We need a new hero to step forward, one unafraid to guide us through the “dark night of our soul” and back into the light of Gaia. Luke Skywalker, where are you? Luke, we need you. Help us tear ourselves away from "the dying gods”; help us find the old lost paths back to the world of Gaia:“…The new mythology does not create conquering heroes but rather seekers after the … Gaian world…. Those who refuse the call will hang on desperately to the *dying gods and … will continue to endanger the world …. Those who answer the call will … participate in a breaking away – as heroes have always done….From David Lemming’s The Oxford Companion to World Mythology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 286-87. Starred words indicate separate entries in The Companion.
"[T]he ecological hero will have to endure a *dark night of the soul, a perilous journey among the *demons that haunt us as a species. As it has always been for heroes, this adventure is a *quest for something lost. The universe that science shows us is an elegantly integrated … universe… in which the … exclusionary religions … [and] national entities … become the outdated carriers of racism, pollution, corporate greed, war, and disease.
"The crucial salvation now is communal salvation; without it our species will die…. It will be the role of the new hero … to lead the way to the formation of belief systems … that will … be in accordance with the miracle of the ecological universe….”
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Thnx to zeafonso for the foto
That's a great citation! We most definitely need heroes. I'd even settle for a prominent, respected Goddess person of some sort. The closest we have is Shekhinah, but the media is still disrespectful of her work. We need someone like a Sean Penn or a Susan Sarandon on our side. I'd bet that they're aware of us, but we need a champion that will be one of us, out and proud, creating a new face for the movement. It's unlikely anyone outside the movement would take the risk. If Stevie Nicks can't admit to being a Witch, nobody else is going to get away with it.
ReplyDeleteI'll do it. I had my mother-in-law make me a cloak. I told her I wanted it to look like Obi-Won Kenobi's. She came through for me. So I'm all ready. Who do I call?
ReplyDeleteWell, Morgaine, we do have Starhawk. I think this stuff is gonna snowball here soon, though. I think that’s how it’s gonna work. We’re nearing the tipping point, I can feel it. It’s just too right of an idea, and it’s coming at just the right time. There are only -- what is it? Six degrees of separation between anyone and anyone else on the planet? Do I have that right?
ReplyDeleteAnne what a mother-in-law! Why’ntcha call David Leeming, the author of The Oxford Companion? I’ll bet he could give you some good phone numbers re: Getting Started as a Hero. Let us know how things turn out! Ooooo, I can’t wait ‘til we see you and your cloak on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer!
ReplyDeleteGo, Anne, Go!
ReplyDeleteAthana- I have the same feeling. When the WaPo feels it necessary to diss us, we're becoming known.
I feel as if everything is on that tipping point right now. We're either about to explode into some Aquarian mega-shift in consciousness, or we're going to let this country slide completely into fascism. It may even be that awareness of the latter catapults us into the former. Things are so extreme right now. The same week Barack calls for universal healthcare some freaking Repug tries to do away with the minimum wage. Serfdom, anyone? That's what they'll create if they aren't stopped. I can't believe a congressman had the stones to try and set us that far back. These people have no shame, boundaries or compassion.