Tuyen Nguyen February 9, 2002 English/Essay Archetypal Myths of Creation Since their beginning, humans have possessed a curious nature and such curiosity led to the attempts of various cultures to explain the world's natural wonders. This includes the origin of humanity or the world in which humanity occupies. Lack of knowledge and geography were barriers in communication between these primitive cultures, yet somehow, archetypal patterns can be traced in their theories of creation. The "Mother Earth, Father Sky" theme is one of the principal archetypes described by Carl Jung, who is the founding critic of the "Archetypical Approach" in literature that can be traced in the creation myths of numerous cultures. In this pattern, the Earth is the mother of all life and the sky is her mate whom she procreates all of Earth's life forms with.
Well known is the Greek culture and their theory of creation in which Mother Earth is formally known as Gaia and Father Sky is Uranus.
Izanami-no-Mikoto and Izanagi-no-Mikoto, by Kobaya...
English: Genealogy of Izanami and Izanagi in the j...
father skyThis myth sticks strictly to the "Mother Earth, Father Sky" guidelines, stating that Gaia is the original divinity of whom Uranus descends. The two mate and Gaia bears immortal children, (the twelve titans, three Cyclops and three hecatoncheires). Cronus, youngest of the titans, marries his sister, Rhea and produces with her, another generation of Gods, known as the Olympians. Generations later Olympians create humans and other life forms on Earth. In addition, they become responsible for assigning the characteristics of each creature, making each unique on its own. Though humanity was not created by Gaia and was not of her progeny, she is portrayed as the beginning of life in Greek mythology. For this reason, it is safe to assume that all life on Earth stems from Gaia, thus making her the "Mother Earth" of all life.
"Mother...