► “Athena, Goddess of Knowledge” / “Athena, Art Gown by Resa McConaghy” 🦉.-

► “Athena, Goddess of Knowledge” /

“Athena, Art Gown by Resa McConaghy”🦉:

Athena. Art Gown by Resa McConaghy©2018.

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This is another post on the series of Tarot, featuring Resa McConaghy´s excellent gown “Athena”. 

To recapitulate: in previous posts, I have digged into Tarot: Major and Minor Arcana. Furthermore, in the last post, also written in collaboration with Resa, we´ve analyzed how certain Tarot cards  somehow define “archetypes”, and could, therefore, be related to The Hero´s Journey and Mythology.

In this new post, I´ll present Resa´s majestic gown “Athena”.

Before that, I ´ll introduce some facts and information concerning Athena, the Greek Goddess of Wisdom. 

Then comes Resa´s gown. By then, we´ll see how some symbolic details she has chosen could be associated with Mythology, Tarot and Astrology. 

Finally, aside from Athena and to conclude, I wanted to spotlight some sketches that Resa did, based on Goddess Mnemosyne and Artemis.

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►About Resa McConaghy:

Resa is a Canadian artist, costume designer and author.
She hosts two blogs: Graffiti Lux and Murals and Art Gowns.
You can find her version of this post here. Furthermore, Resa has written a book, “Nine Black Lives”, available on Amazon. Find Resa on Twitter, too!.
(Disclaimer: All gown and sketches photographs were taken by Resa and/or featured on her blog Art Gowns © Resa McConaghy. 2018).

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I. Greek Goddess Athena:

Athens – Pallas Athena Statue at Athens University.

Athena (Roman equivalent: Minerva) was born from Zeus after he experienced an awful headache and she sprang fully grown and in armour from his forehead. She has no mother but one of the most commonly cited stories is that Zeus lay with Metis, the goddess of crafty thought and wisdom, and then swallowed her whole as he feared she will give birth to a child more powerful than him because of a prophecy… But Metis had already conceived.

Athena was the Goddess of Wisdom and knowledge. Besides, she was the Goddess of War, the female counterpart of Ares. Athena’s moral and military superiority to Ares derived in part from the fact that she represented the intellectual and civilized side of war and the virtues of justice and skill, whereas Ares represented mere blood lust. 

Athena symbolizes the feminine content that is oriented toward the masculine and particularly helpful to it. Taken as an inner principle, an aspect of a man’s psyche, she represents the feminine figure of wisdom, “Sophia“. 

In fact, Athena gravitates toward men in power to learn from them, adopting them as mentors and partners on her own climb to success. She will go so far as to defend them against accusations of misogyny. 

Athena didn’t even often acknowledge the existence of her mother, Metis, as she was born from Zeus´ head. 

As for defending men, that’s basically what happened in the myth of Arachne.
Arachne challenged Athena to a weaving contest, then she wove a brilliant tapestry that happened to depict Zeus as a promiscuous adulterer. 
Athena turned Arachne into a spider.

Interestingly, she didn’t punish Arachne for challenging her to the contest, or for doing a great job. She punished Arachne for having depicted Zeus, Athena’s beloved, respected father, in a bad light.

In the same direction, Jean Bolen feels Athena is very much a supporter of the social/political status quo, as evidenced by her vote to acquit Orestes in the murder of his mother Clytemnestra.

Known for protecting civilized life, Athena was the Goddess of the City of Athens. Her most important festival was the Panathenaea, which was celebrated annually at Athens.

She helped Perseus slay the Gorgon Medusa. Athena assisted Jason and the Argonauts build their ship before they set out to capture the golden fleece. She looked after Achilles during the Trojan War, and later aided Odysseus on his journey home.

Athena was also a  patron of the arts and crafts, especially when it came to spinning and weaving. In fact, there is a myth tells that she turned the weaver Arachne into a spider after the mortal woman insulted Athena and the Olympian gods.

Athena was essentially urban and civilized, the antithesis in many respects of Artemis, goddess of wild animals, the hunt, and vegetation.

She was usually portrayed wearing body armour and a helmet and carrying a shield and a lance.

Besides, she was said to be the creator of the olive tree, the greatest blessing of Attica. She was associated with birds, particularly the owl, which became famous as the city’s own symbol, and with the snake. 

