Honesty in Myth-Making, Please!!
Aug. 4th, 2008 10:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qosAaarrgghh!
Myth-making is a wonderful, honorable pursuit.
Re-writing old myths is -- or can be -- an act of sacred creativity.
But for heaven's sake if you re-write an old myth, and post it, label it as such!
Twice in the past week I've come across references to Inanna's mythology in which major roles were attributed to entirely different figures than in the originals, with no hint given that this was a modern variation. And there was nothing about the way they were posted to give a casual, uninformed reader, any reason to think it wasn't the original version of the tale.
In one case, a feminist re-telling of Inanna and the Huluppu Tree tells the story with Ninshubur, Inanna's friend/servant, helping her drive out the creatures from the tree instead of Gilgamesh. Just a few minutes ago I read a reference to Inanna's Descent in which the person who wrote it said that Ereshkigal was a warrior goddess who rescued Inanna from the underworld. Ummm. . . . NO!
Elsewhere -- on a site which I usually hold in high regard -- someone refers to a story in which Inanna steals something from Ereshkigal by sending a handmaiden to seduce her. The handmaiden succeeds in the seduction, steals the item, and Ereshkigal waking, curses her. Inanna then tries to soften the curse and promises to be the patron of prostitutes to be with them in their despised state -- a story which is totally unsubstantiated in the ancient texts.
Did I mention: Aaarrrggghhh!
Tell new stories! Please!
But make sure your readers or listeners are aware that you are telling a new story.
If it's UPG, great! But say so.
Let those who hear it hold your story dear if it moves them -- but honor the original story, and your readers, by being open about what you've done.
/rant
Myth-making is a wonderful, honorable pursuit.
Re-writing old myths is -- or can be -- an act of sacred creativity.
But for heaven's sake if you re-write an old myth, and post it, label it as such!
Twice in the past week I've come across references to Inanna's mythology in which major roles were attributed to entirely different figures than in the originals, with no hint given that this was a modern variation. And there was nothing about the way they were posted to give a casual, uninformed reader, any reason to think it wasn't the original version of the tale.
In one case, a feminist re-telling of Inanna and the Huluppu Tree tells the story with Ninshubur, Inanna's friend/servant, helping her drive out the creatures from the tree instead of Gilgamesh. Just a few minutes ago I read a reference to Inanna's Descent in which the person who wrote it said that Ereshkigal was a warrior goddess who rescued Inanna from the underworld. Ummm. . . . NO!
Elsewhere -- on a site which I usually hold in high regard -- someone refers to a story in which Inanna steals something from Ereshkigal by sending a handmaiden to seduce her. The handmaiden succeeds in the seduction, steals the item, and Ereshkigal waking, curses her. Inanna then tries to soften the curse and promises to be the patron of prostitutes to be with them in their despised state -- a story which is totally unsubstantiated in the ancient texts.
Did I mention: Aaarrrggghhh!
Tell new stories! Please!
But make sure your readers or listeners are aware that you are telling a new story.
If it's UPG, great! But say so.
Let those who hear it hold your story dear if it moves them -- but honor the original story, and your readers, by being open about what you've done.
/rant
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-05 06:40 am (UTC)I personally don't want endless disclaimers on every page of a website as it gets old after awhile, but I agree... there should be some disclaimer, somewhere, "this is personal gnosis" or "this is a modern re-telling of a myth". And in many cases... there's none of that.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-05 07:49 pm (UTC)Ahem. Sorry about that.
Yes, clarity is important. I just wish one could ask for it without being recieved as an inquisitor.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-05 09:52 pm (UTC)Although, to find such a strong "negative" view of my Patron God, Heimdallr, was a little disturbing (even with a warning)... yet I respect what they're doing in the sense of going beyond the mytholgical "texts" and into the realm personal experience (or gnosis, as another has mentioned). The "original" "myths" are good and should be studied, but they only go so far... a concept that is lost on many Asatru who seem to think the Gods and the Spiritual Realms are static and unchanging... treating the mythologies as "canon" in a dogmatic sense. Hence my falling out with that religion and the "tribe" I was involved with...
But perhaps that's TMI... ;)