Welcome to the Mythology Club!

Here we can talk about ancient studies of various cultures. If it be Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Sumerian, Chinesse, Celtic, Finnish, or any other ancient beliefs please be free to share your studies with us. You also can share folklore tales if you like!

What is a myth? Myths are stories of the gods and of godlike heroes. They tell of the beginning of our earth and our creation, of life and death, and destruction. They explain the how and the why of life.

A fable is a story given to recreate what mankind has always thought to be the creation of our world. The core of a fable is truth, as is the core of a myth

The Ancient Greek, Egyptians, Chinese and many more gave us such a colourful background and most of our present day belief systems date back to those Myths.

Each "tribe" keeping their secret stories, for disclosure would mean the end of the world. One person's myth is someone else's religious belief system. We must therefore honour all the stories handed down to us throughout history for much has been lost.

PLEASE: This is a study forum of sharing different aspects of what has been discovered in various countries. This is not a thread where we tell each other that my god or your god is good or bad. It is purely for educational purpose only and not for preaching ceremonies. Thank you!

To start it off I will post a interesting man who studied various cultures in his life time. May you research more about him if you have time. He is very interesting to read up on. He also has great videos to watch.


Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American mythology professor, writer, and lecturer best known for his work in the fields of comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work is vast and covers many aspects of the human experience, and his philosophy is often identified with the phrase he coined: "Follow Your Bliss".

i'm a fan of norse, greek, japanese, egyptian, celtic, and christian mythology (christian being demonology and angels). it's interesting how such different cultures have many of the same gods and tales.

video games of all things got me to look a lot up. Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne dealt heavily with many cultures' deities. you should check it out if you're a gamer.

Thank you for the information and yes I am a big fan of fantasy, mythology, and roleplaying games.

If you have some interesting stories to share concerning mythology in any branch then don't hesitate to share it with us.

INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

The Foolish Lion and the clever rabbit


Once upon a time there lived a ferocious lion in the forest. It was a greedy lion and started killing animals in the forest indiscriminately. Seeing this, the animals gathered and decided to approach the lion with the offer of one animal of each species volunteering itself to be eaten by the lion everyday. So every day it was the turn of one of the animals and in the end came the rabbits' turn. The rabbits chose a old rabbit among them. The rabbit was wise and old. It took its own sweet time to go to the Lion. The Lion was getting impatient on not seeing any animal come by and swore to kill all animals the next day.


The rabbit then strode along to the Lion by sunset. The Lion was angry at him. But the wise rabbit was calm and slowly told the Lion that it was not his fault. He told the Lion that a group of rabbits were coming to him for the day when on the way, an angry Lion attacked them all and ate all rabbits but himself. Somehow he escaped to reach safely, the rabbit said. He said that the other Lion was challenging the supremacy of his Lordship the Lion. The Lion was naturally very enraged and asked to be taken to the location of the other Lion.


The wise rabbit agreed and led the Lion towards a deep well filled with water. Then he showed the Lion his reflection in the water of the well. The Lion was furious and started growling and naturally its image in the water, the other Lion, was also equally angry. Then the Lion jumped into the water at the other Lion to attack it, and so lost its life in the well. Thus the wise rabbit saved the forest and its inhabitants from the proud Lion.


MORAL: Wit is superior to brute force.

Either of you ever read joseph cambel? I think you would love him. That being said...

I have an obessesion with mythologies of various cultures. I like christian mythology, greek, roman, celtic, and snipits from various other cultures. The chicago history museum has an exhibit that just opened up on mythical creatures. I love the story of the tengu. It's a must read.

Joseph Campbell is a compilling professor in Mythology. His passion was primarily Native Indian Mythology, yet as he got older he was interested in practically every mythology there was. I am a avid fan of him. If you don't like to read his books he has alot of great videos to watch.

Can you add to that : Moses , Abraham , Noah , Mary , Jesus .......etc ?.
.

I am sure Professor Campbell also had something to say about Jewish and Christianity also, yet he primarily concentrated on older mythologies before Christianity existed. He is yet but one of the many professors who enjoyed various belief systems.

