Excellent insights and references. The Masks of God by Campbell are a tall task indeed to consume. The detail Campbell gets into in these various myths shows his brilliance, to retain all the knowledge as he did and catalog it in such a way that we can understand. He loved telling a story and I think that is what really attracted most of us when we first met him, whatever form that may have been. He knows how to 'articulate', and that is a word that properly fits him, the message and yet keep your interest at a peek so you too are able to learn beyond just the story as told. All myths have metaphors that fit somewhere within the human psyche. A universal truth flows from the masses, the cultural norms, and have discernible patterns that are both intellectually as well as intuitively recognizable. Archetypes of the unconscious, universal truths, symbolic language, metaphorical references to the source from which they came.
To get someone to listen, let alone understand such language as I used above about universal truths takes a skilled orator and Campbell was as skilled as they get.

As for our Western religions and their refusal to acknowledge the power of the feminine. It is because of that power they made sure it was repressed. I believe early teachers of Western religion, long before Islam in 500AD which carriers it to even greater 'depths', recognized this truth applied not only with the attraction of the Goddess religions/myths but also within the human psyche. They knew the feminine psyche had the superior power and if left to grow would have overpowered the patriarchal system we have today. Being afraid of the Goddess is a really a fear of the power of the feminine psyche.
Intuitively speaking.

Be sure to read my post about Jung's study of childhood dreams. This is a relatively recent published book and fits right with the focus I have given in my thoughts on childhood issues, symbols in dreams, and personality traits. That post is Childhood Dreams by Carl Jung. This should be a most interetsing book.

Jerry

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I want to re-post this thread because of the importance it has in the exploration of the psyche and the dream. I often see childhood issues addressed in posted dreams. When those issues are presented to the dreamer, in my interpretations, they tend to fit with the dreamer's life. As Jung stated, if it fits the waking life.....

Understanding there are such early life imprinting, and the enormous influence they can possess {and can force onto the conscious mind/life}, and the dreamer discovering what those influences are, and a method to help resolve the emotional conflicts {Individuation Process}, that could be a major step in helping people resolve the deeper issues related to personal attitudes, behaviors and beliefs, in adult life.

We are moving so far from Freud's postulation that the dream is trying to censor the psyche, and to one that properly fits, the position Jung taught, that the dream is trying to reveal all that is within the unconscious. A therapeutic device created by nature.

Jerry

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