The Re-creation of the World as Expressed Through Myth with Michael Meade

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After more than two years of the Covid Pandemic, the long war in Ukraine, and monthly mass killings, we long to go back to the ways things used to be: When there were no masks, we enjoyed large collective gatherings, the price of gas was affordable, and children were safe in their schools. Going back to what is called “normal” is what many are longing for. Michael Meade advises us that we must break the spell of normalcy itself and we must accept the presence of uncertainty. However, the good news is that with every ending there is a new beginning. This deep dialogue explores the collective rite of passage we are experiencing and how using the wisdom of myths gives us a roadmap to the renewal of life itself. Meade says, ”When nothing else makes sense, Myths make the most sense… At the first level (the literal, material, logical, measurable world) people are forgetting the deep wisdom, they fall out of awareness. [The second world] drops into the psychological level which connects the inner with the outer. And if [wisdom] isn't found and captured, [we must] drop into the mythological level... When nothing else is working, myth tends to have the answers that are missing... Stories bring us back the kind of living wisdom that is part of the natural inheritance of the human soul, and always has been... The mythological expands beyond the psychological and includes the spiritual, the power of imagination, and the connections to the deep archetypes that are the patterns that everybody keeps living out...The earth is trying to show us how to be. Myths are trying to show us how to be like the earth, the earth is trying to show us how to be part of this life-death renewal process.” (hosted by Justine Willis Toms) 

Bio 

Michael Meade is a renowned storyteller, author, scholar of mythology, and student of ritual in traditional cultures. He has scoured the world to bring to us meaningful folk tales that tap into ancestral sources of wisdom and acts as a guide to connect them to the stories we are living today. Meade is the founder of Mosaic Multicultural Foundation. He also offers regular Living Myths Podcasts and workshops.

He’s the author of many books including: 

• Why the World Doesn't End: Tales of Renewal in Times of Loss (GreenfirePress 2012)
• Fate and Destiny: The Two Agreements of the Soul (GreenFire Press 2012)
• The Genius Myth (GreenfirePress 2016)
• Awakening the Soul: A Deep Response to a Troubled World (GreenFire Press 2018)
• The Water of Life: Initiation and the Tempering of the Soul (GreenFire Press 2019) 

To learn more about the work of Michael Meade go to www.mosaicvoices.org. 

Topics explored in this dialogue include: 

• Why myths are important in threshold times
• What is the “Diver Myth” of the Sky Woman who is the divine source of life
• How “Mother Earth” is also the divine feminine energy
• How all myths are about endings and beginnings
• How darkness is the closest thing to creation and is the precondition for creation
• What does the breaking into pieces in the Sky Woman myth mean
• Why when things fall apart they tend to polarize which is an indication of something creative trying to happen
• How light can be a veil preventing our ability to see into the depths
• What is the Native American myth “The One Who Made the Earth” and accepting the dark times was the beginning of creative times
• How the deep self is connected to the Soul of the World and the earth is in us and we stand upon it
• How deep inside each person is an archetypal energy for adding to creation
• How all humans are living in the same story and out of that understanding comes a third way, beyond either/or
• What is the significance of the second part of the Sky Woman myth who gives birth to twins, one who is light of heart and the other who is dark of heart
• What is the hope that the world is tipped towards the gentle
• How living in the mystery of nature is the mystery of Earth and a mystery of the human soul. Life, death, renewal, birth, death, rebirth.
• Why we need a better worldview than the one that the world is falling apart and holding the tension of opposites leads to creation of the third thing, allowing inspiration to enter the world 

Host: Justine Willis Toms   Interview Date: 6/17/2022   Program Number: 3761

Music Playlist

From Album: Journey Between
Artist: Baka Beyond
1998 Rycodisk Hannibal #HNCD 1415

Opening Essay: Track 01 Mbé
Music Break 1: Track 04 Konti
Music Break 2: Track 05 Cotu
Music Break 3: Track 05 Cotu (reprise)