Wednesday
Nov302011
Pan Speaks: (News From the Mythosphere, Part Two)
11.30.2011 
And here's The Waterboys song, The Return of Pan (with thanks to Steve De Jarnatt for the multimedia reference).
11.30.2011 
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Reader Comments (23)
Brilliant! How inspired! Your creativity knows no bounds, dear Kaaren and Richard. I especially love Pan's smack-down of Apollo's "Sun King" attitude. :) Poor misunderstood Pan. You have helped to right the misaligned (and maligning) perceptions of him, and in a perfectly wild way which Pan himself would no doubt appreciate! Yes, more frolicking please...
much love,
dawna
and I meant to add:
that "Boink! Boink!" at the Passion Cafe (with echo echo) cracked me up. :)
xo,
d
Wonderful graphic novel-ish creation!! So fun and punny and clever!
Really wonderful look at Pan...and PANIC during this raucous season!
xo Suki
Dawna dearest:
Whether it was Antioch that made you one, or you brought the skill with you to that MFA program, know that we delight in having such a "close reader." You get it all, from the sublime to the silly, and we thank the gods and goddesses for you.
--Kaaren and Richard
Dear Suki:
We (and all those gods and goddesses) wish you a wonderfully raucous, and pan-ic free season. Thanks for going out on the limb with us into this format, and enjoying the fruits at the end of said limb. Leave it to Pan to have a VERY graphic novel.
XOXO
K & R
And then there was that Milton invention, the Hades Utopia of Pandemonium. Which locates the interior place in us of the hell-realm of addiction. So we have just cause to be wary of Pan. The riot that never ends, the fear that never ceases to sustain its own avoidance. There is no sanity without Pan and there is no insanity without Pan.
Bruce
Thank you, Bruce.
We don't want to get ahead of ourselves (so we won't) but you'll note that Pan has only the SECOND word from the mythosphere. Part three of the series will have some perspective on Pan's perspective, too.
--K & R
over-the-top creative!!! My absolute favorite parisplay so far (ok, I AM a visual artist). Never too old to go dancing with Pan.
MORE, MORE.
Jane
Oh, Jane,
Didn't we have fun with those Maenads? Thank the gods and goddesses that Pan is still alive and well. May the mountain dancing go on and on. Do you recognize the tower in the panel where Pan talks about his love life?
We're so happy you liked it. Of all the posts, we had the best time making this one.
Much love,
Kaaren & Richard
You should warn your loyal followers before you do something so totally wild and "out there." Or is that just my first panicky response? But the genie (and genius) is out of the bottle now, so let's have the whole damn graphic book of the Gods and Goddesses. xo John
Cher John:
Pan (as is his habit) so exhausted us with this one (indefatigable fellow) we feel like fragile reeds, but when we recover, this is a fine idea, which we have discussed.
May all your panics be so delightful,
--R and K
OH. MY. GODS.
Now THIS is something you should publish!!!!!!
(Not that the rest shouldn't be published. But this is just so......ridiculously original. Am I wrong here? Just sayin'.....)
Dear Kaaren and Richard,
My own micro-sphere has lately been filled with chaos. I've been absorbing this post since last Sunday, finding it most timely and useful to return to it today. This playful, funny, clever, and educational post offers solid solutions to a challenging area in my lfe. As one friend of mine calls these challenging people, "The turd in the punch bowl."
The escalation of non-sense bureaucracy and politics is giving me a chance to practice my focus. As I am drawing clear lines in the sand, I am continuing forward motion to creative fulfillment that is meaningful to me. As suggested, I am embracing the unruly wildness. Thoroughly enjoying and sharing the music and dance, sensory ease, frolic--and the gift of prophecy that Pan brings to the table makes it all a delightful adventure.
I never knew that the good-looking Apollo was such rip-off. And I am still giggling at the triad of images, which so aptly portray Pan's specialties, flocks, herds, and pollinating. Pan's frolicky nature sure took you over on this one.
Thank you for the fun approach to developing myself as a MASTER OF MY MYTHOSPHERE!
