Astrology 101 - Aries, for startersOK, get out your grain of salt.... ARIES - The Martian. You are an alien amongst us all. You were cooked for 9 months, apparently immune to all astral influence.. Astrology - myth or science?Well astrology (and I mean Western astrology in a broad sense) is scientific in that there's a testable hypothesis; and there are plenty of people running longi.. Romulus and RemusWhen you can't explain how something important started it's tempting to make up a story. Whoever makes that story up gets credit points, especially if the story.. Arthur and his horsesYes, OK, I'm on the case. Seems Arthur had a few names for his horses. That's assuming Arthur himself is for real. Which he probably isn't. The legendary Arthur.. Yahweh, Mithras and Mazda.Yeah, OK, Mazda is a car company. But before the name was linked to a car company, or a light bulb manufacturer for that matter - in fact long before - Ahura Ma.. Language myths Ignoring the truth - or what we imagine to be the truth of written language spontaneously being invented at least 3 times in human history - what are the mytho.. Indus Valley civilisationNot so much a myth as a mystery, the Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3300–1700 BC) was - as the name suggests - an ancient riverine civilization that flourished i.. Centaurs and their ilkOK, we know they don't - or didn't exist. Or we are pretty certain, anyway, because we've never found 'em for starters - dead or alive, fossilised or not. They .. Speaking of Potter, what of Flamel?Whilst Harry Potter is a fictional character it is clear that creator JK Rowling researched her subject. There was a Philosopher's Stone , or at least a belief .. Burning Harry PotterForbes mag reports here on book-burnings , especially of Harry Potter novels . Now these fundamentalist views are right - author J K Rowling is indeed influenci.. One basis for religious mythsIt's not hard to guess why we have epic myths about creation, but religion goes much further. The typically well formed religion offers buffers against all sort.. RevelationsI can't not write about Revelations. It's apocalyptic. It's about the end of the Earth. Or of our days on Earth, maybe. Supposedly written by John, Revelations .. Zeus - Greek god of the sky and thunderIn Greek mythology Zeus is the highest ranking of the Olympian gods and the god of the sky and thunder. He was the son of Cronus and Rhea, and the youngest of h.. Want to search the Bible?Try this! Biiible search (no offence to Google!) And then counter it with this (the Evil Bible Top 10 list). Palimpsests - revealing the pastOccasionally I see a word that just has to be used, somewhere - anywhere. Today's word is palimpsest . According to Wikipedia a palimpsest is a document that ha.. Haruspices Haruspices - you know, the ancient form of divination trusted by the Etruscans and refined by the Romans. The Babylonians were also into it. In its essence we .. The Epic of Gilgamesh The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient story from Babylonia, and comprises of a series of Sumerian legends and poems about the hero-king Gilgamesh. He was born ou.. Creation Myths part 2 - MardukIt's worth noting that some accounts of Marduk suggest that after cleaving Tiamat in 2 to form the heavens and the Earth he drained the blood of the god Kingu t.. Creation mythsThere's nothing quite as compelling as a great story of internecine family disputes, especially when it leads to Creation. Creation of us and Earth, because the.. ResurrectionIt occurs to me that this is quite common: resurrection , I mean. Whilst the sun rises and falls, only to be reborn the following day, it is pretty much the sam.. Griffins, Gryphons and their ilk Griffins can be simply eagle-headed men or women, but more usually are lion-bodied and can have an eagle's wings as well as equine ears and - sometimes - even .. More on GoddessesThere's a long history here and it's natural that man, struggling in the wild, fighting tooth and nail for a niche in the wilderness should take special note of.. Tiresias, the blind seerAnother fascinating story that I have marvelled over for decades is the story of the blind seer, Tiresias. It's got it all. It goes somewhat like this (there is.. Kali and MedusaNo, they weren't flatmates in some sordid uni squat. But they do have some interesting parallels. Medusa , the Gorgon with writhing snake-hair, feared by all, o.. Months of the calendarA bit Anglo-centric and Western I know but I've always liked the history behind seemingly simple things like the calendar. Firstly there are some contradictions..
