Inanna and the Hero's Journey

One of the primary focuses I had in my years of study at Pacifica was in deepening my understanding of the importance of story to humankind, and in adding meaning to the process of creating art, particularly the written word. The hero's journey, as laid out by Joseph Campbell in his seminal work "The Hero with a Thousand Faces", illustrates beautifully the process that any creative artist must go through in order to create art. Phil Cousineau talks about this quite eloquently in his new book "Stoking the Creative Fires", and I would encourage anyone interested in the relationship between the creative process and the hero's journey to check it out.
One of the primary issues that artists struggle with is, and should be, how to reach their audience in a meaningful way; how to be the book, or film, or performance that resonates, that touches the soul. It is the power of art to do this that sets the human race apart, and it is, in my opinion, the primary function of art. Carl Jung tells us that when the gods came down out of Mount Olympus, they moved into the body, at the level of the gut, the level of the third chakra. This is that place in the body that art that connects can be felt, that physiological reaction that the body has when art connects with soul. We've all had that experience of seeing a great film, a great performance, reading a great book where we feel the experience of it in our body, at that precise place that Jung describes.
So, the question is, how can an artist, in the process of creating her art, connect with that place? I believe the answer lies in the very descent that is described in the hero's journey. The hero makes a descent into the underworld, and returns with a boon that he brings back to his community. The artist makes that descent into the pool of the collective unconscious, that place where stories live, and returns with a boon as well. It is that descent that sets his work apart, his willingness to make the descent is the key, the thing that separates the great artist apart from those whose work is easily set aside and forgotten. How does this work? I believe this can be illuminated in the story of Inanna.

to be continued...

It's been a long time

Here I am, checking in with this blog after an absence of about 5 months. As it turns out, I was about 3 days pregnant at the time of my last post, although I didn't know it yet. Now, of course, I'm at 24 weeks, expecting another boy on or around March 13th. This second pregnancy has been such a blessing, although it has left me fairly sick and drained much of the time. Alex is almost 2, doing beautifully, talking up a storm and learning new things so quickly I'm astonished. We had a wonderful trip to Japan in September, to visit Ron's sister Theresa, and we just got home from about a week in Alaska, visiting Alex's grandparents and my old friends Kenan and Jana. Things are good for us, and I'm looking forward to the upcoming holiday season. The month of December is especially rich for us, as Alex and I both have our birthdays approaching.
As far as my myth work is concerned, I haven't been doing much lately, I admit. Pregnancy has kept me pretty thoroughly in my body. Our round table group did have a special meeting last week, with children's book author and illustrator Gerald McDermott as a special guest. I hosted the event at my house, and it was a good time.
Now that I'm back on the blog, I'm recommitted to writing in it several times a week, so look forward to seeing more thoughts on mythmaking and creativity.

Catching up part deux

Haven't written here in over a month-now that the holidays are over, it's time to catch up again.

Alex is doing great-walking up a storm, getting into all kinds of trouble. ;) He's also talking a lot more as well, pointing at everything, saying "look", or "that", etc. It's so fun to watch him develop.

I've still been walking Hank at the dog park every morning. I feel healthier as a result, but I'm going to have to ramp up the exercise to see real results losing weight.

We're leaving for our trip to Maui in less than two weeks. Woohoo! I can't wait. Ron and I decided to upgrade our hotel, changing our reservation to the Four Seasons Maui for the first three nights, then the Hotel Hana Maui for the last two on Maui. We'll be on Waikiki Beach for the last night. We are also planning a trip to Japan this fall to visit Theresa, Ron's sister. Should be a lot of fun.

I started taking French classes again last week-French 1, at Bellevue Community College. It seems to be coming back pretty painlessly this time. I'm determined to stick with it until I become fluent. It's embarrassing to speak only one language. I've been enjoying it a lot.

We had our first round table meeting of the new year last week-two guys showed up. We talked about Campbell's book Primitive Mythology. It was an interesting discussion, to say the least. We spent some time on threshold rituals for the boy moving into manhood. Campbell talks about that topic quite a bit in PM. Next month's meeting will be on Oriental Mythology.

As far as the writing is concerned, it really hasn't been happening much lately. I've even been reluctant to write in this blog. I'm hoping that writing in the blog regularly again will get the creative juices flowing again.

See you all tomorrow-same place. :)

Thoughts on a new book

It's amazing the things that come to me when I'm hovering in the state between sleeping and waking. After I put Alex down for afternoon nap I lay down for a few minutes, with random thoughts flitting through my mind, nothing settling. I started thinking about the non-fiction book I'd been planning on writing eventually (on the journey of the artist through the underworld), and it came to me that the book I need to write (other than The Mythologist, that is) is on why story is important. Simple as that. Once Upon a Time: Why Story Matters. I need to think this through some more, but I believe this will work.

Writing novels is haaaard!!

I'm such a whiner today. I've been reading Neil Gaiman's blog recently, and he's working on finishing his latest novel. I believe it was due to his publisher a few days ago ;). I can't decide if I feel better or worse reading his thoughts about the hard work of writing a novel. I think I feel better, because, when the time comes to sit down at your desk and get the words onto the page, his experience and mine aren't all that different. The only thing that's different for me is that I have a baby that's due to wake up from his nap anytime now, and when he does I have to stop working and tend to him, which can be frustrating when you're really rolling.

Thoughts

A few months ago I read Elizabeth Gilbert's wonderful memoir Eat Pray Love, and yesterday I made a point of catching Oprah because she was being interviewed. Of course, being me, rereading the book (as I've been doing over the past few days) and hearing the interview made me long even more than I already had been for some travel. I knew when I got married and had a baby that my travel would be reduced for a while, that I wouldn't be as free to go when and however I could as I had been. However, every time Alex smiles at me or Ron kisses me I remember that it was worth it.

Anyway, one of the things Ms Gilbert told Oprah is that there are three things she does every day that anyone can do. The first was this-every morning, get out your journal and ask yourself the following question: "What do I really really really want?", then answer the question. I pondered that question for the rest of the day. For the most part in my life, I have the things that I really really really want-my husband and son. The only big things that are still "out there" for me are getting in shape, and getting my career going. So, I had to ask myself the question-do I really really really want those things, which was something I hadn't honestly asked myself before.

I was reminded of the first chapter in Phil Cousineau's book Once and Future Myths, where he talks about the myth of Sisyphus as a metaphor for the creative struggle. The idea is that the work of writing the book (or creating whatever it is you're trying to create) is rolling the boulder up the hill. You get a moment's rest as the boulder rolls back down, as you walk back down the hill. This is the part when your book comes out, you go on tour, get feted, etc. Then the struggle starts back up again. Camus tells us in his essay on Sisyphus that he learns to love the struggle, and we must too.

I've been working so much this week on my Anya and the Bear story that I've reminded myself of the joy of the work itself, although it is work, a lot of work. I've realized that it's too easy for me to procrastinate my life away, and that I must write every day or lose my momentum. Hopefully writing daily in this blog will help with that. I'm still working on the getting in shape question. wish me luck.