Introduction:
In the first article of this collection, “Reconsidering the Roots of Western Philosophy,” the cultural historian Charlene Spretnak discusses the radical break between mind and body, humans and nature that has plagued the Western mind. She reminds us that for too long we have forgotten that we are inseparably part of the great unity of all life. In “Some Archaeo-Mythic Rambles,” The British author, artist, and prehistorian Michael Dames discusses the effect of logos-derived objectivity that has led to a process of disenchantment. He offers a guide for rediscovering the mythic resonance of the living world to remind us that we, too, are an inseparable part of the cycles of life. In his article, “Was Malta a Place for the Veneration of a Mother Goddess?” the art historian, professor, and artist Louis Laganà examines this controversial question that was at the center of an historic conference held at the University of Malta in 1985. This question remains controversial to this day. The linguist and cultural historian Harald Haarmann and the linguist, lawyer, and cultural historian Kathleen Imholz discuss their unique collaboration in the article, “Old Europe and Albanian Civilisation.” Their investigation explores rich interdisciplinary evidence of Neolithic Old Europe buried within the jumbled cultural layers of Albanian prehistory. Imholz concludes by sharing her complex search for the lost location of Dodona, a famous oracular center of the ancient world. Françoise Storey and Jeff Storey, professors at the Université Côte dʼAzur in Nice, have penned “The Goddess, the Serpent and Video Games at the Origins of the Monomyth.” In its ancient form, the Monomyth provided a sacred pathway of ritual initiation and transformation within the eternal cycle of renewal. This volume concludes with an article by the German philosopher of science, Heide Goettner-Abendroth, the founder/director of the International Academy Hagia. Her article, “The New Ideology of ʽEternal War’ in Archaeology: Critical Reflections on Early History,” challenges prevailing interpretations within archaeology that warfare has always been endemic to human societies.