Category: Mythology

The Women of the Andromeda

On By Roger B. BurtIn Characters, Mythology, Women Rising, WritingLeave a comment

 

What do you think is happening to women?

Numerous Roles for Women

From the beginning, in writing the Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy, I was clear that the women had to be extraordinary.  Related is the fact that I have always been captivated and intrigued by the movement to empower women. There is a battle and clearly there was untapped potential. And in that battle women are showing how tenacious they can be.

But I felt I could not begin from pure fantasy. Of course part of what intrigued me was my love of mythology and how it speaks to us. Mermaids keep appearing in myth and I chose them to join us for the adventure. But there were other elements in history that were intriguing. In Adrienne Major’s book The Amazons I learned about some of the real warrior women in history.

Presenting Themsleves

And so the women of the Andromeda came into being. Many Tethyan women were reserved in the sea against the day when the mission for the salvation of our beloved blue planet and humankind would be called. But especially on land there was presently to be a confrontation and warrior women were needed to help.

In the Beginning

But in opening the series it did not seem right to simply have the women rush into battle. Two realities collided. One was that major human conflicts often begin in a low key fashion. One thing with which I collided was myself. I wanted a “normal” beginning related to how people are. So I chose innocent Avery as the lead character who thought she had lost her family and felt abandoned. Little did she know she had an unknown and extraordinary family.

But her family wasn’t merely hiding in the sea. It had an organization and women had been chosen and chose themselves to be defenders in the movement to come. And there were certainly enough issues to be combatted in the real world as we understand it today.

Among the People

The Tethyan people fell generally into three groups. The people who lived in cities in the sea called the Primals, the women who came to the land to form families and the defense force of women called the Andromeda. The women in the sea cities searched history and precious documents for the meaning and substance related to their future. The families on land positioned themselves for future dedicated possibilities. And the Andromeda women took on real world missions. These women could be dangerous and violent if needed.

Dedicated Women

The roles women assume are often complicated and in what they feel they must do they often have to resist restraints imposed by the larger society. And such was the case for the Andromeda women. Certainly they could embed themselves in government and corporations, but they could also engage in other forms of intrusion which might be useful. And so some of them became consorts with the powerful, greedy men called the Overlords. From that position they gained valuable insights and information.

I’m sure there are those who will criticize me for putting these women in such positions which are often frowned upon and they may be unfairly criticized for what they dedicated themselves to do. But that was a component of the real world and it needed inclusion.

These women took terrible risks, gave valiant service and, in the writing, addressed a reality which exists now and will in the future. I took delight in them. Brigid was most prominent and strong. She came to her position through tragedy which, of course, is often what leads to dedication. And darling Luisa was irresistible. She was so engaging and clever and seemed innocent. Except she was not innocent but dedicated.

And so fantasy and reality meld and talk truths about our world as it is whether realized or not and the future as it may be. Such dedication often leads to transformation of many kinds.

And I think in the future I may just write detailed stories focused on these amazing women. In the near term there will be posts on each of them.

Do you admire such women?

#######

 Coming Soon

Gaia’s Majesty-Transformation: Life Forces Revealed

(Book 3 of the Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy)

The child of prophesy is coming of age.

Earth has descended into almost biblical chaos.

        Then comes an opening to a future never anticipated.

#####

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power – Book 1   (Click to See)

Avery’s life of dedication is enhanced when she meets the love of her life. They could not know that they shared a destiny and that a mission set long ago by our Earth Goddess was ordained.

      Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge: The Chosen Rise – Book 2   (Click to See)

The Tethyan people of the sea have been joined by the Andromeda warrior women. They fight for the future of humankind. Then will come the Child of Prophesy.

Available now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon.

The Time Before Us

On By Roger B. BurtIn Mythology, Origins of Gaia's Majesty, Women RisingLeave a comment

With the holidays upon us I’m going to suspend posting until the new year. See you then. Happy holidays.

More Than I Thought

When I started the Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy it was because I couldn’t resist entwining the intriguing and widespread myth of mermaids with the current movement to empower women at last. What I learned was that there was a lot more stirring inside of me than I realized.

