Apprentice Core Lessons in Mythology

Welcome to the Apprentice Core Lessons in Mythology, the first set of lessons in the Mythology Guild. In this set of lessons, we will become acquainted with some of the basics for understanding Mythology and the thematic elements that run throughout. Our primary text will be The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. This book is located in the Mythology section of the Order’s Library. This knowledge will give us the tools to understand what we are reading and why it is important for us to understand myths. We will also cover the differences between myths and legends before moving on to explore the many different world mythologies. Here are some of the general and specific requirements for the apprentice level:


General Requirements:

- Must be a Page

- Must request initiation to the Guild from one of the Guild Masters

- Must have been assigned a mentor before you can begin working in the lessons. The mentor will create a guild journal for you


Specific Requirements:

- Must complete the Apprentice Core Lessons in Mythology

- Must complete a Reflections Essay on what you have learned in the Apprentice Program, and the direction you will like to take your research in the Journeyman Lessons

- Must be recommended by your mentor to move on to Journeyman lessons

Read the following article and share your understanding in your Guild Journal:


Myths began before even the most basic understanding humans had of life. They started in ancient cultures, often as a result of visions from unknown divinity, voices heard in the howling of wind, hope for rain and for food, success in the hunt, and nearly infinite other reasons. Myths are the precursor for art, religion, and languages, too. The fear of the unknown and what it might mean for unsuspecting people encouraged them to come up with stories or tales offering answers to so many questions that seemed unanswerable. They gave the youth, and even the elderly, a sense of moral obligation and something to look up to.

The earliest recorded myth comes from Sumer in the 2100 B.C. often known as the "Epic of Gilgamesh." It consists of five poems and follows the life of a king who searches for the secret to eternal life. He discovered the gods kept life for themselves and offered humankind death. But when Gilgamesh died, his story and fame survived. He found eternal life in death.

Everyone has a life sense demanding them to be remembered by something unique, so that their life is meaningful and may affect people in a lasting way. Myths gave people an idea of what they could be, where they are going, and how the future might affect them. Before grand societies and cultures existed, myths did. A civilized state has mythology at its foundation.

Greek and Roman mythology has Zeus/Jupiter at its head, the all-powerful commander of lightning and the other great gods. He protects the sky, as Poseidon owns the sea, Aphrodite as the origin of beauty, or Hephaestus as the mind for innovation and machines.

Each one of these gods were something for people to refer to, pray to, when the situation calls for it. In a time of battle, the Greeks may call upon the support of Ares, while the Romans ask assistance of Mars. Thor’s hammer, Loki’s mischief, Baldur’s beauty, Njord’s sea, all gods of Norse, have roles that parallel the gods of many other myths, only on a cosmic scale. They exist in nine realms within our known universe, as modern day recreations have shown. Since the beginning of human consciousness, grand stories of heroism and potential have circulated the world before people even knew they were not the only ones occupying Earth. Each culture’s mythology have different names and are unique in their scale, but the foundations of them all are very similar. The stories and gods exhibit similar properties to many others.

People from long ago looked to their stories of myth as we look to the creations of our imaginations, most of which have a link to what was told in the past. Hundreds of unique tales of the Greek gods are retold all the time. Modern day literature has a hardline connected to the ancient tradition of myth. King Arthur, Moby Dick, the tale of Jonah: they are all widely known and well understood, though their stories are some of the oldest records of human history.


*This article by Chase Speicher was taken from Odyssey Online

Read the following article and share your understanding in your Guild Journal:

One of the most tiresome misconceptions of the cynic in the street is his idea of myth. He uses the word “myth” to mean “useless fairy tale.” A myth is a fantasy, a fable or a fanciful fiction. At best it is a harmless children’s story. It might be a pretend story told for a religious purpose or at worst it is an intentional fabrication devised to hoodwink the gullible.

Yes, some ancient fanciful stories are called myths and have a religious dimension. This fact makes the definition of myth even more complex and therefore more easily misunderstood. Because ancient Greeks and Romans told stories about Zeus and Jupiter, and because they were fantasy stories, and because Zeus and Jupiter were gods, the cynic in the street concludes that all stories from ancient times that feature the supernatural must also be fanciful old time stories that may be somewhat entertaining, but which are all make believe.

