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  Man, Myth, Magic and Me

A Literary Collage By Sam Grant-Williams

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Of Gods and Heroes

Ever sense I was a child I have always had

a fascination with world cultures specifically their 

spiritual traditions and religious ideologies !his

unending love was "orn out of my love for the

various mythologies of the ancient world# my

 personal favorites at the time were Ancient Gree$ 

and Ancient Egyptians I remem"er the day my

mom "ought me a "oo$ simply titled Egyptian %yths "y &ac'ueline %orley( she world read it to me

every until we had finished it I remem"er her siting me on her lap as we sat on the "ed( who she would

hold the "oo$ in front of us as she world read the characters lines in funny voices )I A% !*E

%+,EI,G A, E.E,I,G S!A/ A, I A% !*E S0, !*E ALL %IG*I!1 /A23 she would

 "ellow out in a fa$e deep voice in a humorous attempt to sound manly As she read it I "ecame

enthralled my the stories held within the "oo$ and wanted to grow up and get a 4o" in Egyptology

%y ne5t "ig o"session would "e good old Gree$ and

/oman myths( this was "orn from a trip to the li"rary at my

elementary school It was there that I found a "oo$ on Gree$

myths As a read( and read( I "ecame so ama6ed at 4ust how meany gods and goddesses the Gree$s and

/omans had %y favorite gods were Ere"us god of dar$ness( Iris goddess of rain"ows and *ecate

goddess of magic Besides studying units on mythology at school( my mother and grandmother too$

me fre'uently to the li"rary( museums( plays( "allets( poetry readings( movies( and many cultural fairs

as they were very supportive of this fascination I can still remem"er who my grandmother too$ me to

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see a production of !he +dyssey I can still imagine my grandma s'uee6ing my hand to comfort me

 "ecause I was afraid of the many monsters !his fear however only lead to love as my en4oyment of

Gree$ myths continued

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Being a Good &ew

%y own "ac$ground as a &ew also contri"uted to a

fascination with mysticism and mythic stories

Because my mother converted to &udaism when she

was in her 78s was "orn a )proper3 &ew "ecause it

was my mother who was &ewish as is the traditional

re'uirement When I was younger I was very proud

to "e a &ew as there were not a lot of &ews left In the

world( this made me feel uni'ue and "ecause of this I

wanted to "e the "est &ew ever2 I had even wanted to

 "ecome a /a""i As an e5pression of this

I started wearing my 1ama$a to school(

this did not end well !his is "ecause I

was "ullied so much "y my fellow

students !hey would yell at me and call

my things li$e devil worshiper and Christ

$iller !hey world play $eep away with

my 1ama$a and they why I tried to get it

 "ac$ they wold lie to the teacher so I got

 punished Because of this I grow so ashamed that to this day I am slightly sad when ever it is

mentioned that I was &ewish

As part of the *e"rew tradition I had my Bar %it6vah or right of passage at the age of thirteen

!o this day I still have very mi5ed feelings a"out the event 9art of me is still mad that at mother for

ma$ing do it( as I wanted the money that went into the ceremony to go to me getting "races( I still have

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 "ad teeth to this day But none the less my mom felt that this was more important !he hardest part

a"out it was reading from the !orah as I did not do well learning *e"rew in Sunday school !o

compensate for this I had to memori6e the te5t written in English sylla"les and say it li$e a speech on

stage But I did it and it was a very empowering e5perience

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:aith around the world

Because of such stores as the Golem of 9rague# I have had a

fascination with +ther /eligions and one what was really cool to me

was Christianity as many of my e5tended family mem"ers were

Christian I was often told that many stories in our !orah were also

included in the Christian Bi"le "ut I wasn;t sure which ones and if 

they too$ the same form

!hese 'uestions led me to first study the &udeo-Christian

religion which led to further 'uestions a"out other cultures such as Celtic( ,orse( A6tec< %ayan <Inca(

and then many Asian religions and cultures( "ac$ to pre-Christian civili6ations( and then to the &ewish

=a""ala !hen when I reali6ed that I am a gay male I felt alienated from &udeo-Christian( and Islamic

religions "elieving that there was no place for people whose se5uality was defined as anything other

then straight and married I "egan to wonder how these other cultures and religions dealt with gender<

se5uality issues and this led to new realms of study and interpretation