The guy on C4 Pagan documentary made me think tonight of a post I once did – here it is I’d be pleased to hear some fresh views

Literal interpretation or symbolism – paganism the hot blood of religious impulse!

“Paganism is the hot blood in the religious impulse. Western theologians have complained about pagan stories of philandering deities, but such an objection can come only from a grossly literalistic reading of mythology. The love of Mars and Venus, for instance, as many Renaissance writers pointed out, portrays the odd coupling in all of life of beauty and power, or sex and aggression. I find the pagan stories at least as profound and moral as any Christian or Jewish tale, and they fill in many gaps in theological reflection on daily experience. Paganism saw spirituality everywhere, while the monotheistic religions tend to emphasize a spirituality of belief and morality.”
Paganism also honoured nature as revealing divinity
http://www.spiritualityhealth.com/newsh/it.../item_3408.html

This is a short excerpt from an article and I do so like the observations made here!
The struggle to explain and define the role of mythology and sagas within our path is a tricky one, not least of all to a mother of a child so engrossed in the Norse sagas that the literalistic reading does surely mean that these deities are real, that these gods existed in our plane of existence. To explain and relate the symbolic meaning of mythology within each pantheon is complex. That the interpretation of the Norse sagas relates a whole new meaning to the stories thus defining and explaining human nature in all its facets. That these sagas represented for the people a personification or symbolic representation of their supremely elemental world is somehow lost on critics who interpret the myths as a literal description.

Our existence and practice as pagans means that even a walk in the woods is a spiritual experience in itself and we are not restricted by literal interpretation.
Read the article it’s an interesting perspective but along with this

How do YOU explain the role of mythology within your path if at all?

Do you perceive the Gods and Goddess as literal beings or as energetic symbols?

We are all different so respect to all views/feelings and experiences here – we are diverse , that is our strength so lets share a fundamental thing and discuss the experience we have had of the more personal aspects of our path! It’s a really fascinating subject innit!

Great topic!

For me the myths are definatley powerful and sacred symbols - inbued with an energy and life from thousands of years of belief and worship - I don't take them literally, but I don't see any harm in doing so either. i think the quotation you gave here, about pagan stories filling in the gaps other narratives tend to neglect just about hits the nail on the head - without pagan myth and narrative some life and energy would definatley be absent.

Oak

Very interesting post, been thinking about it all day. For me as a child, voraciously devouring every myth book I could get my hands on, the heroes and gods were far more real than the jesus at Sunday school. They were the subjects of daydreams and drawings, and never quite went away, even when in later life I became a Christian.

But I;ve still always read them thoughout my life, looked at the paintings which they inspired, and though at this stage in my path I don;t think of them as real, they mean a huge amount to me. It;s difficult to explain - in some ways standing alongside Father Odin at teh End of Things and going down fighting has more relevance than meek ineriting the earth

And I also mentioned on the previous list about mythical creatures such as unicorns (though the post got hijacked and turned ridiculous) - thecreatures are very cymbolical to me, not because I think they are real (unfortunately ) but because for example unicorns symbolise the perfection of the horse taken to the enth degree, and the hydra with it's heads multiplying as the hero struck one off (bit like bills really )

Thinking about it, they have been with me all my life, and I think the life of people without them would be somuch much poorer. Must have been a closet pagan all the way

Ath the moment it doesn;t seem to matter to me if they are real or not - they are there in every woodland walk, every sunrise, every birdsong, every tree.

Does this sound like a confused person? Probably. I'm still trying to find my way.

Cheers
Finvarra

Interesting topic, Rhiana. I think interpreting the myths' symbolism is the way we learn from them. The archetypal heroes show us lessons for modern life, even though the lessons are ancient.

I've long thought that one of the great failings of Christianity is the inability of its followers to accept their teachings as symbolic. But that's for another discussion.

Finding truth in the legends is more important than believing the legends are true, if that makes sense. That's what I've aimed to achieve on my site about the Arthurian stuff.

But let's not forget that all good myths are based on true stories

Hear, hear!

I am very interested in symbols and metafors! It seems (wo)mans quest for understanding and explaination is never-ending. To help us in that quest we have used sagas, tales, mythology as very powerful tools.
it is also about understanding. Understanding the good and evil, light and dark, within every person. I use symbols all the time! In drawings, paintings, goodnight-tales I tell my son. Myths and symbols are simply essential to us! Even though they are old, the human conditions and concerns are the same today. We still long for love, want to belong, feel left out, have doubts, struggle with guilt, fear death, long for what is good and right, etc, etc.

The archetypes of the mythic gods and goddesses have been used to "explain" or understand the psyche by jungian analyst and auther Jean Shinoda Bolen in
Goddesses in every woman and Gods in every man.
If you are interested in the subject it is excellent reading! It made me go "aha!" more than once! I know I have mentioned Bolen before, but I must do it agin, her work is so interesting and easy and fun to read too.

Blessed be

Deerheart

Mythology, story, poetry, dance these are the deposits of truth and wisdom that have come down to us and are still being woven today. How much poorer life would be if there was no mythology, no story, no poetry, no dance. Those who would control our spirit's have often tried to ban or control story and dance. I understand my world through the medium of mythology, poetry and perhaps above all dance !

Are the Gods and Goddesses real - those that have touched me are very real to me, they are part of my inner world, they help me understand myself and the world. That is all that matters !

I tend to think of myths as a bit of a mixture.

There are those that were created to illustrate a point, to teach a lesson, like a fable.

Then there were the others that were just there for pure entertainment - a good story to tell round the fire after the meal, while the mead/wine/beer flowed.

Just look at The Eddas and Eddic poetry. The Sayings Of The Wise One is all about teaching - Loddfafnir listening while Odin explains how to win friends and influence people, then there's stuff like the stories around the fall and binding of Loki - you continue to do wrong, and eventually it'll all catch up with you.

But there's also the pure entertainment stuff like The Lay Of Thrym (not to plug my version, or anything, in a Forum near you now!).

T

I tend to think of mythology (as in legends) as based in fact, but with the symbolism of many years retelling added! I think that the other type of mythology is explanatory, i.e. was written to explain why certain things are the way they are.

I think it is definately dangerous to accept all mythology as actual fact, after all, this is what some people do with the bible (a myth based in fact?).

Isn't that the definition of a legend?

T

I see myths as deeply symbolic. The entertainment value teaches the play, looking deeper enables you to recognise the players, which in turn brings layers of meaning to the original story.

The reason myths endure is that they can be related to realities around us and human emotions and behaviour today. For example, Thor’s hammer represents creation and procreation as well as destruction. Looking at the way humans irresponsibly play at being gods, manipulating nature and exploiting the resources of the world, to me that draws parallels with the giants having the hammer, powers they are not ready or able to wield wisely, in the Lay of Thrym.