Love,
Marguerite
OH. MY. ANNA! Thank you!
We are completely open to the idea of our post or series of posts being published in a book or literary magazine.
From your mouth to the ears of the gods and goddesses of publishing....
Love,
Kaaren & Richard
Dear Marguerite,
Challenging people--we have a few of them around us too. Since you can't change their nature, you can at least change your own state of mind, your attitude. It helps to have the perspective of the mythosphere--that there are times when chaos overwhelms harmony, and Pan enters the picture. Pandemonium! Maybe our challenge is to outwit such corrosive spirits, as Mother Earth, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus outwitted Cronos.
Embracing the unruly! That's it!
Most of the stories in Ancient Greek myth of one god stealing another's gift are a coded reference to a stage in history when the patriarchy wrested power from the matriarchy of ancient Crete. Many of the myths were changed, such as the Pythoness being killed by Apollo at Delphi, and Apollo taking over her oracle there. In other words, a male god usurped the power of prophesy that had always belonged to the Great Goddess. Mother Earth, Pan, Hestia are all connected to the Great Goddess. One of the most effective ways to wrest power from women is to claim her gifts as your own.
Patriarchal culture harms Mother Earth. Perhaps we are moving into an era where male and female powers will both be revered. Wouldn't that be something.
In the meantime, as my paternal grandmother used to say: Perfect Your Corner. You always seem to be doing that with your entire being!
Much love,
Kaaren & Richard
K & R,
I appreciate your response to my response. The information and knowledge you are sharing with me and others is priceless. Being let in on the coded references, as you put it, engenders understanding of what the fa... jita! is going on around here, what's within my power to do about it, and confidence in the way I move through the world. I call the practice of perfecting my corner, my daily spiritual hygiene.
I am printing your response to read and re-read for greater assimilation.
Love,
Marguerite
OMG I'm suffering a bit of panic these last few days and this post does me more good than therapy! To "read" my panic as a fear of wildness makes so much sense! I feel an instant release, as I allow myself to feel the wildness of my nature and transform the panic into excitement and curiosity. (I'm more afraid of fear, than I am of the wild, both within and without.) And I love the graphic novel format - you two are such a team! I've noticed that Paris Play always makes me smile. See you soon. xo
Dear Marguerite,
I so empathize with your last comment. It is so confusing for women to navigate relationships and work in a culture as patriarchal to the bone as ours is. I couldn't even begin to understand the complexity of it until I went down into my own underworld and questioned absolutely everything I had learned from birth on. It's not a familial thing so much as it is the assumptions of all western culture; we are constantly being given messages that don't resonate with our deepest knowledge about ourselves as women and individuals. At the end of the quest, I discovered that the assumptions of the patriarchy harm men just as much as women, and simply don't work any longer now that we've come to the end of so-called western industrial "progress."
Something else is needed now, and it has to come from women stepping up, speaking out, shaping the world according to our life-affirming values. Men are changing too. Maybe together we can reshape our world before it's too late for Mother Earth.
Spiritual hygiene: that is an excellent phrase. Putting one's life in order, a daily work, the work of a lifetime, and the best way to heal the world, one individual at a time.
XOXO,
Kaaren & Richard
Dear Diane,
That panic you feel? It's in the air. The zeitgeist. Pan is popping up here and there and everywhere.
I know from your novel that wildness is completely natural to you. A little chaos spices things up, don't you think? Just not TOO much.
The graphic novel format was the most fun we've had in working on a post together. Pan asked for it, and Richard learned to design it in one day. One loooong day.
One of the antidotes for Pan-ic is to organize your papers and home. It calms you right down. We're doing it right now on our dining room table. Pan leaves the room when Hestia takes charge. He'd rather be out rioting.
Love you and thank you for keeping s.t.a.r.s. going strong.
Kaaren & Richard
Love this. It should be left all over Paris in pamphlet form. Have you heard the Waterboys song The Return of Pan. Will try to send it (but Itunes may deny it. ) It could be the soundtrack for this wondrous piece.