Bringing Back Mythology

My son, my love, the apple of my eye, the beat of my heart, my one pure joy... he tells me that he believes he is supposed to worship Hermes. How did that come about? The solar system, that's how.

I tried to teach this kid about the solar system, the planetary models and such and all he connects with is the fact that they are named after roman/greek gods. I tried to explain why Pluto is no longer considered a planet, but his only reply was, "Well, that makes sense. Pluto shouldn't be a planet, because all the other gods were on Mt. Olympus, while Hades (Pluto) was in the Underworld."

"Stay with me, Kade. The solar system has little to do with mythology with the exception of the names, okay? Now, Mercury is the closest to the sun. It revolves around the sun the fastest-"

"Yeah, 'cuz Hermes was the messenger of the gods, because he was the fastest."

"Right. Let's stay on track here."

"You know, I'm a Virgo."

"That's great, Kade."

"Virgos are all about doing things by the book. They plan things just so. You know that is so me. Hermes was like that, too. I'm just like that, Mom."

"I'm beginning to see that. The second planet--"

"I think I'm like Hermes. I think I'm supposed to worship him. I think he's my god."

"Okay, you do realize that it's greek MYTHology, right?"

"Yeah, but if we all had gods, he'd be mine."

"No one believes in any of this. They're great stories, honey, but they're myths."

"Well, I believe it. And you should, too. If we didn't have mythology, we'd not have names for all those planets there."

You know, a child's sense of wonder and truth is so amazing sometimes. We ended up spending the rest of our time finding similarities between the planets and the gods. He enjoyed it. For the life of me, I just didn't have the heart to shatter his perception of "mythology". I think instead, I shall sit back and let him discover his own truth.