Jean Bolen groups Athena among the “Virgin Goddesses,” along with Artemis and Hestia. 

She was also part of the Judgement of Paris, in which she competed with Hera and Aphrodite for the prize of the Golden Apple.

Athena Statue in Front of the Parliament Building, Vienna, Austria

Detail: Athena Statue in Front of the Parliament Building, Vienna, Austria

Bust of the “Velletri Pallas” type, copy after a votive statue of Kresilas in Athens (c. 425 BC).

Marble Greek copy signed “Antiokhos”, a 1st-century BC variant of Phidias’ 5th-century Athena Promachos that stood on the Acropolis.

Bronze statue of the goddess Athena known as “Athena of Piraeus” – Classical period, 4th century B.C.

Mattei Athena at Louvre. Roman copy from the 1st century BC/AD after a Greek original of the 4th century BC, attributed to Cephisodotos or Euphranor.

The Athena Giustiniani, a Roman copy of a Greek statue of Athena. Vatican museum.

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 II. a) Athena, Gown by Resa McConaghy:

This gown is absolutely beautiful!. Athena, as a Graffiti Goddess  is, in my opinion one of Resa´s most original and creative gown. 

Resa included many symbols from Tarot, Astrology and Mythology, which she painted on the fabric.

As the paint had made the satin heavier and altered the drape, she added a petticoat. 

She included a blue spandex bodice and basted pleats into a strip of the satin. She picked out the basting and draped her “armor” over the spandex… And voilà: Such a Masterpiece!…  🌟💫

II. b) Athena, Gown by Resa McConaghy: 

Details and Symbolism:

Many emblematic figures are included in this gown. These symbols, coming from Mythology, Astrology and Tarot are also closely related to Athena. Let´s take a closer look at them…

 

I. Leo♌:

Resa is Leo!. The zodiac sign Leo is indicatese a Lion. While its glyph appears as the head and tail of a Lion, it also represents the Greek letter “lambda,” which is the first letter in the word “Leon,” meaning Lion. 

Leo´s element is fire. The respective date range: July 23 – August 22.

The Tarot card for Leo in Major Arcana is Strength (VIII). This card in the upright position means strength and power. Refusing to get angry, maintaining composure. Caring about others, compassion. Forgiveness. Persuasion, being able to influence.

 

Leo Symbol.

Major Arcana. VIII: Strength.

 •~~~•~~~ •~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•

II: Libra♎:

Libra was included because is a sign related to Justice, and hence to Athena, as a Goddess of wise counsel and civilization. The sign Libra is represented by the Scales.

They represent the idea of balance and imbalance, and Libra is on a lifelong quest for perfect balance and moderation.

Venus, the planet of love, casts her sensual powers of persuasion and charm on Libra.

The zodiac sign Libra gets its firm mind and morals from the element of Air. Air is the element of intellect and clarity, and Libra leans on these strengths on her quest toward justice and equilibrium. The respective date range for Libra is: September 23 – October 22.

The Tarot card for Libra in Major Arcana is Justice (XI). This card, in the upright position means: Fairness, justice. Honesty and responsibility. Acknowledging the truth and accepting the consequences of your actions.

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Libra Symbol.

Major Arcana. XI. Justice.

III. Scorpio♏:

I am Scorpio. The zodiac sign Scorpio equals the Scorpion, and its glyph depicts the sharp stinger of the Scorpion in its pointed arrow. Much like Scorpio, the Scorpion’s natural weaponry allows it to survive and thrive alone in dark or uncomfortable situations.

The planet Pluto harnesses its powerful and persuasive side as it rules over the zodiac sign Scorpio. The element of Water flows consistently and powerfully through the zodiac sign Scorpio. The date range for Scorpio is: October 23 – November 21.

The Major Arcana card for Scorpio is the Death card (XIII ) This card emphasizes the sign’s connection to the transformative cycle of life. This Tarot card uses death in a figurative sense, representing endings of all forms. Scorpio utilizes this concept of impermanence to continually grow, often killing off the ventures, activities, or relationships in its life that no longer serve them to make room for something new.

Scorpio Symbol.

Major Arcana: XIII: Death.

 •~~~•~~~ •~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•

IV. Pisces♓:

The symbol for the sign of Pisces reminds us of two scales and balance, features linked with Athena.

The zodiac sign Pisces is embodied by two Fishes, and its glyph represents an image of these Fishes, linked together. They are a representation of Pisces’ ability to exist simultaneously in both a conscious and subconscious world.

Neptune rules over the zodiac sign Pisces. The element of Water flows through Pisces as a wave of devoted empathy and intuition.

The date range for Pisces is:  February 19 – March 20. 

The Major Arcana card for Pisces is the Moon (XVIII). This card, in the upright position suggests illusion, fear, anxiety. It may entail deception and losing direction.

Pisces Symbol.

Major Arcana XVIII: The Moon.

 

  •~~~•~~~ •~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•

V. Venus/Woman Symbol♀:

Athena as a virgin, warrior Goddess is one of the most powerful Greek Goddesses. That´s why Resa chose this symbol, associated with Femininity with Goddess Venus/Aphrodite. Venus was the Roman equivalent of Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love. The symbol is often considered to represent a bronze mirror with a handle or a distaff.

Woman Symbol.

Woman Symbol.

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VI. Infinity♾: 

Eight (8) is the Number of the perfection, the infinity. In mathematics the symbol of the infinity is represented by a 8 laid down. It presumably evolved from the Etruscan numeral for 1000, which looked like this: CIƆ. There is another theory that he actually derived the infinity symbol from omega (ω), the last letter of the Greek alphabet. 

The ouroboros symbol, showing a snake twisted into a horizontal figure eight (8) and biting its own tail, is also said to be a most plausible basis for the infinity symbol because it is a fitting depiction of endlessness. Worth noting that the snake was one of the mos important symbols associated with Athena. The snake’s well-known ability to shed its skin and emerge, apparently reborn, gave rise to an association with rebirth, hence with Athena. 

Infinity Symbol.

Infinity Symbol.

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VII. Star🌟:

The Star Symbolizes: Inspiration, Imagination, Wonder, Dreams, Pursuits, Magic (, Creative Brilliance, and Divine Guidance. These traits are characteristic of Goddess Athena. In Major Arcana, card XVII is precisely The Star. This card is related to the astrological sign of Aquarius. It entails illumination, guidance and renewal and  suggests nourishment and hope. 

Stars Detail.

Major Arcana. XVII: The Star

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VIII. Queen of Wands and Queen of Swords 👑 🥖 & 👑⚔:

These two Queens could be linked to Athena, as far as determination, strength, rationality and independence are concerned.

⇒Queens of Wands: This card in the upright position means: Exuberance, warmth, vibrancy, determination. Description of the card: The Queen sits upon her throne that is decorated with lions facing opposing direction, a symbol of fire and strength. In her left hand and behind her are sunflowers, symbolising life, fertility, joy and satisfaction. In her right hand is a wand which is beginning to blossom with life. In these positive aspects, the Queen of Wands represents fidelity, warmth, and sustenance. However, at her feet is a black cat, a symbol of the darker, lesser known side of this Queen. Black cats are typically associated with magic and occultism.

 

⇒Queen of Swords: This Minor Arcana card in the upright position means: Quick thinker, organised, perceptive, independent. Description of the card: The Queen of Swords sits high on her throne. In her right hand, she holds a sword pointed to the sky, and her left hand extends as if she has something to offer to others. The sky is clear, representing her clarity of mind as she considers matters of the intellect. The bird above her head symbolises the mind’s ability to soar above daily issues in order to arrive at appropriate solutions.

Queen of Wands and Queen of Swords.

Minor Arcana: Queen of Wands.

Minor Arcana: Queen of Swords.

  •~~~•~~~ •~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•

IX. Nine of Pentacles 9⃣🔱:

In Tarot, this is a card of Victory, that can not go unnoticed if we think of Athena. This Minor Arcana card in the upright position means: Gratitude, luxury, self-sufficiency, culmination.

Description of the card: The Nine of Pentacles shows a woman walking in the midst of a vineyard. A falcon sits calmly on her left hand. Far in the background is a large house, presumably belonging to the woman herself. There is a general sense of peace, satisfaction, and the fulfilment of a creative venture or personal investment as the result of one’s own efforts.

 

Nine of Pentacles.

Minor Arcana: Nine of Pentacles.

 •~~~•~~~ •~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•

 

X. Owl🦉:

Athena Held owls as sacred. In Ancient Greece, owls were associated with wisdom, intuition and prophecy. As a spirit animal, the owl guides us to see beyond the veil of deception and illusion; it helps see what’s kept hidden. It is a strong spirit guide for discernment and making decision based solid foundations.

