Mythologies 285

Today was the last day of class with the only thing being left is our final. We wrapped things up with the last of the final presentations and a quick overview of what to expect on the finals. We finished with our teacher evaluations. Throughout the course of this class, i have been taught to open my eyes to mythology and to never be satisfied with what is on the surface. So much more lies beneath. Myth is present in our everyday lives, if only we can see this. It is not the myths that need to be rememberd, they're still out there, but the people to be reawoken to them. I'll end with the very famous quote from the Magus: The past still posesses our present

Final Project

                                                                                   MYTH IN THE MAGUS                                                                                  

                In Illo Tempore…  In the beginning of this wonderful novel, Fowles is giving us a sense of the main character Nicholas Urfe. In some ways we can all relate to how Nicholas behaves at the beginning of the book. He seems to be stuck at a certain point in his life. He finds himself as a loner and is having a hell of a time fitting into society. He feels he has too act differently around certain people.  

“I led two lives…queasily playing at being Brigadier ‘Blazer’ Urfe’s son in public, and nervously reading Penguin New Writing and poetry pamphlets in private” (Fowles, Page 16).

                Nicholas also makes it quite clear in the beginning of this novel that he is ready for a change. Everything else up to this point seems obsolete to him. All the schooling and military experience was just motions that he had to take. The real Nicholas Urfe was ready for an adventure.  Just as Calasso refers to in his book, sometimes a mythical event can simply be a change in the landscape. Well, this is what Nicholas was ready for.

“I didn’t know where I was going, but I knew what I needed. I needed a new land, a new race, a new language; and, although I couldn’t have put it into words then, I needed a new mystery” (Fowles, Page 19).

                We also see a woman enter the scene in the beginning of this novel, Alison. Although she could be Nicholas’ immediate escape from reality, and his new mystery, Nicholas’ is too arrogant to see this. He is so focused on finding a new episode and adventure in his life, that he doesn’t realize he has one right in front of his eyes. He is offered the choice of either going to Phraxos to teach, or stay with Alison and make a life. We all know the decision he makes and the consequences that follow.

“You treated me as if I didn’t really belong to you” (Fowles, Page 36).

                In Media Res… We all know by now that the middles is the most painful part of our mythology lectures. It is here, that the hero must die and sadness takes ahold. Here, in the middles, you are housed inside the labyrinth with the Minotaur and you don’t know who you are or what’s going on. Here, in the middles, a painful initiation takes place.

                This is the part that Nicholas Urfe can relate to the most. It seems as though he is stuck inside the middles stage for the whole novel. He is so confused by all the events that unfold with Conchis, he doesn’t know what to make of them. Just when he feels as though he has a grasp on things, they take a turn for the worst.

                Throughout his whole experience with Maurice Conchis, Nicholas cannot get the idea out of his mind that everything is a big play write. He feels that a lot of the conversations with Conchis and Lily are acted out and scripted, which they are. Everything is said and done in a certain way so that it conveys a certain idea in Nicholas’ head. And Nicholas’ feels like this is all meant to be. Conchis is planting all this in his head. There is even a constant mention of Conchis placing them under hypnosis. This just all adds to the middles stage in which Nicholas doesn’t know what is going on. He is confused.

“A world where nothing is certain. That’s what he’s trying to create here” (Fowles, Page 339).

                Clearly, Nicholas also undergoes a painful initiation throughout this whole process. Through the actions of Lily and Conchis he is forced to come face to face with the demon he himself cast upon Alison. Alison was willing to give up everything to be with him and was fully committed. She poured her heart out and offered it to Nicholas. However, Nicholas was so wrapped up in the ongoing mystery with Conchis he wanted nothing to do with Alison. He was so selfish that he didn’t want to share his paradise with anybody. With all the mystery and confusion and adventure and lust that was going on with Lily, he wanted nothing to do with Alison. Little did he know that Alison was in on it all and everything he had just done to her was going to be done to him, through Lily. I guess myth really is the precedent behind every action.

“A physical confrontation, even the proximity that Alison’s coming to the island might represent, was unthinkable. Whatever happened, if I met her, it must be in Athens. If he invited me, I could easily make some excuse and not go. But if he didn’t, then after all I would have Alison to fall back on. I won either way” (Fowles, Page 203).

