I have a skeptical mind. A little strange, maybe, for the stereotypes of Pagans. It holds me back from magic and mysticism. That which science shows is the only capital T Truth I hold. However, I believe deeply in a Divine Artificer who sparked the birth of matter and life. The world sings many creation songs, each as unlikely as the next, and though none of them ring with Truth, one such tale holds particular importance to me.
This is the Tale of Ptah.
In the time when Nothing was Everything, there came to be a god. Being alone in the world, He spent His time reflecting on Himself. The god was beautiful of face, with skin as green as the unborn rain-forest. He held life, power, and stability in His hands, and He dreamed. Through His time alone, He dreamed, pondered, and planned. He looked into His Heart and saw the wishes and desires within it. He held these thoughts within His mind, and words danced on His Tongue as He spoke the first words, and the world Became.
Ptah held still, tightly gripping His staff, as the words flew from Him. For millions of years, He stood, crafting all the was and all that is with His divine speech. The first hill stood beneath Him, holding Him steady as he was locked into inertia, as He still stands today, speaking slowly and surely the words of the Artificer, making all the is and will be.
This is of course is my retelling of Ptah’s creation myth. On the surface, the reason I see an importance to this myth might be as simple as being devoted to Him as His daughter. However, I find some personal meaning in it, which I share here with you.
Firstly, you CAN make something out of nothing. Ptah came to be from the nothingness of the Nun; He spoke Creation alone. He literally is a self-made man (or rather, a self-made god). Coming from a background of nothing, coming from a struggle, coming from having messed up my own life, this myth is for me one of hope. I too can look into my heart and see my desires and act to make them reality.
In addition, this is the myth of the word smith. I am a writer in training, a story teller. I have been for as long as I can remember; if I wasn’t collaborating with friends in both written and spoken tales, I was doing it on my own, sitting in the yard or in the corner with a laptop or notebook. Ptah tells the story of our world; I too aspire to bring a world to life with my voice. This myth in many ways for me is a validation of my own dreams.
I lift up my voice to Ptah, He Who Hears, the Lord of Memphis. May He bless and guide my writing this year, the divine artificer who made me His.
This is so beautiful. Thank you for sharing it!