Myths Have Complex Power

Yes, I had always been intrigued by mermaids. On rare occasions mermen appeared but it was the power of mythological women in the sea that dominated. I had never seen a really graphic exploration of the meaning of the myth so I took it on with my own story.

Searching Import

And then there is the empowerment of women.  Over fifty years ago I came face to face with the power of older white men and how often they worked not just to maintain their power but also to continue the subjugation of women. At the time the women’s liberation movement was in flower. With what I saw I became intrigued by what that empowerment could mean for all of us.

A Larger Effect

As I wrote the trilogy something else happened. I began to feel an essential part was not just the empowerment of women but a fundamental change for humankind. I could see the import of possible changes and that we could be entering a period of transformation.

Naturally transformation has a Janus face. It can mean a descent into total failure or an elevation to a new level of wonder and possibility.

An Early Impact

As I said, back when I was a child my aunt’s took me to view the victory parade at the end of World War II on Fifth avenue in New York. I never forgot it and I was always intrigued with international events and movements. Since then I have observed moments of huge potential and failure.

Great Contrasts

Not long ago we looked at a period of great hope which descended into the desperate failures of the Trump era. Europe is in peril and so is the Middle East once again. As this period developed it fed into my perception of the trilogy. In the books the period became known as Denouement as the mission of these women was led into a desperate conclusion. And in the end I brought forth a transformation of great impact.

Are we possibly in such an era or is desperate failure in the offing? We will see shortly. But, of course, in the trilogy I had to bring it to triumph with women at the center of the outcome to a glorious and transformative future

###

Don’t Miss My Developing Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy

I refer to it as a work of magical realism. It is a series with a strong mythological element and a real world setting in this time when women are being empowered at last. It is a time of wonder and awakening for all of humankind.

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power – Book 1

Avery had dedicated her life to work for the future of third world women. Her life was enhanced when she met the man who became the love of her life. They could not know that they shared a destiny and that a mission set long ago by our Earth Goddess was to be revealed before 

them. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called

—

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge: The Chosen Rise – Book 2

These people, called Tethyans, live in cities in the sea but can morph into fully human form and come to land to form families. They join with the warrior women called the Andromeda to fight against the forces working to impair the future of humankind. Avery has found her birth name of Chantia and she and Beck find there is soon to be a child of seeming great import just as the world falls into terrible strife with millions already dead. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge

The Time Before Us

On By Roger B. BurtIn Cusp of Reality, Mythology, Origins of Gaia's MajestyLeave a comment

 

More Than I Thought

When I started the Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy it was because I couldn’t resist entwining the intriguing and widespread myth of mermaids with the current movement to empower women at last. What I learned was that there was a lot more stirring inside of me than I realized.

Myths Have Complex Power

Yes, I had always been intrigued by mermaids. On rare occasions mermen appeared but it was the power of mythological women in the sea that dominated. I had never seen a really graphic exploration of the meaning of the myth so I took it on with my own story.

Searching Import

And then there is the empowerment of women.  Over fifty years ago I came face to face with the power of older white men and how often they worked not just to maintain their power but also to continue the subjugation of women. At the time the women’s liberation movement was in flower. With what I saw I became intrigued by what that empowerment could mean for all of us.

A Larger Effect

As I wrote the trilogy something else happened. I began to feel an essential part was not just the empowerment of women but a fundamental change for humankind. I could see the import of possible changes and that we could be entering a period of transformation.

Naturally transformation has a Janus face. It can mean a descent into total failure or an elevation to a new level of wonder and possibility.

An Early Impact

As I said, back when I was a child my aunt’s took me to view the victory parade at the end of World War II on Fifth avenue in New York. I never forgot it and I was always intrigued with international events and movements. Since then I have observed moments of huge potential and failure.

Great Contrasts

Not long ago we looked at a period of great hope which descended into the desperate failures of the Trump era. Europe is in peril and so is the Middle East once again. As this period developed it fed into my perception of the trilogy. In the books the period became known as Denouement as the mission of these women was led into a desperate conclusion. And in the end I brought forth a transformation of great impact.