To the scientific man a myth is a curious but valueless cultural artifact from a superstitious age. The worthlessness of myth is rooted in the work of several academics from the turn of the twentieth century. The Englishman E.B. Tylor is considered the father of “cultural evolutionism.” He considered myth and primitive religion as failed attempts at science. Myths, in his opinion, were the theories that primitive people devised to explain the world. Now that we have science we know better, and we should discard myth. Religion, Tylor thought, was a holdover from those primitive mythological times, the root and fruit of a backward, superstitious mindset.

The German Max Müller was also active at Oxford slightly before Tylor. Müller was an Orientalist and philologist. He considered myth to be a “disease of language.” Primitive people had ideas and theories about their world and then developed words for them. From the words they developed stories, and the abstract concepts were soon personified into mythical beings. Müller considered this to be a kind of hiccup in the development of language and therefore myth could be dismissed.

Around the same time, the Scottish social anthropologist James Frazer was studying magic and ritual in primitive societies. In his classic work, The Golden Bough, Frazer traced similarities among various cultures, whose development he saw as organic and natural. He posited three stages of development for human culture: primitive magic, religion and science. Myth was all-encompassing in the first stage, archaic but still powerful in the second stage and unnecessary in the scientific stage.

These three thinkers were hugely influential in the first part of the twentieth century and German theologian Rudolph Bultmann (1884-1976) applied their ideas to Biblical criticism. His goal was the ‘de-mythologization” of scripture. Bultmann wanted to weed out what seemed to him to be the mythological, supernatural elements of the Biblical stories and the Christian religion so that Christianity might be more acceptable to modern man.

The problem with these reductionist theorists is that they did not understand the deeper significance and function of myth within the human psyche. Carl Jung with his depth psychology was more sanguine about myth. He suggested that mythical stories connected individuals and societies with the “collective unconscious” in which all humans partake, and were one of mankind’s ways of interacting with the vast unseen world.

Romanian thinker Mircea Eliade went further, theorizing that myth helped individuals know how to make sense of their world and how to behave in their society. Combined with religious ritual, myth helped them connect with deep shared societal events, memories, and values.

The mythologist Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) built on the work of Jung. Like Eliade, he argued that myth has an important function in society in four ways: it evokes a sense of awe, it supports a religious cosmology, it supports the social order and it introduces individuals to the spiritual path of enlightenment.

Now here’s where it gets interesting. Joseph Campbell’s work was a great influence on Star Wars film maker George Lucas. Lucas claimed that in the Star Wars saga he wanted to create a “myth for modern man.” Campbell was also a major influence on Christopher Vogler, a script doctor for Disney studios, whose work The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers is a central text in Hollywood.

Myth died, but myth has risen. Dozens of movies follow Vogler’s mythic structure for plot and characterization. Comic book heroes and the movies derived from them are myths re-enacted and writ large for the silver screen. The exploits of superheroes in their great battles with evil are modern examples of the drama and power of myth. The technology of both production and distribution have turned modern myth-making through movies into a cultural tsunami. The brains of the early twentieth century could never have imagined myth making such a comeback.

Working in Oxford only slightly later than Tylor and Müller was another philologist and author—J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien and his friend, C.S. Lewis were fascinated with the power of myth. Tolkien consciously intentionally devised his great epic The Lord of the Rings as a myth for the English people, to replace the Arthurian cycle.

Against all odds, through popular culture, myth is more potent and omnipresent in modern society than anyone could have imagined. Why? Because in an increasingly global society, myth is a universal language. Luke Skywalker, Frodo Baggins, Spiderman and Batman transcend cultural divides. Mythic heroes in movies communicate universal values in their fight against evil. In a culture where the abstract theories of academics are out of touch and meaningless, stories communicate more effectively and more universally.

Furthermore, in an increasingly irreligious age, mythical movies and literature carry the truths that religion had traditionally conveyed. People who would not set foot in a church go to the movies. They share vicariously in the hero’s quest and go through a cathartic transformation. They follow the hero as he makes his moral choices and so decide (even unconsciously) that they live in a moral universe.

