Where do myth trees begin?
An interactive myth lab. Change the model, move the root, and explore what comparative mythology can—and cannot—tell us about origins.
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Anthropology
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The Hands That Remember: Hiva Oa and Rapa Nui
Hiva Oa's tiki and Rapa Nui's moai share a striking hand gesture—and a Polynesian history illuminated by oral tradition, archaeology, and DNA.
The Bullroarer Atlas: Mapping a Thousand Attestations of the World’s Strangest Instrument
An interactive world atlas of 1,200+ bullroarer records reveals a sacred-to-toy gradient, a thin post-Ice Age archaeological record, and a snake where the wood survives.
The Dead Songs We Still Sing
Ritual language survives after meaning dies: bullroarers, hook-swinging, magic spells, and songs sung long after words go dark.
Eve Theory of Consciousness: A Mechanism for Wilber’s Eden
A deep dive connecting Ken Wilber’s Up from Eden to the Eve Theory of Consciousness (EToC), proposing a mechanism and timeline for ego-birth via recursion and self-domestication.
Participation Mystique and the Many Ways to Be a Mind
A defense of Lévy-Bruhl’s participation mystique as a real mode of consciousness that explains ritual, religion, and group minds better than its critics admit.
Visiting Gods and Prophets: The Myth of the Traveling Civilizer in the Americas
A comprehensive exploration of the bearded god archetype across the Americas, from Quetzalcoatl to Deganawida, examining how indigenous cultures imagined civilizing visitors from distant lands.
Spirit-Indwelling Initiation Rites and the Bullroarer
Across Australia, West Africa, Greece, and Amazonia, the bullroarer marks initiation as literal spirit indwelling—ritual death, rebirth, and presence of the god or ancestor.
Female Katabasis vs. Male Dying Gods: What Changes?
A sharp comparison of Inanna, Persephone, and Xquic with Dumuzi, Adonis, Osiris, and Telepinu—pinpointing which ritual and seasonal functions specifically track female agency.
The Pirahã in Eden: A Holdout Beyond the Human Condition
Argues—within the Eve & Snake Cult theories—that Pirahã culture preserves a pre-Holocene mode of mind; contrasts with Clovis-era ‘apex’ consciousness; weighs genetics, ritual, and myth.
Masks Before Masks: A Diffusionist History of the Ritual Face
A diffusionist deep dive tracing masked ritual from a single Levantine hearth—stone masks and plastered skulls—to a global grammar of spirit embodiment.
Sahul’s Mystery Cults: Bullroarers, the Dreaming, and the Tambaran
A concise case for historical links between Australian bullroarer–initiation and PNG Tambaran/flute cults, framed by Sahul-era connectivity.
Snake‑Bitten & Swallowed: initiatory serpents from Cape York to Eleusis
Comparative cases where initiates are called ‘snake‑bitten’ or ‘swallowed’—from Cape York’s dunggul to Sabazios, Yuruparí, the Ophites, Hopi Snake Dance, and Wawilak—w/ primary sources.
Roaring Boys: Bullroarers and Male Initiation in Papua New Guinea
How bullroarers figure in Papua New Guinea male initiations—from Purari Delta imunu viki and kaiamunu ‘monsters’ to Sepik Tambaran houses—plus names, stages, and secrecy.
Dunggul: snake, bullroarer, and the making of men
On Cape York, dunggul names both ‘snake’ and ‘bullroarer.’ What this polysemy reveals about initiation, being ‘snake‑bitten,’ and the ritual voice.
Every Word for the Bullroarer We Could Find
A global lexicon of bullroarer names by language and culture, with careful sourcing and notes on polysemy and secrecy.
Djang’kawu & Wawilak Sisters: Yolngu Charters of Law, Language, and Country
A research-oriented account of the Yolngu Djang’kawu and Wawilak Sisters cycles—origins of law, language, and ceremony—mapped to EToC.
Freud’s Primal Horde, ‘Mother‑Right,’ and the Return of the Father
What Freud actually said about a primordial matriarchy: Darwinian horde → parricide → totemic brother‑clan with mother‑right → restitution of patriarchy, with primary‑source receipts.
Darwin on ‘primitive’ society: jealousy, marriage, and deep time
What Darwin actually said about early human social order—monogamy, polygyny, polyandry, ‘communal marriage,’ matriliny, time depth, and gene–culture feedback—with primary-source quotes.
The Bullroarer Across Aboriginal Australia: Functions, Meanings, and the Eve Theory of Consciousness
Comparative, primary-source survey of the bullroarer’s functions across Aboriginal Australia, mapped to Eve Theory of Consciousness constructs.