Parallel Myths

Subsection 1 Summary: “India”

The Indian creation myth begins with Brahma, who “created and re-created the world many, many times” (39). After each creation, his old body is discarded, becoming another element of his creation: night, which creates the demons, and day, which creates the devas (“shining gods”). After he creates humans from the energy of his mind, his cast-off body becomes the moon, which is why humans dance and make love under the moonlight. Out of his fifth incarnation are born the ogres, and Brahma is so disturbed by this creation, his hair falls out and becomes all the creatures that crawl on their bellies and hide in dark places. Returning to pleasant thoughts, he creates birds, mammals, and plants.

In another version of this myth, Brahma is everything yet alone, and out of his loneliness, he divides himself into two halves: male and female. Reuniting the two halves is the act of making love. As the woman, out of confusion, tries to elude the male by turning into a cow, he turns into a bull, and thus they spawn cattle. Man and woman continue this shape-shifting procreation dance until all species of animals are created.

Subsection 2 Summary: “Iran”

Pre-Islam, Iran’s primary religion was Zoroastrianism, based on the teachings of its prophet, Zoroaster. Zoroastrianism posits a clear duality in the universe: good (the god Ormazd) versus evil (the god Ahriman). When Ormazd casts light into the dark void to create the world, Ahriman, distrustful of his virtuous counterpart, vows to wage war on his creation. The utterance by Ormazd of a sacred verse casts Ahriman into hell, where he is trapped for 3,000 years while Ormazd continues to create the universe. He begins with his “Eternal Attendants” (the Amesha Spentas), who embody goodness and noble works. These attendants are the personification of human virtues such as truth, devotion, integrity, and immortality. Next, he creates the angels (Yazatas), messengers and warriors who assist humanity in times of need. Later, Ahriman creates demons as counterparts to the Yazatas.

Ormazd is both male (the physical aspect) and female (the spiritual). His final creation is Gayomart, the first man, and his ox. They live in peace for 30 years before Ahriman is released from hell, whereupon he creates flies, filth, and pestilence. One of Ahriman’s demons, Johi, infects Gayomart with a deadly disease. When Gayomart dies, his spiritual light is released, depositing gold and silver into the earth. His sperm creates the great tree, which bears the 10 races of mankind. The tree separates into a man, Mashya, and a woman, Mashyane, his wife. Although Ormazd loves Mashya and Mashyane, they fall prey to Ahriman’s lies and believe that the evil lord is their creator. As punishment for their betrayal, Ormazd obligates them to a lifetime of toil. He also instructs them in the act of intercourse so they may procreate. Determined to thwart Ormazd’s creation, Ahriman and Johi take away man and woman’s sexual desire; and when they do procreate, demons devour the children. To make the offspring less palatable, Ormazd removes “a little of the sweetness of the children, and they became like the children of today” (43). The myth foretells the ultimate triumph of good over evil, but humans must trust in the goodness of Ormazd, the Wise Lord.

Subsection 3 Summary: “The Norse Creation Myth”

This story is taken from the epic The Elder Edda. In the beginning, there is only a dark void shrouded in mist. Within this void lies a fountain from which 12 rivers flow until they eventually freeze. When a warm breeze flows from the south, the rivers melt, forming clouds that in turn form Ymir, a frost giant, and his cow. As the ice continues to melt, salt is exposed. The cow licks the salt until he uncovers a man buried in the ice. This is the first god, father of Odin, Vili, and Ve, whose three sons slay Ymir and whose blood salts the seas. His bones form the mountains, his flesh forms the earth, and his hair becomes the many species of plants. From an ash tree, Odin creates a man, and from an elm, a woman. Odin gives them life and a soul, Vili gives them “reason and motion, and Ve gave them speech and motion” (45).

Odin separates day from night and creates Midgard (“Middle Earth”) for humans to dwell in. He also creates Asgard, home of the gods. The underworld, where the souls of the dead reside, is watched over by Odin’s sister, Hel.

