Mythic Links aims to bring artists, poets, scholars, historians, philosophers, archaeologists, insights of psychology and other authentic sources to a general audience in an accessible way.
In an exploration of the mythic roots of western culture we trace the influence of the Greek and Roman, Judaeo-Christian, Celtic and traditions of the East.
Our seminars and lecture topics have included
( see Events Lists below at page bottom)
- Myth in popular culture
- Our Indigenous Irish tradition
- Greek and Celtic heritage
- Myth in Plato’s philosophy
- Indian Vedas
Mythology - The word comes from the Greek “Mythos” meaning "narrative, speech, word, fact, story “and “Logos” meaning "speech, discourse, story, reason, argument"
At the time of Homer the word myth was used for an account of or a narrative of something that had happened. Between 800 and 500 BC a change happens, Logos is used as myth originally was, for a true account, and myth is not so used. However myth was not therefore assumed to be false.
The word "myth" may mean "sacred story", "traditional story", or "story about gods", but it does NOT mean "false story".
By the Christian era, the Greco-Roman world had started to use the term "myth” to mean "fable, fiction, lie"; as a result, early Christian writers used "myth" with this meaning. This use of the term "myth" passed into popular usage. However none of the scholarly definitions of "myth" imply that myths are false.
Myths are often linked to the spiritual or religious life of a community, and to its life in a particular place, and we can define some myths as "sacred stories”. Myths were stories told to explain the beginnings of the universe, the creation of humans and animals and the establishment of civilization. Such an origin myth is told in the biblical book of Genesis.
“Myths are the world’s dreams.
The myth is the public dream and the dream is the private myth”
Joseph Campbell
Myths are a way out of fixed ways of thinking because they are non rational. Myth invites you to use your mind in a different way, not in a literal or logical way. The myth convinces when reason will not do so. When Plato wants to say something fundamental and essential in philosophy he uses an allegory and places before us a sensory image, according to the philosopher Heidegger
Theories of myth arising in the nineteenth century interpreted myth as the primitive counterpart of modern science, as an attempt at a literal explanation for natural phenomena. This theory makes myth obsolete because we progress from magic through religion or myth to science 20th century theories did not oblige people to abandon myth for science.”
Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung used their theories to analyse unconscious psychological forces within people revealed by dreams and myths. Levi-Strauss believed that myths reflect patterns in the mind which are more fixed mental structures - specifically, pairs of oppositions rather than unconscious feelings or urges e.g., Raw vs. Cooked, Nature vs. Culture.
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