Mythological Territory
Art by Christina Balit
In case it has escaped your attention darklings, things have gotten realer than real. They have in fact become mythological. As we bear witness to the fall of the old world and it unwillingly gives way to the new age birthing through the Aquarian portal, we all swim in brackish waters. Between life and death, creation and destruction, joy and despair, the thread of story pulls taut.
For as long as humanity has lived and died, we have gathered to share stories. They begin from a morsel of truth that we must chew on, sometimes for a long time, before we can taste its full flavour. Layered and nuanced, it can take a lifetime to digest. We craft our own peculiar uncommon sense, as we move through the stories in tandem. Conjuring new questions and cultivating deeper understanding of words and whorls of meaning.
Our stories twist and turn deep in our bellies, giving way to themselves on repeat. They are never black and white, though they may be scribed just so. The tales of our adventures through mortality and consciousness are an evolving work in progress. As the wheel turns and we ripen through its cycles, we garner deeper understanding. The rattle and hum of resonance keeps time tucked away for us, even as it ticks by in our blood.
It is too easy in the thick of trouble and strife to suppose you have reached the end of the story. None of us escape our dark chapters. But it is the canniest spell of all, woven as deliberate distraction, to cling to the light and refuse what shapes its shimmering arc. Post modern pretenders taught that what lurks in the shadows or hides under the bed does not really exist.
Fairytales are thick with true terror and laced with fair warning. Fables teach us what exhortation frequently does not. We learn more from banned texts than the good book itself. And always our fingers twitching to hold the pen, our tongues lashing until our tale is told to ears and eyes primed in devotion and devouring.
My first book Morsel is a collection of such tales and poetry and she's out now.
Words c. Kerrie Basha 2022