In Hind Sight

So, I love when little pieces of a puzzle suddenly come together in that glorious 'AHA!' moment, especially when they have to do with my personal mythology, when some little detail I hadn't noticed before creates a parcel of brand new bridges, connecting things that hadn't been before, or forging a stronger connection and deeper significance to a connection that already existed.  It truly is the little things in life that bring me such joy!  Okay.  Let me explain...

The other night I watched the movie Immortals which is about the Greek hero Theseus, the one who killed the Minotaur.  Part of the story line revolves around the 'Epirus Bow' which is this magical bow that, as one begins to draw back the bowstring, an arrow of light flickers into existence on the bow. How awesome would that be?!  Anyway, being not only an archery geek but a cartoonist as well, I've been working on a series of comic stories where my characters act out various myths and tales, from a cavalcade of cultures, that involve archery.  If the Epirus Bow were really an authentic part of Greek Mythology I wanted to know as a possible addition to my comics.

As it turns out, it was total fiction and doesn't exist outside the movie.  However, the closest thing in Greek Mythology was Hercules' Bow, which was used to end the Trojan War.  Hmmm!  That sounded promising, and, as a bit of synchronicity, I had just started re-watching the Hercules television series, starring Kevin Sorbo, again from the beginning.  So I clicked on the link for Hercules' Bow, but never quite got that far because something else captured my attention. 

As I scanned the page for his bow, my gaze fell upon descriptions of the twelve labors of Hercules (or Heracles as the Greeks called him).  After his first two labors (impossible feats he was given to atone for killing his children in a fit of madness induced by Hera) where he proved he could kill the most unbeatable foes (the Nemean Lion and the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra) Herc was given the task of capturing alive the Golden Hind, who could run faster than an arrow.

The thing about the Golden Hind, and the reason this distracted me from my original 'labor', is that she was a sacred animal of Artemis, my Matron Goddess.  I had almost forgotten about the Hind (D'oh! A deer! A female deer!) so I was eager to read about this myth. 

They had done a version of the story on the aforementioned show, and it's one of my favorite episodes, not only because of the romance and love that blooms between Hercules and the hind (who in the show could transform into a human woman) but because it is also how Hercules actor, Kevin Sorbo, met his soon to be wife, who played the hind in the show. Doesn't get much more romantic than that! :)

Bearing almost no resemblance to the modern version, the original myth, in a nutshell, has Hercules capturing the hind, then on the way back to prove his labor fulfilled, he encounters Artemis.  He begs her forgiveness, explaining his penance, and promising he will return the deer. Under those conditions She lets him return to King Eurystheus, who was the one setting these tasks for Hercules. When the deer is brought before the king, however, Hercules was informed that the hind would become part of His Majesty's menagerie.  Hercules told the king he had to come get her himself. As Eurystheus approached, Herc released the hind who in a fleet-footed flash returned to her divine Mistress.  Hercules left telling the king he just hadn't been quick enough.

I liked the tale itself, but as I read some background to the myth it got really good.  As it turns out, one of the significant oddities of the Golden Hind is her golden antlers.  This is where I do the whole 'forehead-slap-thing' and cry, "Duh!"  There is only one kind of deer in the whole world whose doe population has antlers -- REINDEER!  The Golden Hind of Artemis was probably a reindeer!

My beloved Artemis, with a magic bow of her own, not unlike the one that began this hunt, that hangs in the night sky every month, was "all of a sudden" tied to my number one power animal and helping spirit, Nathaniel -- my beloved fuzz-nose of a reindeer.

Suddenly new threads existed between elements of my personal mythology that had previously been unconnected.  And with the new threads came an elation that was probably the emotional counterpart of the new lightning-bridge neural pathways arcing through my brain.

I love this stuff!!  I thrive on bridging seemingly unrelated things and finding connections in everything.  Now to see if I can just bring Artemis within six degrees of Kevin Bacon...

Deja Two

You know that feeling of deja vu you get when something strikes you as totally familiar yet there should be no way you've been there or experienced it before? In the past week I've had two such incidents, totally unrelated other than that this type of thing is happening in my life with more and more frequency.

The first happened last week when I finally was able to return to archery practice with my local SCA group after a long absence. I had been sooooo itchy to get back out on the range again, that in the past few weeks I have found myself actually, spontaneously going into an archer's stance like I was drawing a bow. I also had been promising to take my best friend with me and was able to finally carry through on that promise, which is where the deja vu thing comes in. My friend hadn't shot for about 20 years, and that had only been for a week or so, but as she stepped onto the line, nocked an arrow, and drew back the string with perfect and noble grace, it was obvious that this was not a foreign experience for her. And it was so unbelievably familiar to me to see her that way.

But wait! There's more! The sense of familiarity only deepened as I approached the line. She is left-handed and so, me being right-handed, I naturally stepped up behind her, so my back was to hers. I raised my bow and took aim, but as I saw her drawn bow out of the corner of my eye, I had to lower mine again. "Holy crap this is familiar! We've been here before." "Fighting back to back you mean?" "Yeah!" "I know, huh!"

Wow! Still blows me away.

The second flahback occurrence happened last night as I was watching Avatar. I mentioned in an earlier post how this movie had elicited multiple feelings in me that were closer to being memories than being fiction. Well, I was excitedly watching my very own, newly purchased copy, and was at the point where the Nav'i climb up to the place in the floating mountains where they first become bonded with the mountain banshees. As they approach the mouth of the cave where they will emerge to perform this rite of passage, my mouth dropped open. I had been there, or in a very similar place. The view outside the cave was almost exactly as I remember it from a vision I had years ago.

It was one weekend when I was still married. Saturdays had become a time when I could sit at the kitchen table and draw comics to my heart's content, and as I would do so, my ex would sometimes read to me. This particular Saturday she was reading from one of Anne McCaffrey's Dragon Rider's of Pern books. I don't remember the scene she was reading about, or what was happening in the book, but at a certain point I momentarily flashed to somewhere else.

I was humanoid, I was pretty sure, as I sat at the lip of a large cave and let my legs dangle over the edge. I turned to my left and there, lying or sitting beside me was a dragon -- my dragon! I just spontaneously, and without thinking, reached out my hand and stroked its neck. I still have the tactile memory of that experience. It really wasn't scaley at all, but more like the soft suppleness of human skin -- perhaps a bit denser and thicker, but definitely a softness that was pleasing to the touch. It lasted but a split second, but had the impact to still be etched in my memory all these years later.

So it was interesting to have two such occurrences happen in a single week. Things in my life, are definitely exhilarating. And now that I've broken you in with my dragon experience, and assuming you're still reading and not convinced I'm totally off my nut, perhaps soon I will write about my experiences with Unicorn...