Are we possibly in such an era or is desperate failure in the offing? We will see shortly. But, of course, in the trilogy I had to bring it to triumph with women at the center of the outcome to a glorious and transformative future

###

Don’t Miss My Developing Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy

I refer to it as a work of magical realism. It is a series with a strong mythological element and a real world setting in this time when women are being empowered at last. It is a time of wonder and awakening for all of humankind.

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power – Book 1

Avery had dedicated her life to work for the future of third world women. Her life was enhanced when she met the man who became the love of her life. They could not know that they shared a destiny and that a mission set long ago by our Earth Goddess was to be revealed before 

them. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called

—

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge: The Chosen Rise – Book 2

These people, called Tethyans, live in cities in the sea but can morph into fully human form and come to land to form families. They join with the warrior women called the Andromeda to fight against the forces working to impair the future of humankind. Avery has found her birth name of Chantia and she and Beck find there is soon to be a child of seeming great import just as the world falls into terrible strife with millions already dead. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge

Spirits – Our Alternative Life Foirms

On By Roger B. BurtIn Characters, Mythology, WritingLeave a comment

 

Engaging Spirits

When we step into the world of fiction we may find ourselves in the world of spirits.  What they are and their meaning may be up to our imagination. In many instances they are projections created by the author. The question often asked is whether they are pure fantasy or represent something else.

Calling them something else may seem strange. But when we “engage” them we often find that they represent a wide range of things.

The Unrecognized Self

It may not be just an unrecognized self of the author but the reader as well. When a spirit is given recognizable form and a manner then we recognize that it may be something that resides within ourselves and we have the opportunity to interface and examine. And in doing so we may find someone who subtly enhances our existence or poses a stumbling block with which we must grapple.  As such we need to welcome the realization and the opportunity.

And if we do not see this spirit as part of ourselves, it poses a different kind of opportunity. It is a chance for us to engage and cavort with someone or something intriguing. If by chance we dismiss this spirit as unimportant, then we should ask ourselves why we are being dismissive. 

The fact is that these things are opportunities for growth and enrichment.

And For The Author

Naturally the creation of the spirit is an opportunity for the author. Just as with the reader he may be projecting something of himself or creating someone with whom he wishes to interact.

And, of course, there is the possibility that he or she is trying to engage the reader in a process from which we may all benefit. There may be an education involved or simply a means to convey a possibility.

In Gaia’s Majesty

In my work of magical realism, Gaia’s Majesty Series, I have created the Tethyan people who, in many cases, live in an alternative world in the sea. As mermaids they become more recognizable because mermaids show up across the world fiction and mythology. But these mermaids are deep in human affairs.

For this author they have multiple purposes. One of them is to convey and enhance the meaning of the empowerment of women which is an important developing story for humankind at present. They also have to do with what I term the Mysterium and the Maelstrom. 

The Mysterium is the power which is closest to women. It represents their engagement and creativity. The Maelstrom is closest to men and shows their destructive side. But at the same time, just as in the explosion of a star, it has a creative side.

These are forces that justifiably deserve our contemplation. We are in a stunningly dangerous period of human existence but it also poses opportunity. Of course, it is the opportunity that deserves our attention and we find these things within ourselves.

Another Matter

And then, of course, there is the possibility that who we think we are is just one element of the development of humankind. It is intriguing to think that there are spirit worlds all around us and we cannot recognize them because our development as a species rested on our current focus.

Now comes an opportunity. And at some point we may find our development may permit us to recognize the spirit worlds that may be all around us. What richness may be at our doorstep!

And this is an offering fiction writers may be holding out to us.

###

Don’t Miss My Developing Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy

I refer to it as a work of magical realism. It is a series with a strong mythological element and a real world setting in this time when women are being empowered at last. It is a time of wonder and awakening for all of humankind.

