Myths by their very definition are timeless.
"The study of myth must not and cannot be separated from the study of religion, religious beliefs, or religious rituals. No mythologist has been more eloquent than Marcea Eliade in his appreciation of the sacredness of myth and the holy and timeless world that it embodies." Classical Mythology, Seventh Edition OUP.
I suggest reading Campbell's Hero with a 1000 Faces and his Masks of God series. They also look at the timeless world in which myth operates (as do many other books).
On 23 Apr 2013, at 08:43, jorganos <joe_at_...> wrote:
> I think that the very act (or ritual) of measuring time within the mythic eras created a measurable series of events. The meticulous choreography of the Yelmic court created its own rhythm and subcycle that could be counted.
Although within mythology, these definitions of time become fluid in themselves. A single day can last a 1000 years, or a million years pass in the blink of an eye.
> Mythical time is also called cyclical time - I read this as you can insert yourself from the realm of linear time (the mundane world) into the chains of mythic events and experience them in a loose sequence, too.
Some mythologies have cyclic time, but not all - There's an interesting comparative article here:
Contrastive Study of “Time” in Iranian-Indian Mythology: http://www.antrocom.net/upload/sub/antrocom/070111/14-Antrocom.pdf
> There is some form of cause and effect - meaning that some actions are prerequisites of others. You cannot perform the Westfaring after Orlanth's atonement without leaving that mythical cycle.
I disagree. The story of the LBQ is rationalised as a story for real world telling, it would make for a poor jumbled story otherwise. Actually being in the LBQ may be very different from the order of the story presented, and rationalised afterwards. This non-linarity of heroquests is covered in Sartar p190: "The Myth and the Heroquest Surprise. The myth is the starting point for the heroquest and is the players’ guide to understanding the obstacles that will likely be faced on the quest. However, as stated previously, the myth is not a complete or even necessarily accurate guide for the players. Even if the players slavishly adhere to the stories they have assembled, they will be confronted with an obstacle (and maybe several) the story does not prepare them for. It is perhaps better to think of the stories as providing the clues to solving the heroquest and not the solution itself." and p197: "Heroquesting is not a science, and even the same myth re-enacted by the same hero will be different each time. The nature of heroquesting in the Gods War is that things change."
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