The timely and timeless new book
by mythologist
Michael Meade
Michael Meade is one of the few people who provides a mythological view of critical issues affecting the world at this time. In The World Behind the World, Meade shows how "myth makes meaning" and helps a person find the meaningful path through life. He mines a series of "re-creation" stories in which the earth renews itself just when all seems lost. When it appears that there's no time left, it isn't time that people need, but the touch of the eternal.
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The Ends of Time,
the Roots of Eternity
Tales of Myth, Nature,
& Culture
with mythologist
Michael Meade
The modern world suffers from "double exposure" as culture and nature, the "two great garments of life," seem to unravel at the same time. Culture no longer protects against growing threats of global terror and societal greed, while Nature becomes increasingly endangered through holes in the ozone and the effects of climate change.
Science and religion seem to arrive at similar conclusions as statistics and scriptures each predict the "end of the world." Is it the end of all time or a time of many endings seeking the vital ground of renewal?
Mosaic Audio ~Three Compact Discs
Listen to an excerpt from The Ends of Time
Purchase from Mosaic's Online Store
At once a mythic journey, a study in depth psychology, and a treatise on initiation The Water of Life addresses the roots of conflict, the recurring hunger for war and the issues of "reducing the warrior." Throughout the text the water of life functions as the core symbol for both personal and cultural renewal, and redemption of the spiritual wasteland.
Using ideas gleaned from many years working with youth and communities at-risk Meade's writing rings with the echoes of truth and "sings with an incantational voice that takes you right to the edge of elemental knowledge."
"Meade writes quite brilliantly about initiation, ordeal and the importance of scars and wounds. He is a master of the mode" - New York Times Book Review
"Meade insists on grounding the high-flying abstractions of myth in the 'bones-laid-bare' realities of the street." - San Francisco Chronicle
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Mosaic's
Mythic
Trilogy
from
mythologist
Michael Meade
Michael Meade's trilogy of writings and recordings about the current crises in the world offer a "mythic inoculation" for these hard times. A sense of
myth and story is required for making sense of the rapid changes in the world and for sustaining a sense of meaning and purpose in our individual lives.
Creative Mentoring
An intensive workshop with author and mythologist Michael Meade
Saturday, March 6th ~ 9:30am to 5:30pm
Northwest African American Museum
2300 S Massachusetts Street, Seattle, WA
Creative Mentoring offers orientation and training in the core ideas and purposes of mentoring. The character named Mentor first appears in The Odyssey where he acts as guide and teacher for a young prince facing cultural devastation. From the beginning mentoring involves healing culture as well as guiding youth. Creative Mentoring assists nature to heal and culture to renew while helping youth encounter their own genius and unique spirit for life.
While mentoring naturally involves youth, it also helps to re-imagine meaningful roles for elders. The role of the mentor can be seen as a bridge which helps youth find their way into life, while also preparing the olders to act as elders in the community. Mentoring also involves rites of passage and other traditional practices that help people survive crises and enter new stages of life. Thus, Creative Mentoring can help veterans return from war, addicts recover from dependence, and youth awaken from violence and apathy.
Proceeds support Voices of Youth and Intercultural Projects
More Information
Register Online
Mosaic's theme for this year has been The Light Inside Dark Times. The notion of an intelligent light hidden in the darkness has been my way of addressing the increasing troubles throughout the world and pointing to the importance of the soul at this time.
Soul is a key agent of any meaningful change and an essential ingredient in Mosaic's Voices projects. Through Voices of Youth we gather severely at-risk and homeless youth in creative forums. As they tell and reveal their stories of trauma and loss, a community of soul develops. As the trust between souls grows, the most devastating and hurtful stories emerge. Something similar happens when veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan join with those who survived the battles of Viet Nam. Through sharing their deepest stories of trauma and continuing PTSD, a deep level of healing opens and a process of restoring the soul ensues. When the stories are truly heard and received by their communities, the suffering turns into beauty and makes more soul for everyone.
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Voices of Youth
For Mosaic, "youth work" does not refer to an aspect of sociology or a certain segment of the population. Rather, we mean the work of finding the "youth in the young" and thereby revealing visions trying to be born into the culture. Youth work also means the work of making an uncommon ground where youth and elders can reweave cultural fabrics with new threads and old knowledge.
In the old way of seeing, culture is continuously remade through the visions of youth and the dreams of the elders. Thus, Voices of Youth involves a rediscovery of mythology, an elucidation of psychology and an array of arts and practices that range from making poems to meditation. Working with youth and finding elders becomes a path of "living philosophy" that winds through streets and schools and prisons with the aim of reinventing culture.
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Read Poems
Support Voices of Youth
Voices of Youth, Voices of Community
a short documentary that captures stories, poems, and songs from Mosaic's cutting edge Voices of Youth and Koures Symposium projects
Press the play button above to start the film.
Voices of Youth and the Koures Symposium are a series of projects that involve diverse youth in a variety of communities. Through the Voices process, youth become engaged in the creation of an artistic forum for their own expression while developing mentoring relationships within their communities. Themes of contemporary disorientation find unique expression through the writings and voices of local youth, offering insights into the root causes of youth violence, cynicism, and apathy. A narrative mix of old stories and youthful voices is then presented to the local community in an event that is part theater, part literature, and part celebration.
Hearing the acute perspectives of youth can significantly change the community's perception of both local and national issues and inspire continuing conversations across the generation gap. Voices of Youth inspires and empowers local youth, fosters ongoing cross-generational dialogs and leads to the development of unique local forms of mentoring.
Read poems from recent Voices events
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of Vets
A Bridge Back
to the World
A collection of original, immediate poems by veterans of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam, and their families that address the shocks experienced in battle and the emotional and physical repercussions that follow war.
Voices of Vets expresses compelling feelings and thoughts about the horrors of war, the reasons for going, and the anguish and difficulty involved in trying to find a way home again.
Candid, vulnerable, caring, and courageous.
Includes Michael Meade's essay, War, the Underworld, and Initiation.
"I walked up my ramp alone - to a reception of none...
no welcome home party, because like so many others
I'm not home.
Expose emotional silence, so your wounds
can finally be healed.
Give yourself that precious gift.
Let the self-inflicted guilt die, instead of you."
- from veteran's poems.
Read more poems
Order the Voices of Vets book