If you type in his name on google.com you will find many interesting stories from him.

INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

The Monkey and the crocodile


Once upon a time there lived a monkey named Red-face on a tree by the side of the sea. The tree was an apple tree and the fruits it bore were sweet as nectar. Once a crocodile named Ugly-Mug swam ashore and Red-face threw apples at him and asked him to taste them. Ugly-Mug started coming everyday ashore and eat the fruits thrown by Red-face and soon they became good friends. Ugly-Mug used to take some fruits to his home to his wife.


His wife was a greedy lady and asked him as to where he got the nectar filled apples. Ugly-Mug told about his friend the monkey. The lady was greedy and pleaded with her husband that she would like to eat the monkey's heart, as a person who gave such tasty fruits must have a heart filled with nectar. Ugly-Mug was angered and did not agree to deceiving his friend. But she then insisted on not eating anything till he brought her his friend's heart. Out of desperation, Ugly-mug started making plans for killing his friend.


He came back to Red-face and entreated him with an invitation to his house for supper stating that his wife would be thrilled to have him home and also that she was very anxious to meet such a nice friend. Poor Red-face believed the story but was asking his friend as to how he could cross the sea to reach the house of the crocodile on the other side. Ugly-mug then offered to carry him on his back and the monkey agreed.


In the middle of the sea, Ugly-mug took the crocodile deep into the ocean to kill the monkey. The monkey was frightened and asked the crocodile why he was doing this. Ugly-mug told him that his wife wanted to eat the monkey's heart filled with nectar. Red-face immediately asked it to take him back to the tree as he told him that he had left his other heart which was full of nectar back at the tree. The foolish crocodile then swam back to the tree and the terrified monkey jumped up the tree never to return. Upon being asked as to why she was not returning, the monkey answered to the crocodile that he had only one heart and he had been fooled and scolded his friend for misusing his friendship.


The crocodile was ashamed at what happened and asked the monkey if he could make any amends. And he was also scared that his wife would not let him back in because he had returned without the monkey's heart. Just then he heard that a huge he-crocodile had occupied the house of his. The monkey advised him to fight the he-crocodile and drive him out of his home and gain his wife's confidence. His advice the crocodile followed and he was back happy with his wife.


MORAL: Wit is superior to brute force.

INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

The Sparrow and the elephant


Once upon a time there lived a sparrow with her husband on a tree. She had built a nice nest and laid her eggs in the nest. One morning, a wild elephant with spring fever feeling restive came to the tree in search of shade and in a rage broke the branch of the tree on which the nest was residing. Unluckily all the sparrow eggs were lost though both parents were saved. The she-sparrow was deep in lament.


Seeing her lament, the woodpecker bird, a friend of hers offered her consolation that she would think of a way of killing the elephant. Then she went to her friend the gnat, who in turn went to the counselor frog for advice. The frog then devised a scheme for killing the elephant. He asked the gnat to buzz in the ears of the elephant, so that the elephant would be thrilled to listen to the music of the gnat and close its eyes. Then she asked the woodpecker to pluck his eyes. She herself would be on the edge of a pit and would croak misleading the elephant to think that it is a pond.


The next day at noon the three carried out the plan and the elephant was killed when he fell flat into a pit after being blinded by the woodpecker when he closed his eyes in response to the gnat. So the revenge was taken with collective wit of all three animals.


MORAL: Wit is superior to brute force.

actually he gave a compelling lecture to a ton of cardinals and bishops and the like about christian mythologies. One of my favorite quotes comes from there. "christians hate it when it's called christian mythology".

What i loved about cambel was his nack for finding the common thread in all mythologies. It gives extreme insight into human nature, and what we value as a good story. What we hold as important quality's as a human race in general and what we hold in individual cultures.

Smiless

The type of myth you have shared with us include the virtues of being calm, thinking with a clear head, problem solving, and the ethics or morlas that promote a civil society in a social setting.