                In Inceptum Finis Est… Just like we talked about in our lectures in class the end includes the beginning. The end is to arrive at the beginning and to know the place for the first time. The end involves a return or transformation. The end is the apocalypse. But rather than the end of the world, we have to view it as the end of the world as we know it. A veil will be lifted and one will see the world as it really exists.

“I think I saw the star again for a while, the star as it simply was, hanging in the sky above, but now in all it’s being-and-becoming. It was like walking through a door, going all round the world, and then walking through the same door but a different door” (Fowles, Page 240).

                 At the end of this novel, Lily ends up ‘betraying’ Nicholas just in the sort of manner he himself did to Alison. Nicholas has worked up all these feeling for her and has forever longed to be with her, and just after it seems as though the moment is true and eternal, all hell breaks loose. Lily truly has no feelings for him; in fact she is in a dreamy romance with another man. Nicholas means nothing to her. Sound familiar?

Throughout all this confusion and mystery and agony and excitement that Nicholas is experiencing with Conchis and Lily, he undergoes a metamorphosis. It opens up his eyes and allows him to see in a new light. He sees that what he did to Alison was wrong and he longs for the moment to be with her again. He goes through some troubled times and even has moments where he thinks he’ll never see her again. However, he keeps faith and keeps on waiting for the moment. His experiences through Conchis have taught him to be patient. He now realizes that Alison is worth waiting for. What he wanted nothing to do with in the beginning, he was now desperately in need of.

The book ends with the highly anticipated meeting between Nicholas and Alison. Despite all the changes that Nicholas has taken on, he can’t get that feeling of Conchis still watching him out of his mind. And he can’t forgive Alison. He will forever long for Conchis to be watching him. This is what he wants. He began to see the world in a new perspective, but in the biggest moment he blew it again. Down to the last page Nicholas thought Conchis was watching. He failed to realize that it was all a big game and that nobody is watching anymore.

“Wednesday had been a sultry day with a veiled sun, an end-of-the-world day, very un-Aegean” (Fowles, Page 465).

APA CITATION

Calasso, R. (1994). The marriage of cadmus and harmony. New York: Vintage Books.

Fowles, J. (1966). The magus. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Myth in the Magus

" No sooner have you grabbed ahold of it than myth opens out into a fan of a thousand segments."        -Calasso page 147


"I think that's some kind of clue. The place of mystery in life. Not taking anything for granted. A world where nothing is certain. That's what he's trying to create here."   Magus page 339


I've used this quote from Calasso once before in one of my blog entries but after finishing my readings with the Magus I felt that it needed to be said again. How can one not relate to this when reading the Magus. Just like the quote is portraying, in this novel you never know what to expect. I don't know how many different times my conclusions and predictions were rubbed into the dirt. From start to finish, no sooner do you think you have it all figured out then something completely unexpected happens to spoil it all. Even Nicholaus is completely baffeled. He wants so much to hate Conchis and trust Lily yet he is presented with so many doubts.

The Magus

A few moments later I set off back to my dull, daily penal  colony on the far side of the dream; as Adam left the Garden of Eden, perhaps...except that I knew there were no gods, and nothing was going to bar my return.   -Page 356


I was scanning over the Magus once again looking at all the marked pages and underlinings and this passage seemed to jump out at me. I found it interesting because it's kind of at the beginning of the novel before Nicholaus has taken on much of the mystery. It's kind of his thoughts before entering the labrynth. He knows that something mystical is about to take place. He feels that his ordianry life is dull and boring and he is ready for an adventure. He refers to his colony life as the far side of the dream. This passage is also hinting to us that he feels substantial for the playwrite to carry on; he is needed for this mystery to take place. Conchis shortly reverses his thinking, as he does so many times, and cuts him off from Bourani. He makes him feel unimportant and not needed. This turns Nicholaus' reality upside down and engulfs him in a world of myth. He never knows what to expect and who to trust from start to finish.