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power – Book 1

Avery had dedicated her life to work for the future of third world women. Her life was enhanced when she met the man who became the love of her life. They could not know that they shared a destiny and that a mission set long ago by our Earth Goddess was to be revealed before 

them. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called

—

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge: The Chosen Rise – Book 2

These people, called Tethyans, live in cities in the sea but can morph into fully human form and come to land to form families. They join with the warrior women called the Andromeda to fight against the forces working to impair the future of humankind. Avery has found her birth name of Chantia and she and Beck find there is soon to be a child of seeming great import just as the world falls into terrible strife with millions already dead. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge

Women and Our Future

On By Roger B. BurtIn Mythology, Women RisingLeave a comment

Broad Based Opposition

(I know this picture may seem a little strange in this context but I couldn’t resist. She is holding out something glowing and wondrous to all of us.)

Some Women Object

I noted in another comment that some women are opposed to feminism. I have to say I haven’t been attacked for expressing my support, but then I haven’t spent much time in public making declarations. But I do have to wonder if men can declare support and other men simply dismiss them. But when women declare their independence it seems that is a threat and the opposition is made public and comes from many sources.

The Threat of Change

But the threat is not just to the patriarchy. The threat may well be to the stability of the system which will affect women as well.  As a psychologist I have had to conclude that people hate change. Doesn’t that sound awful? But the fact is I spent much of my career dragging people toward their future. There is good reason for the resistance in terms of internally established systems which I won’t go into here. But at one level we can see how the fight for women’s liberation is truly broad based. It is actually exceedingly complex.

Cultural Opposition

One of the things we have to face is what the anthropologist Leslie White called the extrasomatic stream. Even my computer hates the term and stubbornly refuses to keep it the one word it is. There is something for everyone to love and hate in culture which is what that stream is. It lies outside of ourselves and requires our attention in a demanding fashion.

When women stand up for themselves, they demand change which affects us all. Some people have insufficient perspective to accept an exploration that change often brings benefits and an enhanced future. And they construct excuses, as is the case in regard to women’s reproductive rights, so they can deny women those rights. Some may be uncomfortable but we have to look at what might then be. Of course, that is something, with my personality type, I love. Possibilities are the luscious fruit of my existence. But it does have to be found and tended.

Justice

Understandably some women will stand in opposition to these changes and it is our purpose in having discussion and dialogue to open the view of benefits and, yes, justice. I introduce the word justice because it is at issue. When you don’t have rights, or not all rights, then you do not receive justice. We see it in the cries from the black communities and from women as they look at their own possibilities.

The True Meaning of Resistance

And what we face is not an abstraction. As women emerge from subjugation there are many changes both subtle and glaring. They appear at the head of corporations and ask to discretely breast feed their child in public. I have never understood why a discrete woman is to be prevented from tending her infant. And then at church their heads are covered. As a child when I first saw it, I asked why but received no meaningful answer. I understand the rationale now but find it still absurd.

The resistance to the change takes so many forms and it seems most of it does not go to the true meaning of the resistance.

Yes, we face change and have to step back and ask, why not and what are the benefits?

###

Don’t Miss My Developing Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy

I refer to it as a work of magical realism. It is a series with a strong mythological element and a real world setting in this time when women are being empowered at last. It is a time of wonder and awakening for all of humankind.

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power – Book 1

Avery had dedicated her life to work for the future of third world women. Her life was enhanced when she met the man who became the love of her life. They could not know that they shared a destiny and that a mission set long ago by our Earth Goddess was to be revealed before 

them. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called

—

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge: The Chosen Rise – Book 2

These people, called Tethyans, live in cities in the sea but can morph into fully human form and come to land to form families. They join with the warrior women called the Andromeda to fight against the forces working to impair the future of humankind. Avery has found her birth name of Chantia and she and Beck find there is soon to be a child of seeming great import just as the world falls into terrible strife with millions already dead. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge

Irrational Control of Women

On By Roger B. BurtIn Cusp of Reality, Mythology, Women RisingLeave a comment

 

Why do you think women are controlled?

Breadth of Threat

To me the image I chose to go with this post is extraordinary! I chose it because it conveys power and threat. Both are at issue in the interactions of men and women and this image clearly has a mythological quality to it.

The Mysterium Tremendum alludes to something most often seen in the realm of the myth. As indicated, it is of interest in this context because I believe it relates to the apparent need to keep women “under control” but certainly with relatively less power. It seems that women pose extraordinary threat. The fair sex? How interesting!