These were often the basis for childrens fables and many years ago "The Littel Golden Books" shared the stories of The Little Red Hen, and Henny Penny and many others.

If this were the only way in which a community shared all of it's morals, it's ideas of good and bad, in your opinion, would religion be necessary at all?

I question this becasue I wonder how it is that moral and ethical fables and morals become the stuff of religious hate and prejudice?

Of course I mean that question for everyone, and this one as well; for those who have enjoyed mythology, have you found any that have developed from civil and social roots to become the dogma of a religious rigid view?

Yes for some. religion offers a social structure. Also spirituality is hard to find for those with weaker souls. Usually they find spirituality through social acceptance at first.

Mythology to me is history of how humans once lived and had believed in their societies. I find it not only entertaining but also important to know why certain cultures live or act they way they did and do today. One way of finding out is to study various cultures and understand what they once believed in and why. For many Mythology at the time was considered religion and was taken seriously. Today we call it Mythology. For others we call it plain superstitions and nothing more. For me I call them interesting stories and like to attain some of the wisdom it shares to us.

Lately I have been posting Indian Mythology and enjoy their folklore tales very much.

As for religion I am lucky to have lived a life where my family feels I have the right to choose my belief if I want to. I can only say for myself that I don't need a religion to lead a happy life. I am however, spiritual and thrive to study different methods people use around the world and see what works best for me. In the long run what I believe has worked very well for me. I am healthy, have been married for over 18 years, have a great job, and a healthy daughter who is getting great grades in everything she does.

Just like Professor Campbell says, "Follow your Bliss."

I will be posting in the future many more mythological stories or folklore tales from around the world. I hope through these stories we can actually see in time that we humans are not any different then the next one who lives across on the other side of the world.

If you have mythological stories to share then please by all means post them. I am always eager to read them.

John

Unique



I’ll be honest, at first read I thought you were mistaken in your definition, but after reading again I see what you are saying. Actually I think there are ETHICS and there are MORALS, although most people tend to interchange the words. To me, morals extend from, and through, religions; and in this case I certainly understand how you have fit the envy that can become war between varying religious moral dogma.

So taking it a bit further, consider Ethics as not tied to any ‘religious’ connotation, but rather, simply a very conscientious socially minded part of a culture. Example; without requiring a religious moral to tell us that murder is wrong, we can have a social and cultural ethic that tells us the same thing. See what I’m saying.

With that said, why didn’t societies simply grow and evolve as a cultural lifestyle, based on sound civil ethics, instead of becoming dogmatic, ritualistic and mythology based moralistic religions?

Smiless,

I have always enjoyed western Indian folklore. They have the most spiritual mixture of 'earthy' (physical) and 'other worldly intelligence' (spirit guidance) of all. Unlike other, more religious, myths there is almost no misunderstanding where the story is taking one or what the fable is meant to teach.

Thank-you for sharing part of who you are. Now I understand your spirituality and I also understand that you accept that spirituality from any source that does not limit the possibilites.

I find it refreshing, whenever, I meet people whose spirituality does not require all the answers to life, afterlife or the keys to understand the universe entire.

To know a spiritual person who is happy to learn simple ethical ideas and put them into use. Not unlike the occasional atheist who is happy to meet the spiritual and hear the stories that provide an ethical foundation for a life well lived.

Getting along is easy, when everyone is just trying to find the ways of peaceful and free coexistence. Its only when the sharing of morals become a matter to be judged by that there is conflict.

Just thinking, out loud, so to 'write'. Anyway, I will enjoy your fables, BUT, I would enjoy them more if I had some history to relate the fable with. Not just that it came from ... but in what era, and in what life context did the fabel arize.

Add these things and it will be fun to learn from you.

Who knows, I may even post a few fables myself.

Silent Hill mythology is some of the most interesting out there.

If you have the time could you post some of Silent Hill Mythology on here. I would appreciate it and would like to enjoy the stories with others on here.

thanks John

There's a lot..I'm not sure where to start... Let me get back to you on that.