Quiz Week 2

October 27th

"The veil, or something that encloses, that wraps around, or belts on, a ribbon, a sash, a band, is the last object we meet in Greece. Beyond the veil, there is no other thing. The veil is the other. It tells us that the existing world, alone, cannot hold, that at the very least it needs to be continually covered and discovered, to appear and to dissapear. That which is accomplished, be it initiation, or marriage, or sacrifice, requires a veil, precisely because that which is accomplished is perfect, and the perfect stands for everything, and everything includes the veil, that surplus which is the fragrance of things."
 - Page 368

I found this quote to be very fitting for my final blog about Calasso and The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony.  It is simply suggesting that which we have learned and talked about in class. It's the apocolypse. It's not the end of the world physically, but the end of the world in which you view it. In other words you will see things differently. At the end, you come across a veil, and that veil has to be lifted and you have to see the world and all its aspects in a different sense. The end is to arrive at the beginning and to know the place for the first time. What's also interesting about this quote is the part in which it talks about how the veil being taken off has to be continually covered and discovered. It's suggesting that the truth cannot be handled. It is too overwhelming to leave the veil off and exposed forever. It ruins it. One must continally strive and understand and accomplish to fully discover, then it must be covered again.

October 25th

"For centuries people have spoken of the Greek myths as of something to be rediscovered, reawoken. The truth is it is the myths that are still out there waiting to wake us and be seen by us, like a tree waiting to greet our newly opened eyes."  -Page 281

Here Calasso is bringing myth to everyday life. He's saying that myth still exists to this day, people just have to come to realize it and see things in a new light. It relates to our main topic for the group presentation in which it is saying that myth exists in everyday life. A lot of events in our life are mythological.

My readings in the Magus have become very interesting. There is so much twisting and confusion going on, I don't know where to start. Conchis has told Nicolaus that Julie has scziophrenia, she denies it. Both have convincing stories. There is a constant presence at one point that Nicholaus is going to desert Julie for June. Nicolaus has fallen in love with Julie. When I ended, Nicolaus, world has been turned upside down. Conchis is nowhere to be found, he leaves a note saying he isn't allowed there, he knows why. Nicolaus recieves a note from Julie saying that he was sick and that's why he couldn't visit. A whole lot of confusion and mystery going on, but it is getting very interesting.

October 20th

"In Greece, myth escapes from ritual like a genie from a bottle. Ritual is tied to gesture, and gestures are limited: what else can you do once you've burned your offerings, poured your libations, bowed, greased yourself, competed in races, eaten, copulated? But if the stories start to become independent, to develop names and relationships, then one day you realize they have taken on a life of their own." -Page 279

I found this quote in Calasso to be very relevant to the topic of ritual, which we've been discussing in class. We talked about how rituals were mythological, and were offered the question which one came first myths or rituals. This quote, however, is suggesting that myth and ritual are something completely different. Most importantly, myths are not limited like rituals are. Myth is never-ending and always present.

Today in class i presented my ritual. I chose Rain-making off of the online Eliade.  

AUSTRALIA

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It is universally believed by the tribes of the Karamundi nation, Of the Darling River, that rain can be brought down by the following ceremony. A vein in the arm of one of the men is opened and the blood allowed to drop into a piece of hollow bark until there is a little pool. Into this is put a quantity of gypsum, ground fine, and stirred until it has the consistency of a thick paste. A number of hairs are pulled out of the man's beard and mixed up with this paste, which is then placed between two pieces of bark and put under the surface of the water in some river or lagoon, and kept there by means of pointed stakes driven into the ground. When the mixture is all dissolved away, the blackfellows say that a great cloud will come, bringing rain. From the time that this ceremony takes place until the rain comes, the men are tabooed from their wives, or the charm will be spoiled, and the old men say that if this prohibition were properly respected, rain would come every time that it is done. In a time of drought, when rain is badly wanted, the whole tribe meets and performs this ceremony.

October 18th

" In Greece, anyone could offer a sacrifice. And no one checked up on him. But the image of the Magus, of that cold eye watching, checking, keeping guard, would make itself felt through occult paths, building up the image of an unassainable power that exercised total control over reality." - Page 247

This quote is very interesting because it shows a direct correlation between our two books, Calasso and the Magus. We brought it up once in class and kind of talked over it. It's basically saying that without a Magus, sacrifice is oblique. With the presence of the Magus, it creates a portal from man to gods and relays the message. I'm not going to go too much in detail about the quote i just thought it was interesting to note the correlation.

