4 Matching Annotations
  1. Feb 2026
    1. myth tells us how, through the deeds of Supernatural Beings, a reality came into existence, be it the whole of reality, the Cosmos, or only a fragment of reality-an island, a species of plant, a particular kind of human behavior, an institution.''

      I think that this concept of "myth" as a looking-glass into the reality of life makes perfect sense, even in modern contexts. Where Norse mythology was, and potentially still, seen as true religion, I think that many today still use their chosen religion as the backbone of their choices and moral judgments. It aligns with history, at least according to Eliade, that we would find connection with our history in order to make choices in present day.

  2. Jan 2026
    1. The fairest in the land, she will marry the most powerful in the land; bidden to the wedding, the egotistically assertive, plotting Queen will become a former Queen, dancing herself to death in red-hot iron shoes

      The ending of this version of the story makes me believe even more that the women in this story are all connected, and the men the same. It seems likely the Snow-White will take on a similar fate of her mother, and step-mother. It is interesting, and something to ponder, on if her time with the dwarfs will help or hurt her future.

    2. women almost inevitably turn against women because the voice of the looking glass sets them against each other

      This story takes on an entirely new meaning when you read is as it's being presented here. The idea that the Queen would have always hated Snow, and that the mirror only acts as a reason, makes this story a lot more relatable in a sense. It seems likely that this narrative of women as they SHOULD be: easy-going, beautiful, and never vain. It's interesting when you recognize that the mirror is actually the voice of men, and that all the women in this story want to is to make the men around them happy.

    3. The first Queen seems still to have had prospects; not yet fallen into sexuality, she looks outward, if only upon the snow. The second Queen is doomed to inward search that psychoanalysts like Bruno Bettelheim censoriously define as "narcissism," but which is necessitated by a state from which all outward prospects have been removed.

      This quote is incredibly interesting to me. I had never thought of the first Queen and the second Queen as such opposites, but I love how it used the window as an outward reflection, and the mirror as inward. I will say, I don't love how women in all of these stories, specifically older women, are seen as witch-like and evil, but I guess it was a different time...