Searching for the Gods: A Perspective on Mythology
Partial repost from Serpentine Spiral.
Mythology is a cultural expression of widespread ideologies and experience. Today, many people in this world look down upon myth as tales completely rooted in fiction to keep society within moral boundaries. I don’t entirely agree. Many civilizations since the dawn of time had special lessons to impart through the power of myth that embodied the teachings of what we could now call our spiritual and cultural ancestors. Many people are often drawn towards the mythology of their blood ancestors. Some, however, find themselves attracted to the mythologies of places they have never been or which for the individual seems unconnected, on the surface. Is there some logical reason behind this phenomena, or should we immediately turn to reincarnation as an answer?
I have a regular discourse with a Canadian Druid about this very subject. I wanted to know why when I first began studying Paganism, I latched onto the Celtic pantheon. Was it because it was something that I was familiar with, both via interest and ancestry? Well I’ve spent at least 10 yrs researching my family lineage and have yet to find a link to Ireland. I have more of an ancestral link to anglo-saxon, scandinavian, croatian, and cuban heritage, and today find myself drawn moreso to individual divinities than to whole cultural pantheons from the mediterranean and the ancient near east (Greece, Rome, Sumer).
Just for G.P. I decided years ago that it was probably a good idea to go ahead and verse myself in world myth. And one of the very first cultural mythologies I familiarized myself with were those from the Sumerian world. Reconstructionists are primarily concerned with the constraints of religion within its pantheon. The pantheon is an expression of one’s world view. History channel has recently aired some wonderful material on the Greek Olympians, and how they reflect perhaps the way the early Greeks viewed their world.
Its probably easier for me to say that I am emphatic regarding study of Sumerian mythology because maybe I lived a past life in Ancient Sumer. I’d rather rule out a hereditary link before making that jump. Probably and past life in the same sentence, without an actual memory isn’t a clarification. Its just speculation. Although I remain curious as to why we pursue a particular line of study. Some are driven to study the entire pantheon or its main figures, or one deity in particular. And then others are motivated to pursue the study of deities from a variety of pantheons who represent multiple facets of human existence.
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