Some scholars have argued that Native American creation mythology was directly influenced by Scandinavian myths. One example: The evil god in both traditions is named Loki, and in both mythologies, man is created from a tree.

Subsection 4 Summary: “Greek Creation Myths”

Greek mythology has both matriarchal and patriarchal creation stories. In one, Eurynome, the Great Goddess, is born of the sea of chaos. As she dances upon the sea, the great serpent, Ophion, makes love to her, producing an egg. When the egg hatches, all living things pour from it. Eurynome and Ophion live happily for a time on Mount Olympus until Ophion’s endless boasting grows tiresome, and Eurynome “bruised his head with her heel” (46), casting him down into the darkness.

In another matriarchal myth, Geia, Mother Earth, emerges from the chaos and bears a son, Uranus, the personification of heaven and sky. He showers his mother with rain in gratitude, causing life to germinate and grow on Earth.

One patriarchal myth tells of Geia, spawned from chaos alongside Erebus (darkness), which then produces the atmosphere, the oceans, and the light of day. Uranus and Geia spawn the children of the earth, the Titans—Hyperion, Rhea, Mnesmosyne, Phoebe, and Cronus. Uranus, jealous of Geia’s love for her children, hides them deep in a cavern, but as they grow, they cause Geia pain. Cronus decides to take revenge on Uranus and castrates his father, flinging the parts into the sea from which they form Aphrodite, goddess of love.

Cronus, now master of the gods, marries Rhea, and their offspring include Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Ares, and Zeus. Now Cronus becomes jealous of Rhea’s love for their children, so he swallows them all, except Zeus (Rhea deceives Cronus, hiding Zeus on the isle of Crete for protection). When Zeus grows to manhood, he and his siblings—having been vomited up by Cronus—battle the Titans for mastery of the universe. The gods prevail, and Zeus becomes uncontested lord of Mount Olympus.

Subsection 5 Summary: “Creation Myths of Africa”

The Yoruba

In the beginning is Chaos, a marshy waste. In the sky above lives Olorun, the Supreme Being, attended by, among others, Orisha Nla (“the Great God”). Olorun bids Orisha Nla to create a world using “a snail shell full of magic earth, a pigeon, and a five-toed hen” (48). He casts the magic earth into the chaos, and the hen and pigeon scratch at it until they separate land from sea. Orisha Nla continues his work, and Ifé (“wide”) becomes the first place on earth, followed by Ilé (“house”). To this day, the Yoruba people of West Africa revere the city of Ifé-Ilé.

After four days, Orisha Nla rests. He then plants trees, and the great forests grow. Finally, he fashions people from the earth, but only Olorun can breathe life into them. Eager to witness this, Orisha Nla hides in Olorun’s workshop, but the Supreme Being becomes aware of him and casts a deep sleep over him, preserving that most sacred power for himself.

Madagascar

The Creator makes two men and a woman who wander the earth unaware of the existence of others. The first man, in his loneliness, fashions a wooden statue of a girl. When the second man happens upon the statue, he falls in love with its beauty but is shocked by her nakedness and covers her with flowers. When the woman discovers the statue, she asks the Creator to give it life, which he does. When the three argue over who may possess the girl, the Creator deems that the first man, since he formed her out of wood, is her father. The woman, who gave her life, shall be her mother. The third man, who clothed her, shall be her husband. All humans are descended from these three.

In an alternate version, the Creator watches his daughter, Mother Earth, make dolls out of clay. He gives the dolls life, creating the race of humans. As the people worship Mother Earth, the Creator argues that it is wrong for his daughter to accept the humans’ praise and sacrifice without offering any sacrifice of her own. Therefore, the Creator takes the souls of half of humanity—the oldest ones—and leaves the other half to live. The Creator who gave life can only take their souls, but Mother Earth, who crafted their bodies, receives them back into her bosom after death.

Subsection 6 Summary: “Creation Myths of Egypt”

The sun god, Ra, emerges from the watery abyss and creates the world from the words of his mouth. He blows out the air and creates Shu, the god of air and the life force; he expels the water and creates Tefnut, the organizer of world order. Next, he creates the goddess Hathor—the Eye of Ra—to act as his sight. When he sheds tears, he creates the first humans, followed by the serpents and other creatures.