In class we were given the assignment to come up with a ritual to present to the class. We were also given the assignment to go into depth about the concept of ritual. I did a little research and this is what i came up with... Rituals are in and around us everyday of our life, although some may not be aware of it. Even people who don't realize it or want to admit it go through personal rituals throught their daily schedule. We need rituals in our lives as human beings. They have a spot in the human psyche.  In fact rituals can be viewed as experiences that everybody goes through throughout their lives. Our world without ritual wouldn't be the same.

October 13th

"Once you have a double on the scene, it's like entering a hall of mirrors; everything is elusive, stretching away into a perspective where nothing is ever final."  -Page 229

I found this quote to be very interesting. The quote itself is pretty self explanatory, however i found it interesting because this is something that you can relate to Calasso, our own life, and the Magus. The qoute is basically saying that once you substitute the real thing for a fake, or a copy, you can never be one hundred percent sure that you have the real thing. Once you set the fake out into motion, one can never be sure if they posess the fake or the real. In Calasso, we see this quote pertaining to the Palladium. When the Achaeans came to take Troy, the Trojans had a copy of the Palladium made. It was a means of perception, if the greeks managed to steal the copy Palladium, Troy would not fall. We see this quote pertaining to real life in several ways. For example, in the gameshow Survivior, you see the hidden immunity faked or replicated several times. It creates a twist in the show, because the other contendors have no idea whether it's real or fake. It's elusive and never final. We can also see this quote pertaining to the Magus. Nicholaus has a suspicion that Julie has a twin sister, June, or so we are told. Hence, he feels that he is being tricked and decieved, and never feels like anything is final.

October 11th

" The story of the world was all contained in this becoming a bull, then a snake once again, to generate another bull. Told by Zeus, it was a story that began with a bull and ended with a bull. " - Page 206

I found this quote interesting because it is something that i've heard popped up in class before, it begins with a bull and it ends with a bull. I found myself confused when hearing this , but always made the conncection Europa being abducted by a bull, Zeus, was the beginning. I was confused with the ending with a bull part though. However, in this quote Calasso is simply saying that in the beginning, Zeus, a bull, mates with Demeter to generate a woman, Persephone. When he finds out that he has generated a woman instead of a man, he transforms himself back into a snake and mates with his own daughter to generate Zagreus, a bull. Hence one could say it begins with a bull and ends with a bull.

I've continued my reading in the Magus and have gotten to the point where myth brings itself right to Nicholas' door. He's eating and discussing with Lily and Conchis when all of a sudden a whole scene pulled right out of mytholgy is played out before his eyes. Nicholas can't make any sense of it and declares that it is all a big act with a playwrite. He says that he might appreciate it more if he knew what it meant. He also makes the connection that his relationship with Conchis is eerily similiar to that of Conchis and De Deukans.

Today in class we began our discussion with the middles. The first thing I took note of was that in the middle we are no longer dealing with gods/godesses but human beings. Also, the hero must die in the middle (sadness), and in the middle you don't know who you are or what's going on. We also talked about the hero pattern and its 22 points, and how we seem to be stuck on the overcoming of the monster as a society. We want to see the action. We also talked about rituals/initiations and were given an assignment to come up with either a ritual of our own, or a mythologicl one, and present it to the class.

Quiz Week

September 29th

"The gods were the example and model of every evil, and it wasn't fair to blame men for imitating actions the gods had committed before them."  -Page 155

I found this quote interesting because it's something that we have covered in class and it also seems to keep popping up in Calasso. This quote is simply saying that men cannot be blamed for something that they simply re-enacted. Its already happened before, so lets just blame the first person to do it, the gods. It's like when you are a child and you witness somebody you look up to doing something and so you go and do it. You have no idea what harm you're doing, you're just simply doing what you watched be done before. This is the view that Calasso has taken on in this part. It's kind of stubborn, but interesting.

