Editors: Terri Windling
and Midori Snyder
Book Reviewers: Helen Pilinovsky
and Elizabeth Genco
Art: from top to bottom
Persephone by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Owls by Richard Doyle
Scarecrow by Jeanie Tomanek
Painting by John Anster Fitzgerald
Photograph from The Big Fish
Angel of Death by Evelyn Morgan
Circe by John William Waterhouse
Letter from the Editor’s Desk
“In this issue, we’re look at myths and mythic arts dealing with themes of death, re–birth, and resurrection. . . .”
The Reading Room
Death and Rebirth in World Myth and Mythic Fiction
“To die is to sleep, the myth seems to be saying, to be entombed among flickering dreams until we wake again. . . .”
Death and Return in the Myth of Demeter and Persephone
“Persephone means she who brings destruction, i.e. the Goddess of Death . . .”
Godfather Death: Death in Fairy Tales
“Death is a very real threat in the tales —yet it does not always have the last word . . .”
The Vision Fast: Practicing Death and Rebirth
“In each of life’s major transitions, something dies and something new is born . . .”
Godmother Death
“You think you know this story. You do not . . .”
Meet the Elms
“The doctor diagnosed my father with Dutch Elm disease on the day the fall color turned . . .”
Familiar Birds
“They could talk to anyone, those birds, those trees. But mostly they didn’t want to . . .”
The Writing Room
Mythic Fiction for Young Adults
“Mythic fiction encourages examination of the notions of ‘literary’ versus ‘popular’ fiction, or ‘mainstream’ versus ‘genre’ . . .”
On Myth and Writing
“The act of creation, it has always seemed to me, is one of the great magics of our world . . .”
Pamela Dean’s The Secret Country and Authorial Creation
“Imaginative creation is not merely full of wonder and joy; it is hard, painful, and messy . . .”
The Gallery
The Heart’s Desire: The Art of Jeanie Tomanek
Moments In–Between: The Art of Erica Swadley
The Crossroads: Mixed Media
Fairy Tale Theatre: The Art of Transformation
“The boy is near death, and the seals sing the songs of the ancients to call him back to life . . .”
The Coffeehouse: Poetry
Bedtime Story
Llantos de La Llorona:Warnings from the Wailer
Aesculapius in the Underworld
A Daughter’s Tale
Odyssey
Wiglaf
When Raven Sang
Balance of the World Part I
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Balance of the World Part 2
Birthdream
The Voice Outside
Old Tree Healing
From the Archives: On Death and Rebirth
How to Bring Someone Back From the Dead
The Parade of You
Days of the Dead
Persephone
From Persephone’s Letters to Demeter
May 28