The most challenging types of historical information concerning the cosmos are those that were traditionally invested with sentiments of sacrality, reverence, fear, or worship, the principal ingredients of religion. Traditions - especially myths, rituals and representations - that were 'holy', 'respected' and thought to be true typically concerned phenomena that are not or rarely seen today, such as the events of the 'creation' of the world, the manifestation of deities or encounters with the numinous. Generally, what is unknown and not understood tends to be feared, tabooed and explained with imagined notions, a process known as the deux ex machina, from which even modern scientists have not entirely freed themselves.

Transient natural events thus emerge as a very potent class of 'mythogenetic' experiences. As a guideline, whatever induced our distant ancestors to produce the central themes of myth appears to have been:

The following is a preliminary catalogue of extraordinary, impressive and often short-lived events observed by human beings that have left traces in the historical record:

The pervasive role of plasma

At first blush, a listing of these transient events may not seem to warrant the term 'plasma mythology' as an embracing reference to a discipline that endeavours to study all of these phenomena. The principal reason for this is people's relative unfamiliarity with cosmic plasma. All stars and gaseous planets consist of plasma. Plasma is the common denominator in telluric currents, plasma-generated spherules, St. Elmo's fire, lightning, aurorae, ion plumes, flux transfer events, cometary tails, sunspots, solar flares, and some more contentious phenomena such as ball lightning and earthquake lights. A strong electromagnetic component, if not a direct correlation to geomagnetism, also appears to underlie aspects of the geological phenomena listed here:

In addition, optical phenomena such as the zodiacal light and crepuscular rays have no electromagnetic causes themselves, but are secondarily affected by the quantity and distribution of debris in the inner solar system, suggesting that increased cometary ‘dusting’ would enhance these effects as well as meteor showers significantly. The debris of which the interplanetary medium is formed forms a dusty plasma, responsive to changes in the solar wind and the magnetosphere.

Considering the dominance of electromagnetic forces in these phenomena, 'plasma mythology' is a convenient and justifiable umbrella term for this branch of the humanities.

From ordinary to extreme

Mythological traditions can generally be divided into two categories, for which the following terms are proposed:

Parontomythology is the mythology concerning contemporary phenomena in the natural world, typically given in the form of 'proto-scientific' explanations. Examples of parontomyths are the widespread belief belief that lightning is produced by a so-called 'thunderbird' or 'lightning bird', or the common interpretation of the rainbow or the Milky Way as a dragon.

Aetiomythology is the mythology concerning the origin of the present world, including episodes of creation and destruction. Examples of aetiomyths are the Greek story of the succession of divine kingship from Ouranos to Kronos and from Kronos to Zeus or the Aztec tradition of four past eras or 'suns'. The term incorporates the notion of 'aetiological myths', which are traditions accounting for specific aspects of the present world, such as the existence of a lake or the colour of a bird.

In many cases, parontomythical ideas can be shown to trace to aspects of creation myths, but this is not always so and for methodological purposes the two categories are best distinguished initially.

Turning now to plasma mythology, it is easily seen that the categories of aetiomythology and parontomythology represent extremes on a fluctuating scale of transient events:

Parontomythology concerns relatively common events such as the observation of lightning, aurorae, earthquake lights, or the fall of 'thunderstones', which provide a limited challenge to the mind. Such events are likely to inspire a large number of local traditions.

Aetiomythology concerns unparalleled and drastic changes in the cosmic environment, collectively remembered in traditional societies as 'origin stories' that arguably encapsulate events that are extremely uncommon on a human timescale. Such universal and archetypal themes require atmospheric events on a cosmic scale.

Neocatastrophism? In part.

The emphasis on transient events in the external, natural world serves as a watershed between 'plasma mythology' and most preceding theories of myth. In the case of aetiomythology, where such events assumed dramatic, devastating and often world-altering proportions, 'plasma mythology' overlaps with the worn notion of catastrophism. The dialectic between catastrophism and uniformitarianism, which dominated the past three centuries of science, roots in the obsolete understanding that both views are mutually exclusive. The prevailing view today is that the history of the earth, life and its cosmic environment can be modelled as a punctuated equilibrium with prolonged periods of stability and ephemeral episodes of upheaval. 'Plasma mythology' is best seen as a more encompassing field of enquiry, supplanting the old notion of catastrophism, which does not only study traditions about catastrophic disruptions of nature, but also of conspicuous short-lived events without dramatic consequences, such as solar eclipses and auroral displays.

Geomythology and 'cosmomythology'

In more recent times, the potential of transient events as a crucial 'key' towards understanding traditional materials was recognised by a group of scholars representing the nascent subdiscipline of geomythology. This field studies geologically relevant information in mythical and other historical sources, with a stronger emphasis on transient events than on regular ones. Geomythologists concentrate on possible mythologised reports of historical tsunamis or volcanic eruptions and the idea that ancient discoveries of fossils, such as those of dinosaurs or Pleistocenic megafauna, contributed to the belief in fabulous creatures such as dragons. Important names in this fast-growing area include Adrienne Mayor and the pairs of Elizabeth & Paul Barber, Amos Nur & Dawn Burgess, and Luigi Piccardi & Bruce Masse.

From the earth-based perspective most human beings have usually enjoyed, the natural world can conveniently be divided into a geological and a celestial half, the first of which is concerned with the lower regions of the earth and the oceans, the latter with the upper zones occupied by the atmosphere and the realm of stars and planets. The term cosmomythology is proposed in order to accommodate a study of historical materials pertaining to the celestial half of the visible cosmos, complementary to geomythology.

A large number of respectable mythologists, including Mircea Eliade, Giorgio de Santillana & Hertha von Dechend, Edwin Krupp and Anthony Aveni have explored mythical reflexes of the regular and ordinary proceedings in the sky, such as the precession of the equinoxes, the shifting relationship of the Milky Way to the ecliptic band, and the planetary cycles. Other specialists in the humanities drew attention to short-lived celestial events, such as the passage and possible impacts of comets, meteor showers, an enhanced zodiacal light, historical reports of eclipses and novae, and auroral observations. Recent contributors to this line of investigation include Bruce Masse, Derek Allen & Bernard Delair, Richard Firestone & Allen West, Victor Clube, William Napier & Mark Bailey, Duncan Steel, Peter Bobrowsky & Hans Rickman, and, to a moderate extent, David Kelley & Eugene Milone. All of these scholars can conveniently be referred to as 'cosmomythologists'.