I normally don’t forward “feel good” internet chain letters and other sorts of spam, but I’ve been reading Neil Gaiman’s novel, American Gods that had the following story that I just had to forward along. The main character is Anansi, a trickster character from West African folktales and the Caribbean who is often portrayed as a spider.

Oh, and allow me to apologize in advance for the prurient nature of this story, but as any one who has read Native American Coyote stories will realize, taboos are not always cross-cultural.

I know, yet another esoteric title, but I’ve been wondering about something that I can’t quite describe any other way. Let me begin with a story… you probably don’t know Cuauhtlatoatzin, nor could you probably pronounce his name (so it is a good thing he changed his name to Juan Diego), but you may heard of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Juan Diego was a native Mexican, a Nahuan actually, who was described as a ascetic mystic who converted to Christianity. In the winter of 1531, the Virgin Mary appears to him and tells him that she wants a cathedral built on Tepeyac Hill (on the eastern edge of Mexico City). The local bishop doesn’t believe him and needs some signs… well, you can probably guess how this story ends. The cathedral is the second most visited shrine in Catholicism, a few years ago, Juan was sainted, and no one can remember that bishop’s name.

The other day I got to thinking about the wink. Not really of the act of blinking one eyelid, nor the definition of the word, wink, but of the meaning associated with act. You know, a unspoken message of subtle humor, sarcasm, or an inside joke… Sure there are other meanings, but they are all fairly similar. But I think this “inside joke” meaning, is part of the European culture, in fact, I think it is of Northern European origin. And you’ll never guess why.

Apollo’s mother, Leto, didn’t give birth in a nice hospital surrounded by helpful nurses. She was being chased by Python, a huge snake intend on harassing her. So Apollo was born with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove.

When Python caught sight of Apollo intent on revenge, he took off and hid in his temple at Delphi. But Apollo followed him into the shrine, and despatched him and his wife, Delphyne. Mother Earth reported the sin to Zeus, who made Apollo repent and organize the Pythian Games.

While I’m no expert in ancient Hebrew, it doesn’t take a mythologist to track the evolution of the devil. And by the term, evolution, I mean just that. In the same way that cultures and religions evolve, so do ideas and perceptions.

The following thoughts germinated after reading Robert Wright’s article, War on Evil where he dances briefly on a few stepping stones in history to help explain the current dichotomy Americans have over the concept of evil. But his stepping stones were recent, and I got to wondering about the evolution of this concept of evil and the devil in ancient history.

A few thousand years ago, when I was a young man… well, younger anyway… and maybe it was just ten years ago… I was going through one of my many internal struggles, and I ended up getting a subscription to Parabola.

The first issue came and that issue’s theme was Clothing. Are you kidding me? I didn’t realize that jeans and a T-shirt was such a great archetypical theme. But I read it, and re-read it. I devoured it. It was wonderful. This periodical saved me.

Along with learning to speak, my two year old daughter is also learning to sing and dance, courtesy of a rotund purple dinosaur and other quality children’s television programming. It is pretty cute to hear her sing, “Tween’gle tween’gle diddle tar.”

But when she started to sing the “Star Light” song, I got to wondering what the background of this song could be.

As I sit in my den busily working on my latest project, a little tuft of hair in ponytails bounds around my desk. By the time the hair has reached the end of my desk, it has grown downward into my little two-year old, “Hi Daddy. You wookin on you com’pootah?”

Rumi never titled his poems, but the one we call, Unfold your own Myth is one of his most popular poems. Everyone likes the verse that gave the poem its title, as the concept of finding the epic greatness within your self is something everyone desires. But the buildup from the previous verses add a bit more depth. Perhaps we can list out his mythic references and possibly his purpose for including them…

In reading the introduction to Once and Future Myths by Phil Cousineau, he makes the statement that “the everyday mind can’t seem to reconcile mortal souls with immortal acts.”

This would explain our tendency to legendize great people. It bothers us deeply when some scholar reveals that Jefferson had affairs with his slaves, or that JFK had prostitutes sent to his room. We don’t like that. We prefer the legend to the reality.

I have waited most of my life for the time with my children would be here and old enough to listen to my stories… that’s right, I’m the type of Dad that tells the story of the fairy that lives underneath that bush in the backyard— she had too after being orphaned as a sprite on account of not playing a trick on an old man.

Last bedtime, after rehearsing my repertoire of stories (two year olds like to hear the same stories over and over again), I needed another story. I thought about telling her the story of “Jack and the Beanstalk” but got to thinking of what she’d pick up from it… breaking and entering, stealing, destruction of property with the intent to kill. Hmm…

But if the story was just to demonstrate prurient behavior to minors, then we wouldn’t be retelling the story for generations. So, after putting on my mythologist’s hat, I started to warm up to the story…

Everyone knows that the rituals and stories surrounding Saint Nicholas has less to do with the saint and more to do with pagan gods… and there’s good reason for it. Besides the fact that traditions are hard to break, pagan festivities are just plain more fun than going to church.

