The Holy Mother
The most obvious and immediate parallel is of course found in the New Testament, when an angel tells Mary that she is to be the mother of the messiah. Indeed, it is interesting to bring up that the name Shmi is quite possibly derived from a Hebrew verbal root meaning "to hear" - for after all, the virgin mother of Christ did concieve of the Word through the ear. However, it would of course be a mistake to contribute the idea of a virgin birth solely to Christian origins. As Campbell recounts, stories of virgin births abound throughout not only full-blown mythology, but also in barely-elaborated folk tale.
And as always, what is important about the virgin birth in myth is what it symbolizes. It is a truly universal idea, finding expression from Greek myth to African folk tradition to Buddhist legend. Campbell actually linked it to the "birth of spiritual man out of the animal man," which is to say, the breakthrough out of self-consciousness and its will to power, and into the open embrace of divine compassion. For instance, in an Eastern story, the Buddha was likewise said to have come to his mother, Queen Maya, in a dream, after which she awoke to find herself pregnant. And even more to the point, he was born out of her side, at the level of the heart, signifying his spiritual role as world-redeemer.
Building on this idea of the Buddha as the one "tathagata," or "thus come," Alan Watts also once spoke of the virgin birth as a kind of uncalculated spontaneity, or symbolizing a passive willingness to give one's self up completely to the mysterious processes known as inspiration. It is an opening to the unknown, and the symbolism used to express it is obviously more suited to that of the female than the male.
That there is a great correlation between Anakin's view of the galaxy and his bond to his mother is quite obvious. And this is a central part of myth as well. Campbell wrote of the Madonna in "Hero" at great length, describing her as the "world creatrix, ever mother, ever virgin. She encompasses the encompassing, nourishes the nourishing, and is the life of everything that lives." But as this "river of life" and "fluidity of time," Shmi no doubt comes to represent the truth that all is transitory and impermanent, and that everything that was once composed must
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