The Maori Creation Myth

In the beginning, there was Te Kore, The Nothing.  From Te Kore came Te Po, The Night.  There were many nights. The last Night joined with Space and there came into being two thoughts.  These thoughts were called Rangi, the Sky Father, and Papa, the Earth Mother.  They were so much in love that they held each other tightly and refused to let go of each other. Thus the sky and the eath were joined solidly together.  There was no light on the earth as Rangi and Papa’s tight embrace prevented it.  There was not even enough room for Time to slip between them.  Papa and Rangi gave birth to over 100 children; some of the children were Tangaroa, god of the sea, Tane, god of the forests, Tumatauenga, god of war, Whiro, god of darkness and Tawhirimatea, god of the winds. They were all trapped between their parents and could hardly move. The children talked about what they should do.  Tane suggested that he would separate their parents.  Whiro, was angry with Tane, because he was the eldest, and he should be the one to do this. Tawhiri wanted their parents to be left alone. Tumatauenga thought they should just kill the parents. But in the end, most of the children agreed that Tane should push them apart. Tane, god of the forests, carried four poles with him.  He placed one of the poles by his parents’ legs and one by their heads. He then pushed his parents apart. He pushed for years and years and years.  Rangi the Sky and Pap the Earth were separated became the sky above and earth below as we know them today. The blood from Rangi became the red of the sunset. The blood from Papa became the red clay earth. Light came into the world at last. The children moved to the four corners. But Tawhiri was very angry at what had been done. The anger grew in him until he couldn’t bear it any more. Tawhiri ripped out his eyes and threw them into the heavens, where they turned into the first two stars. He then turned his blind fury on all of his brothers. He blew hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones. He made tsunamis and huge storms. His anger had no end. Papa and Rangi were unhappy. They missed eachother so much that they cried and cried and cried. Rangi’s tears became rivers and oceans and dew on the grass. The mists that rise from the ground are from Pap, sighing with loneliness.

Notes and Observations

The Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Last semester I took an Artchitectural history class and we started out by looking at the origins of architure which began with stone formations and moved to cave paintings.  We watched a few short documentaries on this film and I found it to be absolutely fascinating.

Everything you need has been in front of you and inside you all along. This was the moral behind the Wizard of Oz and I think it applies to many aspects of our lives.

Metamorphoses- compared to the changes of trees.  Shakespear Sonnet 73- he's talking about a tree

A student in our class pointed out that she didn't see the tree she chose for her tree picture until she was given the assignment and realized that she really liked the tree.  I think this statement also refers back to a common theme that keeps coming up within our discussions about how everything we need is right in front of us.  Until we truly open our eyes, we won't really be able to view the world around us or appreciate what we have.

Apollo's first love was Daphne- struck by Cupid's Arrow

At the end of Daphne and Apollo, he embraces her and says she will be his tree. She turned into a Laurel tree. These leaves are now used as a symbol for winners and honor.  People wear the leaves in their hair.

***Etiology- the study of causation or origination.  Why things are they way they are.
In a Galaxy Far Far Away....
Hero with 1000 faces- Joseph Campbell
George Lucas got Star Wars from this.

On Monday- Start Creation Stories

Fredderick Turner- "Epic" wrote this.
Guest speaker

4 Types
1- X Nihilo- thought word, world of nothing
2- Earth Diver- god sends amphibions, brings particle of earth from the ocean floor
3- Creation by dividing in two- promordial heaven/earth
4- Creation by dismemberment of promordial being

Stories Upon Stories

Last year in college I took a literature class that focused on the origins of classic fairytales.  I hadn't realized that every Disney fairytale that I knew had originally came from a previous version from many years ago.  There are probably thousands of versions of every one of these stories and it interested me that a lot of them were very dark and involved death.  Somewhere along the way someone thought to change these stories to be told at a childrens level but there are many adult rated origins that I'd never heard of before.  Now when I read stories I tend to unconciously look for its similarities to other things that I've heard.  As I was reading the beginning of Book IV, Pyramus and Thisbe, I drew a connection to the story of Romeo and Juliet.  These two were so in love that they would do anything to be together and it resulted in confusion and a tragic death.  This also brings me to our professor's point that nothing is original any more and that everything comes from something else.  I think I will probably take that lesson and look for it a lot throughout my life.

Notes 1/14

Notes for 1/14/2013

Assignment- Have someone take your picture hugging a tree *

Every time you step outside you experience a myth.  An example is going over the threshhold.
First stage in the hero's journey- Call to adventure.

Baucus- god of wine and merriment

All fairytales are from myths.
The Transformation- "The Princess and the Frog"

*There is a woman behind every hero

Look up Monomyth- 17 stages***
Seperation
Inititation
Transformation

Education is transformation not information
Ovid Metamorphoses was written in the year 8. Over 2000 years ago

Italo Calvino- Condensed, compact point of unimaginable energy that will explode
                   - Woman making noodles

If you don't like a story just wait and it will change

I personally really like this last sentence because it feels like inspiration to continue forward even if things get hard in your life.

Creation Myth

http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/064.html

I added the link that will directly go to the creation myth I have chosen.  To summarize this story, a chief came down from the upper world and threw five of the hairs from his head onto the ground and they formed five perfect women.  He asked each of them what they would like to be in this world.  The first said she would like to bear children that would bring bad into the world.  The second wanted to bear children bringing good into the world; the third asked to be Earth; the fourth fire; and the fifth water.  This was how everything began.

I've never had any experience with blogging so I hope I'm doing this right.