Naturally it may be that the need to keep women controlled or contained may merely be a matter of men wanting to retain as much power as possible. Often the argument is made that the restriction of women’s rights and freedom relate to the issue of knowing the paternity of children. While there may be betrayals, it seems unlikely to be the complete reason. Again, it is hard to come up with a totally clear and complete reason because in so many ways it is irrational. It hints at some underlying force.

The Female Power

What might that force be? There is surely no one force but one of the number may be the extraordinary attraction to a woman felt by a man. We stress a woman’s appearance certainly more than that of a man. At celebratory gatherings the men are routinely dressed in dark suits or black formal attire. It is an entirely different matter for the women.

When we look back into mythology we see the men are often dynamic warriors but dangerous women take another form entirely. They do not classically attack as much as they use extraordinary powers. Certainly in the Odyssey there are examples of the dangers Odysseus faced. There was Scylla who was originally a sea nymph loved by the sea god Poseidon. His wife poisoned her bath water and created a creature with 12 feet and six heads on long snaky necks. Her loins were girded with the heads of baying dogs. Clearly a very dangerous woman. And there was Charybdis, also female, who was a dangerous whirlpool.

At a more generic level we see the contrast between witches and warlocks. Witches are generally more dangerous or are more often portrayed as so. We use the term bewitched to refer to the power of a woman over a man.

Real World Mythic Power 

Again I have to come back to the point that it is unlikely we can rationally define the reason women are so controlled. We often make superficial analyses but my suspicion is that the root of the issue is the power of sex and sex is certainly powerful because it is related to reproduction and the continuity of our species. And this power takes on mythic proportions.

The reason for even discussing this issue is that we all suffer from this kind of discrimination and virtual imprisonment. It is clear that freeing women and empowering them is having remarkable benefits for everyone. If we detach ourselves from the prejudice and discrimination, then we can all benefit. Need I say it is also only fair but also need to stress the diversity and complexity of the issues.

What alternative explanations do you have?

###

Don’t Miss My Developing Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy

I refer to it as a work of magical realism. It is a series with a strong mythological element and a real world setting in this time when women are being empowered at last. It is a time of wonder and awakening for all of humankind.

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power – Book 1

Avery had dedicated her life to work for the future of third world women. Her life was enhanced when she met the man who became the love of her life. They could not know that they shared a destiny and that a mission set long ago by our Earth Goddess was to be revealed before 

them. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called

—

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge: The Chosen Rise – Book 2

These people, called Tethyans, live in cities in the sea but can morph into fully human form and come to land to form families. They join with the warrior women called the Andromeda to fight against the forces working to impair the future of humankind. Avery has found her birth name of Chantia and she and Beck find there is soon to be a child of seeming great import just as the world falls into terrible strife with millions already dead. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge

Expanding Our World

On By Roger B. BurtIn Cusp of Reality, Life Forms, Mythology, visionLeave a comment

 

Other Life Forms

On a day to day basis there isn’t much reason to consider the possibility of other life forms. That doesn’t mean rabbits, deer and water buffalo. Other life forms refers to the ones we cannot ordinarily perceive. But the possibility keeps coming up.

When I started working on the Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy I found story lines often led to other life forms. If humankind is, in fact, moving toward some kind of denouement or transformation, is it possible we would come in contact with or form an alliance with other forms, possibly from the spirit world?  Belief in such beings or brushes with them are pervasive.

There It Was Again

Recently my wife asked if I would like to go to a workshop about dowsing. Immediately I was intrigued. It had been a long time but I had had a brush with it long ago. We were living in an eighteenth century house in a lovely rural valley. Our water came from a thirty foot dug well in front of the house. One day it was apparent that the sewage system had backed up into it. Time for a new well.

But where were we to drill. I decided to take up water witching or dowsing. The result stunned me. I’d never done it before but could feel tugs and in one place off to the side of the house the tug was very, very strong. We had the well drilled there. What a gusher! The drilling company left the pipe sticking 3 feet out of the ground and the water settled just six inches form the top. We would have had an artesian well without it.