But one of the reasons why I love mythology is its personification of the world… the world both inside and outside of me.

Now that my daughter is 2½, this is the first year that she gets holidays in general. Halloween frightened her, and she wouldn't dress up or go around to visit the neighbors. Even the bribing of "free candy" didn't lure her, "Me no like Hawoween," she would say.

But Christmas is different, because the treats come to us … via the chimney.

After showing my wife my latest poem, she immediately questioned my Vishnu reference. I suppose I can’t expect everyone to familiar with the world’s mythology— I suppose once upon a time, you could write a poem with references to Greek/Roman mythology and expect your audience to understand, but Indian mythology? Not a chance.

Stories about shape-shifting are as old as speech, and there is one particular story that is quite recognizable through its many variations, and this is one tale I’ll be telling to my son…

Today my wife and two year old daughter came home with Barbie of Swan Lake, and my daughter was quite insistent that I watch it with her. At this age, I like to tell her happy stories, for you might as well get an optimistic outlook before reality sets in. It is a good thing that all of our stories and movies for children have this same perspective.

Here I sit, looking out my front window with a cup of tea in my hand. I see a beautiful bluejay swoop out of a tree in that characteristic ‘W’ flight pattern and perch itself a few feet away. “What a beautiful bird,” I think … at least, I think this until it opens its mouth to release the most awful sound… a sound that is a blend of a primeval scream and an annoying shriek.

Think it is just coincidence that the word banshee and blue jay both start with the letter ‘B’? I think not.

Now, I realize that despite what some people may say, a bluejay’s features were not designed for my pleasure or entertainment… or even my “benefit and use”, but it is surprising that such a pretty bird can make such a hellish sound.

My two year old daughter gets some kiddie books in the mail every few weeks. One of the books showed the two characters making masks with one of the masks hovering over them. She immediately focused on that mask (you can see them here), so I told her that the “kid animals” were making masks and we could make one. She was quite upset by that suggestion. Her interest in pointing out the mask were purely based on a dislike for them.

Just ran across a really great web site, The Big Myth. An educational website created the "Dutch Ministry of Education and Culture".

It is basically a large animated site that tells the "Creation Story" of a couple dozen cultures from around the world.

I received the following email the other day, and thought I would log my response...

I'm Ivo, a 16 jear old student and Im working on a essay about the relation between Greek and Norse gods and their evolution over time and I was wondering from where you gained the information necessary for this "thought".

The Twin Towers in New York City stood as a symbol for America. But their destruction has moved them into the realm of myth... They seem to mean more to us now that they are gone, And just like nightmares often hidden messages from the subconscious, events in our lives can have archtypal significance.

My sister, Kim Marshall, is a chef at a restaurant in Seattle called, Macrina and was wondering more about the background of the name. The following is an email correspondance.

The following is an open letter written to all people who believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible … the Creationists. While this may sound like an invitation for "belief bashing," it is not. I just thought that an open dialog would be nice, and I'm starting it. If this page offends you, I'm really sorry, as I have no such motivation.

What does Jonah and Hercules have in common? Both underwent the mythological rebirth symbolized by being swallowed by a sea monster only to be regurgitated later (sorry, there just isn't a good word for vomit). The symbolism is pretty straight-forward. The womb and the stomach are pretty much in the same place.

Traditionally, the early religions and mythology of Europe have been viewed as inferior to the Eastern religions of India and others. While I don't think I want to rank one culture's symbolic treasury at the expensive of another, I do think that European (especially Nordic and Gaelic) mythology should be seen in the rich light they deserve.

While there are many thresholds that Jesus crossed during his lifetime, there seems to be one in particular that marks the transition between Jesus the Teacher and Jesus the Savior. This threshold is commonly called, The Confession of Peter:

The following is a reply to an email received from my friend, Najma:

I got your mail. Well, material pressure is not always the reason for producing great writers and poets, but pressure and suffering by itself is. Those great writers who may not have been materially badly off are still the product of human suffering , loss, disappointment and perhaps more importantly self-introspection. And that exists in the rich man's palace and the poor's hut.

Agreed. The classic example is the Buddha … you just can't keep a spiritual man down in the laps of ease and luxury... however, I'd love for someone to do that to me. :)

Even though I’m continuing my boycott of all Disney creations, I’ve had a couple of friends that have seen it. Some comments from them have been favorable and some not so …

Since we are on the subject of Norse (or Viking mythology), I just thought I'd throw out yet another useless bit o' trivia ...

When the Romans went around conquering neighboring countries, they assumed that everyone they met was just like them ... only more ignorant. They assumed that their Gods were the same as their own ... they just had different names.

This worked for some countries that lived down the block, but failed for those that lived farther away.

I realize that the last few Tea Thoughts have been rambling on the subject of the "Loss of Ego." I've been wondering why this subject is a fairly recent development. I mean, you don't see this theme popping up in Western mythology prior to 100 BCE (that's Before Common Era for those unpolitically correct among us) and prior to 600 BCE in the Indian cultures with Buddhism and Jainism.