As he grows older, Geryon escapes his abusive brother and affectionate but ineffectual mother, finding solace behind the lens of his camera and in the arms of a young man named Herakles, a cavalier drifter who leaves him at the peak of infatuation. When Herakles reappears years later, Geryon confronts again the pain of his desire and embarks on a journey that will unleash his creative imagination to its fullest extent. By turns whimsical and haunting, erudite and accessible, richly layered and deceptively simple, Autobiography of Red is a profoundly moving portrait of an artist coming to terms with the fantastic accident of who he is."A profound love story . . . sensuous and funny, poignant, musical and tender." -- The New York Times Book Review"A deeply odd and immensely engaging book. . . . [Carson] exposes with passionate force the mythic underlying the explosive everyday."  -- The Village VoiceA NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEARNational book Critics Circle Award Finalist

    'Deeply impressive! ancient history: the new rock 'n' roll.' The Times

    Gathered from around the world, from regions as diverse as sub-Saharan Africa and Western Europe, from North and South American Indian cultures and New World settlers, from Asia and the Middle East, these 100 folktales celebrate strong female heroines.Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters is for all women who are searching to define who they are, to redefine the world and shape their collective sensibility. It is for men who want to know more about what it means to be a woman. It is for our daughters and our sons, so that they can learn to value all kinds of courage, courage in battle and the courage of love. It is for all of us to help build a more just vision of woman.

    Whether you were captivated by The Power of Myth or you're just now discovering "the man with a thousand stories", these lectures are a must. Never before on audio and authorized by the Joseph Campbell Foundation, here is Volume Five of what will be a 40-hour series. These are the key lectures that Campbell kept in his study and used as the basis for later lectures on myth, symbolism, and spiritual awakening. Provocative and exhilarating, full of wit and wisdom, they are windows into one of the greatest minds of our time.

    From the poignant meeting the growing bond of friendship between horse and man to the dramatic slaying of the fearsome fire-breathing Chimera, this is an unforgettable adventure that will stir the imagination of young and old alike. Featuring glorious paintings that readers will want to savor again and again, here is a magnificent edition of a timeless Greek classic.

    It covers the persons, themes, concepts, places, and creatures of Celtic mythology, in all its ancient and modern traditions, in 4000 entries ranging from brief definitions to extended essays on major tale cycles. An introductory essay explains who the Celts were, explores the history of the Celtic revival, and examines the meaning and role of mythology and tradition. An invaluable pronunciation guide for the major Celtic languages, a topic index of entries, thorough cross-references within Celtic mythology and to other mythologies, such as Classical and Norse, enables the reader to see the relationship between Celtic mythology, later Irish literature, and other literary and mythological traditions. The Dictionary of Celtic Mythology is the first place to turn for an authoritative guide to this colorful world of tragedy, revenge, honor, and heroism of Celtic myth.

    From the terrestrial world it leads down into darkness, to the treasure of pure feminine consciousness. We are each blessed with our own well, and from this source of salvation and eternal life, teaches Marion Woodman, we must drink or die.In Sitting by the Well, this acclaimed Jungian analyst and author uses dreams, symbols, and body imagery to reach into the shadows of the unconscious mind and cast light on our everyday lives. Here is a poetic culmination of Woodman's many years of work with the psychological impact of patriarchy on men's and women's lives--from distorted body image and addiction, to sexual trauma and relationships, to our ultimate connection with the Great Mother (matter) and Great Father (spirit).Rare Lectures Collected for the First TimeOn six archival recordings--each one digitally remastered for maximum clarity and comprehension--Marion Woodman unravels Carl Jung's core teachings about archetypes and the unconscious, and analyzes how dreams and metaphors provide powerful healing tools for the psyche. You will hear the evolution of Woodman's theories throughout the past decade, while vividly sharing her insights into what we each must do to open to spirit and find meaning in our suffering. For all of us interested in what Woodman calls the language of our instincts, Sitting by the Well is a one-of-a-kind guide for learning it.In her practice, Woodman has encountered many people who feel lost and out of touch with their bodies and their spirits. Where is the energy and imagery we need for nourishment? Join Marion Woodman and find your way to a wellspring for deeper guidance with Sitting by the Well.

