Halcyon Days
I believe that I first learned about the mythology of Halcyon from reading the works of Carl Jung or one his students, perhaps it was in the works of Marie-Louise von Franz. It is that time of year. In the Northern hemisphere are at the time of the winter solstice. The hours of sunlight slowly wane to their minimum. It is at the time of the winter solstice that summer is born, i.e. Life-in-Death. Prior to Christianity, pagan peoples performed rituals and rites to ensure that the sun would return from its gradual arc of descent in the sky. There were no guarantees that it would. The star on top of the Christmas tree is part of the pre-Christian symbology connected with the solstice and the dying of the light. The mythology has a tie in to the name of my writing here since the Halcyon was a type of kingfisher bird. A kingfisher was found on the shores of the lake near Bollingen just after Carl Jung died in 1961. The kingfisher is not commonly found in that part of the world.
Alcyone or Halcyon was the daughter of King Aeolus, the god who fathered Sisyphus and six other sons. He is sometimes confused with god of the winds Aeolus. There is some room for debate as to Aeolus and his provenance. The seven days before and after the solstice were said to be without storms so that Alcyone could lay her eggs in a nest that rested upon the ocean. Thus the phrase “halcyon days”.
According to Robert Graves, the legend of the halcyon’s nest and eggs “can only refer to the birth of new sacred king at the solstice after the queen who represents his mother, the Moon goddess, has conveyed the old king’s corpse to a sepulchral island”.
Where do myths like this originate? Someone once said that myths are humanity collectively dreaming. Do they come from humanity’s observation of natural or social phenomena? Are they a way to explain these supernatural phenomena or to recount the early history of a people? The recital of myths are intimately connected with enacted rituals. Are they inherent to the human psyche?