Hitting the Brick Wall: or The problem with conflicting myth

[TeaDidikai]

And when I say conflicting myth, I'm addressing a host of things, including but not limited to conflicts between myth and UPG, CPG, Personal Morality, Personal Trauma and gaps in understandings.

Have any examples you're willing to share?  

[aoijea23487]

I think you and I have discussed this in my Pathways thread.

For example, the creation stories of the Bible versus that of ancient Germanic paganism, or how more than one deity can be the sun itself.

I can always just copypasta quote what we discussed. Our discussion was a fundamental part of my growth as a polytheist, so I'd think it worthwhile to bring up in this thread verbatim.

Also, there might be conflicts within one cosmology. I'm not sure how to deal with those, like myths surrounding Shiva and Parvati or the ever-famed inconsistencies of the Bible, such as the presence of two creation stories.

By Shiva and Parvati, I mean that they are often called the originators of the universe; their union created what is. However, Parvati was once Sita, who was born to a king (IIRC) as a mortal and took on all sorts of endeavors to win Shiva's heart. That would kind of require the universe to exist beforehand, no? Yet then arises the issue about Shiva's gender--many, many depictions show him as being half male, half female, literally split down the center (I have a lovely card of this image, can scan if you like, or send links to pictures of ancient statues). Many of these depictions show the female half as being Parvati--thus, perhaps, the feminine aspect of himself, within himself. I haven't figured out how to set it all straight, or even if it needs to be straightened out to begin with.

The further musings I have on the subject are best left for my Pathways thread, as it would incorporate the cosmology I have already developed, and explaining it would just waste space here. Bah.  

[Bastemhet]

This is always fun to think about- Egyptian myths are nothing if not consistent. I don't look for logical consistency. Instead I try to understand the spiritual message of whatever myth I'm looking at. In that way, I can find truth in all of them.

I remember you mentioning your husband thought of the idea that in each part of the world, the gods that dwelled there created that area- kind of a cosmopolitan view on deity and creation myth. I like that. I think I saw this myth somewhere where it described the creation of each area as the gods created them. Again, logical consistency not really a problem so much as finding the spiritual truth.  

[TeaDidikai]

Now and then I come across small schisms, less from within the tales my family is familiar with, and more from other groups.

I tend to chalk it up to either miscommunication or non-Rroma influence that has been recycled by the Rroma. There are some scholarly observations about some of this stuff by folks like Hancock. Sometimes I think that some of the stories that were bought from Rroma by armchair G~yologists were then snickered about by the different groups, but perhaps within earshot of others who took it more seriously.