An excerpt from the ancient text The Ennead (2700 B.C.) recounts a variation of this myth. In it, the heart (Horus) and the tongue (Thoth) are given life by Ptah in the form of Atum, and, in the process, they gain control over the body. The words of the tongue create the Shu and Tefnut. As the words and the heart work together, all the gods are created, and the divine order comes into being. Content with the order of the world, the gods gather to Ptah, the Supreme Being.

Subsection 7 Summary: “The Creation Myth of Finland”

In the Finnish epic the Kalevala, the goddess of the air, Ilma, has a virgin daughter, Luonnatar, who dwells in the stars. She is lonely and so descends to the primordial sea, where she floats for 700 years. A male duck lands on her knee and builds a nest where he lays his eggs. The nest burns Luonnatar, however, and she turns over, spilling the eggs into the sea, where the yolks become the sun, the whites the moon, and the speckled shell the stars and clouds.

Subsection 8 Summary: “The Chinese Creation Myth”

Chaos takes the form of an egg. It separates into yin and yang, male and female. Part of it rises up to form the heavens, while the heavier parts become the earth and sea. Out of the egg is also born the giant, Pangu. Pangu grows for 18,000 years until his body spans the distance between earth and heaven. Then he dies, and his decomposing body forms the mountains, the sun and moon, the rivers, and the wind, and finally, his bones form metals and stones, his semen becomes pearls, and his bone marrow, jade.

Subsection 9 Summary: “The Creation Myth of Japan”

This creation myth, taken from the Kojiki, begins with a “vast, oily sea of Chaos” (54), upon which three spirits gaze. They decide to create a world, producing at first many gods, including Izanagi and Izanami (“male who invites” and “female who invites,” respectively). Izanagi is given a magic spear. When he and Izanami descend to the sea of Chaos, he stirs the spear in the water, and the drops form an island. When they discover that their physical bodies fit together, they join them, and Izanami “began to conceive many wonderful things” (54), including islands, waterfalls, and mountains. When she gives birth to the fire spirit, her body is burned, and she becomes ill. Her vomit becomes the “Metal Mountain” prince and princess, her feces become clay, and her urine becomes the spirit of Fresh Water.

As Izanami dies, she descends to the Land of Night. Izanagi follows her but flees after seeing her decaying form. As he runs, he drops two combs from his head, which become grapevines and bamboo shoots. The night spirits sent by Izanami to bring back her husband stop to the eat the grapes and bamboo shoots, and Izanagi escapes. Izanami then sends a legion of thunder-spirits and warriors after him, but he throws peaches at them, and they run in fear (from this story comes the adage that peaches dispel evil spirits). Furious at her husband, she threatens to kill 1,000 people every day until he returns, to which he replies that he will create 1,000 new people every day. As Izanagi washes in a stream, many gods are born, including the sun-goddess, the moon, and the storm-god.

Subsection 10 Summary: “Creation Myths of Polynesia”

Ao and Po

At first, there is only a watery Chaos, until Ku, the Creator, separates Ao (light, day, the “male principle”) from Po (dark, night, the “female principle”). Ku then creates the great squid, the god of the sea, as well as Kane, the first human, who seeds a great many plants and animals. However, he desires a child in his own image, so he fashions a daughter—Hine-hau-ona (“earth-formed woman”)—from the clay of Hawaiki. Kane and Hine-hau-ona have a daughter of their own, Hine-titama, but Kane takes her as his wife, violating the natural laws against incest. When Hine-titama discovers that Kane is really her father, she flees to her mother in the underworld, where they rule over the dead. Kane is forbidden from ever seeing his daughter again. As a result, people must spend their waking lives in the daylight, in the realm of Kane and Ao, but when they die, they return to the night, to the darkness of the womb ruled over by the Great Mother.

