Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Myth Matters
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gifts from the Otherworld: The Adventure of Bran | 10 oct. 2025 | 00:30:21 | |
The existence and importance of other worlds populated by other beings, non-human beings, is consistent across mythological traditions. Today, the dominant culture has a difficult time accepting these stories and yet we continue to tell them. We continue to need them. In this episode, I share the Celtic story "The Adventure of Bran" and reflect on what stories like this might offer. “And there seems never to have been an uncivilized tribe, a race, or nation of civilized men who have not had some form of belief in an unseen world, peopled by unseen beings. In religions, mythologies, and the Fairy-Faith, too, we behold the attempts which have been made by different peoples in different ages to explain in terms of human experience this unseen world, its inhabitants, its laws, and man's relation to it." --- W.Y. Evans-Wentz Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Song of the Bricoleur: Rags Rosenberg | 19 sept. 2025 | 00:42:33 | |
"We are all taking everything that we've learned from the past, and we're reformulating what we want to do with that and how we want to live. And so, one of the ideas that's embedded in that, for me, is that when you're in this period of history, like we are now, with AI and with the digitization of everything and with the resurgence of a fascist movement, everything is up for grabs. You know, anything can happen, and that's the whole point really, that we have agency in this moment to affect what direction things are going to go in, as bricoleurs." --- Rags Rosenberg A special interview episode with poet and performing songwriter Rags Rosenberg. Rags writes what he calls mythopoetic folk rock in the tradition of songwriter poets he admires: Leonard Cohen, Bob, Dylan, and Tom Waits. His latest album Song of the Bricoleur speaks about myth and our ongoing myth-making. We talk about artistic identity and guiding images, the role of the artist in dark times, and "making it up as we go." In times of profound cultural change, we're all bricoleurs. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Not Knowing the Way: Rich Peter the Peddler and leaving home | 06 sept. 2025 | 00:45:43 | |
"Leaving home" is an interesting metaphor for the call to significant change. This episode is a reflection on intention, uncertainty, and how myths can help us listen to the soul and find clarity around the risks and purpose of the journey. Thanks for listening and keep the mystery in your life alive... Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Leaving Home: Adventures of a trickster tailor | 22 août 2025 | 00:47:16 | |
In this episode, we take a look at the fairy tale "The Valiant Tailor" or the "The Brave Tailor," collected by the Brothers Grimm. Honestly, I almost dismissed this story as a bit too silly and I didn't like the tailor much at the outset. But what you don't like about a story can be a good prod to look more closely... The tailor's adventures opened reflections on trickster strategies, courage, and the power of imagination. All useful bits to put in your pocket when you're ready to leave home. Special thanks to Gary Diggins for granting me permission to include his story about leaving home in this episode. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| In the dark woods: what myths say about leaving home | 01 août 2025 | 00:29:15 | |
“You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.”-- Joseph Campbell In this episode we explore the mythic theme of leaving home as a central part of answering the call to transformation. Drawing from myths such as Inanna’s Descent, Valemon the White Bear King, Psyche and Eros, and The Odyssey, we reflect on the symbolic and literal meanings of “home,” and how leaving it often initiates deep personal change. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Transformation and awakening: Dumuzi's Dream | 18 juil. 2025 | 00:38:39 | |
This is the last episode in a 4-part series on the Sumerian myth of Inanna: Dumuzi’s Dream and The Return. After Inanna ascends from the underworld, she chooses her lover-king Dumuzi as her replacement in the Great Below. What happens to him? What meanings can we find in this action? Did the goddess betray her husband? Is this cruelty or compassion? I hope you find value in Dumuzi's story and welcome your thoughts and comments-- feel free to share them with me. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Greater Mysteries: Transformation, music, and the myth of Inanna with singer-composer Kelli Scarr | 03 juil. 2025 | 01:07:06 | |
Special episode with guest singer-composer Kelli Scarr! Scarr released her new album Greater Mysteries, a musical journey through the spiraling cycle of transformation, last month. The Sumerian myth of Inanna is one of the touchstones in this beautiful work, and I'm grateful to Kelli for taking the time to talk with me about the making of the album, her engagement with Inanna, and our collective transformation. "What I hope that this album does is brings solace and inspiration, and holds people's hands through their ears to say it's worth the risk. It's worth the risk of dying in all of its forms. Because even when what is on the other side isn't what you thought it was going to be, it's so much better."-- Kelli Scarr Thanks for listening and keep the mystery in your life alive... Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Inanna's descent to the Underworld, part 3 of 4 | 13 juin 2025 | 00:39:25 | |
