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Anne Skyvington

The Art of Creative Writing

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Mythos

Mythos

Pandora’s Box

It is striking how ancient myths link up with modern-day thought and religious ideas. For the ancient Greeks, Pandora represented the first woman, part of a creationist myth, comparable to Eve in the creation myth of Abrahamic religions.

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Pandora’s Box was last modified: September 6th, 2021 by Anne Skyvington
August 22, 2013 1 comment
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la-pieta-michelangelo
Emotions and HealthMythos

Ave Maria

Ave Maria was one of my mother’s favourite songs.

Although she’d been brought up in a Catholic school and had an Irish Catholic father, she was not religious. However, she had a good voice — a soprano’s voice. And she was capable of dissolving into tears when she heard a certain song. One of these that I remember causing this effect was The Wind Beneath Your Wings sung by Bette Midler.

I love this hymn sung by Nelson Eddy. The shots of the Vatican and the Michaelangelo statue of La Pieta provide such a beautiful background for it. There’s something about this song that touches me deeply. See the YouTube video for this.

Perhaps I’m my mother’s daughter, after all. Only thing is, I couldn’t sing like her. In fact, I was tone-deaf during my childhood and most of my adulthood. Or did I have nothing to sing about?

The following information is taken from Wikipedia.

The Angelic Salutation, Hail Mary, or Ave Maria (Latin) is a traditional Catholic prayer asking for the intercession of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Hail Mary is used within the Catholic Church, and it forms the basis of the Rosary. It was made famous and popular when set to music by Bach, and also Schubert.

The prayer incorporates two passages from Saint Luke’s Gospel: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee,” and “Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.”

In mid-13th-century Western Europe the prayer consisted only of these words with the single addition of the name “Mary” after the word “Hail”, as is evident from the commentary of Saint Thomas Aquinas on the prayer.

The first of the two passages from Saint Luke’s Gospel is the greeting of the Angel Gabriel to Mary, originally written in Koine Greek. The opening word of greeting, χαῖρε, chaire, here translated “Hail,” literally has the meaning “rejoice” or “be glad.” This was the normal greeting in the language in which Saint Luke’s Gospel is written and continues to be used in the same sense in Modern Greek. Accordingly, both “Hail” and “Rejoice” are valid English translations of the word (“Hail” reflecting the Latin translation, and “Rejoice” reflecting the original Greek).

Listen to this version of the song and tell me if it doesn’t move you to tears
  • Ave Maria sung by Noa, an Israeli Jewish woman
Ave Maria was last modified: July 14th, 2018 by Anne Skyvington
January 22, 2013 0 comment
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Emotions and HealthMythos

Buddhism for Westerners

In 2008 I attended a Convention in Singapore for followers of the New Kadampa Tradition of Buddhism, introduced to the West by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso in 1977. He now resides at the mother centre in the UK. These festivals are annual events, and I was a novice, trying to understand in more depth what this form of Buddhism is all about. The master, in this case Geshe-la, teaches highest meditation practices and gives empowerments, which must be handed down in a “pure” state by the teachers of the tradition. The title of “Geshe” means “Spiritual Friend” and he is known as “Geshe-la” by his followers.

Monks and nuns of this tradition devote their whole lives to meditation and sacrifice to the spiritual needs of their followers.

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Buddhism for Westerners was last modified: July 14th, 2018 by Anne Skyvington
October 12, 2012 2 comments
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About The Author

About The Author

Anne Skyvington

Anne Skyvington is a writer based in Sydney who has been practising and teaching creative writing skills for many years. You can learn here about structuring a short story and how to go about creating a longer work, such as a novel or a memoir. Subscribe to this blog and receive a monthly newsletter on creative writing topics and events.

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About The Author

About The Author

Anne Skyvington is a Sydney-based writer and blogger. <a href="http://anneskyvington.com.au She has self-published a novel, 'Karrana' and is currently writing a creative memoir based on her life and childhood with a spiritual/mystical dimension.

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