Man, Myth and Legend.
Who are you? What’s your myth? What’s your story?
Part two of three.
By Tor Webster.
What is Myth?
The term ‘myth’ probably dates back to the ancient Greco-Roman belief ‘Mithraism’ or the ‘Mithraic Mysteries.’ Not a lot is known of this belief, but it is said to have rivaled Christianity in Rome.
Our western religion is more of a culmination of these ancient belief systems.
Many of the Christian stories came from Mithraism, such as my favorite ‘Adam and Eve.’ Originally this story was a more symbolic and alchemical story, Adam representing the inner male power and Eve the inner female power, the tree was the spine and the serpent was the energy rising from the earth, like the yogic kundalini serpent. As it rises up the spine, it bites the pineal gland, which is the apple and the electric/poison from the serpent’s bite activates the wisdom, vision and knowledge.
Another Indo-European belief of the old gods is the Nordic Faith. After the ‘Ragnarök’, the fall of the old world from the ashes grew two trees; a male tree ‘Ash’ and a Female tree ‘Elm’. These trees represent Adam and Eve, maybe it is where the names came from.
Myth is an inner journey to understand yourself by the outer archetypes, which are symbolic to the inner emotional personalities which are playing out through your behavior and personal decisions.
One idea of the etymology of the word ‘myth’ comes from Indian Sanskrit. In Sanskrit, ‘Mitra’ means ‘friend,’ which links in with what I have been saying; making friends with your inner archetypes, this will help you greatly on your ‘hero’s quest’ to ‘know thy self.’
What is your Myth?
My myth I guess starts even before I was born, it was the hottest summer on record in England ever known, it still hasn’t even been matched today 43 years on. On September the 1st, 1976, I fought my way to life through a caesarian section, nearly killing my dear mother who lost a lot of blood. As this was happening, the heavens opened and a massive thunderstorm broke the boiling hot summer to the relief of all.
My mother had already chosen the name ‘Tor’. She is a Danish lady and has always loved the myths and legends of the Nordic world, especially stories of the god of thunder ‘Thor’ or as it is pronounced in Denmark ‘Tor’. She felt the thunderstorm was a sign that she had chosen the right name, the gods were happy.
My early life would seem pretty mundane, born to middle class “upper crusty” family in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (this is a play on words of the ‘crusty’ new age travelers in the 1980’s and the ‘upper crust’), my mother a yoga teacher and my father an osteopath.
Things looked up when we moved to the woods, giving me the freedom to be a ‘wild child of the woods,’ mainly playing Robin Hood, another great legend. A Jack in the green character, created by some of the most celebrated esoteric people of our time, the Gypsy community.
Robin Hood and Maid Marion is a story much like Adam and Eve, Christ and Mary Magdalene, Apollo and Athena, representing the divine masculine and feminine.
The Gypsies created the story to perform to their hosts, the landowners that would welcome them onto their land. The Gypsies would offer them the secret knowledge of the sacred union and the magic of the forest, where they felt the most comfortable.
An interesting thing for me to carry and something that adds to my myth is a bit of information that was shared with me in my later life by my father and uncle, that it was possible that my great grandfather was King Edward VIII. Synchronically, his grandmother was also a Danish lady and he came from the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Saxon line which was the Nordic line of the God Kings relating to the line of Odin. If you put a photo of my father next to a photo of King Edward VIII’s farther at the same age they looked identical, the only thing that would give the game away is the military regalia. This similarity was helped by my father always asking the hair dresser to give him a George the 5th pointy beard. As I write this, I have the words “Bugger Bogner”, the famous last words of George V, echoing in my mind, as this was one of my father's favorite sayings. He always said these words when he didn’t want to do something.
So why am I telling you all this? I’m laying out my character, my mythos, hopefully to inspire you to ask what your mythos is. We all have one and often quite similar archetypes. I’m also sharing so you can see that there is magic in life, even if you can’t see it clearly. Look inward and see your inner world, it will help you understand yourself better. Our ancestral bloodline is very important. Enjoy your ‘hero’s quest.’