She goes down This is episode #3 in a four-part series on the Sumerian myth of the goddess Inanna and the part of the story that contains her descent to the underworld. It's a fascinating story and a very old one, which tells us something important about this journey and the surrounding mysteries, and how they live in our imagination and psyche. Inanna's story is a story of transformation, transformation as an inevitable part of life. She can help us navigate the chaos and find the gifts. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Inanna and Dumuzi: The eros of the cosmos (part 2 of 4) | 29 mai 2025 | 00:33:17 | |
“The Church says: the body is a sin. Science says: the body is a machine. Advertising says: The body is a business. The Body says: I am a fiesta.” ― Eduardo Galeano, from Walking Words In this episode I tell the second part of Inanna's story, the courtship and marriage between Inanna and her honey man, the shepherd Dumuzi. Ripe in every sense, Inanna engages in a passionate and symbolic union that celebrates physical desire, renews the life cycles of nature, and expresses the creativity and eros of the cosmos. Her myth illuminates the sacredness of embodied experience and the transformative power of creative union, and challenges traditional dichotomies between spirit and matter. Inanna invites us to reconsider the sacred through the lens of wholeness, integration, and reverence for life in all its forms. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| The Sumerian myth of Inanna: In the first days 1 of 4 | 08 mai 2025 | 00:44:11 | |
In the first days, in the very first days, everything needed was brought into being and the goddess Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, took her place in the center of the Sumerian pantheon. This myth was recorded at the beginning of history and describes a pivotal time in human civilization. We're reckoning with the developments of this time, today. Inanna's myth can help us find a place-- as individuals, communities, and countries-- in the transformation that's currently underway. This is the first in a four-part series. Thanks for listening! Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Joy and Poetry for National Poetry month | 11 avr. 2025 | 00:35:28 | |
"We need joy as we need air." Maya Angelou Joy. Joy is my motivation, my desire and object in sharing some poetry with you in this episode. Joy---gladness, pleasure, delight, and rejoicing. Joy, a very precious freedom. How can you, how can we, build our capacity for joy? The belief that suffering alone lends you depth and nobility seems pretty common, and I wonder about this. Is familiarity with hardship sufficient to grow in compassion and resilience? Or does joy expand our humanity and understanding of life as well as lift us up? There are valuable clues to these questions in poems, the fruits of a poet's devoted attention. I have 13 poems for you, a baker's dozen of poems that speak about or gesture toward, joy. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Finist the Bright Falcon: Baba Yaga, soul quests, and shamanic journeys | 22 mars 2025 | 00:50:22 | |
The final episode in a three-part exploration of the mysterious Baba Yaga, a scary crone in Russian and Slavic fairy tales. Who or what is she? The fairy tale "Finist the Bright Falcon" opens up some interesting possibilities. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Initiation and Meeting the Baba Yaga | 07 mars 2025 | 00:37:22 | |
The Baba Yaga is a complex and scary crone in East Slavic and Russian fairy tales. She's a face of the earth goddesses and the fierce wildness of nature. Are some of us meeting the Baba Yaga right now? There's a lot of chaos right now as institutions, laws, and norms of behavior that order our societies are attacked. Chaos that has a parallel in escalating natural disasters and other earth events. Is this a collective initiation? What might we see if we understood this time as an initiation through forces much greater than the actions of a cabal of greedy sociopaths? These are scary times and they are ripe with opportunity. There's no avoiding it. Let's make something beautiful. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Fierce wildness and the Baba Yaga | 14 févr. 2025 | 00:36:34 | |
Welcome to episode one of the new (7th) season of Myth Matters! A new year and a time of change. Is this, as some say, the time of the wise, elder woman, the time of the crone? The Baba Yaga is one face of this archetypal energy. This episode is the first of two about the Baba Yaga. Baba Yaga is a complex and multifaceted figure in Russian and East Slavic fairy tales. She's a scary crone with roots in the pre-Christian pagan goddesses that we now call "mother earth," and expresses the warmly maternal dimension of nature and the fierce wildness. She seems to be full of contradictions. She holds the key to the mysteries of life. Here we explore some of her complexity through the three of her many stories: "Baba Yaga and the Kid," "The Step Daughter and the Step Mother's Daughter," and "The Geese and the Swans." Thanks for listening and keep the mystery in your life alive... Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Flying Together: The Conference of the Birds by Farid ud Din Attar | 06 déc. 2024 | 00:41:09 | |
“These lofty words are an antidote for anyone sickened by extremism’s poison.” Farid ud Din Attar, translation by Sholeh Wolpé The Conference of the Birds is an epic poem from the 12th century written by Sufi poet Farid ud Din Attar. The poem tells the story of a group of birds and an arduous journey to find a mysterious king. Renowned for its depth and beauty, the Conference of the Birds is an allegorical teaching about the spiritual path to self-realization that offers insight into the communal nature of a solitary quest.
Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Catastrophe: What myths show us about the way of the world | 15 nov. 2024 | 00:36:29 | |
Endings, loss, and uncertainty. Fears of a catastrophic future. Many of us are living with this right now or wondering how to. How to act. How to participate. Perspective and guidance can be gleaned from myths and old stories. They are a poetic record of life in a world where catastrophe happens. A world in which people have at various times, felt that everything was falling apart or that the world might even end. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Effort, Uncertainty, and Cerridwen's potion | 01 nov. 2024 | 00:29:47 | |
"It is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception and compassion and hope." –Ursula K. LeGuin This episode revolves around the Welsh myth of Cerridwen and the Birth of Taliesin. I've worked with this story a number of times. It comes to mind this time of year because Cerridwen is both a goddess and a witch, and this story includes potions, cauldrons, shapeshifting, and poetry. I hope you find something of value in this meditation. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Allegiance to the Inner Life: The. Nixie in the Millpond part 2 of 2 | 04 oct. 2024 | 00:36:55 | |
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”― Joseph Campbell We began an exploration of some important questions in the last episode. Questions about our allegiance to the inner world and the concerns of our outer life in the material world, as the demands of these realms often seem to be in conflict with each other. How well do we understand the relative weight and power of these worlds? How they inform and enrich the other? What is involved in our choices? A fairy tale called "The Nixie in the Mill Pond" was our way into reflection on this topic. This is part 2 of the story and our reflection of these questions. Make a deep dive into story---- Step Into the Fairy Glen details and registration Tap into the power of story to live your symbolic life Follow your bliss "He who looks outside, dreams; he who looks inside, awakens." C. G. Jung Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Allegiance to the Inner Life: The Nixie in the Mill Pond part 1 of 2 | 20 sept. 2024 | 00:42:59 | |
To what do we owe greater allegiance, our outer life in the material world of human conventions, or our inner life and the requirements of soul? I explore this question through the lens of a fairy tale called "The Nixie in the Mill Pond," collected by the Brothers Grimm. This is a big topic and a fascinating story with many twists and turns so I'm devoting to episodes to it. This is part 1. " Sometimes a man stands up during supper Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| The Bricoleur | 22 août 2024 | 00:30:50 | |
How we imagine our lives is how we live our lives, and mythologies provide the images and ideas in this process. But images of the human in the dominant myths-- as sinner, dominator, or world destroyer-- aren't guiding us toward a bright future. What are the alternatives? How about an ingenious, improvising jack-of-all-trades, the "bricoleur"? There is no "Myth of the Bricoleur" as far as I know and yet, the bricoleur and the act of bricolage can be found in myths and stories around the world. And once you know what this is, I think you'll see the bricoleur at work everywhere today. The human as bricoleur jack-of-all-trades offers a different way of understanding and engaging with the personal and cultural transformation currently underway. I hope you enjoy the episode! Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Shifting Images of Human Being with Dr. Craig Chalquist | 19 juil. 2024 | 00:57:12 | |
How we imagine ourselves is how we'll be. And where do we receive these images of the human? They're in our myths. In this episode, I take a look at three images in the myths of the dominant culture that determine how many of us see ourselves and how we live: the sinner, the king of the animal kingdom, and the world destroyer/ parasite. Are these images useful today? How do we find and live into alternatives? I'm joined by the insightful Dr. Craig Chalquist (see bio below) in an exploration of these questions. Many thanks to Dr. Chalquist for his rich contribution to the conversation! Much more could be said on this important topic. I hope you find this a helpful. Craig Chalquist is academic director of the Consciousness, Psychology, and Transformation program at National University. He holds a PhD in Depth Psychology and another in Psychology and Religion. His most recent nonfiction book is the second edition of Terrapsychological Inquiry. He also writes speculative fiction and is working on a trilogy of novels dealing with how humanity will face events sixty years from today. Visit his website Chalquist.com. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Making creative choices in art and life: 3 fairy tale variations | 05 juil. 2024 | 00:34:53 | |
Sifting through options to make a decision is something that each of us has to do at some point. When our choice is part of a creative process in work or life, in the arts or our psychic terrain, it can be very difficult. Something new will come into the world. Some type of transformation will take place. We're deeply invested in the outcome and there may be consequences. The dilemma posed by the need to make a choice is a common feature in the tests and tasks faced by characters in fairy tales. The nature of the choice and the way it is accomplished in these stories provides useful metaphors for considering our present situations and the challenges posed by creative choices. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Creativity: An Inner Alchemy of feathers and toads | 13 juin 2024 | 00:30:33 | |
“We would do well… to think of the creative process as a living thing implanted in the human psyche.” --- C.G. Jung (1922) Collected Works 15 We often say that every person is inherently creative and yet doubts and fears of inadequacy are common. Many of us hesitate to make any claims to creativity and feel it is lacking in our lives, or question the value of our creative processes and the outcomes. In this episode I offer a perspective on this dilemma with the aid of a fairy tale called "The Three Feathers" and The Red Book by and C.G. Jung. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Myth and Images of Creativity (Beginning with the new Apple ad) | 10 mai 2024 | 00:37:03 | |
Apple's ad for the new iPad has evoked some very strong reactions, reactions that illuminate old links between image, metaphor, myth, and our collective notions about creativity and the creative process. The current cultural conversation is a good starting point for reflection on some commonly held images of creativity and the way these images shape our creative process and the value we place upon it. This is the first in a series of episodes that will explore the central importance of image and imagination in all of life. How we imagine our lives is how we live them. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| National Poetry Month: Humor and the unexpected turn | 15 avr. 2024 | 00:43:29 | |
"Well, that's the trick: the sudden unexpectedness inside the over-known."
I rarely look to poetry for a laugh and I wonder why, when there are many brilliant moments of humor to be found there. In celebration of National Poetry month, here are ten or so humorous poems from Roald Dahl, Billy Collins, Carol Ann Duffy, and others. I hope you enjoy the episode and please share your favorite poems of the moment with me! Thanks for listening. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Fate, free will, and 3 Swords | 04 avr. 2024 | 00:27:04 | |
Fate and free will, and the longing for purpose and prospect of destiny that hangs somewhere in-between. How do these forces shape our lives? Do we play assigned roles in a cosmic plan or make it all up as we go? Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| The Bhagavad-Gita and yoga of awareness with Gabriella Nagy | 15 mars 2024 | 00:45:43 | |
“A yogi sees Me in all things and all things within Me.” Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad-Gita is an important Hindu teaching story embedded in the Mahabharata, an astonishing epic poem. Astonishing for its length- 100,000 verses-- and for its beauty. Astonishing for the complexity of the social and spiritual world constructed in the poem and the exploration of the moral dilemmas we face while attempting to live our lives correctly. In this episode, I take a look at the Bhagavad-Gita with the help of Gabriella Nagy, an embodied yoga instructor and yogic life skill guide.
