Myth Journal

Are you, or have you ever been, a mythic figure?

After a lot of thought, I believe thaWhat we have all, in some way, been a mythic figure.  Myth is full of storeis about not only gods, but heroes and monsters as well.  People who are brave and who help others are concidered often concidered heroes.  We have all helped others in our own ways, and to them we are thought of as heroes, spun into the myths in their own lives.

I have been writing these in an actual journal, so they are now being copied onto this blog.  anyway, here goes...
What is the mythology of your family? 

One of my favorite parts of my family mythology is the traditions.  Some of the earliest memories I have are of visiting my dad's family's
sheep ranch in Utah.  The major "rite of passage" there is learing to drive the 4-wheelers, and of fishing at the lake there.  Another "rite of passage" for me anyway was learing how to kill spiders.  As most of my family is arachnophobic and my dad is often working and thus unable to squish them, I had to learn how to do it.

Is Gilgamesh the first and Archetypal Superhero?

I would have to say yes to this question.  Like so many more modern superheroes, he comes from supernatural heritage (Superman is from Krypton, Spiderman was bitten by the spider, Hulk was exposed to radiation, etc), he has the respect of his people but they also mistrust him (Batman, Spiderman and many others are constantly hunted by the police), he fights with, but later teams up with, a fellow human with supernatural powers (Enkidu in Gilgamesh's case; many superheroes join forces in comic books), he does battle with forces threatening his people, and he ventures into the unknown himself, going to supernatural places in his quest to find out about himself and to protect his kingdom.

Practice a Jungian analysis on a simple fairy tale of your choice.  Try it with more than one character.

I chose Peter Pan.  Not exactly a fairy tale, but a kid's story that I grew up with, so...
The obvious choice as the dreamer would be Peter.  Peter has many of the same influxes into his persona that a normal boy might have; he has his friends, his lifestyle, etc, but he also is missing some very key elements.  Most importantly, he has no family.  Peter is also a law unto himself, he is the ruler of Neverland, and only has to answer to himself.  However, the lack of family creates a void in him, which I would all the shadow.  He knows that most boys have a mother, have a family, which is why he goes to take Wendy, John, and Michael to Neverland.  Peter has no anima, as he does not concider the Lost Boys or the Darling sons to be his equals, but Wendy is clearly his Animus.  She completes him as his mother, the most important thing to a boy his age in the real world, might. 

The other person I wanted to try this with is Captain Hook.  Hook is, like Pan, his own master, but unlike Peter, he has to listen to what other laws say, as he aims to directly counter them with his actions.  Hook is also ctrongly influenced by what he terms to be "good form".  Despite his evil actions, he always tries to be a gentleman, and constantly wishes Peter to show "bad form".  Perhaps these good qualities JM Barrie shows in Captian Hook are his shadow.  Hook is reported to be a good musician, he likes flowers, and he wishes to be a "classy person" as we might put it in modern days.  Hook has several animas and animuses.  The major anima is Peter Pan, who, unlike Hook, seeks to fight fairly, is selfless, and is unafraid of death.  The major animus is the Crocodile (in fact female in the original story).  The crocodile, while she does not display inverses of Hook's personality, is constantly on the lookout to destroy him. 

How do you see mythic thinking in the world today?  How might these observations help you form motivating questions for further research and learning abotu mythology?

One thing that I see as a real parallel to myth in the modern world is how our "gods" and our "heroes" (politicians, athletes, movie stars, artists, etc) are just as immoral as the gods in ancient myths, Zeus in particular coming to mind, but we listen to them and we love them just the same.  We also look to politicians in particular to fight "monsters" today:  climate change, terroism, national debt, etc.  We still look to heroes who often claim to be more capable than they really are to protect us from the things we fear most.