Creation, Myths of

Darkness, Divine Chaos, and the Primordial Gods

The Romans tell of Chaos, the shapeless form of the four elements—water, fire, air, and earth—before the beginning of time; when these elements finally separated, the result was the formation of Janus, the “god of gods.” From China, the gods Yin and Yang were the first to form from the hun dun or shapeless vapors; with the remainder of these vapors Yin and Yang created the universe and humans. The Hopi legends recount how the entirety of existence was endless space and the sun spirit; the sun spirit formed the earth from himself and endless space. The Mayans' “Book of Counsel” tells that there was silence in the beginning prior to creation. The Taoist Chuang-Tzu describes the subde stages of “Being” there was: “Not-Yet-Beginning-to-Be-Non-Being,” and “Not-Yet-Beginning-to-Be-a-Not-Yet-Beginning-to-Be-Non-Being,” and how “suddenly” the vitality of Being and Non-Being came to pass. A New Zealand Maori chant tells how everything emerged from a void origin. The Taoist Lao Tzu wrote of an unknown thing, “confusedly formed,” with the potential of being the mother of worlds. In the Slavonic legends the dual forces of positive and negative created Byelobog the Black God, and Chernobog the White God. To the Haidas of the Pacific Northwest (of the U.S.), the Supreme Being is called “The-Light-of-the-Shining-Heavens,” while the Incas call it the “Hidden-Face-of-God” and the Iroquois call it the “Old-One-in-the-Sky.” To the Hebrews, the name of God is so revered that it is unspeakable; in writing, the consonants JHVH were arranged to denote God. An Inuit legend describes Raven as being the creator, yet it is the Sparrow that not only accompanied Raven throughout the creation processes, but was there from the inception; while the Inupiaq of Alaska tell of the Primevous Shaman that created Raven the god-man, Raven who became a creator in his own right and transformed into a bird. In Siberia the Chukchi call the Reindeer Being their Creator. The Evenks have two names: Amaka the guardian for humans, and Ekseri who oversees the animals. The Korean Supreme Being is Hanullim, the “ruler of heaven.” In Australia the Aboriginals recognize the “All Father,” which goes by several names depending on location, and/or the “The Great Mother” or “All Mother.”

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