Round the Herne

 The theme for September's Suffolk Jungian Circle (virtual meets, 7.30pm on the last Wednesday of the month - let me know if you want the link) is Jung and Christianity. Having chosen the topic, we all rapidly realised that it was a vast topic that could fill multiple meetings - but this is by way of a taster. For the actual meeting different people will each tackle a sub-topic of their choice. This recording cuts off as, despite the best laid plans, someone knocked at the door and I cannot work out how to pause a video recording and splicing two videos into one is too much of a headache to bother with. The final topic that I didn't get to was to touch on a point by Blum, which could probably be a whole debate in itself, that the Christian doctrine of the soul and accompanying personal salvation fits nicely with Jung's individuation, Further, Blum argues that the modern world has gone to Hell in a handbasket by treating people as merely functions and therefore replaceable r...

 A ramble about how different philosophies conceptualise the root and nature of human worth. This was partly sparked off by researching the story of Prometheus stealing fire from Olympos and giving it to humanity to bring them out of their previous leaden state. This meander skirts around issues of what the basis of human worth is, how it relates to legal personhood, and whether there is a sense in which all people are of equal value, what that actually means, and to what extent such notions are universal. Avoided talking about Kant and Burke, but if this generates a discussion I might do a follow-up going more into their ideas.

 What started off as some research for a lecture (around male friendship) took me off down various mythological tangents, including into the daimona/goddess/spirit Philotes from Ancient Greece who formed and sustained friendships between people (and sometimes also sexual relationships, but that is a side issue). The work-related research has been looking at the connection between social isolation and what are euphemistically called negative life outcomes - ill health, mental problems, increased chances of suicide etc.). While friendship may not get anywhere near the modern cultural coverage of romance (thinking about all those soppy songs, films, Mills & Boon novels etc.), in ancient times there were plenty of tales about friends going off on adventures together.

  My reading of the final chapter of Gore Vidal's "Julian" (1962) and a reflection on some of the themes in the novel and what it has to say about society both then and now. It's an excellent book, highly recommended and, like all great works, stimulates more questions than it answers. Without spoiling anything, this final chapter is a reflection by one of the key figures in the book on life after the Emperor Julian has died and Christianity reasserted itself. Even though it was penned in 1962, this book raises issues that are still relevant in 2024.

 A meander through the topic of history, story, and pseudohistory - partly inspired by reading Gore Vidal's book "Julian" about the life of the Emperor Julian. I highly recommend the book and really liked the epistolary style, with the alternation between the Emperor's own autobiography and two querulous old philosophers who knew Julian and spend the book bickering with each other about how accurate the autobiography actually is. I did think about making an audio recording of Vidal's book, but at 479 pages I doubt anyone would want to listen to something that went on that long.

 A discussion with a friend on social media prompted this philosophical musing about the vast popularity of murder as a form of entertainment - films, TV shows, novels (my own included) etc. Along the meandering way there is consideration of Christian theology (well, more soteriology really), the psychological craving for order in the face of chaos, Kantian ethics, and a few other asides.

 It has been quite a while since I have had the time or inspiration to post anything - obviously running out of brain cells. Anyway, the next meeting of the Suffolk Jungian Circle will be discussing Jung's Red Book, so here is a meander around the topic and some of the angles that could be taken for discussion.

 Recorded this spiel partially in response to a question asked about the Suffolk Jungian Circle recording on alchemy and partly because of various other things going on. Greek mythology has two related concepts for stories (or subsections of larger stories) of katabasis and anabasis - respectively the journey into the Underworld and the return to the land of the living. This is paralleled in the Christian tradition by notions of the Harrowing of Hell, in both versions a key feature is that the traveller is going into the Dark Place in order to retrieve something - a lost loved one, a treasure of some sort etc. As the recording hopefully emphasises, there are lots of different ways to understand what the Dark Place is and the nature of the voluntary journey there. A lot of people end up in Dark Places, but they rarely go there willingly so it is debatable whether the notion of katabasis applies to all such terrible experiences or only to ones of a voluntary nature (and ones with an ...

My reading of the ninth and final story in Oscar Wilde's children's collection, "The Fisherman and his Soul". His children must have had a good attention span to stay focused on what is quite a convoluted account with a bleak ending (this latter consistent with the other stories in this collection). I did wonder if C S Lewis had read this prior to dreaming up Narnia - especially the final blessing delivered by the priest. The tension between Pagan and Christian stretches through this tale, achieving a kind of resolution by the end. There is a definite intertextual link between the two authors. Some of the language is no longer considered correct, so best not to listen if such things offend you.

 My reading of the sixth of Oscar Wilde's children's stories from his collection, "The Young King". A visually sumptuous story filled with Wilde's love of description. Some of the language is a bit dated so if you are offended by such things best not to listen. One of the dream sequences is resonant of Greek myth and the presence of the nosoi (entities that spread diseases). Speaking of Greek references, there are also subtle allusions to Antinous and a few other homoerotic figures slipping in. Perhaps Oscar had not been long back from one of his forays when he composed this story. Wilde's essay of socialism was a tad dull, but this tale puts across many of the same ideas in a much more effective manner. It also avoids offering daft solutions to social problems, which makes a nice change in a politicised text. Although the angelic imagery at the end does imply a resolution without going into any practical details. 