Another Opportunity

The idea of the workshop was intriguing but I didn’t really know much about dowsing. I learned about entities, spirit guides and other powers. There we were asking questions and getting answers. It is a rich system related to other kinds of life forms and powers.

Then I remembered something. Many years ago I had gone to a dump to drop something off and was struck by terrible feelings of fear and despair. There were two employee working at the dump and when they looked up the fear and devastation in their eyes was terrible. I came away with a terrible impression of a murder. Not just a sudden murder but a tortured prolonged affair.

Energy Systems

Human beings appear to be made up of energy systems and other forms are all around us. In the workshop I learned about entities and pervasive systems. It seems I had experienced a residual effect of a cataclysmic event. I’m pleased to say I have never encountered another one.

But the richness of dowsing goes well beyond water witching. The workshop connected me to the experiences I related previously about a ghost at one house and the spirits around another place I had lived. 

Easy to Dismiss

It’s easy to proclaim that these phenomena are figments of our imagination. But, while I don’t spend a lot of time interacting with these alternative worlds, I’m impressed with their possibilities. And then when I turned to fiction and considered the possibilities of transformation as humankind reached yet another turning point I found myself back in that world.

It is enriching to consider these alternatives and more than that, it just may be that the entities, spirits and other being are important to our growth, our development and our future. Especially as we go deeper into this current morass.

May The Force Be With You!

What of this have you encountered?

###

Don’t Miss My Developing Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy

I refer to it as a work of magical realism. It is a series with a strong mythological element and a real world setting in this time when women are being empowered at last. It is a time of wonder and awakening for all of humankind.

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power – Book 1

Avery had dedicated her life to work for the future of third world women. Her life was enhanced when she met the man who became the love of her life. They could not know that they shared a destiny and that a mission set long ago by our Earth Goddess was to be revealed before 

them. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called

—

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge: The Chosen Rise – Book 2

These people, called Tethyans, live in cities in the sea but can morph into fully human form and come to land to form families. They join with the warrior women called the Andromeda to fight against the forces working to impair the future of humankind. Avery has found her birth name of Chantia and she and Beck find there is soon to be a child of seeming great import just as the world falls into terrible strife with millions already dead. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge

A Very Personal Recognition – My Companion

On By Roger B. BurtIn Life Forms, Mythology, vision, Women RisingLeave a comment

 

Let Me Share This

There was no sudden event, but over time I became aware of someone whom I call My Companion. I see her in the distance beyond me in my “Mind’s Eye”, not in the clarity of day.

Yes, it is a she and she has been with me for a long time. We do not often interact. From time to time she will come to me and we exchange not just thoughts but feelings. There are also times when I reach out to her and she can still or clarify unsettling feelings and perceptions.

She Is Someone Special

In the end I chose the name Companion for her because of the way she accompanies me in my life. There is no huge need or demand and I think I know what/who she represents. In Carl Jung’s theories he indicates that each of us has an opposite sex partner called an anima we carry within ourselves. I think this woman I call My Companion is my anima. I do not see her in what we call visual reality but instead see her in my “Mind’s Eye” where I look in my imagination. The clarity is touching.

It seems that when I search in my imagination that she resides in a specific time of the day no matter when I look out to her. My view suggests it is probably late afternoon or early evening because there is not full sunlight but a comfortable ambiance of light. That suggests to me she resides in the time of day when I have the most energy and feel most alive which is between the hours of four and six in the afternoon. So, it seems she is aligned to my life and energy.

Our Other Sex Partner

I’ve found Jung’s idea of an opposite sex partner who travels with us in our lives to be intriguing at many levels. I am clear about my positive regard for women and my view seems to align with who I see and what I see in My Companion. That raises an intriguing possibility. Is it possible that the nature of our opposite sex partner relates strongly to our view of that sex in our “real” life.