New Zealand

Rangi (“Father Sky”) and Papa-tuanuku (“Mother Earth”) give birth to the gods, 70 in all. As earth and sky have not yet been separated, there is not room for all 70. Tu-matauenga, the god of discord, suggests killing Rangi to make room, but the other gods disapprove. Tane-mahuta, the god of the forests, proposes lifting Rangi up, separating him from Mother Earth. The gods of agriculture, the sea, and food plants all try, but they cannot create a space big enough. Finally, Tane-mahuta pushes earth and sky apart in much the same way a tree grows. While Rangi is saddened to be separated from Papa-tuanuku—his tears form the dew and the rain—the world is now large enough to accommodate all living things.

Subsection 11 Summary: “Creation Myths of the Americas”

Sioux

The Great Spirit sits atop the Red Rocks, stained from the blood of the buffalo he has killed. One day, a snake slithers into the bird’s nest looking for eggs to eat. When an egg hatches, the Great Spirit, seeing the snake, grabs a piece of “pipestone” to drive it away but then molds the stone into a man. His feet grow into the ground like roots, and he grows older than a hundred men. Eventually, another tree grows beside him, and when the snake gnaws away their roots, they wander off together, the first man and woman.

Pawnee

Tirawa Atius, the “great eternal God” (59), creates all living things: the Path of the Departing Star (Milky Way), the Path of the Male Principle (the Morning Star), and the Path of the Female Principle (the Evening Star). The Morning Star pursues the Evening Star to make love to her, but she eludes him, testing him with obstacles placed in his path. She casts a ball of fire into the great body of water, part of which dries up, revealing rocks and earth. From these rocks, she casts a pebble into the great water to create the earth. Tirawa appoints four spirits—North, South, East, West—to watch over the earth. Morning Star eventually catches up with Evening Star. They make love and create a daughter. As a sign of his love, Morning Star makes rain to water Evening Star’s “celestial garden.” From this rain, many plants grow, including “Mother Maize.”

Arikara

Nesaru, the Sky Spirit (or the Great Mystery), creates two brothers, Wolf-man and Lucky-man. The brothers command two ducks swimming in the endless water to swim to the bottom and fetch some earth. With this earth, Wolf-man makes the Great Plains and Lucky-man the mountains. The brothers then find two spiders living beneath the earth and teach them how to procreate, and they create a variety of plants and animals as well as a race of evil giants. Nesaru eventually makes a great flood to destroy the giants but spares the humans from this destruction.

Chippewa/Algonquin

The Great Earth Mother has two sons, Glooskap and Malsum. Glooskap is kind and creative, while Malsum is malicious and destructive. When their mother dies, Glooskap creates plants, animals, and humans; Malsum creates poisonous plants and snakes. Jealous of his brother, Malsum plots to kill Glooskap. Because he cannot tell a lie, Glooskap confesses his one vulnerability—owl feathers—so Malsum fashions a dart from an owl feather and kills his brother. Glooskap rises from the dead, however, because good will always triumph over evil. Luring Malsum to a river, Glooskap kills Malsum with Malsum’s one vulnerability: a fern. Malsum’s spirit is sent underground, where it dwells forever in the form of a wolf-spirit.

Iroquois

In the beginning, before the earth is created, human beings dwell in the sky. One day, a chief’s daughter becomes ill, and a wise old man suggests a certain tree root as a cure. As the community digs up the roots of the tree, both the three and the daughter fall through the hole into the vast expanse of water below. Two swans, unaccustomed to such things, seek the advice of the Great Turtle, who tells all the sea creatures to seek out some “magic earth” from the roots of the tree and create an island for the girl to live on. Only the toad is able to find the earth. He spits it out and creates a land mass but dies in the process. Light had not yet reached the water, but the girl tells the Turtle about the light in the world above, so the Turtle instructs the burrowing animals to make holes in the sky so the light can reach them. The girl “is the mother of all living things” and represents humanity’s origins from the union of sky, land, and sea (63).