I left off in the Magus with Urfe sitting down and having dinner with Conchis and Lily. Conchis makes it clear that she isn't the real Lily, nor is she pretending to be. Urfe seems to think that Lily is on his side and that they both doubt Conchis. She's just putting on an act for him. Conchis leaves the table and Urfe and Lily are left to talk. It gets quite interesting. Lily basically says that they are all actors and actresses, him and herself, and that Urfe must be patient with Conchis. He'll understand. Pretty mysterious if you ask me. It sounds like things are going to start getting interesting.

Today in class we brushed up on how fice meant to make and that sacri meant sacred. Put them together and you have sacrifice which means to make sacred. We were also told that in mythology things are weird, and unfortunately the weirder the better. We finished the class by listing the 4 ways in which the world was created. 4) God  creates by voice   3) Through the body of a goddess   2) Male in form of creature-snake    1) Female creates it by herself

September 27th

"No sooner have you grabbed hold of it than myth opens out into a fan of a thousand segments. Here the variant is the origin. Everything that happens, happens this way, or that way, or this other way. And in each of these diverging stories all the others are reflected, all brush by us like folds of the same cloth."
-Page 147

This pretty much sums up how i've been feeling while reading Calasso. You think you start to finally understand something and then it opens up into a whole different reality. I found that if I try to think too hard about it then I sometimes overthink it and end up with a headeache instead of a solution. However, I also found that if i read a certain part over and over a couple times i start to make sense of it a little more. This quote is basically saying that myth is a fan of a thousand different segments. You can never fully understand it. You just have to take what you've been presented with and do the best with it. However, there are variables throughout myth and origin seems to be a huge one. Like the quote mentions, everything that happens in all these different stories happens this way or that way and if you look close enough all stories are just mirrored throughout time. This seems to always be present in myth; a reference to a past event of similiar results. Calasso also goes on to say that if  only one version of a mythical event is present, it is like a body without a shadow, and we must do our best to trace out the shadow in our minds. Basically, myth is what you make of it, and there are a thousand different ways in which you can look at something. We just have to do our best with what we have been given.

The main portion of class today was viewing and discussing Jennifer's blog. We looked at sections where she tied together everthing from class: Cadmus and Harmony to the Wizard of Oz to The Magus. It was very interesting stuff. We also briefly talked about how all heroes want to go home (Dorothy, Odeseus). We also took note of sparagmos and omophagia, which is the eating of raw flesh. Finally, we briefly talked about abduction and metamorphisism being a constant in myth in which somebody is taken away and changed.

September 22nd

"The repetition of a mythological event, with its play of variations, tells us that something remote is beckoning to us. There is no such thing as the isolated mythical event, just as there is no such thing as the isolated word. Myth, like language, gives all of itself in each of its fragments." -Page 136

I found this section to be quite interesting. Here Calasso is comparing mythology with language. He is stating that like language, mythology is very broad. A single word can's describe something with much detail just as a single mythical event can't sum up the meaning of mythology. There is too much to know, no one will ever fully understand it and grasp it, it keeps on growing. We just have to try to understand what we do know. It goes with what we first learned in class that mythology is the precedence behind every action. Everything has already happened before. All of the footprints are already laid out before us, one just has to know where to place his foot. And most people look to the gods and see how it played out with them for the answer. In this quote Calasso is saying that all mythical events have been played out before, the only thing changing with them are the variables, for example the names and the places.

The Magus is just getting more interesting and more interesting. Nicholas can't get the idea out of his mind that everything is a big playwrite. He has the feeling that everything Conchis says and does, his grand gestures and all, are meant for a purpose. For example when he glimpses sight of a white blur going back into the house he mentions that he felt like he was meant to see her. He views Conchis as someone who has priviliged information. Some mysteries are the strange smell and music that he hears, the woman that he sees with Conchis and then vanishes whom he believes to be Lily.

In class we talked about how axis mundi meant the center of the world and how ompholos navel means belly button. We went into detail about the 3 regimes that mans relationship with the gods went through. Conviviality, rape, indifference. We brushed up on how Cadmus and Harmonys' wedding was the very last time the gods and men sat down for a feast. We also talked about how in every culture our gods are projections of ourselves.

