Archetypal Insights in Mythology and Healing Arts
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Shamans of antiquity served their cultures, by venturing into unknown realms and bringing back relevant wisdom for their people. Every journey, mental or otherwise, did not yield a myth. Tales of finding water during droughts may have been told for a season or two, but only some tales, some images, some experiences become mythic constructs that remain relevant to a cultural identity beyond a season. So what makes some stories deeply informing, archetypally relevant? What makes a myth mythic? Despite the varied forms and functions of myth, it is my belief that a critical quality of myth is that it massages and soothes a core wound in the human psyche.
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by Gay Wolff Daily life is a symphony created by the melody of our conscious living and the harmonies and cacophonies of our unconscious living. Despite our intentions and will power, much of what happens in our lives seeps up from some uncontrollable place, and often yields chaos. While it is natural to choose who we want to be, Carl Jung warns us against completely denying our shadow parts and says that our unconscious seeks to communicate even when we try to ignore them. He advises that we embrace the parts of our psyche that we bury in the shadows, so they do not start pushing their way into our lives uncontrollably. By bringing them out into the light of our conscious acceptance, we honor and balance them. |
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by Emma Tresemer
it was this once, my dearest ones, my blessed foolish companions, that we,
called forward
a pod of savage whales to that mystic mythic seaweed-riddled beach
with bellies full of fish and the black rubber of fins and feet
born of dreams and lovers and the ideas we so often leave behind
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by Shannon Sloan-Spice
Between Two Tensions, The Third Path Emerges explores the symbolic meaning of the triquetra image and what a number of sages have said about the third path, the hero's journey, the transcendant or reconciling third that is built on unity and our search beyond the polarities often offered in life. Her essay includes insights by Joseph Campbell, Michael Conforti, and Stanley Keleman. Shannon Sloan-Spice has studied the classics and philosophy, is a dramatic arts instructor, and is currently in a doctoral program for Mythology with a depth psychology emphasis.
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