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vomiting creation
WP Anderson (andersop@SAIL.CUUG.AB.CA)
Thu, 20 Jan 1994 00:09:42 MST
Dear fellow subscribers,
During my preliminary research for a novel that has in
part been funded by the Alberta Foundation for the
Arts, I ran across an intriguing reference to 'vomiting
creation,' a belief, apparently held at one time in
parts of (East?) Africa, that the universe had been
vomited into creation ...
Now, o nightmare of nightmares!, I have failed to find
the original reference ... Was it in E.A. Wallis
Budge's _OSIRIS, The Egyptian Religion of
Resurrection_?
Thing is, even if it was, I don't recall much more than
this casually tossed off mention. So the
trail is now cold, and was probably pretty faint to
begin with.
Would anyone reading this list be familiar with this
variant of (East?) African creation myth?
Would you happen to know who I might best turn to for
further information? An accessible (and patient)
authority?
Sketchy though it is, the image is richly ...
evocative.
Was the universe vomited from some more primitive
stuff? Perhaps ingested in some earlier time?
Who/what did the vomiting? Out of (sea) sickness, fear, a
desire to regurgitate food ... to feed someone /
something? ...
Something vaguely avian there, a bird feeding its young
... swallows and nests ...
In what way does the cycle (presumably) continue ...?
Was the vomitus evolved stuff, or more like mud, was it
living, or just waiting for breath ...
Speculation warmly welcomed, particularly if stated as
such. Documentary evidence preferred ... a trail ...
Thanks, sorry to take up so much space / time with
this.
regards,
WP Anderson isis@sail.cuug.ab.ca
OR, secondarily:
andersop@cuug.ab.ca
--
andersop@sail.cuug.ab.ca (WP Anderson)
Writer/educator: Calgary, Canada.
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