rojosramblings

I will start this by saying that I was brought up Catholic, including Catholic boys-only high school where suit and tie where the uniform. If you wore bell-bottom dress pants as part of a suit you were suspended. Then I became a comparative religions major what seems a few lifetimes ago.

That said, I came across this article by Terry Windling this morning, about Merlin. It is just one of those things that made me think. Basically, there are many versions of Merlin being imprisoned, enthralled and whatever by a beautiful half-fairy, half-human woman. There are so many halflings in old legend and texts it is rather amazing. I open this question to all to think about.

What are the chances that at one point in human history, there was the ability for humans to actually mate and conceive with otherworldly beings? There are so many similarities among all these stories that I cannot dismiss the fact that these have had a profound impact on human thought patterns throughout history. Having a jealous "Lord thy God" is but one example of a reactionary patterning of human thought to this type of metaphysical interchange. While stating that archetypal patterns of human consciousness may actually account for many of the halflings, and superstition for other (think Robert Johnson selling his soul to the Devil as a simplification of this type of story), I have often thought that monotheism is self-limiting pattern of human thought that actually makes the world devoid of miracles and mythic events. Or could halflings be those who actually know and converse with the local spirits and have the better gardens (see Findhorn or Lily Hill Farm) or "good luck" or health and those who are jealous of their achievements persecute them as witches and devil consorters. Where and how could stories of incubi and succubi originate? I do not want to go too far in that arena right now as that opens the door to the Gnostic world-view of Good vs. Evil on the grand stage, physical versus spiritual, which has demonized sex, and created sins of sensuality and ultimately made evil the rights of women, made men feel guilty about their penis (a boy's first toy) and created a whole culture of deviancy (like the big-busted plastic breasted woman of a ZZ Top video are normal, to say the least of fetishes and altar boys.)

Why else would polytheistic cultures (think Amerind) exist if there were not some basis in truth of the existence of local spirits or animating spirits? But then, how was monotheism created? and why is it so damned limiting? and why is monotheism so closely related to conservative political thought ( a marriage made in some kind of hell, I posit)?

Just thoughts during the season of spiritual renewal--

rojo