we know that myth is a compass for humanity. oral traditions prize myth for its ability to impart morals, direction, values. not only do we learn about who we are and where we come from through myth (read: fables, allegories, adages) but we learn also about what is important to us, and to our community (hero epics, creation stories, cautionary tales).
historically myths were told and retold, relied upon and recast in each generation. it worries me that we are not re-weaving myth to reflect contemporary culture. in a still sea we are floating, unmoored, unable to use the stars, the winds, the currents, to get us home- or to help us escape.
where, for example, is the traditional wisdom about hate and bigotry? who is sitting us on their vast and comforting laps to remind us to imbibe kindness? to feed on generosity? to push the edges of our own thirst while slaking the thirsts of others? not our leaders, not those we trust to represent us..
who is grabbing our shirttails and holding us still, priming us to hear the ways the trees speak? who is demanding we recite, from rote memory, the lineages of the forest spirits? or the prized commodities of sandstorms, rasping creekbeds, spreading twilight or tidepools?
these days in my work i want to work through this, to begin to assemble a genealogy of new heroes, new stories, new morals and new reminders. i want to rekindle in the human experience the value of noticing, of assigning personal meaning- i want to encourage a loosening of that deathgrip we have on needing facts, needing constant contact, needing continual reinforcement that we are enough from Others, Elsewhere.
true, it may not be realistic to step back completely from our current reality - it is Nearestby. but maybe by adding in something different - something more intuitive, something softer, something that affirms our connection to the nonhuman world simply by leaning into the analog spirit realm - we might experience some relief from fear, from loneliness, from that incessant high pitch drone of electricity dragging always all around us.
some architectural plans to follow, some flow charts and family trees, some New Constellations for Navigation. any nudge in a more personal direction is nourishing. i promise.
