the western U.S. and Australia as if our minds all raging. I do believe in the collective as well as the individual un/conscious. ANd here in the un/conscious is so much conscience or, with many, lack thereof. In The Power of Myth, Campbell stated,
There are dimensions of your being and a potential for realization and consciousness that are not included in your concept of yourself. Your life is much deeper and broader than you conceive it to be here. What you are living is but a fractional inkling of what is really within you, what gives you life, breadth, and depth. But you can live in terms of that depth. And when you can experience it, you suddenly see that all the religions are talking of that.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of MythReligion aside here, we can think in terms of “the human spirit” instead, that people could all work together, ideally.
There has to be a training to help you open your ears so that you can begin to hear metaphorically instead of concretely. Freud and Jung both felt that myth is grounded in the unconscious. Anyone writing a creative work knows that you open, you yield yourself, and the book talks to you and builds itself. To a certain extent, you become the carrier of something that is given to you from what have been called the Muses—or, in biblical language, “God.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of MythI enjoy your comments here, Robert, from the roots of the names to your associations with glass and transparent to transcendent to the association with the phoenix rising from the ashes. “Ella” as “fairy maiden” is quite appropriate because in some ways the Fairy Godmother is not the only magical fairy in the tale. Cinderella is also a fairy maiden. In the French Cinderella magical animal helpers (birds, e.g.) come to her aid, so she is magical enough to appeal to the birds for help. When animal helpers come to call, there is most always an unusual human at hand to lend a hand to. In the German version, “Ashputtle,” she practices magic when she asks her father to bring home a hazel branch from his trip and plants it and it grows into a tree which she then speaks charms/prayers/magical chants (spells) upon to do her will; the tree in the German version holds the soul of her mother who watches out for her. In the Chinese version “Yeh Shien,” she has a magical fish that speaks to her. There is so much magic in Cinderella from the folk magic of the old world.
I like your association with the phoenix to this, and even more directly feel that same association of the phoenix more with the “Sleeping Beauty” or “Snow White” motif tales–or what are called “The Coffin Tales” (and there are so many others!); that is where I would really like to quote you and to place the quote here: “funeral pyre motif the ashened White grey corpse also the Divine Black feminine comes into play for me,” you wrote. Some cultural Cinderella motif tales have no fireplace or “cinders” per say, yet all contain the death of the old self and troubles and the resurrection so to speak, and all do contain that transcendent element where the character bridges over to the new “side” of her life that was, to her, once “way over yonder.” (Here I think of the Carole King song by that title.) The Jewish name “Asher” also means “bearer of salvation” (among other things possibly). Ashputtle/Cinder Bottom means sitting by/among/in the ashes. Sometimes the German Ashputtle is called Ashenputtle, implying perhaps what you are saying about the ashened color of the corpse, or one’s skin that is ashened.
This simple tale is so rich with associations and amplifications from other myths we could go on about it throughout the ages here!
The moral at the end of these tales when justice/retribution is served, as you mention at the end of your post response, brings the happily ever after after the battle of Cin/Sin as you included, and I would put the quote from Campbell here–as found on this jcf website, so here is the link:
