Chapter 4 Eliade...

Near the end of this chapter Eliade said something that really caught my eye. She said, "In short, even without a visible apocalyptic destruction, this world, the old world, is symbolically abolished and the paradisal World of the origin is established in its place." (P. 72) I think the point that Eliade is trying to get at is; even though we don't see our world ending, our Earth is ever changing whether for a greater good, or evil. Through every day trials and tribulations our Earth is changing and millions of new ideas are coming into to play everyday. We are evolving creatures and our ideas and viewpoints are constantly going to keep evolving. This place is not static it is very fluid. And while we probably won't see anything of an apocalypse the world is ever changing into our view of what a paradisal world is. We shape it around our beliefs so in the end, we will all live in our own paradisal worlds.

Book 13 sentences...

Ajax - One so powerful but only the blade that had slain so many, could kill him.

The Fall of Troy - After a ten year war you have to be broken up when you lose and your city is burnt to a crisp, right?

Polyxena - Who would want their mother to see the death of themselves? Certainly not I.

Polyxena & Hecuba - A mother weeping is more powerful sentiment than any mortal can come up with.

Aurora & Memnon - You think Jove is going to bring Memnon's body back to life but instead turned him into birds called Memnonides.

Book 12 sentences...

Rumor - Be careful what you say, you never know who could be listening.

Death of Achilles - Neptune gives orders to Apollo to slay Achilles, this is to avenge his son Hector's death, which Apollo agrees to do and kills Achilles with an arrow.

Hercules & Periclymenus - Don't fly into the sky when someone has a bow and arrow because they can shoot you right down and fall to your death.

Iphigenia - When ever someone gives an oracle for a fight, you know you are in for a long ride.

Book 11 sentences...

Orpheus - Watch out for a crazy pack of woman, they might be on the prowl to tear you from limb to limb.

The Bacchantes - One thing that Ovid loves to turn people into in the metamorphoses, is trees.

Pelus & Thetis - Could one be mightier than the great Jove himself?

Ceyx - More places should the land of Trachin, so nice, warm, and welcoming.

The Wolf - This story reminds me of men going off to a war, with the servant saying what had gone wrong, then Ceyx's wife saying goodbye to him begging him to stay, and then the massacre by the wolf.

Book ten sentences...

Pygmalion - A dream girl that turns from stone to flesh and has a happy ending, what else could you ask for in a story?

Birth of Adonis - Could you imagine a tree giving actual birth whether to another tree or human?

Venus & Adonis - Cupid one day pokes his mom with a magic arrow, she is so drawn to Adonis, she can not escape the thought, and finally wondering through woods she finally gets him and tells him not to mess with big beasts.

The fate of Adonis - Should have listened to Venus and would have had no trouble, but than again this is Ovid of course.

Cyparissus - Anyone ready for Thanksgiving?

Bad day..

When in class they other day sexson was talking about James's blog and upon reading further into it, this is also my view point on bad days. I believe that bad days are in the eye of the beholder. It is your choice, everyday, when you wake up if you are going to have a good or bad day. It is already predetermined by yourself. Your mind has already made the decision. Once this decision is made it is irreversible, since it is so hard to convince your brain otherwise. 

If you go into a day thinking that it is just going to be a bad day because of a girl, work, homework, or just stressed out. Of course you are going to have a bad day because you have already made the decision in your mind that today is going to be bad. This is why I believe everyone needs to look at everyday like a blank canvas. You are the paintbrush and you choose what to put on that canvas for the day. It can either be a bright and beautiful or dark and gloomy all depending on how your outlook of the day is going. 

So each and every day look at it as a new page in a book, where you can determine everything that happens. Your life is not predetermined book, you can write the pages to your story:)

Book nine sentences...

Achelous & Hercules - Boys will be boys, especially when it is for the love a girl.

Hercules, Deianira, Nessus - All three come to a raging river, Hercules says he will swim across, Nessus says that he will take Deianira on his back, upon reaching the other side Hercules sees he has been betrayed, and avenges this by killing Nessus with an arrow.

Alcmena - Child birth + magic spells + olden times = graphic story.

Iolaus - The age old question of eternal youth, is of course answered in this great book of Ovid's.

Dryope - Why do bad things happen to good people?

