The Power of Myth

Campbell argues that the presence of weapons and animal sacrifices at Neanderthal burial sites indicate an early belief in life after death in a realm beyond human perception. Although Campbell does not hypothesize further on the beliefs of the Neanderthals, the inclusion of this observation expands the timeline of inquiry into epochs long before myths were put in writing. The burials suggest a desire to link “the individual to a larger morphological structure than his own physical body” (90), which Campbell asserts is also one of the functions of later rituals and written myths.

Chapter 3 explores how early hunting myths reconcile the hunter with the need to kill for survival. Campbell details a Bushmen hunting ritual that exemplifies the desire to atone for the guilt of killing revered animals for food. Due to their desert environment, Bushmen don’t have the resources to build tools strong enough to kill an animal outright. They must use poison. To deal with the guilt of prolonging the animal’s death in this way, the Bushmen created a ritual of “participation mystique” wherein the tribesmen symbolically identify with the animal through the observance of taboos during the time it is dying (91). By identifying with the animal, tribesmen share in its pain, which reconciles them to their part in causing suffering. The ritual recognizes their “dependency on the voluntary giving of this food […] by the animal who has given its life” (92). Campbell believes that rituals like this demonstrate a deep, respectful relationship between these hunters and their prey.

Campbell defines an animal master as a hunting tribe’s sacred food animal that willingly gives up its kin for slaughter, offers wisdom, and demands reverence. Campbell details an early American Indian ritual of symbolic participation that includes the divine bear master in the eating of its meat. After they kill it, they prop up the bear’s hide as if it were serving the meal itself. The ritual acknowledges the tribe’s reliance on the bear and thus looks to thank the animal master for its continued sacrifice. For his Western audience, Campbell compares this ritual to saying grace before a meal, which thanks God rather than the animal for the meal. Both traditions try to secure a continued provision of food for the group; the hunting culture sees the animal rather than the animal’s creator as the source of its food.

Campbell further explores human feelings of kinship with animals through examination of the Blackfoot myth about the origin of the buffalo dance. In the story, a young girl promises to marry a buffalo if it will sacrifice its herd to feed her tribe. One buffalo agrees and takes the girl away after his kin are slaughtered. The girl’s father tries to bring her home, but the remaining buffalo kills him for reversing the agreement when their sacrifice was already made. The girl resurrects her father with a magical song and promises to use the same song to resurrect the buffalo herds. For the Blackfoot, the buffalo was the revered animal master, and this story details how the animal master “becomes the giver of a ritual” that “invoke[s] the cooperation of the animal” in its death (97). The ritual of symbolic resurrection alleviates the guilt of killing the revered animal. Campbell further describes the relationship between sacrifice and myth in Chapter 4.

In connection to the sacred uses of painted caves, Campbell tells Moyers the features of an Aboriginal Australian initiation ritual. In certain Aboriginal tribes, the grown men of the group dress up as spirits and take a boy away from his mother to a hidden male space, such as a painted cave. In this space, the boy’s body is physically and irreversibly altered through “circumcision, subincision, [and] the drinking of men’s blood” (102). All the while the grown men enact the tribe’s mythological stories. When the ritual is over, the boy returns to the camp with a new body and a transformed mind, ready to take on a new role in society. Campbell grants that the ritual may appear extreme, but he lauds its ability to guide boys from childhood to adulthood. Continuing Chapter 1’s theme of the loss of mythology in the West, Campbell argues that “we don’t have anything like that” for young boys in the West (102). For him, the Abrahamic rites of confirmation or bar mitzvah have been reduced to such an extent that it is up to the boy to “effect a psychological transformation” on his own (103). Without the guidance of a powerful ritual facilitated by the adults of the group, boys are left to figure out their new roles alone, often unsuccessfully.

Campbell argues that myths must be performed and taught by those with “an elite experience” (107). In early hunting cultures, for example, the shaman performed this role because they were attuned to the “song of the universe” (107). Using an excerpt from his book The Way of the Animal Powers, Campbell shares the story of a Bushman who experienced spiritual ecstasy firsthand. After ritually dancing all night, the man experienced a spiritual possession that brought him “to God’s place” in his mind (108). When he returned, he had memories of this hidden realm which, he found, were useful for healing his tribe. Campbell connects this story to another, this one involving Black Elk, a young Sioux boy. When Black Elk experienced psychological distress, the shaman healer of his tribe, instead of ridding the boy of his “illness,” taught him to use its powers. Afterward, Black Elk received a vision and acted as an advisor to his people. In both stories, the men take on new, elevated roles as a result of their spiritual encounters. Campbell believes artists are the modern equivalent to shamans because, unlike most laypeople, they are trained to interpret and make use of metaphors and symbols.