Yuma

Kokomaht, the Creator, lives in the water below the darkness and sky. He speaks his name, asserting himself as Father of all. Kokomaht is two beings in one, but a third being emerges, the evil Bakotahl. Bakotahl tries to deceive Kokomaht into coming out of the water with his eyes open, but Kokomaht perceives the deception and instead lures Bakotahl out with his eyes open, which blinds him, hence the name Bakotahl, “the blind one.”

Kokomaht then creates the earth by “scattering” the seas, but Bakotahl wants to be part of the creation process, so he gathers clay and fashions humans. Being blind, however, his creations have no fingers or toes, so Kokomaht fashions his own humans, male and female, swinging them to the North and South to give them life. Bakotahl is jealous of his brother’s perfect creations, and so he makes disease and sin and other plagues of man.

Now alone, Kokomaht creates all human races, the white race last, and teaches them how to procreate. However, the Frog rebels against Kokomaht, drawing out his breath and killing him. As he dies, Kokomaht teaches the people of the world about death. Kokomaht’s son, Komashtam’ho, continues his father’s work, creating the sun and the stars. Komashtam’ho decides to burn his father’s body, creating trees for a funeral pyre. As the body burns, Coyote lurks in the edge of the pyre, waiting to devour Kokomaht’s heart. Komashtam’ho, sensing Coyote’s plan, sends him to the east to fetch fire, and before he returns, Badger eats the Creator’s heart instead. Komashtam’ho curses Coyote, branding him a thief forever to be despised by the human race. As the funeral pyre burns, the heat dries up the land, forming the desert in which the Yuma now live. Komashtam’ho tells the people that, like Kokomaht, their spirits will survive their physical deaths, living on with the spirits of loved ones.

Pima

In the beginning, there is darkness and water, and from that, the Creator is born. He becomes aware of who he is and what his task is, and he pulls from his heart a “magic creation stick” (66). He uses the resin that collects at the bottom of the stick to create ants and then, rolling the resin into a ball, creates the earth. Casting rocks into the sky, he creates the moon and stars. They do not provide enough light, so he creates the sun and bounces it from east to west, from which directions it rises and sets.

Zuni

Only moisture exists, and it then becomes clouds. From these clouds, the Creator, Awonawilona, forms the sea, which he fertilizes with his own flesh. Green algae grows over the sea, which produces the sky and the earth. The interaction of the sun with the algae creates all living things. The eggs of humans and animals are then incubated in four caves, the Creator providing enough warmth to sustain them. The eggs hatch, giving birth to the living world.

The Playanos of Southern California

Nocuma, the all-powerful, creates the world, rolling it in his hands, but it does not remain in one place, so he anchors it with a great rock, Tosaut. The only water are rivers and streams, and they are overpopulated with fish, some of which crawl onto land, but they die in the heat. Some of the larger fish attack Tosaut, which splits open, scattering salt into the water and creating the oceans. Nocuma then creates man out of soil and seawater, calling him Ejoni, and a woman, Ae. Ejoni and Ae are the forebears of all humans on earth.

Maya

Four gods—Yellow, Red, Black, and Colorless—sit on their thrones. They decide to make a man, so Yellow creates a man out of clay, but it dissolves in water. Red makes a man out of wood, but it burns in fire. Black makes a man out of gold, and, although it is solid and survives the fire test, it has neither heart nor speech. The Colorless god makes a man out of his own flesh, and these men thrive in the world. When they discover the man of gold, they warm his heart with their kindness, and he comes to life. The four gods name the gold man “rich” and the flesh men “poor,” decreeing that the rich shall care for the poor. From that time forward, no rich man may enter heaven unless accompanied by a poor man.

Inca

In the beginning is only darkness, but out of a lake emerges the god Con Tiqui Viracocha. He brings with him human beings, after which he creates the sun (Inti), the moon, and the stars to provide light. The emperor of the Inca, it is said, is descended from Inti. Con Tiqui then fashions more people out of rocks and disperses them to all corners of the world, keeping one male and one female with him.

