Toni Morrison Archives - Fates and Graces Mythologium

Dr. Bailes’s presentation is called “Death, She Sings a Heart Red”

The title is a quote from Toni Morrison’s book, Beloved. In the story, one of the characters, Paul D., describes his heart as a “rusted shut tobacco tin lodged in the place where his heart should be.” This description resonated with me after reading the book in 1998. I first read the book in Dr. Dennis Slattery’s Epic Imagination course and revisited it after the recent death of my father.

In this presentation, I will explore the concept of storing, hiding and/or preserving one’s metaphorical heart, as expressed by Morrison’s characters in Beloved, Hesiod’s Pandora, Greek myths of Zagreus Dionysus, and my own experiences. After summarizing the examples from literature, I will explore the ritual performed by Baby Suggs in Beloved, and the background for such trauma-inspired rituals found in the worship of Dionysus. I will offer up sample rituals and/or a simple guide for creating a personal ritual for those who want to open the “box” where their own heart might be stored.

About Dr. Bailes

Katherine J. Bailes, JD, PhD is a practicing attorney and an adjunct professor of mythological studies at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. Dr. Bailes holds a BFA in painting from the University of North Texas and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Kansas, School of Law. She obtained a master’s degree and PhD from Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, California. Her dissertation entitled “The Themis Principle: Mystery and Irrationality in the U.S. Legal System” focuses on the mythological aspects of the law as expressed in ancient cultures through goddesses such as Athena, Themis, Inanna, and Maat. She serves in a variety of leadership positions in art, law, and teaching, successfully combining these fields through her understanding of story and the human capacity for myth making.

To hear Dr. Bailes’s talk and many others, join us at the Mythologium!

The Mythologium is a conference for mythologists and friends of myth. This year’s Mythologium will be held July 28-30 in-person and online in the Pacific time zone.

Learn more and register

Jason’s talk is called “Do This in Remembrance of Me: Bits and Pieces in Re-membering the Body”

A third testament of the Christian tradition was never canonized. However, two works explore the fresh manifestation of a divine revelation of community within the natural world. These new scriptures guide us towards “re-membering” new bodies of community within a natural environment. Written 136 years apart, Moby Dick by Herman Melville and Beloved by Toni Morrison explore this transformation within the evolving American landscape. Each work’s Biblical allusions and narratological structure beg to be seen as a third testament, one which incarnates the collective community within the new sacred space of the natural world.

Ultimately, these scriptures guide the development of community firmly rooted in an ecological understanding. In Beloved, Baby Suggs is the manifestation of the divine and her chapel is that of the wild forest, far from the walls of standard temple or church. In Moby Dick, Queequeg is the Word incarnate and his prophet, Ishmael, extends the sacred space to the whole of the Earth: “I mean, sir, the same ancient Catholic Church to which . . . all of us . . . belong; the great and everlasting First Congregation of this whole worshiping world . . . in that we all join hands.” The two works, in concert, present a path through myth towards community empathy.

About Jason

Jason D. Batt is the co-founder of Signal Hill Road Publishing. He serves as the Creative and Editorial Director for the 100 Year Starship and is the founder and organizer of the annual Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Writing. His novels include Onliest, Young Gods, and Dreamside, and his short fiction has appeared in Perihelion, Bastion, Bewildering Stories, A Story Goes On, and other periodicals. Most recently he edited the science fiction anthology Visions of the Future, published through Lifeboat Foundation and Strange California, a successful Kickstarter through Falstaff Books.

To hear Jason’s talk and many others, join us at the Mythologium!

The Mythologium is a conference and retreat for mythologists and friends of myth, held July 29 – 31 via Zoom in the Pacific time zone.