For example, I see stunning differences in how men relate to women. It is clear there are men who are predators when it comes to women. They may treat them poorly, abuse them and even prey on young girls. I wonder if it’s possible that these actions reflect the relationship they have with their Anima. In my Gaia’s Majesty series I have an unethical predatory Overlord who comes to suffer attacks by a woman spirit with flaming eyes. Such a spirit could well reflect an inner woman or anima who is evil and drives him to treat women so poorly. 

Different Relationships 

It may be that the men who treat women poorly have animas who are anything but loving and fulfilling partners. Instead their anima drives them to strike out at women. 

These considerations give us another form of support of the idea that the dynamics of our inner life have a great deal to do with how we are in our outer life. As such we then can see that the spirit world is not truly a creation of imagination but reflects another form of reality with which we live.

And, of course, when we begin to consider a spirit world, we open the possibilities for many forms of spirits in our personal life.

Moving Beyond

Almost all of us experience strange phenomenon, including the perception of someone nearby from time to time. It may merely come to us, but it may relate to a specific place. The stories are almost infinite and in my later years I have felt and seen so much that I feel these are things which exist in our personal and collective world.

That in turn opens the whole idea of a spirit world in general and alternatives beyond ordinary life. And so we bring these spirits to life in our imagination and such things as fiction writing. We cannot conceivably prove they do not exist and there is no reason to dismiss them utterly. One of the options is to consider and give room for an opening. I have found such an opening in my Gaia’s Majesty Series. And I find that opening satisfying.

###

Don’t Miss My Developing Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy

I refer to it as a work of magical realism. It is a series with a strong mythological element and a real world setting in this time when women are being empowered at last. It is a time of wonder and awakening for all of humankind.

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power – Book 1

Avery had dedicated her life to work for the future of third world women. Her life was enhanced when she met the man who became the love of her life. They could not know that they shared a destiny and that a mission set long ago by our Earth Goddess was to be revealed before 

them. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called

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Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge: The Chosen Rise – Book 2

These people, called Tethyans, live in cities in the sea but can morph into fully human form and come to land to form families. They join with the warrior women called the Andromeda to fight against the forces working to impair the future of humankind. Avery has found her birth name of Chantia and she and Beck find there is soon to be a child of seeming great import just as the world falls into terrible strife with millions already dead. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge

Looking For Transformation

On By Roger B. BurtIn Mythology, TransformationLeave a comment

 

In this current era when we seem on the verge of transformation I’m going to do posts about my experience with the reform movement called community mental health long ago. I address even great details in my book Whatever Happened to Community Mental Health available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback.

Toward the Future

It was 1967 and I was finishing up my doctorate at Duke University. It was time to leave academia, get out into the “real world” and embrace a component of the reform movement following World War II.

One of the first programs of the Community Mental Health movement was beginning to hire in Baltimore. i went to take a look and was picked up at the airport by Carl Thistel, the lead community organizer. He took me on a whirlwind engaging tour of the city regaling me with the impact of poverty and drugs. I was interviewed by the engaging, enthusiastic director and the somnolent head psychologist who fell asleep while he was interviewing me. No matter. Carl had hooked me.

Plans Versus Reality

The movement had a compelling outline of its expected services and its rationale was engaging. We had the best of intentions but then there was reality. It wasn’t long before we learned that the mental health people in the State of Maryland didn’t really care and neither did the University which was managing the grant. They wanted the status and the money and to continue their business as usual.

In Opposition

On our side we had a bunch of enthusiastic, rebellious twenty somethings who included women dedicated to the Women’s Liberation movement, It was going to get very interesting.

It turned out no one really knew how to deliver services to impoverished inner city residents. The rationale sounded good but we had to figure out how to deal with reality. We devoted ourselves to the needs of these people we were to serve and had to figure out what they really needed and how we could deliver it – over the opposition of the State and the University personnel especially on the part of the older white men.

Likelong Commitment and Reservations

So, in my twenties I committed to supporting women’s liberation and harbored deep reservations about older white men even though now I are one.

In coming posts I’ll cover key elements as we hit the streets, climbed through dangerous high rise buildings and fought for what was needed. I’m also going to address the current crisis in the world and the transformation alternatives that may be coming.

Whatever Happened to Community Mental Health by Roger B. Burt, Ph.D.

