APPROACHING DIVINE NATURE

Selu at Qualla Boundary, in NC (Eastern Band Cherokee)
photo credit: public sculpture, Waymark also, more views

IN MYTHOLOGICAL FIGURES

original being is a pluck spirit
rubbed & ground to grit
no spirit land held in demesne

©2015 Held In Trust stephaniepope mythopoetry.com
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notes

1. For land held in trust see wiki link above on the public lands at Qualla Boundary.
2. For notions of how to get around white mythology and mythic dominants see the blog post at Urocyon's Meanderings, "Selu", March 23, 2010 which provides at least three good sources on examining layers of appropriation when approaching cross cultural boundaries.
3. See Meloukhia's 'What Is 'splainin'? And Why should I Care?
4. See Peggy McIntosh "White Privelege: Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack". Furthermore, by extension,  how does focusing on racism as a primarily "black" issue mask the plight of indigenous peoples?
5. A little language, a little history, a little lifestyle.

SEMELE-STIMULA

Bernard Picart,1731
photo credit: wiki

IN REMARKABLE DEATH

None can look upon the face of god and live
              ~ Dante, Paradiso, canto twenty-one


In a temerity bequeathed her
you inherit corn spirit.

Let her wisdom precede you―Go!
Find your father.


©2015 Endless Pleasure stephaniepope mythopoetry.com
#ohjDailyWords #ohj #vss #micropoetry #mythopoetics


notes

1. For depictions of Semele in mythology and in art see Mythography which notes the following:  1.The name, “Semele” is not native to Greek language.  2. Although “there is some controversy about the precise origin of this legendary figure, one thing about Semele is certain - her story….quite popular in Greek myth.” It is a tale of remarkable death.
2. For Semele/Stimula see http://www.mythologydictionary.com/semele-mythology.html  for a scant synopsis of the myth. See also Ovid, “Fasti” trans. Anne Wiseman p. 118 for the ‘stimulae’ (Stimula) version of the myth.
3. Dante uses the myth to warn against temerity when approaching the sacred. See notes for canto twenty-one p 459 of Anthony Esolen’s “Paradise” translation. But also, Dante understands one must approach.
4. To experience the historical soul of indigenous peoples now telling their own narratives about a time of great upheaval that causes the archetypal activism of this feminine principle in the form of images of Selu, the corn maiden or first woman/mother of Cherokee polis to erupt in the visions and dreams of  19thC Cherokee people, visit http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/564

5. Handel’s “Semele”