Her unique teaching approach which she calls “yoga of awareness” is named to honor the main yoga that Krishna teaches in the Bhagavad Gita.Her classes support spiritual seekers longing to embrace yoga as a life skill and cultivate balance and strength on the mundane level as well as on the subtler realms. Gabriella lives on the sandy beach of Baja California, Mexico with her multimedia artist husband and their four-legged chihuahua children Merlin and Maya. You can find Gabriella at: www.yogaofawareness.com Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Fee-fi-fo-fum: Outwitting the Ogres in Life | 01 mars 2024 | 00:37:12 | |
Last Monday, February 26th was Tell a Fairy Tale Day. I began preparation for this episode with the intention of telling you a fairy tale, perhaps one that was connected to the holiday. This process opened up reflection on the necessity of a well-developed imagination to meet life challenges in a creative and satisfying way, and the role fairy tales play in cultivating this capacity. In fairy tale language, some of these life challenges could be called "ogres," the people and forces that hoard the gold and will eat you up, take your life, if they can. Ogre is a pretty good metaphor for some of the challenges that we meet. And, of course, an ogre appears in the story in this episode. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| The Problem of the Return and the End of the Hero's Adventure | 09 févr. 2024 | 00:37:12 | |
We have an ever- increasing wealth of myths and stories, fueled by new discoveries and ongoing mythmaking. There are also dominant myths and stories, and dominant ideas about myths and stories, that limit the usefulness of this inheritance and the possibilities we entertain. In the last episode, I turned to the Hero's Adventure, a mythic pattern articulated by Joseph Campbell, to reflect on some of the many ways that we can hear a call to a new life. A bigger life, a life of purpose. In this episode, I pick up the hero's adventure once again to consider the final phase of the process, what Campbell called "The Return." This final phase is essential to the image of a hero as a person who serves the community, and yet it rarely receives much attention. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Answering the Call of 2024 | 25 janv. 2024 | 00:31:28 | |
It's only January and 2024 already feels like a year of consequence. Crazy weather and climate change, war, elections, ideological, religious, and cultural conflicts, and Pluto's move into Aquarius, heralding a long underworld journey of transformation in our communities, social contracts, technology, idea of service, and visions of freedom. What role might mythology and myth-making play in the cultural and personal changes underway? Are our inherited narratives an obstacle to overcome or an aid in imagining the future? These are questions I take up in this episode as an opening meditation on endings and beginnings in 2024. Thanks for joining me in this reflection. I'd love to hear from you if this opening foray sparks thoughts in response. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Endings and Beginnings: Odin's Quest for Wisdom | 14 déc. 2023 | 00:28:42 | |
The solstice will soon be upon us, followed by the arrival of a new year. A time of endings and beginnings. Reckoning. This passage through winter darkness here the in northern hemisphere leads me to Norse mythology and my fascination with the god Odin. Odin is a god who lives with the prophecy that his world will end and he will die. This is an unusual combination of themes, one that imbues Odin with an approachable humanness and sparks my curiosity about the quest for wisdom that defines him. Odin's efforts didn't prevent the end of his world. And yet I suspect the god felt his quest was worth the cost. Is there a parallel in my life? In yours? This could be a fruitful reflection as 2023 and Season 5 of Myth Matters come to a close. I hope you find something of value in the stories and many thanks for making Myth Matters part of your mythic journey. Warm wishes for a glorious holiday season and keep the mystery in your life alive. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Living your heart's desire: The Tale of the Doomed Prince | 01 déc. 2023 | 00:30:04 | |
"I am destined to die either by a crocodile, a serpent, or a dog; it is the will of the gods. Then let me go forth and follow my heart's desire while I live.". 2023 is drawing to a close. "The Tale of the Doomed Prince," a fairy tale found in ancient Egyptian papyri from 1550 BCE or so, is an interesting companion to year end (year round?) reflections on what you're doing with your life. Are you following your heart's desire? Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Beowulf and why we need Monsters | 17 nov. 2023 | 00:40:28 | |
The existence of monsters, alongside gods and goddesses, is a distinguishing feature of myths, fairy tales, and legends. Defeating a monster is often the test of the hero, the act that makes that individual a hero. And yet, life is full of challenges and dangers. There are plenty of opportunities for various forms of heroism in this everyday world and ordinary reality, right? Do we need monsters? Or, are monsters relics of an archaic world view, evidence of a time when people often misunderstood the world around them and feared the boogie man? Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Mythic Sensibility: The Enchanted Cave of Cesh Corran | 27 oct. 2023 | 00:38:54 | |
