1. The Stories of Creation

2. Five Types of Creation Myth
Ex Nihlio
Creation from Chaos
World Parent
Emergence
Earth-Diver

3. Creation which occurs through the… Thoughts Words Deeds Dreams
Ex Nihlio
Creation which occurs through the…
Thoughts
Words
Deeds
Dreams
Bodily Secretions
…of a divine being.
Brahma, the Hindu god of creation, emerges from a lotus growing from the navel of Visnu, who lies with the god Lakshmi on the serpent Ananta Shesha.

4. An Example of an Ex Nihlio Myth: Egypt
Atum, the sun god, lived within the infinite waters of Nu.
He thought himself into existence.
He formed a hill in the waters, stood on the shoreline, and performed a “mature” action.
The fruits of his mature action landed in the water, and two new gods were born: Shu and his sister Tefnut.

5. Shu and Tefnut
Shu represented the air, while Tefnut represented the water.
Apparently Nu, which is made up of infinite water, does not actually represent water, but the infinite chaos of the universe before there were gods.
Shu and Tefnut were washed away in the Nu.
Naturally, Atum did the only thing a responsible parent would do in the situation:
He plucked out his eye and threw it in the water to search for his lost children.

6. Atum’s Big Family
Eventually Atum’s eye, called the Udjat, found his lost children.
He cried tears of joy, and where the tears landed, human beings were formed.
Naturally the brother and sister were happy to see each other, so they made babies.
Yuck.
Their two children were Geb, the earth, and Nut, the Sky.

7. Geb and Nut Close as siblings. As close as their parents were.
Their children were:
Osiris,
Isis
Nepthys
and Seth

8. Assignment:
Without being dirty or inappropriate for school, write a one page story depicting what you think the events in this picture are. Why are they standing like this? How did they get into such a peculiar arrangement.
One pages, just the front.
Write on every other line.
Spelling and grammar are always important, but you can correct things later on.
As a reminder, the three gods depicted are:
The blue one, Nut, who is the sky.
The green one, Geb, who is the earth.
The man in the white skirt is their father, Shu, who is the air.

9. Here’s what happened:
Geb and Nut spent too much time laying close to one another, so Tefnut told their father, Shu, to break the two apart.
Shu stepped in, holding the two physically apart. But sometimes he gets tired and needs a break.
That’s when the sky touches the earth, and bad weather occurs.

10. Creation from Chaos In the beginning, there is nothing but chaos.
Chaos can be a void, a vapor, water; anything infinite.
Chaos is usually perceived as evil
Replacing chaos is order, perceived as good.

11. Emergence Often seen in the Americas
It’s exactly what it sounds like: humanity leaves one world and emerges in this one.
Usually they come through a cave, or are somehow transformed in a naturalistic way
“Naturalistic,” i.e. germination, planting, etc.
Represents birth.

12. Kiva

13. Earth Diver
A supreme being usually sends a person or animal into chaos to start building things (the ground, people, etc).
Common in Native American religions, Siberian religions, and Finno-Uralic peoples.