Dumuzi's capture

Good Books About Myth and Culture

Ginette Paris: Wisdom of the Psyche: Depth Psychology after Neuroscience
Paris provides a wonderful explanation of the intersection between personal life story and collective myths and the way myth shapes perspective.
James Hillman: We've Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy--And the World's Getting Worse
Hillman is a central figure in the field of archetypal psychology, which provides a theoretical base for work on cultural mythologies that I find very useful. This collaboration with Michael Ventura is an accessible and stimulating introduction to some of Hillman's ideas.
Michael Meade: The World Behind the World
"The world," Meade writes, "despite it's disasters, tragedies and villainies, can't end unless it runs out of stories." Useful reflections on these changing and frightening times--I especially like the story of the Old Woman, the black dog, and the loose thread.
Carl G. Jung: The Undiscovered Self (Mentor)
C.G. Jung and Sigmund Freud first articulated the existence of the unconscious (which became depth psychology) and understood the ongoing relationship between human meaning and myth. In this book, Jung discusses the moral obligation to become self aware.
Joseph Campbell: The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Bollingen Series)
Campbell writes, "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." An important and influential book that links the mythic narrative of "the hero's journey," found across cultures, to contemporary life.
Barry Mills, editor: Kali's Kites: Essays From The Mythological Imagination
This book is both a beautiful and provocative collection of essays about myth, soul and the depths of the imagination. Each author is a graduate of Pacifica Graduate Institute, a unique institution dedicated to animae mundi colendae gratia (for the sake of tending soul in and of the world). Two of my essays are included: "Euripides' Women: The Role of the Feminine Other," and "The Myth of Actaion: Archetypal Image of Buddhist Enlightenment."
Theodore Roszak, editor: Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind
This anthology is a good introduction to some of the themes and thinkers in the field of ecopsychology, which involves the intersection of human ideas about self and world, and the natural, biological, and ecological. Given the current environmental crisis and modern alienation from the natural world, including our own bodies, it is crucial that we deepen our understanding of the cultural myths that govern these relations.
Dennis Patrick Slattery: A Limbo of Shards: Essays on Memory Myth and Metaphor
In this collection of essays, Slattery explores the related themes of memory, myth, and metaphor, drawing material from literature, poetry, and current events. In "The True Terror of Terrorism," he suggests that the loss of Trust, necessary to maintain "civilized space," may be the greatest loss. "Trust is a virtue," he writes, "security its pale shadow."

February 02, 2010

Utu, the God of Justice and brother-in-law of Dumuzi, changed Dumuzi's hands and feet into the hands and feet of a gazelle so that the shepherd-king could escape the galla. Dumuzi fled to the city of Kubiresh, but the galla followed him there.

Next Dumuzi decided to go to the house of the old woman called Belili, to hide and get something to eat and drink. When he got to Old Belili he said, "I am no ordinary mortal. I am Dumuzi, husband of Inanna. Please pour out some water for me to drink and sprinkle some flour for me to eat."

Old Belili did this him. Then she looked out of the window and saw what looked like trouble. A dark cloud, a flapping flurry of demons was heading toward her house. She slipped out of the back door. The galla saw her leave, and they entered.

Dumuzi escaped the house and ran. He ran to his sister Geshtinanna's sheepfold and crouched among the animals. But the galla were hot on his trail and they found him there. Geshtinanna came out of her house and when she saw Dumuzi and the galla she began to weep and tear at her hair and clothing. Her brother's terrible dream was coming true. The first galla scratched Dumuzi on the cheek. The second galla pierced his other cheek. The third galla knocked Dumuzi's cup from the peg. The fourth galla broke the bottom of his churn. The fifth galla broke his shepherd crook in two. The sixth galla smashed his cup. The seventh galla said "Rise Dumuzi, husband of Inanna, son of Sirtur, brother of Geshtinanna. Your days here are finished, the race is over. Take off your holy crown, remove your robe, the robe of kingship, and let your sceptre fall. You're coming with us."

Geshtinanna's goats dragged their beards in the dust. There was no sound but that of the wind and Geshtinanna's weeping. Dumuzi was gone.

"Man Dying," cylinder seal, 9th century Mesopotamia

(This piece of the story and the others I have posted are all paraphrased from the excellent book, Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth by Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer).

Posted at 03:29 PM in Inanna | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00e55503899c8834012877326b34970c

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Dumuzi's capture:

Comments

Geshtinanna's goats dragged their beards in the dust. There was no sound but that of the wind and Geshtinanna's weeping. Dumuzi was gone.

"Man Dying," cylinder seal, 9th century Mesopotamia

(This piece of the story and the others I have posted are all paraphrased from the excellent book, Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth by Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer).