Creation Stories

The cosmogonical myths of creation are divided in to five types depending on the nature of creation.  Eliade and his student, Charles H. Long, developed a classification based on some common motifs that reappear in stories the world over. The classification identifies five basic types:

• Creation ex nihilo in which the creation is through the thought, word, dream or bodily secretions of a divine being
• Earth diver creation in which a diver, usually a bird or amphibian sent by a creator, plunges to the seabed through a primordial ocean to bring up sand or mud which develops into a terrestrial world
• Emergence myths in which progenitors pass through a series of worlds and metamorphoses until reaching the present world
• Creation by the dismemberment of a primordial being
• Creation by the splitting or ordering of a primordial unity such as the cracking of a cosmic egg or a bringing into form from chao 

We will visit the myths of creation from culture to culture, starting form Genesis of the Jewish,  Nasadiya of Rigveda (India), Sura Al-Baqara of Quran, creation by Pan-Gu of chinese, Creation by Nun of the Egyptians, Creation from Niflheim of the Norse, Theogony (Hesoid Poem) of the Greeks and the creation stories of the native americans (Hopi, Cherokee, Patawatomi).

It is a very humbling experience to read what our ancients believed of our birth, so it always amazed me to know of our humble beginning or not so humble depending on which story you are reading.

Pillars of Creation

Men create the Gods in their own image

The Gods, alien or not have been part of human evolution since time immemorial. Weather they are human creation or not, Gods have been so intricately interwoven in to our daily lives that it is very hard to separate our believes from our myths. Civilizations have have always looked up to Gods as their protectors, benefactors and providers. Many of these Gods have survived the test of time through rich written cultures like the European's or through rich oral traditions as Norse or rig-vedic to pick a few.

In these seemingly endless variety of believes and myths are common themes. Mostly every mythology starts out with the same question .."How did it begin?". In one variation of the Chinese creation myth, Pan Gu had to break the primordial egg to create land and sky, or sometimes the world is the offspring of male and a female creator or the creator had to fetch the land from depths of a primal ocean like in Native American believes. Usually people come later, either molded from clay or carved from wood.

Here in this blog we will try to visit creation stories, the Gods and spirits from different cultures. I was always inclined to believe that our beliefs, Gods, myths and legends have all come from common ancestors, so if not anything this blog will just be an attempt to find our common roots. Please comment and share your opinions.