Mythic clues...

This first mythic clue came to me on friday. I am not one to be particular afraid of spiders, but this one was different. While I pulled out a pan to cook a quesadilla there was on of the gnarliest spiders i had ever laid eyes upon. One huge pet peeve of mine is clean food. If anything is dirty or hairs in food i just can not eat that item. When i saw this spider on my pan i flipped out i could not handle it being there. Unfortunately, i killed the poor creature. After doing this I thought back and said i should not have done that, that could have been arachne herself. She could come back and haunt me, but so far nothing bad has happened haha.

The second mythic clue this weekend i had pertained to the story Mars, Venus, Vulcan, and the Sun. So after a night of partying I came home to find none of my roommates awake. I was wondering where they all were since we were just partying together. I sat down on the couch and started watch some tube. I soon realized how tired i was and just wanted to tune into my ipod and hit the sack. Earlier that day i had lent it to my roommate so i went down to his room to scrounge the pod back. Upon opening the door i saw that he was with a girly doing the naughty. I shut the door immediately and went to bed. My roommate was not cheating on a significant other but it still made me think of the sun when he saw this affair going on.

The third clue took me longer to figure out. After class Thursday I went fishing on the Yellowstone River with a couple buddies. We were floating in a boat and it was honestly one of the most majestical scenes I had ever laid eyes upon. The rising Beartooths Mountains were right to our left with the moon right above them with the trees in their foliage. We saw four eagles during the float and I just could not imagine a better place to be at any point in time. After some thought about what this could mean it in mythological terms, it came to me. My two friends and I had been in Illo tempore. I was thinking of nothing else besides this pristine beauty and being with my great buddies. No one else surrounded us we were by ourselves and there was no other world. We were truly in a world all by ourselves.

Daedalus and Icarus.

When I read this story, it really made me think about my dad and what all dads have to go through. One day you are just going to have to let your son go and hope he can fly. "The old man worked and warned; his cheeks grew damp with tears; and with a father's fears, his hands began to tremble. Then he kissed his son, and poised upon his wings, he flew ahead.." Ever father is going to go through this, whether its your sons first sports game, their first day at school, or their first date. I feel dads will go through this pain many times throughout their lives and their child lives. In this story, unfortunately Icarus dies and Daedalus has to feel an incredible pain. But in most fathers lives when they take this leap, they usually see there son's succeed. There must be a great euphoria when they see their sons succeed. You know that you have been a great dad when you see your own son living a real life. Its to bad that Daedalus did not get to see his son grow up. This must be the best part of being a dad I think, is seeing your son succeed. You know that you have lived well enough to pass that on to another human and having them succeed.

Book 8 sentences...

Daedalus, The Minotaur, Theseus, Ariadne - Daedalus designs this great maze in Crete to hold the minotaur, on the 3rd cycle of the 9 year feeding cycle Theseus killed the beast with Ariadne, after this they sailed away together and Theseus left Ariadne on the shore, she wept until Bacchus came, and he sent her up into the sky to become a constellation.

Daedalus and Icarus - Daedalus wanted to find new land across the sea, so he made a set of wings for himself, then his son Icarus said he wanted to come too, so he built another pair and said to not fly to low or high or you might die, well Icarus flies to high and his wings melt and is soon dead.

Daedalus and Perdix - Daedalus saw a partridge and it was once his sister's son, he invented the saw so in Daedalus's envy he threw the boy over a citadel and Minerva caught this boy mid air and turned him into the first Perdix of partridge.

Baucis and Philemon - A couple of men asked for shelter many places, finally old Baucis and Philemon let them in and gave them a great feast, they noticed the wine bowl kept filling up, they thought they had to pray to the god's so they were going to kill their goose, the Gods said come to the top of the hill and you'll be spared when they got up there all the town was burning except their house, the Gods asked them what they wanted and they said to serve the gods and their shrines, so they both were turned into trees right next to each other.

Erysichthon's sin - Erysichthon scorned the Gods, and one day he wanted to cut down a tree in the sacred grove of Ceres, when he started chopping the tree it started to bleed, and one man shared his discontent soon his head would be gone, after Erysichthon was done chopping the tree the nymph who lived in it said he would pay in time.

Book 7 sentences...

