MYTHS  OF  CREATION

11.   Geophysical
Domain: ​Geogony

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* G E O -
from the Greek  :
'... 
...

​- G O N Y *
from the Greek γόνος :
‘Creation, generation, 
​or begetting’

​* ...
​...  *

​

* T H E O -
from the Greek  :
'... 
...

​- P H A N Y *
from the Greek ....:
‘...
...’

​* ...
... *

* H I E R O -
from the Greek  :
'... 
...

​- P H A N Y *
from the Greek ....:
‘...
...’

​* ...
... *

​

* D E L U G E *
from the Latin 
'...
​...'

​

* C A T A - 
from the Greek 
'...
...'

- C L Y S M *
from the Greek
'...
...'

* D E B A C L E *
from the
'...
​...' 

* E K P Y R O S I S * 
from the Greek ἐκπύρωσις
'...
​...' 

* I G N I S
from the ...
'...
...'

C O E L I S *
from the ...
'...
​...'

                        “Some say the world will end in fire,
                          Some say in ice ...”
                                                  — Robert Frost

   11.1.1 
It was universal to all mythopoeic peoples
that the Earth was under the sway 
of different planets 
during different Ages; 
& many ancient myths detailed how 
these successive Ages were initiated 
by certain appearances or manifestations  
of particular planets 
— such as reoccurring interplanetary conjunctions 
or even the appearance of multiple sun-stars 
seen in the sky all at once.

But the cosmovisions under consideration here 
were not concerned w/ Astronomical forces alone. 
In all mythopoeic communities 
people commonly & customarily associated
happenstances in the sky above
directly w/ those transpiring 
in the terrestrial world below;

— & invariably portrayed our present world 
as having only recently emerged 
from the aftermath of a battle 
among cosmic forces;
— universally maintaining that
violent changes in the natural order 
of planet Earth itself 
had always accompanied the turning over 
of previous World Ages as well.

Geophysical, atmospheric & climatological 
phenomena, as such,
(including traditional interpretations of 
natural events as supernatural incidents)
account for an equally substantial portion of 
the most commonplace themes & tropes
in all peoples’ traditional mythic histories.

   11.1.2
​Creation stories in both primitive 
& advanced cultures 
also frequently spoke of the act of creation
as a refashioning of planet Earth 
out of raw, rough-hewn material 
already preexisting prior to 
the new creative activity taking place.

— Whereas, creation ex nihil 
(”out of nothing”), on the other hand, 
was a theme rarely, if ever 
attested at all; — & indeed, 
the very concept seems to have been practically 
unknown in the ancient world at large.

— It was not present, for instance,
in Babylonian, Egyptian, or Greek cosmogonies
in the East; nor in any of the old 
Native American traditions in the West;
nor in any of those recovered from further abroad; 
— and its attested presence 
among Iranian and Hindu thinking,
much like that ascribed to Hebrew accounts of origin,
may indeed be interpreted quite differently 
vis a vis the broader global picture 
under scrutiny here . . . 

   11.2.1
Nor, in most mythological schemes, was 
this refashioning of the physical substance 
of the cosmos 
the property of a singular 
masculine god alone . . .  

In one of the most commonly attested mythos,
the world was described as
the progeny of Primordial Parents 
Mother Earth & Father Sky, 
who together comprised
an older creation’s compact wholeness 
prior to the appearance of 
any of the astral gods,
at a time when heaven & earth 
were not yet completely separated
& darkness & light were still 
chaotically intermingled.

In all cases, a violent disruption of 
the formerly close-fitting union of the primal parents
was catalyzed by the sudden antagonistic
theophany (or hierophany)
of one or more astral deities — 
who were themselves just as often regarded as 
Sky & Earth’s own rebellious offspring, until then 
still tightly situated between the two;

— & who, in search of more room for themselves
(& thus a different orientation in space),
caused the Sky above to recede 
in a blaze of upspringing light 
& the Earth below to come into full bloom 
w/ a new Creation of her own making. 

   11.2.2
In other closely related instances, 
Creation was said to be derived
from the hatching of 
a Cosmic or World Egg.  

— Similar to the separation that ensued 
between the preceding cosmogonic unity 
of the World Parents,
the cracking open of the cosmogonic Egg
was seen as the breaking open  
of the ‘mundane shell’ of the Sky 
over the Earth, as well as 
the climactic incipience of 
a new Creation
here below.

   11.3
Also equally common to practically all  
polyarchal religious systems
were folk-histories of 
major natural disasters 
that directly affected ancient societies 
on a catastrophic scale. 
— A diverse variety of these phenomena 
are prominently described in traditional 
Myths of Creation 
— typically cast in terms of 
supernatural characters & actions.
​

   11.3.1
In many early societies 
Creation Myths commonly ascribed
the unevenness of the landscape, 
the upraising of hills & mountains,
earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions
& other related forms of geological upheavals 
to ancient mishaps or the
intentional undertaking of 
powerful malignant forces.

In some cases, the sudden 
outpouring of violence 
that was unleashed upon the World 
was said to have been powerful enough 
to plunge entire continents 
beneath the waves —  
& tip once warm & fertile 
regions of the globe
into realms of deathly ice & snow. 

In other related mythos, 
intense rainfall, hefty hailstones, 
volcanic ashfall, torrential winds 
or debris from tornadoes & waterspouts
provoked perceptions of the Sky falling, 
w/ the world being destroyed by 
a rain of burning hot stones, 
killing all but one couple 
or a small handful of survivors, 
from whom a new generation 
was subsequently sprung.  