Owl Symbol.

Owl drawing.

  •~~~•~~~ •~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•

XI. Third Eye👁‍🗨:

The third eye is a mystical and esoteric concept of an invisible eye which provides perception beyond ordinary sigh. The third eye is often associated with religious visions, clairvoyance, the ability to observe auras, premonition, and out-of-body experiences. These traits are clearly related to Goddess Athena. 

In ancient Egypt, the all-seeing eye was known as the Eye of Horus or the Eye of Ra. Through various myths they were symbols of protection, healing and restoration.

According to the hindi tradition, The third eye chakra is the sixth chakra, also known as the eye of Shiva. Located on the forehead, between the eyebrows, it is the center of intuition and foresight. The function of the third eye chakra is driven by the principle of openness and imagination.

Third Eye Symbol.

Third Eye Chakra.

Eye of Horus.

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III. Sketches by Resa McConaghy:

Mnemosyne and Artemis:

Resa really masters drawing!…  Check out these sketches, featured on her blog Art Gowns. Simply stunning!. She used me as a “Muse” to sketch the Goddess Art Gowns we had done posts on. 🤗 

My heartfelt thanks to Resa for the  sketches. And, above, all for being an inspiration, with her inexhaustible talent, intelligence and versatility. ✨

Make sure to follow Resa´s blogs: Graffiti Lux and Murals and Art Gowns.

Art Gowns: http://artgowns.com/ Graffiti Lux and Murals: http://graffitiluxandmurals.com/

Mnemosyne Gown.

Mnemosyne Sketch.

Artemis Gown.

Artemis Sketch.

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Links Post:

https://artgowns.com/2018/05/27/⭐-athena-⭐-graffiti-goddess/

https://artgowns.com/2018/02/28/art-gowns-art/

http://mythraeum.com/the-athena-archetype

https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-Greek-Goddess-Athena

https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/goddesses/athena/

http://www.spiritanimal.info/owl-spirit-animal/

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►Greek Mythology: “Pandora and Helen of Troy” / “Collaboration with Carolee Croft”🍎.-

►Greek Mythology: “Pandora and Helen of Troy, Misogynistic Stereotypes” /

“Collaboration with Carolee Croft”🍎:

“Pandora” by John William Waterhouse. 1896.

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“With the curse, comes a blessing. Zeus wanted to punish humanity by creating you, the first woman, and by giving you that box filled with curses such as illness, war, and poverty. But if you look inside the box, one thing remains. It is hope”… (“After the Evil Spirits are Unleashed”. Carolee Croft).-

⇒♦ Introduction and Sketch of this post:

Greece is widely known as the birthplace of democracy, freedom of speech and thought, and egalitarian life. But in ancient Greece, women had no political or social rights. In Ancient Greece, males hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, political and social privileges and authority. This, in practice came along with prejudices against women, belittling of women, and their exclusion, and Misogyny in many ways. 

In ancient Greek mythology, two of the female characters who fit (and fed) this patriarchal model are Pandora and Helen of Troy. 

Both, the myths of Helen of Troy and Pandora spring from cultural anxieties about female beauty and female sexuality, centered on the figure of the Parthenos – the girl at marriageable age, a figure who must cross from the world of childhood in her father’s house to the house of her husband. Both women cause tremendous damage, even to people beyond their immediate surroundings.

Pandora is the giver of all gifts craved for by Mankind. When Prometheus decides to steal the secret of fire from the gods, Zeus becomes infuriated and decides to punish humankind with an “evil thing for their delight”. This “evil thing” is Pandora, the first woman and Epimetheus´wife. Pandora carried a jar (or box) which she was told to never open. Pandora cannot resist peeking into the jar, and by opening it she unleashes into the world all evil.

Carolee Croft, in the second section of this post, wrote a brief story starring Pandora: “After the Evil Spirits are Unleashed”. Carolee presents here an all-encompassing perspective, as her story delves into what might have happened right after Pandora opened the mischievous box. 