  My reading of the second Oscar Wilde story from his children's collection, "The Selfish Giant". Echoes of Greek myth flow through this one, with the personifications of the weather running amok, though once again the central theme is clearly Christian - with echoes to Anderson's "the Little Match Girl" at least in terms of the ending. The giant also puts me in mind of Grahame's adults in "The Golden Age" (also recorded for this blog) who are referred to as the Olympians.

 This is my reading of the first of Oscar Wilde's nine children's stories, "The Happy Prince", first published in 1888. It is a sad little story, weaving a very Christian sentiment alongside the mythology and natural beauty of Egypt. I wonder if growing up with parents so devoted to Irish myth helped to emphasis the importance of friendship and devotion tot he young Oscar (given that it is a prominent theme in much Irish myth)?

  My reading of the fourth part of Longfellow's (1863) poem "Tales from a Wayside Inn". In this section we get the Musician's Tale (which is about King Olaf, who later became St Olaf, and is guaranteed to offend all Heathens), an Interlude, and the Theologian's Tales (of a monstrous father and his meeting with the equally putrid Grand Inquisitor Torquemada - more than a whiff of Antisemitism in this one).

 Continuing with Longfellow's (1863) narrative poem, "Tales from a Wayside Inn". In this section we have the Spanish Jew's tale in which Rabbi ben Levi meets the Angel of Death, followed by an interlude and the Sicilian's Tale of King Robert, who also meets an angel.

 A few random thoughts about Carl Jung's notion of participation mystique and how it can link into animism, paganism, and the creative arts. It would be interesting to hear other views and experiences around this topic (especially what might pretentiously be called the "death of art", touched on towards the end of the video).

 Back in November I gave a talk/poetry reading about the life of Oscar Wilde, using samples of his poetry and other works to illustrate the story, as a fundraiser for the Albert Kennedy Trust. This recording is the general gist of that talk (if you enjoy it, please donate some cash to the AKT or other charity of your choice). The spirit of Oscar has been hanging around these last few months! This is a rather long recording, but at least you can pause it and get a coffee when it all becomes a bit much! Loom version  link  

  The Australian political theorist Kenneth Minogue coined the term St George in Retirement Syndrome (a more  pagan equivalent might be Beowulf in Retirement Syndrome!)  to describe the plight of old campaigners who, having gained prominence in their younger days by fighting against some draconian enemy find themselves yearning for the sense of purpose it once gave them. The Canadian psychiatrist Eric Berne spoke about difficult life scripts that people get stuck acting out, becoming ever more unhappy as they do so. One of the negative scripts he links to the Greek myth of Baucis and Philemon, a sweet old couple who are transformed into interlinked trees as a reward for their hospitality. Whilst such a fate might sound lovely, retiring too early to a peaceful, placid existence can become utterly tedious for many and they yearn for challenge and difficulty. Retirement can leave a lot of people wondering what on earth to do with themselves. Hankering for the “good old days”...

 My spin on a popular notion found in Slavic folklore about the wolf-herder (identified in Christianity with various saints, including Andrew and Nicholas - Romanian lore favours the former). In pagan tradition, the figure is often thought of as the god Dabog. The holy night of the saint is when the herder predicts what each wolf will eat in the coming year. The relevance of the pretzels is a mystery to me, but might make more sense to someone far more familiar with ancient Slavic religion than I am. The image of the herder of wolves is a very evocative one and is examined in a chapter in my forthcoming book "The Magic of Wolves" (which can be pre-ordered via Moon Books!). 

 This is my reading of W B Yeats' epic poem "The Wanderings of Oisin". I uploaded a prose storytelling version of this myth a while back. Yeats' poem is a dialogue between Patrick (not yet a saint) and the ancient Irish hero Oisin who has returned from centuries spent in Tir na nOg, an Otherworldly realm, with his beloved fairy-wife Niamh. The myth ends with the old man dying, bewildered by the changes in life and religion that he has seen in Ireland. I would have posted this yesterday, but minutes after I finished recording it, I heard the news about the death of the Queen - and it seemed a little inappropriate to put up a poem about a dying man and a lost era on the same day as the second Elizabethan Age came to an end.

 I have been mulling over the issue of religious writings within ancient paganism for a while now, and finally have the time to get some thoughts down in the hope of starting a conversation that others will chip in on. Whilst it was going on in Judaism well before, Christianity has become prominently associated with the practice of hermeneutics - the study of sacred scripture. Originally it was essentially the same thing as exegesis, but since the concept has secularised hermeneutics includes communications outside of the written text (spoken conversations, political speeches etc.) whilst the term exegesis is retained in the Church for the study of the written word. I want to keep the focus here on the books, poems, and other writings of significance to ancient polytheist cultures more so than modern writings or non-textual sources. That said, there are some works (such as the Havamal) which I strongly believe are best thought of as lyrics or scripts - that is to say, they were per...