The season around Halloween and Samhain is a liminal time when shadows grow and lengthen in the world and psyche. The old Celtic stories of poet warriors and fairies feel especially potent to me right now, so I'm dipping back into the collection Irish Fairy Tales by James Stephens for this story offering. "The Enchanted Cave of Cesh Corran" is rich in metaphor, humor, and insight, and also provides a launching point for reflection on the different types of interpretation we bring to myths and the nature of a mythic sensibility in these times. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| "Those Who Live Beneath Us": Sedna the Inuit Woman of the Sea | 13 oct. 2023 | 00:26:31 | |
Sedna is the goddess mother of the sea, marine animals, and the underworld in the myths of the Inuit people, an indigenous Arctic culture. This episode is an exploration of variations on her origin story, and some of the questions and possibilities Sedna raises in this time of climate change and fundamentalism. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| The Story of Tuan Mac Cairill and the Salmon of Knowledge | 22 sept. 2023 | 00:41:21 | |
"I went out to the hazel wood, ---from "The Song of Wandering Aengus" by W.B. Yeats The Salmon of Knowledge is a mythical creature in Irish folklore associated with poetry and knowledge of deep truths. Any person who ate a bit of the fish would become wise and know the essence of all things. Which leads one to wonder: what is the nature of this wisdom? The Story of Tuan Mac Cairill suggests an answer to this question. I love this story and hope you enjoy it too. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Mythical Bonds: Dogs, Kinship, and the Irish tale of Fionn and the Birth of Bran | 07 sept. 2023 | 00:38:21 | |
“Dogs are our link to paradise.” -- Milan Kundera
Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Churning the Cosmic sea: Joseph Campbell, meaning, and the rapture of being alive | 11 août 2023 | 00:19:48 | |
"I don’t think the meaning of life is what we’re seeking. I think it’s an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have residences within our own innermost being in reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive." -- Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth The meaning of life isn't what we're seeking? Isn't meaning what makes life worthwhile, at least, or especially, from the perspective of a depth-psychological-mythologist? In this episode, I take up these questions and Campbell's claim with the aid some stories found in his book Myths To Live By. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Myth, science, and the creation story: Mr. g by Alan Lightman | 04 août 2023 | 00:34:06 | |
"Rationality and logic can be spiritual." -- Alan Lightman, Mr. g The antagonism between Western science and myth/religion has shaped human history and continues to obstruct the quest for a holistic understanding of existence. I wonder about the reconciliation of science and religion and what forms this might this take. This led me to Mr. g, a novel by Alan Lightman. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Gates of Babylon: The Enduring Legacy of Ancient Creation Myths | 20 juil. 2023 | 00:41:48 | |
The Babylonian Enuma Elish, also known as The Seven Tablets of Creation, is one of the oldest surviving creation myths. The story narrates the epic battle between the god Marduk and the primordial goddess Tiamat, which resulted in the creation of mankind and the establishment of an enduring order in heaven and on earth. No one alive today "believes" in this myth. The cuneiform tablets containing the poem were lost for centuries. Nevertheless, Marduk exerts considerable influence over the world-dominating cultures today. In this episode, I tell you the myth, provide some historical context, and consider the role it has--and might yet-- play in the ongoing creation of culture Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Creation Myths: In the beginning | 30 juin 2023 | 00:36:03 | |
How did all of this-- what we call reality, the universe, the earth, life, begin? What do you think? This question is a primary motivation for our ongoing myth-making. Despite all the tools and technologies, the origins of the cosmos, life, and human beings are still a mystery. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Myths of the Father | 16 juin 2023 | 00:37:41 | |
The proper way to be a father or mother, questions about who can father or mother, and what these parental roles mean are contentious topics, ripe for creative reflection and renewal. Myths about fathers and fatherhood contain images and meanings that shape society and family life. They're a key part of this cultural conversation. The fathers in myths and fairy tales exert influence over us whether or not we believe in them or know the specifics of the stories. In this episode, we take a look at the Christian God the Father, Zeus of the ancient Greek pantheon, Odin from Norse mythology, and a couple of fairy tales dads. Happy Father's Day! Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| A psychology of craft: the shirt of stinging nettles | 26 mai 2023 | 00:22:57 | |
