MEPHISTOPHELES

Mephistopheles is a name given to a devil or demon in the Faust legend.

The name is associated with the Faust legend of a scholar who wagered his soul against the devil being able to make Faust wish to live, even for a moment, based on the historical Johann Georg Faust. The name appears in the late 16th century Faust chapbooks. In the 1725 version which was read by Goethe, Mephostophiles is a devil in the form of a greyfriar summoned by Faust in a wood outside Wittenberg. The name Mephistophiles already appears in the 1527 Praxis Magia Faustiana, printed in Passau, alongside pseudo-Hebrew text. It is best explained as a purposedly obscure pseudo-Greek or pseudo-Hebrew formation of Renaissance magic.

From the chapbook, the name enters Faustian literature and is also used by authors from Marlowe down to Goethe. In the 1616 edition of The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Mephostophiles became Mephistophilus.

Burton (1992, p. 61) speculates on Greek elements that may have played a part in the coining of the name, including Greek mē "not", phōs "light" and philos "lover", suggesting "not a lover of light" in parody of lucifer. Variations in mephost- may be due to attraction by Latin mephitis "pungent", and Goethe's Mephistopheles may due to Hebrew tophel "liar". Hamlin (2001, p. 9), however, suggests that the name is derived from the Hebrew 'Mephistoph,' meaning "destroyer of the good."

FAUST

Faust (German for "fist") or Faustus (Latin for "auspicious" or "lucky") is the protagonist of a classic German legend in which he makes a pact with the Devil. The tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical works, such as those by Christopher Marlowe, Goethe, Thomas Mann, Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, Oscar Wilde, Charles Gounod, Radiohead and Todd Mcfarlane.

The name "Faust" has come to stand for a charlatan alchemist (some claim "astrologer and necromancer") whose pride and vanity lead to his doom. Similarly, the adjective "Faustian" has come to denote acts or constellations involving human hubris which lead eventually to doom.

OEDIPUS AND THE RIDDLE OF THE SPHINX

In Greek mythology, the Sphinx sat outside of Thebes and asked this riddle of all travelers who passed by. If the traveler failed to solve the riddle, then the Sphinx killed him/her. And if the traveler answered the riddle correctly, then the Sphinx would destroy herself. The riddle:

What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?

Oedipus solved the riddle, and the Sphinx destroyed herself.

YI-FU TUAN

"Place can acquire deep meaning for the adult through the steady accretion of sentiment over the years. Every piece of heirloom furniture, or even a stain on the wall, tells a story. The child not only has a short past, but his eyes more than the adult’s are on the present and the immediate future. His vitality for doing things and exploring space is not suited to the reflective pause and backward glance that make places seem saturated with significance. The child’s imagination is of a special kind. It is tied to activity."

MARGUERITE CALLAWAY

Marguerite Moore Callaway (Maggie) has been a successful and innovative management consultant to senior
executives for over 20 years, specializing in the areas of leadership and board support, original strategy
development and effective organizational implementation. In addition to the value of a broad range of personal
and professional experiences, a diverse educational background has given Maggie multiple frameworks with which
to evaluate a given client situation.