    Now, with this inspiring book of day-by-day mediations, renowned Celtic scholar Caitlín Matthews shows you how to reawaken the power of this age-old spiritual inheritance.Using poetry, myths, reflections, rituals, and visualizations, Matthews leads you on a yearlong pilgrimage that will help connect the cycles of your soul to the circle of the seasons. From the winter months of Samhain the summer months of Beltant, from mediations on the gifts and blessings of life to the insights and promises of the soul, she enables you to complete your own sacred circuit of the turning year.Brimming with the legends and lore of Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and Britain, The Celtic Spirit is a brilliant introduction to the sacred wisdom of the Celtic path--and a potent resource for daily spiritual renewal.

    This striking set is an essential tool of empowerment, personal growth, and inner transformation for women everywhere. Includes custom, full-color spread sheet.

    Brimming with stories, activities, folklore, and recipes, this popular holiday gift book traces the history behind traditions of the season and provides practical suggestions for celebrating the Winter Solstice as a joyous, life-affirming festival.

    C. G. Jung's theory is one of the few that purports to answer fully all three questions. This volume collects and organizes the key passages on myth by Jung himself and by some of the most prominent Jungian writers after him: Erich Neumann, Marie-Louise von Franz, and James Hillman. The book synthesizes the discovery of myth as a way of thinking, where it becomes a therapeutic tool providing an entrance to the unconscious.In the first selections, Jung begins to differentiate his theory from Freud's by asserting that there are fantasies and dreams of an "impersonal" nature that cannot be reduced to experiences in a person's past. Jung then asserts that the similarities among myths are the result of the projection of the collective rather than the personal unconscious onto the external world. Finally, he comes to the conclusion that myth originates and functions to satisfy the psychological need for contact with the unconscious--not merely to announce the existence of the unconscious, but to let us experience it.

    Although at first glance and to its many devotees Inari worship may seem to be a unified phenomenon, it is in fact exceedingly multiple, noncodified, and noncentralized. No single regulating institution, dogma, scripture, or myth centers the practice. In this exceptionally insightful study, the author explores the worship of Inari in the context of homogeneity and diversity in Japan. The shape-shifting fox and the wish-fulfilling jewel, the main symbols of Inari, serve as interpretive metaphors to describe the simultaneously shared yet infinitely diverse meanings that cluster around the deity. That such diversity exists without the apparent knowledge of Inari worshippers is explained by the use of several communicative strategies that minimize the exchange of substantive information. Shared generalized meanings (tatemae) are articulated while private meanings and complexities (honne) are left unspoken. The appearance of unity is reinforced by a set of symbols representing fertility, change, and growth in ways that can be interpreted and understood by many individuals of various ages and occupations.The Fox and the Jewel describes the rich complexity of Inari worship in contemporary Japan. It explores questions of institutional and popular power in religion, demonstrates the ways people make religious figures personally meaningful, and documents the kinds of communicative styles that preserve the appearance of homogeneity in the face of astonishing factionalism.

    The traditions of Celtic-speaking communities in particular offer a highly effective method, expressed through mythology (as in the symbolic apple branch) and implemented through seasonal rituals.Alexi Kondratiev outlines rules for Celtic-circle membership and shows how to become conversant with Celtic culture and mythology, and at least one of the surviving Celtic languages. He also provides the actual formula of words given for each of the Celtic rituals and visualization sequences. These rituals are closely connected with the passage of time, especially the four seasons, as well as other feast days. In this book the ancient traditions of all six Celtic nations are brought to life. Alexi Kondratiev, who knows sixty-four languages well enough to teach them, conducts classes in a variety of Celtic subjects at the Irish Arts Center in New York City, and has been a contributor to a number of magazines and journals, including Keltoi, Carn, and Keltria.

    One rainy night, the wizard Merlin tells Arthur the story of dueling dragons and a fateful clash between good and evil, which reveals the surprising secret of the boy king's true legacy. Li Ming's arresting oil paintings breathe fire into this magical offering from Jane Yolen."The legend comes alive on a grand scale, the dramatic narrative and well-wrought dialogue heightening the theatrical effect and inviting a fast-paced read-aloud." -- School Library Journal

    A single glance from a basilisk is fatal. Wyverns -- two-legged dragons with wings -- attack castles and villages from the air. Hundreds of years ago, medieval scholars believed the world was filled with strange and terrifying creatures. They wrote about them in bestiaries -- collections of facts, myths, and stories about animals. Here are twenty-six creatures from those medieval legends, from the two-headed amphisbaena to the fierce ziphius, a water-owl that preys on ships and sailors. Detailed, dramatic paintings based on illuminated manuscripts will transport you to the Middle Ages -- when much of the world was still unknown and mysterious terrors haunted the night.

