- Mythology Creative Writing: Worship the gods - Saturday, March 11, 2006 This one was a project on how people would worship the gods we created from our "Create a Creation" project. I didn't finish it...and I probably won't because I hate how it is turning out. -- The drums could be heard throughout the land of Asturia, no corner going unnoticed. Their beat was a channel of demands and summons with urgency wrapped about, making them impossible to ignore. Their sound flowed like The Great River-and they were loud. Very loud in fact, so loud, that they succeeded in waking up thirteen year old Ashitaka-which was not such an easy task. He ran out of the house still half asleep, groggy, and hungry, and made his way to Asturia’s village center. Ducking and weaving between people, he came to the center to find a not-so-familiar wooden stage right in the center of town. He looked around, searching for someone familiar. Finally, he saw the busy sand colored hair he was looking for. He ran up and poked the figure’s back. “What’s going on father?” Ashitaka’s father turned around, and his peaceful blue eyes fell upon the boy. He smiled and laughed causing his mustache to bristle about. “Ashitaka, I’m surprised you woke up. I should get some of those drums for the house. Then maybe the cattle will be taken care of at the proper time.” Red drifted to Ashitaka’s face and he hastefully re-uttered the original question. “Ashitaka, now you are thirteen years old. You are a man. And it is time for you to learn things you never knew before.” His father made a gesture for his son to follow him, and went into an empty house. He sat down at a table and Ashitaka to the opposite seat. “My son, it is time you learn about ‘creation’ and how we came to be. We Asturian’s all came to be in this land all thanks to the god Syrath. He created us, and gave us this wonderful place to live. The other Great Gods: Reh goddess the Elements, Chid god of choice and emotions, Sunta god of death and tamer of the animals along with Syrath creator of humans and gods alike are who we pray and give thanks to. They give us nature and everything else and we the people of Asturia as a whole return our thanks by having a festival."

posted by honkeytonkwoman @ 7:31 PM [[ 0 comments ]]

- Mythology Creative Writing: Thoes who angered the gods - So far my least favorite project. I had a hard time with this one...I'm so unpleased. -- Once there was a young man who found himself in a very bad situation, that wasn’t exactly his fault. He lived in a small village named Fanelia that was settled in between the Great River and The Red Mountains. The Fanelians were very devout to the gods and they made sure to pay their dues to their protectors and creators. Settled within the icy depths of the Great River lived the water demon Kadaj, who disliked the gods very much. He himself thought he should rule the seas and rivers, and was bitter that the gods didn’t grant his wish. He wanted the Fanelians to pray to him. Finally he became so angry at their non cooperation that he decided to teach them a lesson. He rose out from the glass like water and headed to Fanelia. With one great roar, and a swish of his demon wings the village soon began to crumble. Scared, the villagers decided to elect a person to try and protect them. They choose a man named Soran; young, athletic and not very religious at all. Soran didn’t know what to make of this choice made by the villagers, especially because he didn’t worship much at all, but when he tried to argue, the villagers ran. And so the battle began. Poor Soran, a mortal who had to fight for a cause he didn’t believe in, versus and angry and vengeful water demon. But, somehow Soran prevailed, and when he made the final thrust into Kadaj killing him, a bright light glowed throughout the room and a voice flowed through his ears. “Soran,” the voice said, “I am Lebit, leader of the gods and creator of all humans. Thank you for your bravery. You have saved your people, and the village you live in. As thanks for your gratitude, the gods have a gift.” The bright light flashed and then set on a small bundle on the floor. “Meet your daughter Soran. Her named is Beltane. She will grown into a beautiful woman, her appearance matching those of the goddess of love Cythe herself. She will marry rich, and in the end take care of you. But, you MUST NOT force her to marry! When the time is right it will happen. Great fortune awaits you. But be warned, patients is a virtue.” And with that the bright light vanished, and Soran was left alone with his new daughter. *~*~* Years have passed and Beltane is now of age 18, and has still not married causing Soran to become impatient, wanting his gold and riches. He hears word of a prince that is passing through Fanelia, and rather than sending Beltane herself to meet him, goes himself. He meets the prince and promises him that if the prince marries his daughter he will gain riches beyond his belief. Intrigued the prince agrees but promises Soran that if he is lying he will pay dearly. They head to Soran’s house. “Beltane come and meet your husband.” Soran yelled arrogance present in his voice. Beltane appeared and the Prince bowed and kissed her. At that moment the light flashed again, but it was much different this time. Now, Beltane and the Prince were not moving…time was being stopped. “Soran,” a voice spoke and he realized it was Lebit and he was very angry, “You disobey me. Now, you will be punished.” Suddenly Soran was sucked into a hole, and transported to a room filled with gold. He tried to reach out and touch the gold, but was stopped by something. He looked down and saw two snakes constricting his feet to the ground. Suddenly the snakes repeatedly began to bite him, their icy venom sending fiery and icy pain throughout him. “What is going on here!?” Soran bellowed. “Your punishment.” Lebit spoke, with a slightly amused sound in his voice. “You will stay here for eternity, right next to the gold you pined for, but be forever killed and eaten by the snakes. Feel what so close, yet so far away is like. Perhaps now you will learn patience.” And so it was. Soran still remains in that hellish room-screaming with agony because he cannot reach his precious fortune, rather than with the agony of being eaten alive. Greed does funny things to people. Perhaps now, you will be more careful, else you may end up like Soran. ************ When writing this I originally wanted Soran to fall in love with Beltane and anger the gods that way, but I couldn’t do the whole incest thing. I defiantly wanted to portray a feeling of sadness towards the ‘hero’ in the beginning, that switched to “geeze that guy was an idiot” at the end. I hope my whole idea got through. I made it so that Soran’s greed and lack of patience was his fault.