Our appreciation of mythology as a symbolic language is central to the contemporary relationship to myth. As people bound to a psychological view of the inner life, myth as metaphor is the key to understanding the old stories. And yet, myth is more than metaphor. The elements in a story, the specific animals, plants, and features of the land that are named in a given story, are more than artistic details. Investigation into the scientific as well as the mythic biography of these elements can result in discoveries that enhance your appreciation of the story and expand your original insights. In this episode, our exploration of the stinging nettles in "The Wild Swan" takes us further into the world of the story and a psychology of craft for today. "Working so slowly by hand is transformative, bringing up different conceptions of time and questions of what constitutes value." -- Dylan Howitt , filmmaker, "The Nettle Dress" Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| "The Wild Swans"--- Powerful Words and Living with Wings | 12 mai 2023 | 00:37:50 | |
On the surface, "The Wild Swans" is a fairy tale about cursed brothers who are saved by their sister. This is a common motif. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| The World's Wife, Contemporary Myth Poems by Carol Ann Duffy | 28 avr. 2023 | 00:39:16 | |
In The World's Wife, Carol Ann Duffy offers myth poems that are also myths for today in the form of a poem. These poems converse with old myths and stories AND they are stories in themselves. They display a deep appreciation for the poignancy of these tales, and a wicked, dark humor. I love them. As the title suggests, Duffy tells her myths from the perspective of the women who are largely silent in the older and more popular versions. This episode includes a handful of my favorites from the collection, accompanied by a bit of background about the relevant myth or fairytale. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Myth, Poetry, and the Power of the Word | 11 avr. 2023 | 00:40:16 | |
April is National Poetry month! Myth and poetry have a long, shared history. In fact, our oldest known myths are poems. Have you ever wondered why this might be? I suspect the intuitive rightness of myth as poetry springs from the ancient understanding of the sacred power of the word. In this episode, we explore the creative power of speech with the aid of a handful of contemporary poems that reference myths. These poems also give us a chance to plumb the questions at the heart of these myths. I hope you find a poem, a poet, a thought, a moment in this podcast that inspires or provokes you. As Jeanette Winterson says: " [...] a poem is like a shot of espresso – the fastest way to get a hit of mental and spiritual energy." Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Athena, goddess of Reason ?! | 23 mars 2023 | 00:37:27 | |
The Greek goddess Athena was a warrior, the patron of cities and mentor of heroes, clear-eyed, practical, and strategic. What was her great power? She was the goddess of Reason. Yes, the ancient Greek patriarchy, a model of misogyny, imagined "reason" as female. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Myth, History, and the Woman Warrior | 04 mars 2023 | 00:30:56 | |
Myth has an interesting and complex relationship to history. I started thinking about this after watching the movie "The Woman King," inspired by the warrior women of Dahomey, the Agojie. Visiting Europeans called these women "Amazons." I talk about the movie (no spoilers), Amazons, and some of the twists and turns of myth and history. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| Free to Love: Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid | 17 févr. 2023 | 00:48:03 | |
The freedom to love and individuality. The difference between spiritual love and carnal love. Love for the self and love for a beloved. The fear and fascination elicited by those who don't fit conventional categories and definitions. Hans Christian Andersen was probably not thinking about these ideas when he wrote his fairy tale "The Little Mermaid," at least not with a conscious agenda. And yet this story about a mermaid, a figure with a long mythological history, offers an interesting opportunity to reflect on these themes. This original version by Andersen is not Disney. It might surprise you. The story doesn’t offer solutions but it may launch valuable personal reflection into your beliefs about who and how to love, and how you value your love relationships. Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||
| 2023 and the Year of the Rabbit | 27 janv. 2023 | 00:24:19 | |
A new year is a time of beginnings and possibility. A fresh and hopeful creativity infuses our aspirations. This is a good time to make conscious choices about the sources we turn to and the images we hold, as we form our goals, predictions, and hopes for the coming year. According to the ancient Chinese zodiac, each year in a 60-year cycle has a particular character, set of opportunities, and challenges. 2023 is the year of the Rabbit. What is the quality of the year of the Rabbit, and how can this inspire us in 2023? Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com | |||