Pandora could remind us of  Eve, who tempted Adam to eat an apple, taken from the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Curiously enough (or not so much) Helen of Troy´s conflicting participation in the chain of events that led up to the Trojan War, starts with an apple, too. More specifically, a Golden of Apple, sometimes called The Apple of Discord. The so-called “Judgement of Paris” was a contest between the three most beautiful goddesses of Olympus: Aphrodite, Hera and Athena, for the prize of a golden apple addressed “To the Fairest”. Paris chose Aphrodite, swayed by her promise to bestow upon him Helen, the most beautiful woman, for wife. The subsequent abduction of Helen led directly to the Trojan War and the fall of the city.

Pandora´s curse was her curiosity and disobedience, while Helen´s was her extreme beauty. These characteristics, under certain circumstances  could have once caused ominous effects. A clearly patriarchal society might have stressed these features, creating a quite negative perception and reception of these figures.

 1. ⇒♦ Women, according to Hesiod, Aristotle and Plato:

  

Hesiod described the first created woman simply as “the beautiful-evil thing”. She was evil because she was beautiful, and beautiful because she was evil. Being a good-looking man was fundamentally good news. 

Aristotle had no doubts that women were intellectually incapable of making important decisions for themselves. In “Politics” (1254b13–14), he states that: “As regards the sexes, the male is by nature superior and the female inferior, the male ruler and the female subject”. Thomas Martin says that Aristotle´s view of the inferiority of women was based on faulty notions of biology. He wrongly believed, for example, that in procreation the male with his semen actively gave the fetus its form, while the female had only the passive role of providing its matter. 

According to Plato women are physically inferior, bear instead of beget children, and are generally weaker than men. But, in “The Republic”, he argues that women should be able to take on the same social roles equally with men in his ideal state. His ideas are based upon the view that women and men have the same nature in respect to acting as guardians of the state, except that the one is weaker while the other is stronger .

However, in a later dialogue “Laws”, Plato returns to the traditional view of women. He states the relative differences – which he had previously made out to be equal – would prevent women being in any way equal to men. He states that women  have an inferior virtue than men and warns about the dangers of freeing women from their confined, domestic role without giving them an alternative function, because this could lead to “sex indulge in luxury and expense and disorderly ways of life”.

 2. ⇒♦ Women in Ancient Greece:

Young women were expected to marry  (at the typical age of fourteen) as a virgin, and marriage was usually organised by their father, who chose the husband and accepted from him a dowry. 

Married women were, at least in the eyes of the law, under the complete authority of their husbands.

In the family home, women had to rear children and manage the daily requirements of the household. They had the help of slaves if the husband could afford them. Contact with non-family males was discouraged and women largely occupied their time with indoor activities such as wool-work and weaving. They could go out and visit the homes of friends and were able to participate in public religious ceremonies and festivals. Whether women could attend theatre performances or not is still disputed amongst scholars. More clear is that women could not attend public assemblies, vote, or hold public office. If a woman’s father died, she usually inherited nothing if she had any brothers. If she were a single child, then either her guardian or husband, when married, took control of the inheritance. In some cases when a single female inherited her father’s estate, she was obliged to marry her nearest male relative, typically an uncle.

3. ⇒♦ Pandora:

Pandora was the first female sent by Zeus to punish humans. In Greek mythology, the creation of Pandora is branded as the root of all evil. Zeus was angry at Prometheus for three things: being tricked by the sacrifices, stealing fire for man, and refusing to tell Zeus which of  his children would dethrone him. 

As punishment for these rebellious acts, Zeus sent him a woman made of clay named Pandora. Zeus gave her a box (or jar) and forbade her from opening it. Then he sent her down to earth, where her curiosity led her to open the lid. When she did,  all other misfortunes fled out. 

But, the patriarchal interpretation of these myths can be erased to show a different picture. Pandora, who is gifted in every way, entered a society where women play an unproductive role in society, dependent on men for all needs. Hence anxiousness,curiosity, and ignorance consume her. Pandora is also symbolic of the subconscious. She represents the human subconscious which is the deep seat of all emotion, fear and feeling. 

“Pandora”, by Dante Charles Gabriel Rossetti. 19th century.

“Pandora”, by Nicolas Régnier. 17th century.

“Pandora”, by Charles-Amable Lenoir. 1902.

“Pandora’s Box”, by William Henry Margetson. 19th century.

“Pandora” by Jean-Léon Gérôme.1860.

4. ⇒♦ Helen of Troy:

Helen of Troy, also known as “the Face that Launched a Thousand Ships”, was the stunningly beautiful mortal, daughter of Zeus and Leda. She came out of the same egg as her mortal sister Clytemnestra and she also had two brothers, the twins Castor and Pollux.