In another Incan creation myth, the creator, Con, fills the earth with all manner of bounty, but the people forget his goodness and rebel against him. He punishes them by stopping the rain, forcing them to dredge the dry riverbeds for water. However, a new god, Pachachamac, drives Con out and turns his people into monkeys. He then creates a new race of humans, the descendants of humanity today.

Subsection 12 Summary: “The Babylonian Creation Myth”

There is, at the beginning, Apsu, the sky god, and Tiamat, the goddess of chaos. Their union produces the other gods, who, growing restless, choose Marduk to slay Tiamat and her lover, Kingu, and to finish the act of creation. After slaying Tiamat, Marduk ensnares her minions and uses her body to create the “ceiling” of the sky. He creates the constellations and designates three constellations for each month. He creates “savage” man to serve the gods. Kingu is held in judgment before Ea, god of the waters, and his arteries are severed, the blood creating the rest of mankind, who are charged with service to the gods.

Subsection 13 Summary: “The Biblical Creation Stories”

Some scholars believe that the first and second accounts of the biblical creation story were combined and integrated into the Torah.

First Account (Genesis 1:1-2:4)

In the beginning, God (“Elohim”) creates heaven and earth. The earth is darkness, so God’s first creation is light, which separates day from night (Day One). On Day Two, God creates Heaven, separating the waters below from the waters above. He creates land masses and gathers the waters below into the vast seas. On the third day, he creates all manner of plants and seed-bearing vegetation. On the fourth day, God places the sun in the sky to govern day and the moon to govern night. On the fifth day, God fills the sky with birds and the seas with fish. On the sixth day, He creates the land animals, the cattle, the reptiles, and all kinds of wild beasts. Lastly, God creates man in his own image and appoints him master of all the other creatures. God rests on the seventh day and thus proclaims it a holy day.

Second Account (Genesis 2:5-25)

In this account, God is known as the more traditional Yahweh. After Yahweh creates heaven and earth, the land is barren, for Yahweh did not sent rain down nor did he create the plants or animals. However, a flood rises, moistening the soil, and Yahweh creates Man out of the dust, breathing life into his nostrils. Then he creates the Garden of Eden and fills it with plants, including the Tree of Knowledge. A river flows into the Garden, and God separates it into four smaller rivers: the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. God places Man in the Garden and allows him to eat from every tree except for the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; eating of that tree will cause him to die. Then God creates all manner of animals as the Man’s “helpmates” and bids the Man give them names. Finally, God creates Woman out of Man’s rib, and they are joined as husband and wife, “and they become one body” (76).

The Talmudic Creation Story

This story—the Talmud as a whole, in fact—was the result of rabbinical debate meant to resolve discrepancies in the Old Testament.

As God decides to create the world, each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet wants to be the first spoken by the Creator. He chooses the letter “Beth,” and his first word is baruch (“blessing”). On the first day, God creates the heavens and the earth, night and day. Casting a stone into the “great void,” He creates the heart of earth. On the second day, He makes the angels. On the third day, he creates all the plants of the earth. He also places iron in the ground with which to make axes to cut down “the great cedars of Lebanon…lest they grow too tall and arrogant” (77). On that same day, God creates “Gan Eden” as a paradise for Adam and Eve. On the fourth day, He creates the sun, the moon, and the stars. On the fifth day, He fills the waters with sea creatures and the skies with birds. On the sixth day, God fills the earth with animals. When he considers creating Man, however, some of the angels are jealous that God would create another “sentient being.” Angered by their jealousy, God creates a fire that consumes them. God then collects soil from the four corners of the world and creates Adam, the first Man.

When God gives Man a soul, the angels—led by Samael (Satan)—once again complain that a lowly thing made of dirt would have a soul just as they do. Angered by their arrogance, God casts the angels out of heaven into hell. When Adam sees that all the animals have male/female counterparts, he wonders why he doesn’t have a female, so God creates Lilith. Lilith, however, dislikes the dominant way Adam makes love (with himself on top) for they are both equal, both made from dust. After she recites the “unspeakable” name of God, she is banished to live among the demons. God then creates Eve, a “good woman,” for Adam, and they live happily in the Garden. Satan and Lilith, however, “were busy plotting how to confound these good people” (78).