The associated notion of a period of 
cold Chaotic wet darkness 
is another familiar archaic trope
found in almost all parts of the world. 
Such periods of intense darkness 
were likewise held to be the outcome  
of several phenomena, including 
solar eclipses, 
dust storms, 
smoke from large-scale fires, 
or volcanic ash plumes.

In the most extreme renditions, 
a continuous winter 
was held to have covered the whole world 
w/ snow and ice, destroying almost all life 
in the process. 

   11.3.2
Of particular interest are Creation Myths 
describing catastrophic devastation 
caused by Floods &/or Firestorms. 

A great worldwide Flood 
— by far the most prevalent
type of creative destruction 
in all peoples’ mythos — 
was regularly singled out as being 
among the earliest — & deadliest — 
cosmogonic disasters;
— & furthermore, it was nearly 
universal doctrine that
the Earth had already been destroyed 
two or three times 
by global Floods before.

In most of the myths, these Floods reoccurred 
periodically throughout a longer, more complex 
series of cosmogonic events;
— & in many  traditions
the final Flood was identified as being 
one of the last or most recent events 
in the same sequence of 
global catastrophes — 
& as such was commonly held to have 
initiated the present World Age  
in which we now still live. 


We may further subdivide the theme 
of the World Flood 
into two major types: 

1)     Deluge

When the Flood took the form of 
exceptionally heavy rainfall
inundating the entire world or
major regional portions of the planet,
the rains from the heavens (possibly caused 
by anomalies in the atmosphere)
were most often accompanied by 
fluvial flooding,
a rapid rise of the global sea level,
large-scale silting of the seas, 
& the flowing forth of subterranean
waters, as well.

2)     Cataclysm (or Debacle)

A second type of Flood disaster 
found in various traditions 
were events forced by the
sudden release of gigantic quantities of water 
from ice-clogged glacial lakes, 
or the breaking loose 
of sediment dams 
in submarine landslides. 


Other coastal destructions, 
primarily attributed to tsunamis,
may have been born 
out of an earthquake at sea,
a volcanic eruption, or even 
the oceanic impact of large meteorites.

   11.3.3
​Floods, however, were not the only catastrophe 
w/ which the gods repeatedly 
threatened to annihilate all life on Earth.

In many peoples’ mythos 
the Flood is also associated 
w/ other scourges, especially 
the widespread burning of the Earth
in large-scale Firestorms .... 

Volcanic eruptions, 
infalls of burning debris,
or stupendous outbreaks of lightning
were also said to have triggered 
uncontrollable conflagrations. 

But many peoples’ mythos also spoke of 
‘ignis coelis’ - firestorms 
or pouring torrents of flame
descending in blasts from the heavens
in concert with erratic movements of the planets,
which quickly sparked large-scale holocausts 
on the ground as well.

In most cases, catastrophes like these
were immediately followed by 
a swift climatological downturn, 
accompanied by widespread
wasteland conditions of 
virulent plague, famine & terrible drought. 

   11.3.4
All in all, 
each disaster was viewed as a distinct event 
separated by lengthy periods of time — 
a sequence of World Ages 
punctuated by periodic
Floods & Fires,
customarily described as being instigated by
disastrous conjunctions 
among cosmic powers 
at war in the skies above. 

And in each instance, 
when geophysical upheavals, floods & fires 
overturned the old world, 
the ensuing destruction always preceded 
the creative refashioning of a new world,
as well as the genesis of a new generation of man
in a subsequent season of prolific regreening
as the new world restabilized. 

This led some cultures to view
such catastrophes as
forms of heaven-sent “purifications”
preceding the consequent rebirth 
& renewal of a new Earth 
in a new Age.

   11.4.1
​Another related mythic theme concerned
a World Tree, 
cosmic pillar or pole  
that supported the Sky above
& sent nourishment down thro its roots 
to Earth below — 

which was often enough referenced first 
in connection w/ the cosmogonic
separation of Sky & Earth,
& the first actual appearance of 
the wrathful astral deities who served as 
the willful agents of their 
world-changing severance. 
​

   11.4.2
— A similar, if not identical, trope 
spoke of two visibly lit axis poles 
standing due North & South,
bending away from the Sun
both above & below the Earth 
at times when the world
turned ‘topsy-turvy’ 
& upset the usual course 
of the sun, moon & stars. 

This has led some cosmologists
to consider the possibility that 
global cataclysmic fluctuations — 
such as the types of geophysical 
upheavals, floods & fires 
from myth referenced above — could have
in fact been brought about by
either:

1) a Gyroscopic pole shift 
(a temporary tilting 
or tumble of the Earth 
about its rotational axis, 
which remained fixed);
or 

2) an Astronomical pole shift 
(a sudden change in the tilt  
of the Earth’s rotational axis itself, 
which would result in the physical globe 
of the Earth turning over permanently).

— Either way, such a scenario would also lead to 
a sudden shifting of the positions of the stars, 
especially those circling around 
the northern & southern celestial poles.


By the same token, Creation Myths 
concerning the sudden displacement of 
the circumpolar stars 
formed such an integral part of 
our forebears’ mythopoeic heritage,

it may be easily suggested 
that these tropes refer back
to something once commonly observed
by all these cultures 
all around the globe . . . 

CONTINUE