Celtic bear-goddess Artio. Bronze artifact c. A.D. 200 from Musée de St. Germaine en Laye, published in Campbell’s, Historical Atlas of World Mythology, v 1 part 2, p. 155

This amazing sculpture comes from Campbell’s Historical Atlas of World Mythology: Mythologies of the Great Hunt of the Celtic bear-goddess Artio. This statue shows the goddess feeding a she-bear and interestingly enough there is a slit in the box pedestal wherein coin offerings could be dropped.

We have been digitizing the original photos and negatives used for the creation of this series for almost 2 years and it was a volunteer who brought this particular image to our attention.

Campbell writes that Artio is the Celtic sister to Artemis, the Greek virginal goddess of the wild, the untamed. Young girls called “bears” would perform dances in worship of Artemis at her temple in Brauron, outside of Athens.

Returning to this statue of Artio and the she-bear, Campbell used this image to illustrate the mythological and ritual significance of the bear and sacrifice which he shows as recurring through many cultures. Thus the bear holds an important stance in the ancient collective imagination in relationship to the natural world – see pages 147-155 of this volume (Historical Atlas of World Mythology, v 1 part 2: Mythologies of the Great Hunt).

From Artio and Artemis to King Arthur and Beowulf, both of whose names come from the roots for the word bear, Campbell traces a line of the bear cult significance in its continuity and transformation through Europe. Along the image captions he leads the thread to

the constellations of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the Great Bear and Little Bear, who he writes are “revolving forever as constellations around the Pole Star, axis mundi of the heavenly vault” (155) thus inviting us to behold the majesty of the bear alongside our ancestors.

OPUS Archives and Research Center is thrilled to announce that beginning January 8^th the Joseph Campbell and Marija Gimbutas Library will be open to the public from 2:30-4:30 every Saturday, no appointment necessary!

The library is located at Pacifica Graduate Institute’s lower campus – 249 Lambert Road, Carpinteria CA 93013.

Joseph Campbell’s library contains over 3,000 books covering the various fields of mythology, literature, art, philosophy and religion. A number of the volumes are rare and many of the books contain Campbell’s marginalia.

Marija Gimbutas’ library holds over 1,600 books with an extensive collection on archaeology, as well as numerous volumes about religion, anthropology, linguistics, mythology, folklore, and art.

For more information on the library or the manuscript collections at OPUS Archives please visit our website at www.opusarchives.org or call us at 805.969.5750.

“Obscurity of expression is natural to the psyche. Prime example, our dreams; mere glimmerings. Saving the psyche’s phenomena calls for an alchemical method of chaos, a method which indulges the soul’s surprising beauty and inventive freedom, and speak both of the psyche with psychology and to the psyche with imagination” (Hillman, Alchemical Psychology, 2010).

Alchemical Psychology, Uniform Edition volume 5

Taliesin, meaning “shining brow”, was a Welsh poet in the 6^th century and a legendary character of magic and knowledge, one of the twice born. He is also known as Taliesin Ben Beirdd -Taliesin, Chief of Bards. According to the legend, Taliesin began life as Gwion Bach who was a servant of the goddess Cerdiwen. A mere 3 drops of liquid from her wisdom potion gifted him with the fire of deep and powerful wisdom. The transgression required that he undergo many transformations to escape Cerdiwen’s wrath and the final magical leap was being born from her, thus becoming the twice born and the wise.

Taliesin, as Gwion Bach, looking after Ceridwen's cauldron on the shores of Llyn Tegid.

To read a translation of the Welsh Mabinogion, which tells the tale of Taliesin, visit http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/mab/mab32.htm, The Mabinogion, tr. by Lady Charlotte Guest, [1877], at sacred-texts.com

The Book of Taliesin (NLW Peniarth MS 2) National Library of Wales Journal

ARAS (The Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism) just released a new book titled The Book of Symbols: Reflections  on Archetypal Images, published by Taschen. Taschen prints some of the most gorgeous books…and I am so excited to get a copy for the office!

ARAS - Book of Symbols

The Book of Symbols combines approximately 350 original essays about particular symbols with images from cave art to contemporary art. The thought-provoking texts and 800 beautiful, full-color images come together in a unique way to convey hidden dimensions of meaning.