Medea and Pelias - Medea went to Pelias's place who was struck with old age, Medea said she could help him out getting younger and she demonstrated this turning an old sheep into a young lamb, one night Medea told Pelias's daughters to slice him open and he would once again be young, but instead he just died.

The Flight of Medea - Medea flees after pretty much killing Pelias, she flies on her dragon through a lot of places mentioned in the story, she lands in Corinth and kills Jason's new wife, she barely gets away and finds refuge in Athens marrying Aegus.

Theseus and Aegeus - Theseus is the son of Aegeus, but this is unknown to Aegeus, when Theseus arrives Medea tries to poison him, at the last moment Aegeus sees through the plan and Medea flees, the town people are very excited for Theseus to be the heir to the thrown, and have a great party.

The Plague - Juno sent this plague down to the people on the island of Aegina, at first they thought it could be healed but then all of them started getting to weak to even move out of beds, and pretty soon they all died.

The Myrmindons - A man talks to Jove and says that he wants all his people back in Aegina that have been killed by the plague, the man sees some ants and says why can't you turn them into people, the next morning they were all people and the man named his subjects Myrmidons after the ants.

Book 6 sentences...

Arachne - Arachne was a great weaver but was very cocky, one day Minerva was disguised as an old woman before Arachne told her to challenge herself, Minerva transformed turned back into herself and Arachne beats her, this makes Minerva furious and she turns Arachne into a spider.

Latona and The Lycian Peasants - Latona gave birth to twins, she had to run from the wrath of Juno across fiercely hot fields, she chanced upon a lake but would not let her touch it, she prayed to the Gods to let her drink, the Gods than said well live in the pool and Latona and her twins were turned into frogs.

Marsyas - A Satyr challenged Apollo to a flute contest, Apollo wins and punishes the Satyr and lets him bleed to death, and from his dead body came a river called Marsyas - Phyrgia's clearest stream.

Boreas and Orithyia - The God of wind Boreas is kept away from Orithyia, but tries to woo her by howling the wind, one day he covers himself in a cloud and takes Orithyia, they soon get married and have two sons, who after puberty sprout wings themselves.

Niobe - Niobe was the queen of Thebes, and one day she bragged about her seven sons and daughters and mocked Leto in a ceremony, soon Leto would send his son Apollo and his daughter Artemis to kill all of Niobe's kin and husband, this is done and when all of them are killed she weeps and weeps and was put on the top of Mount Sipylus, where she still weeps today.

Chapter 5 sentences...

Minerva, The Muses, Pegasus - Minerva travels to the Muses to see if the rumor was true about a pegasus and upon arriving The Muses showed her the pegasus.

Pyrenese - Pyrenese was a very cruel king, one day it started to rain and asked a handful of ladies to take shelter at his house, once the skies cleared he said they couldn't leave, but they resisted and flew away with their wings, he thought he could follow them and fly but instead just jumped off his roof and killed himself.

The Pierides - 9 sisters challenge the Godesses of Thespia to a sing off with the the Muses judging, they lose and start to insult the Muses which take great offense to this, and turn the sisters into magpies.

Arethusa and Alpheus - After a day of hunting Arethusa decided to take a bath in a river, while doing this Alpheus tries to nab her but she flees and he follows, Arethusa prays to the Gods to help her and they send a cloud over her, pretty soon she is turned into a spring and seeps into the underworld, so Alpheus could not find her.

Triptolemus and Lyncus - Triptolemus was sent by Ceres to spread fertile seed across the land in her chariot in the air, when he arrives at Scythia, Lyncus the king, asked how he got there and what he was doing, he was infuriated by Triptolemus's answer, and that night Lyncus tried to pierce his chest but was turned into a lynx by Ceres.

chapter 4 sentences...

Pyramus and Thisbe - Two lovers kept apart by their parents decide to sneak out and meet at a grave one night, Thisbe gets there first and a lion chases her off, Pyramus arrives and thinks that Thisbe has been eaten by a beast so he takes his life, and upon Thisbe returning she sees her boyfriend dead and takes her own life.

Mars and Venus - Mars and Venus are having an affair, the vulcan made a transparent net that was put around Venus's bed and when they went to make love that night they were caught in the net and shown to all the gods for their infidelities.