    Drawing on classical mythologies, Biblical themes, and traditional symbols from cultures worldwide, this user-friendly, attractively priced reference has comprehensive entries on everything from individual animals, plants, and objects to gods, goddesses, supernatural creatures, heroes, heroines, mythical episodes, prophets, saints, miracles, and myriad other subjects. Whether the topic at hand is Mercury or Merlin, the Egyptian ankh or the humble ant, engaging text reveals the origins and meaning of each symbol. Interspersed with the main entries are short articles on themes of special interest, such as the Sun, Moon, and stars, or common vices. Three hundred illustrations, an intuitive system of cross-referencing, and authoritative research make The Complete Dictionary of Symbols a reliable resource for school, home, or library.

    The Legend of White Buffalo Woman tells the inspiring story of the first peace pipe, presented to the Lakota people to connect them to the Great Spirit, who will guide them through the hardships of life.

    This book examines sagas to find evidence for animal and human sacrifice, such as the night-time murder of a young couple in bed at the end of an autumn sacrifice recounted in Gisla saga Surssonar."

    She is a horrific goddess personifying war the way the ancient Irish saw it: loud, chaotic, glorious, bloody and heroic. She is savage and deceitful, bloodthirsty, revelling in the gore of battle. She comes as a carrion crow or a hag, portending or causing violent death. Yet she is no mere demoness. She fights for her race, the Túatha dé Danann, against the invading Fomoire. She has a strange relationship with Ireland's great warrior Cú Chulainn: by fighting him, she forces him to rise to his greatest glory. Under other names — Nemain, Macha, Fé, Badb, the Washer at the Ford — she shows aspects of motherhood, sorcery, prophecy and teaching.

    Songs, stories, images, and films about frightening monsters have always been invented to allay the very terrors that our sleep of reason conjures up. Warner shows how these images and stories, while they may unfold along different lines - scaring, lulling, or making mock - have the strategic simultaneous purpose of both arousing and controlling the underlying fear. In analysis of material long overlooked by cultural critics, historians, and even psychologists, Warner revises our understanding of storytelling in our contemporary culture. She asks us to reconsider the unintended consequences of our age-old, outmoded notions about masculine identity and about racial stereotyping, and warns us of the dangerous, unthinking ways we perpetuate the bogeyman.

    

    Every tale returns to the most basic question: What is fair?With tales from Africa, Asia, and Europe, from Irish, Jews, and Muslims, from American schools and courtrooms, The Cow of No Color is truly an international gathering. Ranging from tricks to watch for in playground games to big issues to ponder for a lifetime, here is a book with insights and challenges for every member of every family.

    He challenges the persistent attempt to read Protestant theological polemic against law into ancient Israel. Cross uncovers the continuities between the institutions of kinship and of covenant, which he describes as "extended kinship." He examines the social structures of ancient Israel and reveals that beneath its later social and cultural accretions, the concept of covenant—as opposed to codified law—was a vital part of Israel's earliest institutions. He then draws parallels between the expression of kinship and covenant among the Israelites and that practiced by other ancient societies, as well as in primitive societies.

    Now, in "The Book of Sea Monsters," these unnatural creatures of the elements are brought to unnerving reality by award-winning artist Bob Eggleton. Exploring the myth, legend, scientific documentation and ficiton inspired by these strange beasts at the edge of imagination, "The Book of Sea Monsters" will thrill and fascinate all lovers of mythology, legend, and the many secrets of the sea.

    Now, in a fold-out-map format, this reproduction of an ancient papyrus is surrounded by fascinating sidebars and illustrated with video stills of Xena and her faithful companion Gabrielle. This poster-sized collectible makes the legends behind Xena's powers come alive for every fan.

