Misha Hoo's Blog - Posts Tagged "magic"

I entered the expansive marble hall just in time to grab a spare seat at the back and settle in for the opening address from the festival founder, Janet DeNeefe. The theme for this year’s Ubud Writers and Readers Festival is Saraswati, the Hindu Goddess of Wisdom and Knowledge, and as a student of literature and religion, I was keen to discover just how much the rich spirituality of the Balinese culture would feature in the four days of densely packed festival activities.

Just then the crowd was hushed by a loud gong as a troupe of Balinese dancers swept into the room, holding us captive with their fierce posturing and dark kohl eyes. Off to a great start. Although the program promised that DeNeefe’s welcome speech would “unwrap the theme” of the festival and explain why Saraswati embodies the spirit of Bali, the goddess received only a cursory mention before the keynote speaker took over to present his environmental position on the deforestation of Indonesia. A little disappointed, I hurried to the next venue, determined to secure my place at the “Myths of our Making” discussion, where I was hoping to hear more about the relevance of mythology to “modern times and cultures”.

In a breezy room overlooking the deep jungle ravine, Indonesian writer Faisal Oddang opened the discussion, explaining that traditional Balinese folk religion is nature-based and that many of their ancient animistic practices were later assimilated into Hinduism, with or without the local’s consent. Indian author Krishna Udayasankar followed, voicing her mission to recast the Mahabharata in a modern context, believing that mythology has been layered over historical events and employed to excuse the unsavory actions of humans. Lastly, Icelandic storyteller Sjon gave a passionate account of the ancient Germanic appropriation of early Greek mythology, making the bold statement that for him, “the Nordic gods are not fantasy, they are real”. When I asked him to clarify, however, he retreated behind a vague explanation that the gods are all around us in the natural environment and refused to confirm whether he viewed the Nordic gods as existing in a separate realm that humans can relate to, or whether he believes that the gods literally walk the earth among us.

The next day offered another discussion on mythology, this time centered on the “making of monsters”. Indonesian blogger Absurditas Malka led with a strong environmental message, claiming that the only real monsters in the world are the politicians and businessman responsible for polluting and ravaging the natural environment. Sjon followed with a contradictory but equally humanistic approach, arguing that branding Hitler a “monster” was akin to providing an excuse for his inhumane behaviour. As the host steered the discussion into creative process, New Zealand comic book creator Tim Molloy revealed that his stories are often cathartic for him as a writer, as he works out his childhood fears in horror tales filled with scary monsters. Molloy also revealed that he had explored various spiritualties, including the Occult, which prompted me to wonder whether he had considered the potential ramifications of instilling evil, horrifying creatures in the minds of his readers.

The discussion ended before I had a chance to ask, so I posed the question to a friendly Jungian psychologist seated behind me, and we both agreed that writing is a powerful tool that can be used to either heal trauma or magnify it in the collective unconscious. Malka concluded the session by leading the audience to visualize the earth as an apple with ourselves as worms who eventually devour the entire apple, effectively planting the seeds of global destruction firmly in a couple of hundred attentive minds. I rapidly countered with abundant butterflies and walked away convinced that for writers who supposedly know something about mythology, those three knew very little about magic or the power of manifestation.

The lunch crowd safely navigated, I settled in to hear Maori writer Patricia Grace recount her unexpected success telling the everyday tales of ordinary folk in her community. Grace’s work filled a cultural void, providing stories for her people to identify with, and she spoke briefly about the lack of Maori role models in her upbringing. She also recalled that she had written a fictional story about a local family who lost their ancestral land to an expressway development, and a couple of years later she found her own land threatened in exactly the same way. I asked her whether she had any sense that writers can create the future through their writing, or that writing itself can create reality and she brushed the question aside, merely replying that “it’s strange when things like that happen”. The host Nic Low, also of Maori heritage, interjected with a comical quip about how nice it would be if we could just write the ending that we wanted in real life, how easy would that make things? I remained silent. Clearly neither writer felt that their words held any power to effect change beyond the social and political arenas.

After pausing to watch a street procession which was part of the local Hindu temple’s colourful celebrations, I took my seat for the afternoon session I had been eagerly waiting for; an analysis of the goddess Saraswati and her unique position within the Balinese mythology. American scholar Ron Jenkins enthusiastically explained that Saraswati, originally the Hindu goddess of wisdom and knowledge, also created the alphabet. According to Balinese legend, Saraswati gave the alphabet to humans, placing the letters inside the body to connect us with the divine. Each of the letters in the alphabet corresponds to a specific part of the body and is connected to a particular deity, as well as each of the nine directions in the physical world. Thus the letters have a mystical power that connects humans both above and below, in fact, it is the power of the alphabet that distinguishes humans from the animal kingdom, bestowing a level of consciousness and sovereignty which defines our very humanity.

As the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival continues to present highly acclaimed and emerging international authors over the next few days, I hope to meet some writers who profoundly appreciate Saraswati’s gift of the mystical power of words, and are willing to take responsibility for the world they are creating with the words and images they choose.

Writing is, after all, known as a creative process …