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Where the Two Came to Their Father
This work takes its title from the richly symbolic creation legend of the Navaho people, which they incorporated into their blessing ceremony for tribe members headed to battle. Having observed this rite during World War II, when native Americans were for the first time drafted into the U.S. military, ethnologist Maud Oakes recorded the legend and made reproductions of the beautiful ceremonial paintings, given to her by the medicine man Jeff King. Originally printed separately in a portfolio, the text and eighteen paintings are now available as a bound book.
72 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1991
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April 3, 2016Thanks to Jeff King sharing this with Maud Oakes, the landscape of New Mexico (and the world) will forever be richer and deeper in my eyes and my mind's eye. Through the telling of the legend, the commentary on the legend & the plates, the description of the plates, (each of the afore mentioned have handy references to specific plates) and the plates of the sand paintings themselves, Jeff King, Maud Oakes, and Joseph Campbell allow this Navaho legend to exhale the breath of life in the reader's imagination. A transformative book.
Two quotes (among many) I will not easily forget:
"It is the nature of monsterdom to mistake the reflection for the thing. Displaced emphasis is the very sense of the monster's life." (Joseph Campbell)
"If the hero is to serve the vital force in its totality -- not only in its productive strength, but also in its catastrophic fury -- if he is to know, to love, and to represent the moment reckless and ruthless, as well as the moment of patient care, then the horizons of his humanity must be widened, the floor of his world must sink, the mind must submit to serve, without question, the demiurgic secret of the heart. Therefore the propriety of a moment of profoundest self-recollection before the mighty hour. Therefore the solemn rite of unspeakable initiation. Therefore the return, step by step, through strange, subliminal zones, to the sanctum sanctorum of the Void -- of the All; the place and moment before the beginning of space and time; the room of the Original Impulse; the cell where the Father begot. That is the goal of the pilgrimage to the House of Strength. That is where the Two came to their Father." (Joseph Campbell)
Two quotes (among many) I will not easily forget:
"It is the nature of monsterdom to mistake the reflection for the thing. Displaced emphasis is the very sense of the monster's life." (Joseph Campbell)
"If the hero is to serve the vital force in its totality -- not only in its productive strength, but also in its catastrophic fury -- if he is to know, to love, and to represent the moment reckless and ruthless, as well as the moment of patient care, then the horizons of his humanity must be widened, the floor of his world must sink, the mind must submit to serve, without question, the demiurgic secret of the heart. Therefore the propriety of a moment of profoundest self-recollection before the mighty hour. Therefore the solemn rite of unspeakable initiation. Therefore the return, step by step, through strange, subliminal zones, to the sanctum sanctorum of the Void -- of the All; the place and moment before the beginning of space and time; the room of the Original Impulse; the cell where the Father begot. That is the goal of the pilgrimage to the House of Strength. That is where the Two came to their Father." (Joseph Campbell)
May 25, 2012
The true greatness of this book lies in this concluding commentary by Joseph Campbell where he offers insights into the meaning of this Navajo myth and relates its various aspects to stories from other traditions. Helps us better understand the meaning of myth and see how some themes recur across time and across culture.
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