Mythic Existence with Jack Daly

On this episode of Mythic Existence, host Jack Daly finishes his discussion of Joseph Campbell's hero's journey as told in his book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces. The third and final stage of the hero's journey is the return. This occurs after the quest has been completed, and the hero must return with their life-transmuting journey. Here, the hero is poised with the task of returning to the normal world after experiencing the bliss of the deep abode. They must integrate the wisdom they have found into their human life, and possibly wish to share their knowledge with the world. In this last phase, the hero has become master of two worlds, and finally has freedom to live. 

Prepare yourself to enter a bewildering labyrinth, wherein lies an unexplored and uncharted realm. This is what Hertha von Dechend and Giorgio de Santillana did when they wrote Hamlet's Mill, where they argue that the tormented, self-questioning Prince of Denmark comes down to us from a long tradition of astronomical myths and that he is himself the Lord of the Golden Age, the Once and Future King. According to these scholars, the story of Hamlet, the melancholic, withdrawn, brooding intellectual, is found all across the world in the Icelandic Edda, the Finish Kalevala, the Iranian Shanama, and the Indian Mahabarata. Further, they say that these epics encode advanced astronomical knowledge of a process called precession of the equinoxes, wherein the constellations gradually shift position in a 26,000 year cycle called the Great or Platonic Year. In these myths, the shifting of ages come to be associated with ages of higher and lower civilizations, in what the Hindus call the Yuga cycle. In Lost Star of Myth and Time, Walter Cruttenden follows in the footsteps of Hamlet's Mill, in search of answers for what causes these ages, in hopes we may return to the Golden Age of the Satya Yuga. 

Is Harry Potter based on an alchemical-Rosicrucian text from the 17th century? On this episode of Mythic Existence, host Jack Daly explores that possibility. Alchemy is not just about the transmutation of mundane lead into mundane gold. Rather, it is about turning the lead of a normal individual into the gold of an enlightened and fully realized self. In this reading of Harry Potter, the story becomes an alchemical allegory and a map towards obtaining the Philosopher's Stone and achieving a union with the divine. 

Take a journey through time, to a space where the sound of lutes fills the air, subterfuge, murder, and star-crossed love lurks around every corner, and the esoteric secrets of the ages are encoded on the stage. On this episode of Mythic Existence, host Jack Daly unveils slots 10 through 6 in his Shakespeare Power Rankings. Stroll down to Eastcheap, pour a flagon of ale with Falstaff, and settle in for another episode of Mythic Existence!

At the edges of the hermeneutic circle, there are monsters policing the borders, discouraging the exploration of uncertain demenses. On this episode of Mythic Existence, Jack Daly introduces us to Monster Theory, a scholarly framework for reading cultures through the monsters they create. Like the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park, these monsters remind us that curiosity is more often punished than rewarded. But when the differences that these monsters embody are embraced, the yeti footprints will melt into the snow. 

On this week's episode of Mythic Existence, host Jack Daly discusses the findings of Brian Muraresku's new book, "The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion With No Name." The "religion with no name," Muraresku posits, was born out of the Mysteries of Eleusis, an initiation ritual from Ancient Greece. Plato, Pythagoras, and Marcus Aurelius were initiates of this ancient Mystery religion, which centered around the myths of Persephone, Demeter, and Dionysus. Using scientific evidence, paired with ancient literature, texts from the Vatican Secret Archives, and frescos from the Vatican's underground, Muraresku argues that the religion with no name was based off of the ingestion of a psychedelic potion that was brewed by the witches of Eleusis. Furthermore, he says that this elixir may have inspired the Catholic Eucharist, and that Jesus styled himself after Dionysus to convert the inhabitants of the ancient Levant. 

In this episode of Mythic Existence, host Jack Daly discusses the second phase of the hero's journey: initiation. The initiation phase consists of the road of trials, the meeting with the goddess, woman as temptress, atonement with the father, apotheosis, and the ultimate boon. Settle in for another fascinating episode with references from everything from Ovid to Star Wars, Shakespeare to Harry Potter, and Mesoamerican gods to Lord of the Rings. 

On the first episode of Mythic Existence, host Jack Daly introduces us to Joseph Campbell's theory of the hero's journey and the monomyth. The first half of the hero's journey, the departure, is discussed.