Available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats.

Mysterium Tremendum

On By Roger B. BurtIn Mythology, TransformationLeave a comment

 

The following post comes from mythandmore.com which is the blog written by Margo Meck. I’m not going to comment on it at this time. I leave it at your doorstep to mull over. See my comments next post.

Posted September 14, 2013 in Musings & Mythologues

The word “numinous” was coined by Rudolf Otto from the Latin numen, meaning a god, cognate with the verb nuere, to nod or beckon, indicating divine approval.  This word, or its noun, the “numinosum,” refers to any phenomenon experienced as a manifestation of tremendous power felt to be objective and outside the self.  It is a crucial element of religious experience.  For Otto, the numinosum is non-rational and irreducible; it cannot be defined, only evoked and experienced.

According to Lionel Corbett, the numinous grips or stirs the soul.  The numinous produces a kind of holy terror, awe or dread which Otto describes as a feeling of the ‘mysterium tremendum.’ It can also erupt in the modern person as the experience of the uncanny or the supernatural.  Such awe may be overwhelming or it may be gentle as the still small voice.  The uncanny is not a function of intensity but rather of a specific quality. [see The Religious Function of the Psyche by Lionel Corbett for a detailed discussion on this.]

I experience the redwoods of northern California as a portal into the numinous.  The magnificence of these sentinels  “stirs my soul.”  I stand in awe of their grandeur.  There is something “uncanny” about them.  For me, these expressions of nature, I experience as supernatural.  There is something larger at work here; something that cannot be defined; only experienced.

According to Richard Tarnas in Cosmos and PsychepastedGraphic.png the numinous is also defined as something that suddenly confronts human awareness with an unexpected dimension of reality, something that is experienced as “Wholly Other” than the mundane sphere, that utterly transcends and subverts the everyday world of conventional experience, and that disrupts the very ground of one’s being as it was previously construed.  Jung’s notion of synchronicity can be recognized as the inexplicable coincidence that carries a numinous charge.

For me, myths are not necessarily numinous in and of themselves; just as the menu is not the meal, the map is not the landscape, and the road sign is not the way, etc.  What myths do is to alert us to the possibility of the numinous.  They help us recognize when we are in the grips of the mysterium tremendum.  The numinous can be beatific like Dante’s vision of Beatrice.  It can also hold a terror as when a demon visits us in a dream and we awaken breathing heavily in a cold sweat.  And, the numinous can also be experienced gently as the still small voice. Regardless of the form, the soul is deeply stirred.

My attraction to myth is many layered.  One of these layers is simply because myths are great stories.  Also, they typically contain pearls of wisdom.  They are mirrors reflecting the human condition.  And, I could go on.  However, for the purposes of this commentary, let me say that I am attracted to myths because they are metaphors for life that cannot really be explained directly.

Myths are keys opening the door beyond which lies the numinous.

Margo Meck is a mythologist, writer, story consultant, and speaker. She received her Ph.D. in Mythological Studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, CA. in 2007. She has lectured on various myth related subjects such as Personal Mythology and the Hero’s Journey.

Joseph Campbell says: “It would not be too much to say that myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation.”

What implications do you think this has for underlying themes in human culture?

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Don’t Miss My Developing Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy

I refer to it as a work of magical realism. It is a series with a strong mythological element and a real world setting in this time when women are being empowered at last. It is a time of wonder and awakening for all of humankind.

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power – Book 1

(Available now in Kindle and paperback on Amazon.) 

Avery had dedicated her life to work for the future of third world women. Her life was enhanced when she met the man who became the love of her life. They could not know that they shared a destiny and that a mission set long ago by our Earth Goddess was to be revealed before them.

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge: The Chosen Rise – Book 2

(Available now in Pre-Order and goes on sale April 29 on Amazon)

These people, called Tethyans, live in cities in the sea but can morph into fully human form and come to land to form families. They join with the warrior women called the Andromeda to fight against the forces working to impair the future of humankind. Avery has found her birth name of Chantia and she and Beck find there is soon to be a child of seeming great import just as the world falls into terrible strife with millions already dead.