The Mythic Battle
of Opposites

Read a poem
about conflict

This myth of Amaterasu and Susano-O turns our usual Western ideas about gender upside down. In this story, the Sun God that we've come to expect in the West to be male is, instead, a Goddess. She is full of light, warmth, intellectual understanding, but clarity comes to her only in the end. The emotional one who leaves devastation in his wake is not female, as we've often been taught to expect, but a very male presence, full of energy and momentum. He certainly stirs things up!
     The significance of this for me, is that both aspects of being—Sun and Storm—are part of all of us, no matter whether we are male or female. And the mythic task we all face is to see these (and other) aspects of ourselves clearly in the mirror life gives us.
     In this story, Amaterasu and Susano-O are both attracted and repulsed by the other. The fighting can't end until they can find a measure of acceptance and (true) love, which is only gained through repeated experience. Only a battle of mythic proportions can resolve it.

The true battleground is within, whether you retreat for a time to a cave, journey to the underworld, or just carry on working in your garden.

     Brother/sister. Husband/wife. Friend/enemy. Other/Self.

What myth could YOU retell that would illuminate  the conflicts in your life and help you gather the fruits of your experience?

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