Helen’s name, which sounds similar to the word for Greece (Hellas), but also to a verb “to destroy”. This was exploited particularly by Aeschylus, who sees Helen as the “ship-destroyer, man-destroyer, city-destroyer”.

Back to Helen, it seems that Zeus wanted to reduce the human population, so he arranged for the birth of the two characters who would make the Trojan War inevitable: Achilles and Helen, representing “seductive female beauty and destructive male strength”. They have in common an extraordinary self-awareness and concern for their future reputations in myth and legend. Both were half-human, half-divine, Achilles being the son of the mortal Peleus by the sea-goddess Thetis, and Helen the daughter of Zeus in the form of a swan and of the Spartan queen Leda.

Owing to this parentage, she hatched from an egg – the first mark of her unusual, not-quite-human status. Helen is the only female child of Zeus by a mortal woman, an exceptional woman in this as in every other respect. Other versions of the myth suggest that she was the daughter of Nemesis, or “Destruction”.

From a young age, Helen was prone to getting abducted. When she was seven years old, the Athenian hero Theseus swiped her, but she was retrieved by her brothers, Castor and Pollux.

Years later, suitors from all over Greece began to court her, and took an oath that they would all fight together for her eventual husband Menelaus, whose main claim to fame was his wealth, won Helen as his wife.

Soon after, the Trojan prince named Paris was appointed to judge between three goddesses, Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. He chose Aphrodite, goddess of love, and gave her the Golden Apple which was labeled “To the Fairest”. But, as Helen was already married, Paris (Menelaus´s brother), Agamemnon commanded the united Greek armed forces in the ensuing Trojan War. In the ensuing Trojan War, Hera and Athena were implacable enemies of Troy while Aphrodite was loyal to Paris and the Trojans.

The Greek texts seem constantly to return to the issue of Helen’s responsibility for her actions. Homer depicts her as a wistful, even a sorrowful, figure, coming to regret her choice and wishing to reunite with Menelaus. But Sappho argues that Helen willingly left behind Menelaus to be with Paris. 

On the Left: “Helen on the Walls of Troy” by Gustave Moreau. (1885). On the Right: Up: “Castor and Pollux, The Heavenly Twins”, by Giovanni Battista Cipriani. (1783). On the Right: Down: “Clytemnestra” by Frederick Leighton. (19th century).

“Venus (Aphrodite) induces Helen to fall in love with Paris” (detail) by Angelica Kauffman (1790).

“The Judgement of Paris” by François Xavier Fabre (1808).-

“Helen of Troy” by Evelyn De Morgan (1898).

“The Crowning of Helen” by Frantisek Kupka (1906).

⇒♦ Conclusion:

Ancient Greece had periods of intense patriarchy. 

Greek mythology started out as being more feminine, particularly during the Minoan Age (2000-1400 BC). But, with the spread of the Indo-European groups become more masculine

During the Classic period (500-336 BC), Athena was the most important goddess.

This could be understood to be in accordance with a Patriarchal Society. As a matter of fact, Athena was born solely of her father, Zeus. As Georgia Platts says in her post “When Gods were Mothers”: “In Greek mythology Zeus planted his seed in the goddess Metis. But he feared a prophecy warning that his children would become more powerful than he. So he swallowed Metis. Which created an enormous headache. Only a double-headed ax implanted in his skull could relieve the pain. And out leapt Athena, fully grown and armed”.

And, as a Warrior Goddess, Athena mostly identifies with men. In Aeschylus’s “Eumenides”; Athena says, “There is no mother anywhere who gave me birth, and, but for marriage, I am always for the male with all my heart, and strongly on my father’s side”.

This association with males being the creative force of society is not accidental, as males were considered the civilizing and productive force of society. 

In this same line, Pandora and Helen of Troy are part of a social and political system that tended to identify the world’s evils and destruction with women. These legitimizing discourses concurrently provided men with certain “criteria for entitlement”, meaning  a strong, natural right of their primacy above women. 

