Weigle’s Nine-Part Typology of Creation Myths

Marta Weigle, in her book Creation and Procreation: Feminist Reflections on Mythologies of Cosmogony and Parturition, has identified nine types of
creation myths (Leonard and McClure 33). Often more than one of these types are combined in a single story. For instance, the Genesis account combines
both the deus faber and ex nihilo types (Leonard and McClure 43). Students should avoid treating one type of myth as better or worse than another. Each
type tries to make sense out of the created world, and each has its own sphere of value (Leonard and McClure 33).

Type Examples Emphasis

Accretion/ These myths see creation forming as a result of "the mingling or layering of the primal elements (e.g., earth, wind, fire, “creative
Conjunction and water)"(Leonard and McClure 34). "Any action, whether that of wind or wave, or the earliest stirrings of a god or potency of
devil, unleashes the productive power sleeping in the primordial deep" (Leonard and McClure 34-5). primal matter”

EX: Warm air from Muspell mingling with cold air of Niflheim (Norse)
Secretion These myths see creation as a result of "divine emissions as 'vomit, sweat, urination, defecation, masturbation, birth of human
web-spinning, [and] parthenogenesis'" (Weigle qtd. in Leonard and McClure 35). Parthenogenesis is the production of rather than
an offspring from an unfertilized egg or gamete. According to Leonard and McClure, myths following this pattern world; humans
generally focus on the birth of life or humans (Leonard and McClure 35-6). as ‘descendants’
of gods
EX: Father Raven defecates/urinates creating land and water (Chuckchee)
Sacrifice These myths focus on creation as a consequence of the sacrifice of a god. Typically the sacrificed bodies become some cost of creation
part of the newly created world (Leonard and McClure 36-7).

EX: Sun and moon formed by the sacrifice of the human Nanauatzin (sun) and the god Tecuciztecatl (moon) in the
hearth Teotexcalli (Nahuatl)
Division/ According to Weigle, these myths are "'usually associated with discriminating primal matter or a cosmogonic egg [or] how to
Consummation with the consumated marriage of earth and sky'" (qtd. in Leonard and McClure 37). Usually, "the sky-father casts his discriminate the
seeds into the earth-mother in the form of rain" (Leonard and McClure 37). These myths focus on separating the parts of the
various parts of the universe and embuing certain portions with life or the potentiality for life (Leonard and McClure universe so that
38). life can survive

EX: Cosmic egg appears in primeval sea (Hindu)

EX: Gaia gives birth to Ouranos who lays with her and gives birth (Greek)
Earth-Diver These myths typically begin with a primordial sea into which the god descends to bring back the materials necessary miracle of birth
for creating the world. In these myths, the amount of material retrieved by the god is small and parallels the way in - life arising
which the tiny cells of procreation grow into full-sized beings (Leonard and McClure 38-9). from smallest
elements
EX: Turtle brings up elements of earth from bottom of ocean so Earth-Starter can create world (Maidu)
 Emergence In these myths, a first creature, human, or race enters our world from another world. The first world parallels the womb evolutionary
and is often too small for its occupants (Leonard and McClure 39). progress and the
[E]mergence myths emphasize evolutionary progress from the cramped darkness of early society to the airy need for humans
brightness of civilization. . . . [T]he people learn important turths before they finally arrive in our world--and to participate in
even then, the world they find is not quite complete without their efforts. Tests must be successfully met, the creative act
religious ritual must be learned and performed, and the people must create that which the world does ont
already provide. (Leonard and McClure 40)

EX: Coyote, First Man, First Woman leave cramped, dark world through series of worlds to their eventual home
(Navajo)
Two Creators In these myths, the world is created through the combined efforts of or the conflict between two gods. These gods may hierarchies in
be of the same sex, opposite sex, or may be twin gods. Often one god is more ethical or compassionate than the other. life; higher and
These myths also sometimes establish hierarchies between created beings, that is, a society of class (Leonard and lower classes of
McClure 40-1). life

EX: Kolombomui fangi and Mwile vie with each other over who can create life (Basonge)
Deus Faber In these myths, the world is created by a great Maker god. The emphasis is on the creator's craftmanship and on the wonder of
"intricacy and cleverness of creation" (Leonard and McClure 41-2). nature; intricacy
and complexity
EX: Creator models humans out of clay, then wood, and finally corn (Maya) of life
Ex nihilo The Latin phrase "ex nihilo" means "'from nothingness' or 'from spirit' and is used to describe cosmogonies in which life as the breath
the creator brings the world into being through speech, breath, dream, thought, or laughter" (Leonard and McClure 43). of god; word
creates order
EX: God of Genesis speaks the world into existence (Judaeo-Christian)

Adapted from
Leonard, Scott and Michael McClure. Myth & Knowing: An Introduction to World Mythology. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2004, pages 33-43.

Bill Stifler, Chattanooga State Technical Community College, 2005