Myth in the Mojave

“Sometimes I dream of hearing the wind.” From "Edges," Cindy Rinne

When the figures in a series of images that she was creating asked Cindy to tell their story, she listened. The result is Moon of Many Petals, a novel in verse that grew from Rinne’s conversation with the Muse.  Set in Manzanar, one of the camps where Japanese-Americans were interned during WWII, the work is a moving meditation on home, exile, family, beauty, and the cost of intolerance. 

In this interview, Rinne talks about the genesis of the work and her process, and reads from the book. She also shares some of the synchronicities and personal experiences that accompanied its creation.

Cindy Rinne creates art and writes in San Bernardino, CA, where she brings myth to life in a contemporary context. Her poetry and fiber art elements inform one another creating a narrative in text and visuals. Moon of Many Petals is her second novel in verse. She is also the author of a full-length collection of poems, two chapbooks, and a full-length collaboration. Rinne is a founder of the PoetrIE literary community. Her poems have been published worldwide. Connect with Cindy and purchase her work at http://fiberverse.com/. Moon of Many Petals is also available at https://www.amazon.com/

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“Pay attention to what rises up in you.” Ranier Marie Rilke

Dian is a former Poet Laureate of San Luis Obispo and co-founder of SLO Code Pink. She was introduced to me as “a poet who could start the revolution” and I’m thrilled that she agreed to speak with me for this podcast. 

Sousa describes herself as “drinking companion and reverend to the heretical and free.” I think you will be inspired and invigorated by her thoughts on poetry, truth, reality, marvels, and praise, and heartened by her vision of the world that we can create together. Connect with Dian on Facebook.

“Life moves through us all and life wants us to be attentive and tell our part of the story.” Dian Sousa

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Marriage is a tricky proposition. Many of us long to be part of the “perfect couple” at the same time we fear such a union. In his essay, “Hera, Goddess of Marriage,” James Hillman writes; “Marriage involves two worlds—a world of huge ideals and a world of mundane practicalities.” 

In this podcast I take a look at the archetype of marriage through the image of Hera, and myths of her jealous response to her husband’s many infidelities.

“Other men? I could have had them all. Meteors ripen in the fold of my veil […] But from the beginning I set my eye on him, the god of luminous ether […]”  from “The Seven Wives of Zeus” by Rebecca McClanahan 

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"Electrifying! Shocking! Will knock your socks off! Then you'll think twice, about everything."   ―Margaret Atwood

Can a novel about women with electrifying power help us create new myths about gender?

The Power by Naomi Alderman is an engrossing read AND a mythopoetic work that invites conversation about our myths of gender and patriarchy. 

Alderman tells a good story. She also asks important and provocative questions. Could the answers we find contribute to a new mythos about men and women and human nature? I hope you'll read it for yourself-- and here are a few thoughts to carry with you to the page.

"I was riveted by every page. Alderman's prose is immersive and, well, electric, and I felt a closed circuit humming between the book and me as I read."―Amal El-Mohtar, New York Times Book Review

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The Big Dipper is part of the constellation commonly known as Ursa Major, the Great Bear. In this program I tell the Greek myth of Callisto (who is the Bear) and talk about the meaning our ancestors found in these celestial patterns. What significance could they hold for us today?

Note- I have a correction to the story that I tell. Zeus gives the boy Arcas into the care of Maia, one of the Pleiades.

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The myths and fairy tales that we’ve inherited from anonymous sources in days long past can inspire alternatives for the future. This podcast includes “Marouckla and the 12 Months,” a Slavic fairy tale that utilizes some familiar themes and inspired Neil Gaiman to write the story “October in the Chair.” 

“Stories grow, sometimes they shrink. And they reproduce — they inspire other stories. And, of course, if they do not change, stories die […] Stories should change you — good stories should change you.” Neil Gaiman

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“What is there in thee, moon! That thou shouldst move my heart so potently?” Keats

Full moons super moons, blood moons; these lunar events at the opening of 2018 inspire a meditation on the moon that includes a Chinese myth about Chang’e, the Woman On the Moon. Happy New Year!

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“I want to feel both the beauty and the pain of the age we are living in … I want to possess a light touch that can elevate darkness to the realm of stars.” Terry Tempest Wiliams, from When Women Were Birds

An exploration of the various ways we are called to “let go” in the final days of this autumn season, to reach the state of being described by Terry Tempest Williams. Includes a story about an old woman and a black dog, the descent of Innana, and poetry by James Wright and Jane Kenyon.

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In “A Ritual To Read To Each Other,” the poet William Stafford writes, “Though we could fool each other, we should consider---lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.”

Many of us long for a stronger connection to the wise intuitive voice that knows the way and truth in our lives. So why don’t we always hear it? How do we fool ourselves? Two fairytales---“The Emperor’s New Clothes” and “Vasilisa the Wise”--- provide some clues.

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A Celtic myth for Samhain, the annual descent into the deep darkness and the season of sleep, which lasts until the Winter Solstice. Everything that dies at this time can be transformed, so say good-bye to something that must be left behind and carefully consider the new seeds that you will plant for the future.

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