Subsection 14 Summary: “The Creation”

In this poem by African American poet James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), God creates the world because he is lonely. He separates day from night, and as he walks upon the earth, his footsteps hollow out the valleys and push up the mountains. He spits out the seas, he claps his hands, and thunder rumbles, sending rain down and causing the plants to grow. As the lakes fill and the rivers run, God calls “Bring forth! Bring forth!” (79), and the animals and birds populate the earth. God, however, is still lonely, so he sits by a riverbank and decides to make a man. He scoops up a handful of clay, forms a man, and breathes life into him.

Subsection 15 Summary: “Some Notes on the Creation Myths”

The Serpent

The serpent is a common element in many creation stories for a number of reasons. The most obvious is its phallic association. Another, according to Joseph Campbell, is its ability to shed its skin, suggesting the idea of rebirth, similar to the waxing and waning of the moon. It’s no mere coincidence that in so many myths, the sun represents the masculine principle while the moon represents the feminine: “The moon is the lord and measure of the life-creating cycle of the womb” (81). The moon is also lord of the tides, and similarly, the snake glides through the water with a wavelike motion. Its ability to swallow prey whole is associated with the vagina as a “swallower.” Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov sees parallels between the biblical serpent and the dragon in the Babylonian creation story. Both suggest Chaos, and in the Book of Isaiah, the serpent is referred to as a “dragon that is in the sea” (82). The association of Satan and the serpent came later, cemented in the popular imagination by Milton’s Paradise Lost.

Dr. M. L. von Franz examines the serpent from a Jungian perspective. The snake, he argues, is a symbol of transcendence, both as the medical symbol, the Caduceus, and as “a mediation between heaven and earth” (82). The Naga serpents are present in Indian myth, as are the serpents coiled around the staff of Hermes in ancient Greece. Chronologically, the serpent usually appears before humans in creation stories, and Bierlein suggests that perhaps an “ancestral memory” may account for it, a subconscious knowledge of a time when reptiles predated humans on Earth.

Water

Water is a potent symbol in most creation stories, and, in Jungian terms, it represents “the quest for wisdom or for communication between the conscious and unconscious mind” (84). The rite of baptism suggests a metaphorical purification, and the ubiquity of “watery Chaos” in so many stories may be read as a direct allusion to the primordial stew from which all life evolved.

Bierlein then notes some striking parallels between creation mythology and the various early periods in Earth’s history. For example, the Cambrian Period (600 million years ago) marked the transition from Earth’s anaerobic phase, in which early life was not dependent on oxygen, to its aerobic phase, when oxygen levels reached a level to sustain life. At this point, the oceans witnessed an “explosion” of life. Similarly, many creation deities begin their creation of animal life by populating the waters. During the Silurian Period (425 million years ago), oxygen levels increased, plants flourished, and much of the water began to dry up, in effect “separating” the land from the sea. Human beings appear most recently in the evolution of the planet, as they also are the last creatures to be given life in many creation myths.

The Tree

As towering living beings rooted firmly in the earth with lifespans of hundreds of years, trees are powerful symbols of immortality. They connect with the gods, their roots burrowing into “Mother Earth” and their soaring branches touching “Father Sky.” In many myths—Norse, Sioux, Persian—man is created from trees, suggesting a downfall or a downgrade to lesser status. Man is rootless and can touch neither the earth nor the sky, and it is the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden that is responsible for humanity’s original sin. Trees symbolize wisdom as well. The Buddha gained enlightenment sitting beneath a bodhi tree (as did Isaac Newton, according to legend). Trees may also be responsible for humans’ superior cognitive development. As our early ancestors learned to survive in the treetops, they were forced to develop excellent hand-eye coordination, keen eyesight, and “an intuitive grasp of Newtonian gravitation” to avoid lethal falls. In Jungian psychology, the continuous growth of the tree serves as a metaphor for human spiritual growth (89).