Salmacis and Hermaphroditus - Hermaphroditus sets off in the woods and finds a beautiful pond where he meets the nymph Salmacis, who is very captivated by him, he tells her to get lost and he jumps in the pond, she follows him and tangles with him and says you will never escape me, the god's here this and morph these two into one person, half man half woman.

Cadmus and Harmonia - Cadmus asked the God's to change him into a snake upon his wife seeing this, she decided that she would also like to be a snake. Both were turned into snakes.

Acrisus - Talks about Perseus and all his triumphs, and when flying with Medusa's head drops of blood scattered all over Libya, and that is now why it is snake infested.

Book 3 sentences.

Actaeon - Fate acts upon Actaeon as he stumbles across the nymph Diana naked, through this wretched site she transforms him into stag to be chased and eaten by his hounds he once hunted with.

Semele - Jove impregnates Semele she asks him for one wish, which he grants, and so she wants to see Jove in guise of saturina, he must comply and makes a huge scene with thunderbolts and such which kills Semele but the baby boy got taken out of the womb and put into Jove's leg, where the baby would be born.

Narcissus - Narcissus one day was traveling in the woods and say his reflection in the pond, it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, he was so captivated by his beauty he just withered away and died by the pond.

Tiresias - Was both a women and a man to see who had more pleasure making physical love, he concluded that it was the woman, Juno blew this way out of proportion and made Tiresias blind, but Jove seeing that this was unfair gave Tiresias the power to see into the future.

Book 2 sentences.

Phaethon - Risky teenager wants to take fathers chariot which gives light to the Earth, father warns him not to but does and burns up half of the earth.

Callisto - Jove rapes this innocent girl and she is damned by Juno for sleeping with her husband and is turned into a bear who becomes the hunted.

Coronis - Raven told Apollo of what Coronis had done he pierces her with an arrow and kills her and his son, demotes the raven from the white birds and thats why ravens are black.

Europa - Jove turns into a great white bull, Europa is infatuated by this bull and starts petting it and soon hops on the bulls back, at this point Jove runs off into the open sea taking her away.

Arcas - Hunting one day he meets his mother for the first time, Jove descends upon them and says they should talk it out in the sky, they are put as constellations in the highest part of the sky, and then Juno whines about them being put there.

Book 1 sentences

Python - The new world unfurled in great beauty from  the rains of the gods, pythons were killed off and the first competition appeared.

Io and Jove - A greedy God trying to have his way with everything, makes a poor girl suffer a most unfortunate fate, to be brought back to her regular human form.

Phaethon - Insults lead to Phaethon asking if his father really was the god of the sun, indeed he was, so Phaethon takes a trip to his fathers palace.

The Giants - Jove in his rage killed off all the giants living on earth and from their blood created the human race.

The Flood - In Jove's anger he rounds up the God's to help him flood the earth because humans had been disobedient to the Gods.

Chapter 7 memory and forgetting

I really enjoyed this chapter in myth and reality. It talked about all the memory and forgeting in a sense of myth. Theres one part in this chapter where it talks about people who can remember their former lives. I believe in this notion that we live one life after another. Whether human beings, animals, or inanimate objects. The book says that these people have overcome their forgetfulness and in a way cheated death. I believe this because instead of dying and having a whole new slate (conscious and mind) you still have all your prior knowledge from past lives. And each life they keep interpreting new information, which just keeps making them smarter exponentially. I believe that these people must be the rulers and gurus of the world. They are so smart, and have so many generations of knowledge and learning. If everyone had this trait to remember our past lives, this world would be so accelerated I don't even think we could recognize it. Everyone would just have such a great knowledge of the past present and future that this world would be so technologically advanced that no one would recognize it. I am glad that not everyone remembers all of their past lives, because now we have these gurus and teachers to teach us of the past and help us learn and all understand this world.

