Editors’ Introduction: The following is the concluding entry in a two-part series of posts by guest contributor Scath Beorh on the topic of “Mythopoetics.” Part one, which offers definitions of the various mythopoetic categories, can be found here. In this concluding section, Beorh elaborates on the nature of Mythopoetics and discusses the role of the mythopoet in a society in need of divine guidance. We again would like to thank Scath for allowing us to feature his work.

LOGOS PREDICATION CHART OF TRAVEL

THE PRIMORDIAL SOURCE BEYOND OR OUTSIDE OF ALL PREDICATION & BEING (ONTOS) -> BEGETS LOGOS (NOUN, REASON, WORD) WHOSE ACTIVE FORM IS  RHEMA (VERB) WHICH  PREDICATES THOUGHT ->  PREDICATES WORD ->  PREDICATES DEED -> ALL THREE LEAD TO THE  GIFT OF THERIAKE (ANTIDOTE) VIA THE BLOOD OF JESUS -> WHICH BRINGS HEALING -> WHICH BRINGS  ATONEMENT WITH & PERFECTION IN THE PRIMORDIAL SOURCE (GOD)

The mythopoet not only trusts no man to lead him—for the promises of God are his foundation—he also nurtures a distrust of all socio-political assertions. At the same time he honors them so that those who follow them can see the light he carries without being able to find fault with him. This measure is principal for the mythopoet who has not only seen the isolation of his own beliefs, but watches the suppression of ancient wisdom at the hands of dogma designed to maintain control of a fragile paradigm threatened by the power of righteousness. Babylon can be found everywhere that righteousness asserts itself. In churches as well as in governments; in universities and well as in the local grange, the insidious creep of control over the people may be found.

Mythopoïesis—the primary tool of the true poet—carries a three-fold purpose:

• To provide a constructive thesis to use as a guideline for abundant living full of creative and godly imagination;
• To supply a synthesis of all truths as they relate to Logos Predication;
• To impart a destructive antithesis equipped to pull down insufficient and aspects of life that have fallen sway to sinister paradigms.

The mythopoet imposes his vision upon a place, refusing to accept a paradigm from it. He weaves a variegated tapestry, often writing of anything and everything. As with any proven artisan, he has his constant—his underlying theme which bleeds through even his most bizarre and seemingly disassociated works.

The creative imagination of the mythopoet is a righteousness-seeking and righteousness-intensifying talent which creates a true vision of reality. He has taken it upon himself to write, and re-write, history if necessary—keeping in mind the ancient mandate that the seanachie, or lore-keeper, should never change the most important facts which work as the unamendable fabric of the narrative. Any rewriting that the poet does is to be done in the spirit of clarification where core truths have been tampered with. It is the very Logos who gives the mythopoet his magical, conscious, far-reaching, and seeing mind needed to maintain the received narrative. With this work of the protection of received wisdom, the mythopoet, as with any seer of the people, may be found at work with narrative that at first may be seen as new lore and undocumented legend, but later understood as valid primeval symbolism and celebrated archaic vision kept hidden by the ancients, thus thought lost.

Mythopoïesis carries the distinct ability to raise history to a different power, and as a body of work is read and re-read, the student moves to higher and higher ground. The mythopoet actually writes place into existence, and destroys soured or profaned places that prove themselves unnecessary to a rightwise existence. Further, the mythopoet reveals his co-creative connection to the Logos by bringing into existence places previously nonexistent.

The linear historian skews what happened in order to propagate the narrative of the dominant paradigm, no matter how profane. The mythopoet, though, writes into existence what should have happened, and so it does happen on some other—and far more important—plane of being. Therefore, mythopoïesis stands as a more philosophical and serious activity than historical writing.

Poets who cause loss of face are not usually desired as comrades, and are persecuted, if not by governments, then by the critics who claim to speak for the people. Friendship and estrangement, however, are the same for the mythopoet, for he sees no one as his enemy and all as potentially ready to hear his message of righteousness and atonement with the Logos. He feels secure in the arms of the One who goes before him. In this place of rest, the mythopoet finds both his peace and his voice as he seeks a rightwise existence in each moment of his life. As the Logos walks with him in the cool of the day, he stands in awe of that Presence and, with eternal gratitude, realizes his atonement with this selfsame Presence.

The mythopoet is called to magnanimous duty, and to shirk this calling is to run from communion with the Logos.

Scáth Beorh writes stories permeated with themes of violence, brutality, anguish, punishment, magical realism, and blurred lines between this and the afterlife. Sometimes veiled and at times more overt sarcasm about Christian values and moral inconsistencies underline an ingenious design behind the entertaining tales. The quality of the writing and storytelling indicate an extremely well-informed and competent storyteller. Beorh is the author of the novel The Vampires Of Dreach Fola (JWK, 2016), the story collections Children & Other Wicked Things (JWK, 2013) and Classic Ghost Stories (Editor, Crucifixion Books, 2017), the poetic study Dark Sayings Of Old (JWK, 2013), and the novels The Witch Of Ballinascarty (Ghostley Books, 2017) and Pinprick (Ghostley Books, 2017). Forthcoming works include The Annotated Nephilim Field Guide, Ghostly: A Novel Of Postmodern Ireland, Uncle Treacle’s Bestiary, Hollywood & Vine, The Horror Of Rue Royale, and Stained Glass: Mythopoeic Storeys.