Tiamat, the Goddess who personifies the sea...

Tiamat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Tiamat (disambiguation).

In Babylonian mythology^[1], Tiamat is a goddess who personifies the sea. Tiamat is considered the monstrous embodiment of primordial chaos.^[2]Although there are no early precedents for it, some sources identify her with images of a sea serpent or dragon.^[3] In the Enûma Elish, the Babylonianepic of creation, she gives birth to the first generation of deities; she later makes war upon them and is killed by the storm-god Marduk. The heavens and the earth are formed from her divided body.

Tiamat was known as Thalattē (as variant of thalassa, the Greek word for "sea") in the Hellenistic Babylonian Berossus' first volume of universal history. It is thought that the name of Tiamat was dropped in secondary translations of the original religious texts because some Akkadian copyists ofEnûma Elish substituted the ordinary word for "sea" for Tiamat, because the two names essentially were the same, due to association.^[4]

Text from Wikipedia

Photo by Sandra Saldanha

Moby- Dick , or The Whale by Herman Melville

Moby-Dick , or The Whale

One of the greatest classics of Literature , this beautiful book is filled with  adventures of self-discovery and understanding of men and beast's nature... Herman Melville's masterpiece explores the feelings of Captain Ahab as told by Ishmael, in his obsessive journey to destroy the Whale (Moby-Dick)...

Image: plpalencia

  " Call me Ishmael. Some years ago -- never mind how long precisely -- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off -- then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me. (...) "

 by Melville, Herman, 1819-1891. 

(Extract from Moby-Dick, or, The Whale - Chapter I -Loomings)

Via Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library 

The Mythic Imagination

"(...) Mythic narratives are pattern of meanings, that state and restate universal human activities. As such, their account accounts of creation, conflict, and achievement are metaphors for concerns common to all those who participate in the human adventure.

Cultural myths served several vital purposes. They explained the workings of the world to those bewildered by natural phenomena. They assisted people's transition through life 's developmental stages. They helped members of society to find meaning in their position, economic status and ethical constraints. They enabled human beings to participate in the mysteries of the cosmos and to worship an entity or process deemed worthy of supreme importance.

However, cultural myth became fragmented when science and technology produced dependable ways to understand and control nature; when pluralism, seeped societies; and when religious doctrine, national laws, and social customs provided frameworks - often sterile - by which people's behavior could be directed.

Yet the deep need for underlying the symbols and metaphors remained: personal existence without myth was unsatisfying and stultifying. As a result, myths became personalized, albeit on an unconscious level. Portions of these personal myths surfaced during dreams; reveries; bodily feelings; passion; slips of the tongue; ritualistic behavior; and spontaneous music making, dancing, writing, drawing, and painting.  (...) "

Text by Stanley Krippner, Ph.D. 

(Extract from Forward - The Mythic Imagination by Stephen Larsen, Ph.D.)

Photo by Sandra Saldanha

Welcome to my New Blog!

Welcome to my New Blog! I am very excited to dedicate a Blog to one of my favorite subjects — the hero's journey or the individual's quest for transformation and individuation.

 I will try to share my thoughts and reflections about my own quest through the underworld of mythology, folklore, fairy tales , memories and wonder... and its manifestation through dreams, art, poetry, dancing, etc.

Text and Photo by Sandra Saldanha