Someone else's blog

Today I stumbled upon Ashley Arcel's blog. As I was reading some entries, and then I saw some cool bracelets and it happened to be a creation story. It pretty much went through how everything came into existence because the world was lonely. I loved this story. Definitely my favorite creation story that I have heard in this past week, with so many of them. I was thrilled that everything was complete in the world when love came into play. I think that this ties in real well with real life. People are content going through their lives, but when they find true love whether its through friends, family, or a lover they seem to get much happier and everything seems to fall into place.
Good job Ashley on having the best creation myth in my opinion:)

Creation - first memory

One of my first and fondest memories was me skiing off the tram at Snowbird Ski Resort with my parents at the ripe age of three years old. I had ridden the tram many times but every time I had been escorted down on my parents back. This time was different on the tram. I was filled with anxiety. What if I couldn't make it down the mountain? What if it was to hard? All these questions fluttered around my mind as the eight minute box ride took us to the top of Hidden Peak. When we got to the top and stepped out suddenly everything seemed so big! The first pitch off the tram looked like it stretched on for a mile. My mom threw my skis down and said here we go Henry clip in. I was so nervous but i knew that I couldn't cop out now, it was my moment of truth. With that I skated to edge and started making my way down the first pitch to chips. Once we had reached chips, I suddenly realized that this wasn't scary at all but one of the most fun things I had done in my life (which hadn't been much). I made it down falling a few times but none the less made it to the bottom. And ever since that day skiing has been my one true love through thick and thin in my life. It is the one constant that will always be there for me, every winter calling my name to come make beautiful tracks down the sides of these majestic mountains.

Actaeon

This story came out The Metamorphoses of Ovid from page 81 to 86. Actaeon is a hunter, one day while hunting out in the forest with his crew and dogs, they come across a cave. This is where the goddess Diana lives. Actaeon gets a little nosy and decides that he wants to take a look around this cave. When he goes to this cave he sees Diana naked with nymphs trying to cover her body. For this great blunder would cost Actaeon his life. Diana then proceeds to make him into a stag. Soon Actaeon goes out and is soon malled and killed by all of his hound dogs; that had once killed other innocent animals lives. This story is just complete irony, Actaeon who once was the hunter soon becomes the hunted. Before he died he finally realized what he was actually doing to animals.

I feel like this is an all to common act going on today. People not really thinking about their actions and because it doesn't effect them they don't care. But when you are put in a situation like Actaeon, where you have to look at it from the other persons or things view point, you take a step back. You realize what you could be doing can really be hurting or effecting someone else. I think that the Iraqi war is a great example of this today in the modern world. When Al Qaeda hit New York City and Washington D.C. we were so jung ho on going to war in Iraq. But what would have happened if Al Qaeda wanted to fight the war over in the U.S., on our home soil? Do you think Bush would have been super stoked on the idea of us fighting a war on our turf? I don't think so. I think the nation would have had to take a step back and think about if this is really what we want. Luckily we did not have to make a choice like that. But I do believe that choice would have helped a lot with the decision making, instead of just going all out because we don't really have any repercussions over here in America, for a war going on half way across the globe.

I think it is important in decision making to not only think about how the decision your making is going to effect yourself, but also everyone and everything surrounding you. I often times feel like people are very selfish in decision making for this reason, they only take themselves into account. I think that a great deal of people can learn a lot from this story of Actaeon, and teach people many great lessons.

Between heaven and earth.

"we saw that primitive man seeks to preserve the life of his human divinities by keeping them poised between earth and heaven, as the place where they are least likely to be assailed by the dangers that encompass the life of man on earth. " Sir James G. Frazer (794) I really like this quotation because it applies to today's society I feel. Many people are so involved with religion that they sometimes forget to deal with things on earth. They are living in between heaven and earth, just waiting for that holy moment when they can be lifted up with the angels and the gods. Some people abandon their responsibilities on earth just because they think that they should not have to deal with them. Whether you believe in heaven or not, you have been put on this earth to do your responsibility as a human. Whatever that responsibility is, is up to your discrepancy. Whatever you choose your responsibility to be you have to go and follow it to your full potential. You can not be worried about the dangers or threats on earth, because one day every single one of us will die off. So why you are on this earth make the most of each day, don't live with your head in the clouds and be wondering when heaven will call your name. Be thankful for every breathe and day that someone has given you to be on this earth.

Henry Gates

This is my first blog and i have never done this before. It is pretty cool and straight forward. I think that it will be fun posting up blogs every for mythologies. I just started The Metamorphosis of Ovid and I am really digging it. I can't wait to get more into the book. Well I'm just really rambling on but its my first blog so here goes nothing.