posted by honkeytonkwoman @ 7:24 PM [[ 0 comments ]]

- Mythology Creative Writing: Your own Creation - The first Creative writing assignment for my new VHS course had me creating a universe. Wasn't too bad.... -- Nothing. That’s all there was before humans, before time, before life. A vast universe of empty space; labyrinths of black and a sea of utter darkness. But, hidden within the unknown paradise lived the gods. Solitary, lazy, and proud, the gods were quite happy with their lives already and felt that the creation of life would only cause burden. The ruler of the gods held the power of creation and his name was Tidus. Tidus was wise among the other ones, and knew about consequences. But, a joyous occasion clouded his senses. The birth of his first child-a son named Syrath.A party was decided, to honor and celebrate the new god child. The gods all gathered together to contemplate a gift for the child. And so began the beginning of the end as the debate started. “I know,” one of the gods shouted, “why don’t we give this child our powers. We do not use them, and we will never create life, so we will never need them.” The gods all looked a Tidus for a sign of approval, and he nodded his head. So one by one, each god gathered their specific power together. “But what will we put our powers into? We can’t just have them float around.” “I know.” Mysidia the queen of the gods rose from her seat and took off a bead from her necklace. “We will all gather our powers into my glass bead.” Each god took a turn and placed their powers into the bead, until finally it was Tidus’ turn. “My son,” Tidus began, “I give you my one and only power. You gain the power of life and creation.”T his gift was a shock to all the other gods because they didn’t want to ability of creation to be given to a child. But Tidus ignored their disproval saying, “He will not know about the powers that reside in this gift. The only way he will be able to use them is if the bead somehow breaks. We will display the bead for all to see, and keep a barrier around it. Do not fear, Syrath will not grow strong enough to overcome our barrier.” The wise Tidus had suddenly become The foolish Tidus. However, his mistake would not come to pass yet. Then came the day Syrath grew to the age of manhood and he finally became curious enough to ask, “Father, Mother why can I not touch that bead? Was it not a present for me? Shouldn’t I be allowed to see it?” “No my son.” Tidus spoke with a sudden arrogance that was unlike him. “You are not allowed to touch that bead. Besides, your powers are not strong enough for you to even go near it. You shouldn’t waste your time.” But Tidus underestimated his son’s abilities and spitefulness. And Syrath went to where the bead was kept. He reached out and grabbed the bead, breaking through the god barrier. When Syrath touched the bead its red hot surface burned his skin and caused him to drop it. He watch as it shattered all over and created the universe. Stars, planets and galaxies were made out of its red hot shards. But the formation of planets wasn’t the only thing to come out of the destroyed bead. The powers of the gods also flew out and created water, earth, emotions, sky, weather, time, death, and all the other things that make up existence except life itself which could only be made by Tidus’s power. Tidus became infuriated with his son. “As punishment you now must create life. Make humans and animals, and watch and care for them.” “But father how can I take care of all the humans myself? I do not what that responsibility!” But Tidus would hear no more, and threw his son out, leaving him to deal with ‘the mess’ by himself. Alone and with a task too big for his own hands, Syrath used his creation powers and made lesser gods to help him rule over all the planets and all that was on them. He granted each lesser god one of the given powers and kept the power of life for himself so no one else would be able to do anymore damage. Since the power of creation was originally his fathers, Syrath never quite mastered the ability, which resulted in ‘less than perfect’ humans. They carried the flaws that would inevitably ensure their destruction or give reassurance to their life. And so it is now and we must ask ourselves: Will we come to rise above the gods definition of ‘perfection’? Or will we fall due to our own stubborn and selfish ways? The time will come when we will know the answer.

posted by honkeytonkwoman @ 7:20 PM [[ 0 comments ]]