    The author offers fresh insights into Mary Hanson-Roberts' vibrant designs and vivid fairy-tale images in this companion guide to the Hanson-Roberts Tarot deck.

    So begins the story of Hanuman the monkey who believes he has lost his magic after leaping all the way to the sun. For children ages 7 and up.

    With this unique wide-ranging reference, kids will learn why myths developed and explore the common themes that are echoed across cultural and geographic boundaries. Fully cross-referenced, the book covers cultures as diverse as Siberia, India, and the Amazon, as well as the more familiar civilizations of Greece, Rome, and the Americas. Includes a glossary of more than 600 mythical characters.

    Philosopher Bruce Wilshire considers remedies for specific addictions, including drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and gambling, and suggests ways to rediscover our "humanness".

    A dramatic series that captures, culture by culture, the information that never makes it into the history books: strange stories, mystic rites, angry gods, vision quests.

    Deep Space and Sacred Time examines for the first time in book-length form the many ways Star Trek has served as a mythic reference point for American society--and suggests that an understanding of this might help us to see ourselves more clearly as a culture. Moreover, this thoughtful and thought-provoking work posits that Star Trek offers its audience a sense of hope and, in the setting of an orderly cosmos, the possibility for empowerment.

    Full color.

    This book's contents range from Native American love stories to Davy Crockett's account of killing a bear with a knife, from Brer Rabbit's mischief to Johnny Appleseed's good deeds, from hilarious yarns about mosquitoes to eerie encounters with the devil.

    A dramatic series that captures, culture by culture, the information that never makes it into the history books: strange stories, mystic rites, angry gods, vision quests.

    Surveys classical mythology, discussing the relationship between Greek and Roman myths, and describes the birth and life of the demigod Hercules, known as Heracles in Greek mythology.

    Like FLORA BRITANNICA, this selection includes personal anecdotes, observations and regional knowledge of people from all over Britain.

    Kelly mines a rich seam of humour and sadness out of the resilience of a people rich in hospitality and generosity, imagination, culture and tradition.

    These spirits are revered principally by those who dwell near rivers, lagoons or the sea and who believe that the spirits, if suitably provided can in return provide man's needs. They control abundance of fish, they prevent the capsizing of canoes and river accidents; some of the spirits supply children to the barren. YEMONJA, for example, is believed to be the goddess of waters generally from her body, according to the people's belief, all rivers, lagoons and the sea flow out. Today she is associated with the Ogun River and is given elaborate worship in those areas through which it flows, particularly in Abeokuta.

    Ranging in date from the second century BC to the sixth century AD, the paintings and sculptures that they found there now rank among the world's most important cultural treasures. Since the rediscovery of the caves, numerous attempts have been made to photograph the murals and sculptures accurately, but these works of art were created using the glow of lamps and candles, not the harsh light of modern professional photography. Now, in The Ajanta Caves, using long exposures that pick up natural ambient light, Benoy K. Behl captures some of the finest works of Buddhist art in all their natural luminosity. The artists who created the Ajanta caves were early followers of the Buddha, and they sought an isolated haven where they could meditate in peace. What is unique about the paintings is not their variety, nor the skill displayed in their composition, but their humanity; the men and women of this world look upon each other with expressions of infinite caring.

    

    Countering the widespread myths that both denigrate and appropriate Indian spirituality, Rice examines accounts written in the 1830s by Congregationalist ministers Samuel and Gideon Pond and Stephen R. Riggs; Ella Deloria, a Yankton Nakota linguist; Wilson D. Wallis, a Canadian anthropologist; native Lakota George Bushotter; and physician James R. Walker in order to delineate clearly Sioux thought from the biases and perspectives of these observers.

    It tells the story of how the ancient Edo conceived of the world and how they attempted both to explain the origins of their human existence on earth and to interpret their environment.

    Which 12 gods and goddesses ruled from Mount Olympus'? Who are the Fates, the Graces, the Muses? How did Theseus slay the monstrous Minotaur and escape from its labyrinth? What was the one thing to remain inside Pandora's vase? Each entry is illustrated with a rich selection of images drawn from statuary, painting, pottery, frescoes and mosaics, and includes the subject's lineage, personality and symbol.- 50 individually die-cute cards- Full color throughout- Knowledge at your fingertips- For the whole family