September 20th

"For the Twelve Olympians the war was a greater and more terrible struggle than their fight with the Giants."  -Page 131

This is all in the words of Isocrates and it is referancing the impact that the Trojan war had not only on earth but with the gods as well. I found it interesting because it is opposite of how you would expect the gods to react. You would think that they would look elsewhere and find their own mighty, grand adventure to do. But the fact is, they stop and hesitate and look down on this painful,endless war between men and it affects them. Helen affects them. It affects them so much that they burst out with a civil war of their own.They fought among themselves over Helen. The whole scene actually became quite dangerous; Helen became quite dangerous. For it ran for the gods the risk of becoming to like men. The gods had to be pretty involved for them to say it was greater then the war with the giants. I found the way in which they reacted very interesting.

Today in class we once again brushed over etiology and this time I added to my notes it is simply: to be. We also talked about how the study of being was ontological. We talked once again about the creation of music and the Lyre. The most important thing we talked about was the three parts seperation, initiation, and transformation. The beginning the middle and the end. Pain always occurs in the initiation stage. Another way to look at it is paradise, paradise lost, and paradise regained.

September 15th

"And yet, of all men, he was the closest to being a god. Because he had taken the place of he who should have put an end to Zeus, his own end was forcibly etched into his flesh."  - Page 105

This quote is in reference to Achilles. In this part of Calasso, you are really getting a unique picture painted of Achilles before your eyes. I liked this part because it was easy to understand and it really gave you the whole beginning chapter of Achilles life. Calasso goes on to say how he is an "only child," however six brothers died before him in Thetis' attempt to make them immortal. Achilles is almost immortal. He was closest of all men to being a god. However, because of the name and position he was born into he will suffer a short life. There is nothing he can do about it accept play out the role he has been given. In Calassos' words instead of a god who would out live other gods, he was a man that would have a shorter life than other men. With all this said, he is still the closest to the gods then any other man and his temper is more furious then any other warrior. All this is really all going with the theme that everything is prewritten and you just have to know what motions to go through. And if you don't do one thing there is a whole different story played out the opposite way.

Today in class we listened to the remaining creation/origin myths. I presented mine which was the comanche creation myth.

A Comanche Legend

One day the Great Spirit collected swirls of dust from the four directions in order to create the Comanche people. These people formed from the Earth had the strength of mighty storms.
Unfortunately, a shape-shifting demon was also created and began to torment the people. The Great Spirit cast the demon into a bottomless pit.
To seek revenge the demon took refuge in the fangs and stingers of poisonous creatures and continues to harm people every chance it gets.

September 13th

"When the time had come to be rid of the heroes, a plague would have been quite enough to settle the matter. But a war, a long, complicated war, was far more attractive."  - Page 101

This quote suggests that we are only puppets to the gods acting out for their own amusement. The world is our backdrop and within it a million different plays are being acted out. This quote goes further on the subjects we were talking about last week in which the Homeric say you are no longer in control, a god has posessed you (ate'). We are merely pawns on the gods chess board. Calasso mentions how Zeus wouldn't be interested watching a plague. He needs a battle to keep himself amused and to show emotions. Yes, even Zeus shows emotions. Calasso mentions how he even suffers and wanted to save Sarpedon. However this is just a moment of sublime, for to actually do this would go against everything god-like. War isn't just a spectactle for Zeus but for all Olympians.

The Magus is starting to get a lot more interesting. I left off with Urfe meeting his mysterious neighbor. He seems to be a very mysterious figure and even Urfe can't quite figure it out. There is also a couple mysteries going on now. Although Conchis claims to be the only inhabitor besides his maid, Urfe still has a strong feeling the belongings he found on the beach were female. He also finds a womans glove with the same scent on it as the beach towel. Starting to get interesting.

Today in class we did nothing but listen to our fellow classmates share their creation/origin myth. Some are very interesting and a lot of people seemed to pick the earh-diver myth.

