Saturn Returns to Le Figaro

On December 19th, I had the pleasure of attending a meeting of the New York Mythology Group. This is an informal group led by Phil Robinson which is created through Meetup.com, a website devoted to having meetings of like-minded people all around the country. Meetup.com is not limited to groups based on mythology. You can probably find a meetup group devoted to any interest you have.

I’ve always been interested in mythology as a little kid. I loved the Edith Hamilton Mythology book, and was a big collector of the volumes of modern heroes and heroines – i.e. comic books. As I grew older, myths recessed deeper and deeper into my consciousness, until I heard of Joseph Campbell whose mastery of history, religion and mythology fired up the love of mythology again in a different way. This time, instead of seeing colorful stories, I was able to see the importance of these myths, what they were supposed to represent and how they are relevant today.

The NY Mythology group meets approximately every six weeks. This last meeting focused on the myths of Saturn which corresponds to Saturnalia, an ancient Roman festival that occurs from December 17th – 23rd(ish!). Anyone who is familiar with astrology is familiar with Saturn as in the dreaded Saturn Return. However in early mythology, Saturn was the ruler of the Golden Age and represented abundance. The Lecturer named Emily quoted from a wide range of authors spanning cultures as well as millennia, such as Hesiod (700-ish BC), the Persian poet Nizami (1141-1209), Omar Khayyam (1048-1131), Plutarch and Plato. I learned a lot of things that I never knew before such as the relationship of King Arthur to Saturn, the meaning of the Ziggurat structure, etc. It definitely gave me some food for thought and new directions to think about and consider.

The discussion was held at Le Figaro Café on Bleecker St. After the discussion people hung around and discussed topics such as astrology, existentialism, and rebirth.

The next one is happening on January 16th and will be discussing the mythology of the Adversary, i.e. the Titans, Satan, Tiamat, etc. Hope to see you there!