The Sacred Principle Project

Originally published by Culture Hack, Issue 07: Beyond the Carbon Fixation : Pathways to Regenerative Futures November 2024 Mythic Roots of the Metacrisis   This article explores an ancient Babylonian creation myth as a root of the dominant Western worldview. The myth tells of the god Marduk’s violent conquest of the goddess Tiamat, marking a shift from revering nature and the feminine as sacred to a patriarchal, dualistic view that separates spirit and nature. This story’s legacy influences modern systems of dominance and extraction, fueling ecological and social crises. The author argues that reexamining such myths and adopting Indigenous cosmovisions could inspire systemic change by reviving a worldview that honors Earth as sacred.   *** Around 4,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, scribes recorded a story that represented a fundamental shift in the worldview of that people. Surely the result of a process that took centuries and influenced...

 foto-testimonio después de la DANA en Playa de Gandía, 31 octubre 2024 photo-testimony after the DANA storms in Gandía beach, 31 october 2024

Cuentan que hace muchos años, una mujer habitaba el monte. Tal vez tus abuelos te contarán que la han visto - en el reflejo del río o las piedras del barranco. Aparecía en un susurro del viento, el acariciar de las hojas y la fragancia de una flor. La llamaban Tiamar. Cuentan que vivía con su marido y tuvieron hijos que crecieron libres y fuertes. Los hijos tuvieron hijos, y los hijos tuvieron hijos. Los descendientes fueron bajando al pueblo. Con el tiempo, se olvidaron del monte. Se mudaron a la ciudad. Los nietos y las nietas crecieron entre paredes y con luz artificial. Seguro que tú los conoces, son tus vecinos, tu colega del cole, la prima del pediatra. Quienes quedaban en el monte miraban con desprecio las generaciones en la ciudad. Detestaban el escándalo que armaban día y noche. El taladrar constructor perforaba sus corazones. La pólvora de las armas les asfixiaba. Los químicos del agua les intoxicaban. “No me dejan descansar, ¡ni de día ni de noche!” clamaba el marido de Tiam...

The story of the forbidden fruit is known far beyond Sunday church sermons. Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, tempted by the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit, has been immortalised in art and music, referenced in literature, and used as a trope in mass media and mainstream culture in the Western Christian world that I know -- and surely far beyond that. What I have learned as an adult of the historic significance of this story and the profound impact it has had on the psyche shine a different light on the scenes and the dramatic "moral" of the story taught to me as a child.  There are several ways to interpret the story that can help us to re-position the messages in our collective understanding: the literal meaning, taken as the word of God and religious doctrine; the symbolic meaning of the images; and the historic-mythological meaning of what the story represents in the evolution of human consciousness.           *  Interpretation 1: L...

La inspiración del siguiente texto ha sido el llamado a escribir nuevos relatos, nuevos mitos. Como parte de este proyecto del "Principio Sagrado", el mito central es el asesinato de Tiamat por Marduk, la epopeya de la creación de Babilonia. Esta historia de creación, escrita en cuneiforme en tablillas alrededor 2000 a.C., marcó el cambio en la mitología y la conciencia colectiva de la sociedad occidental de una cultura de la Diosa, con el principio feminino de creación como central, a una ideología de un solo Dios Hombre Creador; instauró la ruptura de la humanidad con la naturaleza. El texto describe el brutal matricidio de Tiamat, diosa madre caracterizada como caos, por Marduk, un dios guerrero-salvador-creador que pone orden. Este mito todavía vive en nuestra sociedad, dentro de los mitos de creación de la cultura Judeo-Cristiana y en cada cuento de hada de un caballero matando a un dragón - y en nuestra programación patriarcal y trato de la naturaleza.  Conocido como el...

There is a story we tell every year: in the deep midwinter, a virgin mother gives birth to a son-god-king in a stable, marked by a bright star. In this Christian myth, the child who is born is the son of god, god incarnate, who came to the world to save the people from sin, a savior. The story has such influence on our current society that his supposed birthday literally marks the before and after on the calendar of the history of the world. Even those who do not believe in the doctrine of this story are still familiar with the themes. And for those who believe or not, there are elements of the story that are perhaps unconvincing, that do not quite seem to fit, that feel like they need a leap of faith to believe. So, where did this story come from? Why do we collectively need to retell it every year? And why was it set now, at the time of winter solstice in the northern hemisphere? Let's go back 20,000 years... In the Paleolithic era, from the Pyrenees to Siberia, our cave-dwelling...