Myth in the Mojave

Gilgamesh and Enkidu journey to the Country of the Living and the great cedar forest in pursuit of lasting fame and glory.

They also have a fateful encounter with the goddess Ishtar (also known as Inanna), Queen of Heaven and Earth, and the Bull of Heaven.

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The myth of the god-king Gilgamesh is one of the oldest literary works in the world, dating back to 2100 BCE. Yet the actions and psychology of this troubled hero are very familiar. How can he reconcile his divine and mortal sides and fulfill his destiny? What does he learn about power, loss, and life?

In this episode you meet Gilgamesh and his friend and foil, Enkidu the wild man who thought that he was a gazelle. 

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The Greek myth of Artemis and Actaeon is supremely simple or deeply mysterious depending on how you choose to read it. Is this a moral teaching about the price of voyeurism or a cautionary tale about the proper protocol for approaching the divine? Or is it an elegant metaphor for transformation and initiation into the great mysteries of life and death? 

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“In the hour of deep black,
 when sleep blurs the edge of time,
 the Milky Way spills into space like salt,
 a pillar of light to see by.”

from “They Move at Night” by Cynthia Anderson

The desert is a magical, mythical place where the boundaries between past and present, visible and invisible, are easily blurred if you have the requisite sensitivity and humility. These are gifts that the desert herself will give you, and few poets articulate this exchange as beautifully as Cynthia Anderson.

In this program Cynthia talks about poetry, the desert, and her life as a poet, and reads some of the spare and powerful poems from her latest book, Desert Dweller. If you love the Mojave or want to know her better, listen in, and if you need encouragement to follow your muse, let Cynthia provide some.

Cynthia is the author of two books of desert poetry, In the Mojave and Desert Dweller, and collaborated with her photographer husband Bill Dahl on two others, Shared Visions and Shared Visions II. These books are available on-line at blurb.com and locally at Rainbow Stew in Yucca Valley and Raven’s Bookshop in 29 Palms.

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“God is everywhere; in the lampshade and in the worn, brown carpet.” Phillip Rosenberg

In Memories, Dreams, Reflections, C.G. Jung describes his decision to discover the myth that he was living. Tellingly, the title of the chapter is “Confrontation with the Unconscious”  and Jung explains that he didn’t even know how to approach the question. He writes, “I said to myself, since I know nothing at all, I shall simply do whatever occurs to me.”

In Jung’s case, this meant tending his dreams, painting, and working with stone, but many forms of creative work, like writing poetry, invite a meaningful dialogue with the mythic dimension.

In honor of National Poetry month, I asked local songwriter and poet Phillip Rosenberg to talk about the experience of writing his book Raised in the Shadow.

In this program we use Phillip’s experience and poetry to explore these questions:

• How is writing poetry a way of knowing self and world?
• How does/can writing poetry lead to the creation (or discovery) of personally meaningful images?

For more information about the songs and poetry of Phillip Rosenberg (aka Rags and Bones) visit: http://www.ragsandbonesmusic.com/

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Our minds, bodies, feelings, relationships are all informed by our questions. What you ask is who you are. What you find depends on what you search for. And what shapes our lives are the questions we ask, refuse to ask, or never think of asking.”  —Sam Keen

This episode is the conclusion of this famous Arthurian story about the quests and questions that determine our lives, character, and destiny.

“It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.” ~Joseph Campbell

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“What is it we are questing for? It is the fulfillment of that which is potential in each of us. Questing for it is not an ego trip; it is an adventure to bring into fulfillment your gift to the world, which is yourself. There is nothing you can do that’s more important than being fulfilled. You become a sign, you become a signal, transparent to transcendence; in this way you will find, live, become a realization of your own personal myth.”  ~ Joseph Campbell, Pathways to Bliss

 Part 2 of a famous story about the quest and destiny.

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What is the purpose of your life? Is there some promise, gift, or need that you are destined to fulfill?  

These questions lie in the heart of the mystery that surrounds our lives. A few people are born with answers, but for most of us the search is part of a long quest. A quest for truth, for meaning, for completion. . . for consciousness, for Self knowledge.

It’s possible to ignore these questions of life purpose and refuse the quest. Contemporary Western society encourages us to limit our explorations to shopping malls and commercial entertainments. But if you are seeking, the story of Perceval is a valuable one to contemplate. 

This is an old story, as is the cultural conversation about authenticity, love, and self-determination that we are having today, and that gave birth to this story. 

There’s more to this story than knights and swords, which came into written form at the same time that folks were contemplating some radical ideas about what it means to be a fully realized human being.

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My special guest this week is Loris Simon Salum, writer and director of the award-winning documentary film Ensoulment: A Diverse Analysis of the Feminine in Western Culture.

We had the privilege of screening Ensoulment in Joshua Tree, where it inspired a very lively discussion about the nature of “the feminine,” the common confusion between the archetypal feminine and gender roles, and what might constitute a “feminine” approach to the topic of The Feminine. 

In this interview, Loris responds to some of these challenges and talks about what she’s learned. This is my second conversation with Loris. The first, Ensoulment: A Diverse Analysis of the Feminine in Western Culture with filmmaker Loris Simon Salum, is part of the Matter & Psyche album also posted on bandcamp.

For more information about the film and to watch the trailer visit Ensoulment at http://www.ensoulmentfilm.com/

“When there is no judgment present, what is alive in you? What wants to be lived inside of you?”

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Western culture has a love-hate relationship with fairy tales. They are trivial entertainment, guilty pleasures left over from childhood, and they are cultural dynamite we attempt to defuse with a range of feminist critiques and socio-psychological commentaries. We long for the “happily ever after” and also deride this sweet and simple view of life. 

Fairy tales trouble us. That is one of their cultural functions, and our endless reworking and revising tells us something about our hopes, tensions, and fears.

In this program I tell the fairy tale Briar Rose, collected by the Brother’s Grimm. It’s an older version of Sleeping Beauty that I find puzzling and fascinating. There is a beautiful princess, a spindle, and a long period of sleep, but this is not a romantic tale of “true love” and a powerful kiss from a handsome prince.

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