The importance of the resurgence of myth for religion was not lost on Tolkien. In his essay on fairy stories, he explained that the viewer or reader of myth comes to understand that there is not only a plot and meaning to the story, but there is a plot and meaning to life, and if his life has a plot and meaning, then the cosmos has a plot and meaning, and if the cosmos has a plot and meaning, then there is Someone who plotted the story—someone who knows its ultimate meaning, because He is the ultimate meaning.

*This article by Dwight Longendecker was taken from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.

Read the Archetypes PDF in the Mythology Section of the Order’s library and share your understanding in your Guild Journal. Share your understanding of how the different archetypes can be applied and expressed, the different forms the hero takes, the stages of the heroic and archetypal journeys, and some characteristics of the Hero’s Journey. Also go through each situational archetype and in a paragraph or two, share your understanding of them.

Read The Hero with a Thousand Faces, located in the mythology section of the Order’s Library. For each chapter and subsection provide a brief summary of their contents and what you have learned. Does anything resonate with your life? Does understanding myth change any preconceived notions you may have had? Share your response in your Guild Journal.

Read the following article and share your understanding in your Guild Journal: What are some of the key differences between them?


The terms myth, folklore, legend, and fairy tale are often used interchangeably, leading to the misconception that they mean the same thing: fanciful tales. Although it's true that these terms may refer to bodies of writing that answer some of life's basic questions or present commentary on morality, each type presents a distinct reader experience. They've all stood the test of time, which speaks volumes about their ongoing hold on our imaginations.


Myth

A myth is a traditional story that may answer life's overarching questions, such as the origins of the world (the creation myth) or of a people. A myth can also be an attempt to explain mysteries, supernatural events, and cultural traditions. Sometimes sacred in nature, a myth can involve gods or other creatures. It presents reality in dramatic ways.

Many cultures have their own versions of common myths that contain archetypal images and themes. One common myth that spans multiple cultures is that of a great flood. Myth criticism is used to analyze these threads in literature. A prominent name in myth criticism is that of literary critic, professor, and editor Northrop Frye.


Folklore and Folktale

Whereas myth has at its core the origins of a people and is often sacred, folklore is a collection of fictional tales about people or animals. Superstitions and unfounded beliefs are important elements in the folklore tradition. Both myths and folklore were originally circulated orally.

Folktales describe how a main character copes with the events of everyday life, and the tale may involve crisis or conflict. These stories may teach people how to cope with life (or dying) and also have themes common among cultures worldwide. The study of folklore is called folkloristics.


Legend

A legend is a story that's purported to be historical in nature but that is without substantiation. Prominent examples include King Arthur, Blackbeard, and Robin Hood. Where evidence of historical figures, such as King Richard, actually exists, figures such as King Arthur are legends due in large part to the many stories that have been created about them.

Legend also refers to anything that inspires a body of stories or anything of lasting importance or fame. The story is handed down orally but continues to evolve with time. Much of early literature began as legend told and retold in epic poems that were passed down orally originally, then at some point written down. These include masterpieces such as the Greek Homeric Poems ("The Iliad" and "The Odyssey"), circa 800 BCE, to the French "Chanson de Roland," circa 1100 CE.


Fairy Tale

A fairy tale may involve fairies, giants, dragons, elves, goblins, dwarves, and other fanciful and fantastic forces. Although originally not written for children, in the most recent century, many old fairy tales have been "Disneyfied" to be less sinister and to appeal to kids. These stories have taken on lives of their own. In fact, many classic and contemporary books, such as "Cinderella," "Beauty and the Beast," and "Snow White," are based on fairy tales. But read the original Grimm brothers' fairy tales, for example, and you'll be surprised at the endings and how they differ from the versions that you may have grown up with.



*This article by Esther Lombardi is taken from ThoughtCo.Com

When beginning to study world mythology, it is important to consider that there are 4 major categories or divisions of mythology:

- Regional Mythology (Mythology of a particular place or region)
- Religious Mythology (Mythological traditions associated with the various world religions)
- Temporal Mythology (Mythology associated with a particular time period)
- Fictional Mythology (Mythology developed in major works of fiction)


Explore each of these categories in more detail. Choose 3 different examples from each category and briefly describe them in your Guild Journal. Who are some of the major characters? What are some of the major myths? Where did they originate? What is the historical context for the development of these myths? Describe any archetypal examples from your exploration.