- Mythology Creative Writing project: Create a God for the New Millenium. - For this assignment I had to create some sort of God or Deity. (So far one of my favorite assignments) -- We know life is full of many contradictions, perhaps to full. Good and evil, hot and cold, right and wrong…the list goes on and we come across these opposites daily. But, ever wonder how those opposites came to be? Was it a coincidence? I think not. The Gemini of the New Millennium, my deity (or deities as I should say,) rule over the opposites and contradictions of the world. Aki and Aya didn’t start off as God and Goddess of opposites. It just sort of happened. Born from a human mother and God father Aki and Aya were not only opposite genders…but opposite everything else. Throughout childhood the two would argue about everything. From rain to sun to sleep or play, pretty soon these petty arguments got to their mother. She called down to her God husband and begged for him to help her. Their father came up with a plan to make Aki and Aya into deities and allow them rule over people’s preferences and the contradictions of the world. He granted each preference to each child (Aki receiving hot, Aya cold. Aya getting light, Aki dark-and so on). Call them your conscience, or call them irrelevant. Either way you have probably come across the work of Aki and Aya before. Once these twins begin a battle with each other, the battle wont end until one of the twins successfully gets a human to choose his or her side. We, my friend, are the tools. But they mean us no harm. So, if you ever come across a switching feeling-a little whisper in your ear-it’s probably the work of these two mischievous little deities. Aki and Aya as different as black and white, yet as necessary as the air we breathe. ‘Why are they necessary’? Is what you may ask. Like I said in the beginning, life is full of contradictions-but isn’t that what makes life so great. So thank your Aki and Aya, because they sure appreciate you being their argument solver. ------- I got the idea for Aki & Aya from an anime called Ayashi No Ceres (Ceres: Celestial Angel). In the show the main characters are brother and sister Aki & Aya. They have one very memerable argument in which Aki walks into Aya's room while she is weight lifting and scares her. Being scared, she throws her weights at him, nearly breaking his nose. An argument ensued...and it gave me the idea for these two deities.

posted by honkeytonkwoman @ 7:17 PM [[ 0 comments ]]

- Oral Tradition Essay: VHS "Folklore and Literature in Myth, Magic and Ritual -Final Project - This is my final that I had to write for my first semester's VHS course. It was a pain to do, because it was just stupid. But nevertheless... -- Stories have been the foundation for civilization and intellect since speech itself was mastered. With writers like Shakespeare and Dante and story tellers such as William Preece and Richard Chase, it’s not wonder why people cherish language and literacy; not being able to read or hear their tales would be a great shame indeed. So what are the differences between orally told stores and the written word? Orally told stories were told more by women and the poor in “the olden days.” Mothers telling a moral their children, or townspeople talking about local gossip- paper and books were an expensive and scarce commodity so they made due with their vocal abilities. But there are problems with orally told stories that won’t necessarily be present with written ones. Because there is no definite outcome of the story, orally told ones have the tendency to be stretch a far bit beyond the truth. They build and build with each time told and sometimes turn into a farfetched tale. It’s a natural tendency with people to exaggerate, and when it comes to the written word that can’t automatically happen. . Of course you get the possibility of someone changing the story, but there still is that hope of finding the original text. Also because there is no written or known author it is hard when trying to trace the origins or creator of the story. It seems as if the written word is more reliable and was more precious to people of older times. Concerning the written word, there is something about the permanence about the medium. There is something special about being able to see the words and preserve them in your mind, to touch them and hold all the knowledge in your hand. Without the written word we would have no history, without it we’d have no unified Language and without it we would have no religious stability. Take Hammurabi’s code and the Bible. How would it be if they were told orally? Utter chaos and no distinction between what is said and what is not. There is something magical about opening a book and seeing things in black and white that can’t be captured when just talking. It is that magic that draws some people to books. It is awe inspiring how much knowledge can be held through the written word. It is a shame when you think about all the great libraries that where burned down and how much understanding is lost when things are not written down and preserved. In recent times however, so many people either can't read or simply don't use the knowledge they have, letting the written word and all of its understood power just go to waste. It's heartbreaking to see many people, intelligent people, scared to even pick up something as simple as a newspaper or a magazine. We have a whole society of people, too timid or too lazy to visit their library or even the vast volumes of literature on the Internet, instead favoring television, radio and other, more digestible means of oral or visual entertainment. So now there is a reverse effect and oral told stores seem to take preseance. Regardless whether they where told orally or written, stories opened the minds of both the youth and the older to new possibilities and reminded them of the old ones. They weaved paradoxes of fantasy and helped nourish the dreams of the world. Both will continue to help people in their future and remind them of a better day and both will forever hold a place in the hearts of humanity; whether it is realized or not. So remember, cherish books and speech for not just what they are, but for what they stand and will uphold.

posted by honkeytonkwoman @ 7:14 PM [[ 0 comments ]]

- New... - Since I've been so bored today I pulled out some new layouts for my myspace, xanga, and of course my darling baby blogger. I havn't really written anything new latley...except for my VHS Mythology class creative writing assignments. I'll just post them up...

posted by honkeytonkwoman @ 7:12 PM [[ 0 comments ]]