Ovid's Metamorphoses Book VII

MEDEA & JASON:     The leader of the Argonauts is helped to victory of the Golden Fleece through the king's daughter, whose undying love for him saved him from the tasks he faced.

MEDEA & AESON:     Jason uses the love his sorceress feels for him to ask her to add years to his ailing father's life and she abides, making him feel 40 years younger.
MEDEA & PELIAS:     Medea tricks Pelias' daughters into trying the age-regression on their own father, but instead she kills him and flees.
THE FLIGHT OF MEDEA:     She travels quite aways before taking her revenge on Jason through his children and new love then weds at the citadel of Athens for protection.
THESEUS & AEGEUS:     The sorceress is back to her dirty tricks by almost having Aegeus poison his own son without knowledge, but luckily he stops Theseus from drinking the potion and Medea hides for safety.
MINOS:     The tyrant wants revenge on Athens for killing his half-breed son.

CEPHALUS:     The messenger from Athens travelled to ask for Aeacus's assistance in fighting Minos.
THE PLAGUE:      All of Cephalus' friends are dead due to a plague that envious Juno unleashed on the city which did not have enough space to bury the bodies.
THE MYRAMIDONS:      Aeacus prays for the plague to stop and the gods grant him his wish and use a tree to bear many men to rebuild/replenish the town, he calls them Myramidons.

CEPHALUS, PROCRIS, AURORA:      The poor hunter's wife thinks he has cheated on her and spies on him but only to get speared by his beloved javelin and to learn he was not having an affair all along.

Subliminal views from a fellow classmate

One of our assignments was to write about someone else's blog, I chose Tristan Head's blog on a sublime experience he encountered.
His pictures of his trip are amazing first off. The views from the top of Froze to Death Plateau capture the complete essence of nature as a sublime experience; that is that nature takes us away to a place where we can clear our minds of the muddle are reconnect with our creation; separation, initiation, return all in one breathtaking view.
My favorite line:
          "...because half the fun is going up and makes you appreciate the turns on the way down. I know each one of us enjoys doing at least one activity that gives us the feeling of nirvana. Once we have found the nirvana it leaves us with a dire thirst for more, it isn't until we recreate the event that we are satisfied, and then as we drive away are thirsty once again."
I get this feeling when I'm in nature all the time and luckily my family is obsessed with camping so I get to go a lot! It takes you back to a time, illo tempore, where everything seems right and good. You can't help but feel the presence of a divine being up there in a hectic week full of midterms and meeting this breath of fresh air is a great reminder that all of this has been done before and worrying about it does nothing. Thanks Tristan.

Mythological events

Our assignment to witness something mythical is not a hard one because as I look around I see plenty of things that are right out of Ovid.

The first thing is that I'm pretty sure birds watch me. Every time I walk to class there is a particular spot of grass by the science building that a certain bird (possibly a magpie) is hanging out on and as I walk by this bird stares right into my eyes and then follows me. It is only like 5 feet at the most but it is still unnerving having this small powerful animal tracking me down. Could be Tereus still searching for his wife and sister-in-law. Possibly I look like Procne did in her first life. Interesting to ponder...

The second cue comes from the many seasonal festivities that are happening. Specifically the idea of corn mazes. The very first mythological story I ever learned was of the minotaur and the labyrinth. And corn mazes are just a different cultures way of reliving this mythological tale. I'm glad our mazes today do not include a giant man-bull trying to hunt us down, but the thought of being trapped in a maze still makes me anxious as did the labyrinth back in illo tempore.

The third mythological event I have witnessed happened over dinner. My mom was making stew and as I walked through the door I was hit with this awful smell that somehow made me want to throw up and bathe in it at the same time. It was some sort of meat that she was boiling so that the meat (flesh) would fall away from the bone. Instantly I was reminded of Tatalus and Pelops. Since humans are sometimes transformed into animals, I couldn't help thinking that I was eating somebody's son. This made me very unsettled and dinner was not as enjoyable as I would have hoped.

Bad Days and Deja' Vu

“Better visit hell in your lifetime than after you’re dead.” -- Yiddish Proverb

* I didn't particularly try to have a bad day and this week has actually been one of the best weeks of the school year so far so I have nothing new to write about, but I have quite a few bad days from the past and one of these stories should suffice.

A bad day that really sticks out in my mind is the day that my dad left us. I was 17 and had just graduated high school, oh and another bombshell, I was pregnant. I had been depressed for weeks because being pregnant so young is not really a fun experience to go through and had added a lot of extra pressure on my family. My dad had been distant for a couple years now. Only coming home to watch TV and go to bed and then off to work for another 12 to 13 hours the next day. This particular day he had pissed off my mom royally and they were arguing downstairs while I grew fat sitting on the couch.
They had been down there awhile when my dad came upstairs to say goodbye. He had tears in his eyes and all he said was "I can't be here anymore. It's killing me." I only got misty-eyed and nodded with understanding, because this day had been a long time coming. He got down on his knees beside the couch and gave me a big hug...and then he walked out the door.
And instantly I fell apart... my dad was my rock, my superman, my hero, and then he just walked out, how could that be?! I ran to the bathroom and threw up, a mix of disbelief and morning sickness. As I sank to the linoleum I felt as though my world was caving in. There was no longer black and white; I was in the middle, in the muddle of my own self-destructing creation.

Not a very pleasant story but what bad days are? so on a lighter note, let's kill two birds with one stone and hit up the deja' vu experiences I've endured in the last two days. I've heard that smell is the greatest of the senses tied to memory so now that the leaves are changing (thanks to Persephone going back to the Underworld) the smell of fall is upon us. Last night I was walking to my car and the wind thrust a bunch of leaves into my face. And instantly I was nine years old again raking leaves with my best friend and jumping into the biggest pile that we could make. It was the smell of something that I had done, something I vaguely remembered, something "already seen." It was the smell of complete, enthralling bliss, and it smelled wonderful!

Ovid's Metamorphoses Book VI

ARACHNE:      we went into great detail about this one in class, it is extremely hard to summarize it in one sentence; hubris always ends in destruction!

NIOBE:       A mother is a little too boastful of her kids and loses all 14 of them before turning into stone.

LATONA & THE LYCAIN PEASANTS:      Artemis and Apollo's mother wants nothing more than a drink from a lake and turns the selfish withholders to frogs.

MARSYAS:      A satyr gets cocky with Apollo and turns into a stream.

PELOPS:      The famous boy that Tantalas tried to feed to the God has a spot of ivory in his shoulder.

TEREUS, PROCNE, PHILOMELA:      Two sisters feed the son to the adulterous king and all three take flight.

BOREAS & ORITHYIA:       The wind of the north takes the mortal girl for his bride and gains two sons who make their own mythology with Jason.

Ovid Book V

PERSEUS & PHINEUS:       Andromeda's lover gets pissed that Perseus took her and attacks but he and hundreds of his men are turned to stone.
PROETUS:      A bad dude got his karma for kicking out his family.
POLYDECTES:      Another bad dude got what was coming to him for belittling Perseus.



MINERVA, THE MUSES, PEGASUS:       The stream from under Pegasus's hoof blesses the daughters.

PYRENEUS:    A cruel king tries to rape the sisters but in a blinded judgment falls to his death trying to follow them.
THE PIERIDES:     9 boastful sisters travel to The Muses and call them out for a contest.
TYPHOES:      The Pierides embellish the stories to make Typhoes and the other Giants seem victorious.
CERES & PROSERPINA:       Cere's daughter is taken by Pluto to be queen of the Underworld, but her father Zeus allows her to be shared between the two kingdoms.

ARETHUSA & ALPHEUS:        A nymph flees from the river-god and is turned into a stream so as not to be raped.
TRIPTOLEMUS & LYNCUS:     Trip is a servent of Ceres who is delivering good harvest but the king is envious and just as he is about to attack gets transformed into a lynx.
THE PIERIDES-AGAIN:       The sisters are sore losers are insult the Muses, who as a result turns them into magpies.

Mythos + logos

"If the test of truth lay in a show of hands or a counting of heads, the system of magic might appeal, with far more reason than the Catholic Church, to the proud motto, Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus ["Always, everywhere, and by all"], as the sure and certain credential of its own infallibility."

Being in this class has brought up a lot of (well needed) questions of my own religious beliefs. I never would have labeled myself as "religious" but I believed in one God who had a son that died so that I may one day live eternally in heaven. I wasn't quick to judge or condemn other religions, including lack there of, or to change and convert people. I believed that Faith is made up of a personal relationship with Christ.

Now that sounds all fine and dandy until someone questions me WHY? And my only reply is because when I was little my parents forced-fed me the bible and because I was so young with childlike enthusiasm I swallowed every line. not a very good answer. but yet it's the truth. It's because I undoubtedly believed these bible stories to be true; but that's all they are, stories. I loved hearing the 1 minute creation myths of my fellow classmates, but it got me thinking of how it would sound if someone did the Christianity creation myth. "A long time ago there was this God who spoke into the dark and created light. He spent 6 days making the earth and living creatures. He made man out of clay and then took that mans rib to make a woman." To be honest--it sounds just as ridiculous as some of those other myths (aka the Egg splitting up into the heaven and earth). So why do I choose to believe this creation story over all the rest?! This is a hard question that I have been struggling with since I was finally able to choose what I believed separate from that of my parents.

These myths can easily be someone's reality. We should not treat them like meaningless stories, but we also need to decipher which ones we believe and why. But this deciphering should NOT be judgment. Who are we to say which myth is the correct one? after awhile they all sound pretty silly. I guess that's where Faith comes in, believing in something that you are unsure of. What we have faith in is a powerful foundation of how we build our lives. Don't simply raise your hand or swallow because they tell you to; Go out and find it for yourself.

Ovid Book IV

THE DAUGHTERS OF MINYAS:      Refuse to partake in Bacchus' sporagmos and stay home to weave.
PYRAMUS & THISBE:     The original Romeo and Juliet and origin of the mulberry bush's color.
 
MARS, VENUS, VULCAN, THE SUN:     Apollo witnesses an affair and tells Vulcan, who traps the lovers in their predicament as the other Gods gaze on in amusement.
LEUCOTHOE & CLYTIE:      A sister betrays the other and slowly withers away into the ground.
SALMACIS & HERMAPHRODITUS:      A good looking boy gets ambushed by a nymph who pleads to never be separated from him.
THE DAUGHTERS OF MINYAS:      Smoke and fire interrupt the weaving story-time and each girl becomes a bat in the darkness.
ATHAMAS & INO:       Juno gets a Furie to poison the happy couple to as destroy them but Venus takes pity and turns mother and child into sea-deities.

CADMUS & HARMONY:     Cadmus finally takes his serpent shape and his wife changes with him.
ACRISIUS:     Denies that Bacchus and Perseus are of Olympian lines but wakes up and realizes the truth as Perseus spills drops of Medusa's blood to form snakes in Libya.
PERSEUS & ATLAS:     Atlas refuses to give Perseus rest so Perseus holds up Medusa's head and turns Atlas into the earth.
PERSEUS & ANDROMEDA:     Perseus saves Andromeda from her death at sea and Medusa's blood forms coral.
PERSEUS & MEDUSA:     The son of Jove cuts off the head of the poor girl (whose hair was changed to snakes because she was raped in Minerva's sanctuary) and gains his winged horse.