September 8th

"sparkling with desire, laden with aromas, glorious, but stupefying, something that must be shaken off." page 79

This quote is in referance to woman as seen through the eyes of the Greek men. Calasso suggests that as punishment for killing their husbands, the woman of Lemnos picked up a smell . I found the quote very interesting because it it telling you to always look past the cover. It's basically saying that one must learn to look past the first impression and see something for what it really is. Calasso explains how the smell is at first very appealing and attracting, but the more and more you take it in, it becomes overwhelming, controlling. He refers to it as a sort of trance that must be shaken off and relates it to someone climbing out of bed and immediately wanting to jump into cold water. This quote along with all its counterparts gives me the impression that greek men just don't trust woman and are very weery of them. Calasso explains how on one hand they fear the women without makeup, yet on the other hand they see makeup as a weapon for deceit. Calasso quotes it generates a softness that bewitches and exhausts.
The reading in the Magus is starting to become very interesting. After getting past the beginning, you are now able to see a very thick plot taking place. Or as Urfe suggests, the mysteries began. I left off with Urfe taking note of a new presence in his usually secluded retreat. He finds a book and towel and other belongings in the rocks and has the feeling someone is watching him. I left off with him trying to push answers out of Demetriade about the new neighbors.

Today in class we talked about how etiology means the explanation of how something came to be, and that it usually consists of two levels: simple and complex. We also talked about how mythologies is a system that answers questions. We brushed up on homeric, hesiod, homeric hymns, and classic dramas. I was told that the trojan war and the exodus were about the same time period. The greeks are obsessed with the trojan war and the hebrews are obsessed with the exodus. We finished the class by talking about how apocalypse doesn't only mean the end of the world, but rather suggests a veil is being lifted and now we are being exposed to the world that really exists.

September 6th

"The effects of woman's betrayal are more subtle and less immediate perhaps, but equally devastating."  Page 69
Calasso is talking about the betrayal of woman in this quote and he is saying that although these actions might look subtle and innocent by nature at first, they can have devastating consequences that have lasting effects. He refers to Helen and the end result of her betrayal in which it wipes out a race and dawns a new age. These betrayals seem to be a constant in myth and its stories. Calasso tells us how we see it in Aridne and the ruin of crete, her birthplace, and with Antiope fighting the Amazons, her own subjects. In all betrayals they seem to have devastating consequences to those close to the betrayer. The reading seems to be getting a little better as i go on, but i still find myself struggling with the wording and keeping track of the different stories.
We started the class out today with talking about how there are three parts to literature: the beginning, middle, and end. These also appear throughout mythology. We talked about how Diamon means demon and we referred this to your alter ego, which is always there you just have to look for it. We also spent a good chunk of class referring to a quote on page 93. The basis for the quote is you are not responsible for your actions, the gods are. They seem to shrug all blame off and point to the gods. We talked about how to know the stories of the gods is to know a great deal about yourself. at'e- you are no longer in control, a god has possessed you. enthusiasm: possessed by the god.

We also had a weekend assignment in which we had to photograph ourselves hugging a tree. The reason for this, we talked about the myth where Daphne prays to the gods to transform herself to free herself from a man mad for her. The end result she is transforming into a tree right as he is reaching out for her.

September 1

"To abduct women is considered the action of scoundrels, but to worry about abducted women is the reaction of fools" Page 8
This quote i found rather interesting and it goes on to explain that if they had not wanted to be abducted, they would not have been. It goes with the whole theme of myth and what we have been learning and strengthens the idea that everything is prewritten , we just have to go through the motions. This is what myth is. In class today we discussed how seeing, saying, and doing is mythological. "these things never happen but are always". We also brushed up on the muses and I noted that memory is the mother of th muses. A good portion of the class was also dedicated to the bookmarking of blogs and blogs in general. In my reading of the Magus i'm starting to find out that things are getting more interesting. Urfe sees himself as cheating on Alison, with Greece. I ended with Urfe about to go off to greece to teach , he's offered a warning: Beware the waiting room.

August 30th

Throughout the course of the first class I got a basic overview of what to expect in Mythologies 285. I was introduced to my professor Michael Sexson, and he went over the details of the course syllabus and the readings that come with the class. I learned that the definition of myth is the precedent behind every action, and that mytos means story. After reading the first couple chapters of Cadmus and Harmony I found myself intrigued and confused. The parts I got were really interesting but the reading was hard to follow; it seemed to bounce around. What I got from the reading was that conflict begins with the abduction or sacrifice of a girl, and that stories never live alone. The Magus starts out slow and is pretty much introducing you to the characters. It gives the reader a sense for what type of person Urfe is. ei...., I needed a new mystery; I was not a cynic by nature, only by rebolt.