Wordsmythic

Ancient myths meet modern sensibilities. Poems by L.F. Snead, all rights reserved ©️ 

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The tragic romance of Tristan and Isolde has many versions and many endings. The one that inspired this sonnet tells of how Tristan lay dying, waiting for his love. He knew that if she came to him, she’d arrive with white sails on her ship; if the ship arrived without her, it would wear black sails. In the end the hero is told that the sails are black, though this is a lie, and he dies before Isolde reaches him. 😢

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The Secret Name of Ra — This Egyptian myth tells us how the goddess Isis tricked the sun god Ra into telling her his secret name, in order to gain his power and sovereignty. It’s easy to view her simply as a power hungry character, but what if all she really wanted was equality? What if she knew she was just as worthy of such power as he was?

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In Greek myth, the children of Leto are Apollo and Artemis — the shining twins. He is the god of the sun, archery, poetry (!!), healing, and many other things; she is the goddess of the moon, hunting, and animals, among others. Basically they’re both multi talented and very badass. 🌞 🌝 🏹

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Happy Earth Day one and all. 🌍💚💙

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Over these last few weeks, as I write, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we humans have proved ourselves undeserving of the weapons we bear — for obvious reasons (look at what guns have done in the last few months alone). But instead of preaching about it too much, I’ll do my normal myth nerd thing and let the god of thunder do it for me.

God of Thunder (Notes from the Norse Pantheon, Part III)

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God of Things-You-Do-Not-Wish-For (Notes from the Norse Pantheon, part II)

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An Address to Midgard (Notes from the Norse Pantheon, Part I)

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Notes from the Egyptian Pantheon

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Gentlemen -

We’ll always be better once we recognize our toxic habits and commit to fixing them.

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Misinformation and false “facts” can be the most dangerous myths of all.

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Yggdrasil, the tree is called, not knowing the name is stemmed from “gallows” • For from its branches Odin was hanged, to learn of a wisdom devine • Perhaps, if he’d shared such a wisdom with Midgard, they wouldn’t be following fast in his footfalls — blindly and stubbornly hanging themselves from the wood of the world shaping tree...

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The Norse myths never fail to inspire.