This type of myth involves the breaking apart of a static primeval state. There are two types, in the first form of the world parent myth the beginning consists of the eternal union of the parents, a union that has to be broken in order for creation to take place. These myths often depict creation as the result of a sexual union, and serve as genealogical record of the deities born from it.
In the second form of World Parent myth, creation itself springs from dismembered parts of the body of the primeval being. Often in these stories the limbs, hair, blood, bones or organs of the primeval being are somehow severed or sacrificed to transform into sky, earth, animal or plant life, and other worldly features. These myths tend to emphasize creative …show more content…
In the Babylonian myth the god-hero Marduk defeated the monster and original mother Tiamat who represents chaos and separated her body into Heaven and Earth, thus combining both forms of the world parent myth. In Greece the Titan Kronos (Time) castrated his father in order to separate him from his mother, thus expressing the substitution of time for the timeless coupling of his parents. As a result of him castrating his father, he took over control. He mated with his sister Rhea and, in turn, was separated from her and overpowered by his son Zeus, who married his sister Hera and fathered many of the Greek Olympians, establishing light and order in the world as understood by the Greeks. The separation of primal parents always results in creativity and order as opposed to passivity and disorder, and to light and space as opposed to darkness in a contained place. (cf. Leeming 2010: 17) Often the post-separation creator is associated with the sun. Marduk, a thunderbolt wielding sun and weather god (much like Zeus in Greece and Thor in Northern Europe), created a whole ordered universe over which he presided as a keeper of law and order. (cf. Leeming 2002: …show more content…
But in other myths, the more violent action, for example the castration of the father appears to be necessary in order to make the father irrelevant as far as the mother- Earth is concerned, so she can now be a creative playground for the offspring. Or, looking at the separation of or destruction of the world parents from another psychological perspective, it might be suggested that in order for the psyche-collective or individual-to develop, old ways must be revealed, confronted, and eliminated. Historically speaking, the death or separation of the world parents may also stand as a metaphor for a change in cultural perspective. For example, in the Babylonian myth, the chaotic Tiamat can stand for what the Babylonians might have seen as the old Mesopotamian agricultural/matriarchal culture, while the hero Marduk stands for the new male/warrior dominated Babylonian one. (cf. Mackenzie 2005:
In the second form of World Parent myth, creation itself springs from dismembered parts of the body of the primeval being. Often in these stories the limbs, hair, blood, bones or organs of the primeval being are somehow severed or sacrificed to transform into sky, earth, animal or plant life, and other worldly features. These myths tend to emphasize creative …show more content…
In the Babylonian myth the god-hero Marduk defeated the monster and original mother Tiamat who represents chaos and separated her body into Heaven and Earth, thus combining both forms of the world parent myth. In Greece the Titan Kronos (Time) castrated his father in order to separate him from his mother, thus expressing the substitution of time for the timeless coupling of his parents. As a result of him castrating his father, he took over control. He mated with his sister Rhea and, in turn, was separated from her and overpowered by his son Zeus, who married his sister Hera and fathered many of the Greek Olympians, establishing light and order in the world as understood by the Greeks. The separation of primal parents always results in creativity and order as opposed to passivity and disorder, and to light and space as opposed to darkness in a contained place. (cf. Leeming 2010: 17) Often the post-separation creator is associated with the sun. Marduk, a thunderbolt wielding sun and weather god (much like Zeus in Greece and Thor in Northern Europe), created a whole ordered universe over which he presided as a keeper of law and order. (cf. Leeming 2002: …show more content…
But in other myths, the more violent action, for example the castration of the father appears to be necessary in order to make the father irrelevant as far as the mother- Earth is concerned, so she can now be a creative playground for the offspring. Or, looking at the separation of or destruction of the world parents from another psychological perspective, it might be suggested that in order for the psyche-collective or individual-to develop, old ways must be revealed, confronted, and eliminated. Historically speaking, the death or separation of the world parents may also stand as a metaphor for a change in cultural perspective. For example, in the Babylonian myth, the chaotic Tiamat can stand for what the Babylonians might have seen as the old Mesopotamian agricultural/matriarchal culture, while the hero Marduk stands for the new male/warrior dominated Babylonian one. (cf. Mackenzie 2005: