everyday mythology

"No sooner have you grabbed hold of it than myth opens out into a fan of a thousand segments.  Here the variant is the origin (147)."
Myth is around us everyday. It gets stuck in our heads and sung in our cars. Music is in myth and myths are in the music we hear everyday.  In Led Zeppelin's "Achilles Last Stand, Robert Plant sings "Wandering and wandering, What place to rest the search, The mighty arms of Atlas, Hold the Heavens from the Earth." the mythologies of several different cultures are a central theme in Classic Rock and modern Metal music.  Robert Plant sings of Valhalla, Odin's Hall of the Slain, in their classic "Immigrant Song." Valhalla proves to be recurring theme in Metal music. Manowar's "Gates Of Valhalla," is a great example; "Sworn by the sacred blood of Odin onward ride,Valhalla thy gods await me, Open wide thy gates embrace me, Great hall of the battle slain." 3 Inches of Blood use myth in their lyrics, "Onward to Valhalla" and the "The Hydra's Teeth" just to name a few. Iron Maiden often references Egyptian mythology in their lyrics and even Marilyn Manson gets a little mythological from time to time. Folk, Indie, Tribal music, and I'm not well versed on the subject but i would imagine there are a few symphonies/operas that are myth related. "Myth opens out into a fan of a thousand segments," Maynard James Keenan of Tool started a vineyard in Arizona which produces Caduceus brand wine..from music to wine and then back to the gods.
 Myth is in movies, advertising, company logos, cartoons, art, many tattoos are of mythic creatures and symbols. Myth is in the music that fills our ears and the wine that passes over our lips. I am surrounded by myth i hear it, i sing it, i feel it, and i have ingested it. The Bacchus Pub in downtown Bozeman is the sort of eatery Dionysus himself would frequent.  Orpheus would approve of our talented local musicians that make every genre of music imaginable in our beautiful tree filled town.  When I look at my hometown, my friends, and myself I see myth twisting its way through every aspect of life; similar to the way i have always seen music twisting its way through every moment of my own life.
There used to be a show on HBO fifteen years ago that retold many familiar myths.  In this T.V. version of Orpheus and Eurydice; the beautiful Eurydice was born from a tree.  Trees are central to myth, central to life, and to origin (the concept on ancestry is symbolized by the tree).  Trees, myth, music, and art flow in and out of one another and often times blend. The image above is of a girl motionless amongst the isolation of the trees and the night. She herself turns into roots at the bottom of the piece and is surrounded by several trees not pictured;this tattoo inspired by a song, a work of art, a book of trees, and a myth of sorts.  Of course all this talk of trees only reminds me of another song: "firelight was an offering to the god that runs through the bark of the trees I believe, that by gods above us we wont live to see it end, let us not pretend that it could have been any other way" written by Dax Riggs the so-called Orpheus of the underground. i think in many of the myths i 've read so far the abductors of these young girls are silently repeating: My dear, "lets us not pretend that it could have been any other way."
Cultural myths are like genres of music, varied and complex.  Our personal experience and understanding of myths are also varied and complex. While looking for myth in everyday, I discovered myth in overwhelming abundance in music, art, poetry, food/drink, even in my own community.  These are the things i am most passionate about in life so i can't help but think that i have discovered an unconcious passion for myth within myself.
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I love Cadmus & Harmony. Although i find it a little confusing and at times overwhelming. I'm making a list of names, places, and relationships to try to keep it all straight.
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CLASS NOTES 9-1-11

Mnemosynein = memory
     -mother of the 9 muses: Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomeni, Terpsichore, Erato, Polymnia, Ourania, and Calliope.

-abduction of women is a repeating theme