ABSTRACT
Themis first appears in a story of how this world came into being, a Greek myth about the birth of the gods. Ever since storytelling began, such creation myths have told of how particular cultures explain their own genesis and nature. So they can give a picture of the dynamic psychological processes which initiate a new structure of governing cultural principles. Creation myths help peoples define themselves, they tell them what values are important. Across times and cultures, they have been recounted to young people as an essential part of their initiation into their tribe; their retelling has brought renewal at the start of the New Year; they have been evoked at times of crisis.1