During the Hellenistic period (336-146 BC), and, as the culture shifts, Aphrodite replaces Athena. Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and Beauty, was born from the white foam produced by the severed genitals of Uranus (Heaven), after his son Cronus threw them into the sea. Although she was also born of male alone, she was worshipped  as one of the most important goddesses of the time and was depicted in many art works as the ideal woman, nude for the first time in history. She presided over sexuality and reproduction, necessary for the continuation of the community. Maybe that´s why Aphrodite was majorly worshipped by young women about to be married. And even courtesans and prostitutes. The close bond that the Greek felt to exist between fertility and the fruitfulness of the land lies behind Aphrodite´s connections with vegetation and the earth in general. By this time, love and partnership were seen as more important than containing or controlling women.

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► “After the Evil Spirits are Unleashed”, by Carolee Croft:

Pandora didn’t know what happened when she opened the box, but suddenly everything seemed different. There were footsteps in the hallway, and soon a young handmaiden burst into her luxurious chamber.

“The evil spirits are upon us!” her handmaiden cried, then fled from the room in a frenzy.

Pandora sensed the danger, but at the same time a strange feeling of satisfaction came over her. At least she had done something.

The gods had blessed her with many gifts: beauty, a quick and clever mind, the skill of weaving and sewing. This was all well and good, but she could only occupy so much of her time with crafts. A mind like hers needed stimulation, and there was no stimulation to be had when she had about as much freedom as a footstool. She was not allowed to hunt, nor to sit on the councils, not even to leave the palace grounds without her husband’s permission and an entourage of ladies.  

Was it curiosity that had made her open the lid of the box or just boredom?.

Either way, the spirits were unleashed, and now screams of panic reached even her secluded boudoir.

She always had to wait in her chamber until her husband, Epimetheus, would deign to visit. Now, he would probably blame her for this disaster. He was going to kill her!

The panic around her was contagious. She ran to secure the back door, then the front. At least for the moment, she would be safe.

Pandora collapsed onto the floor and sat huddled against the wall with her head in her heads, her eyes closed to block out the world. She knew it was useless to lock herself in. Soon the curse of the gods would be upon her too, not to mention the rage of the entire human race. 

Then she heard a soft rustle and looked up to find another handmaiden in her chamber. 

“How did you?… I locked all the doors”.

Then she realized, this handmaiden was amazingly tall and beautiful, and she had never seen her before around the palace. The scent of ambrosia radiated from her powerful looking figure. 

One of the gods was in her chamber. 

“Pandora, do not fear. It is I, Athena”. 

“Why do you come here?” Pandora asked, not quite believing she was safe from the gods’ wrath. 

“I came to give you good news. The box was always meant to be opened. Why do you think Zeus entrusted it to you? This is all part of a grudge he bears mortals.”

“How is that good?”

“Come over here,” the goddess picked up the box and beckoned her over to sit beside her on the pillows of the kline. 

Pandora obeyed, wiping away tears of despair.

“With the curse, comes a blessing. Zeus wanted to punish humanity by creating you, the first woman, and by giving you that box filled with curses such as illness, war, and poverty. But if you look inside the box, one thing remains. It is hope. Now, close your eyes, and you will see what I mean.”

Pandora closed her eyes, and suddenly a flurry of visions exploded in her mind. Endless generations of women, of which she was the first. Some lived in strife, but others found peace and even happiness with the men in their lives. Marriage was not always an oppressive duty. Many women would also be free of men’s oppression, but even the ones who were not completely free seemed to find ways to influence their husbands and sometimes get their own way. It was a sort of game, she realized.

She saw women using their wits to persuade men to do their bidding. She saw women raising their children and passing down knowledge. She saw women ruling nations. She saw women saving lives. These women were never powerless.

She opened her eyes. The goddess was gone, and now she understood what Athena wanted to tell her. 

Then she heard a loud knocking on the door. 

“What is the meaning of this?” her husband’s voice pronounced. “Come out here at once, woman!”.

No longer afraid, she went to the mirror and checked that her hair was absolutely perfect, then unlocked the door and opened it. 

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“Pandora”, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema. 20th century.

►About Carolee Croft:

Carolee Dixit: Enchanted by romance on page and screen, I have always tried to write my own versions of the perfect fairytale. As for real life, I believe I may have already found the man of my dreams, but I still haven’t found the dog of my dreams. I’m obsessed with Italian greyhounds. I can usually be found enjoying the outdoors or relaxing with a good book on the West Coast of Canada.

🌟💫Connect with Carolee: Blog, Amazon Author Page, Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

Carolee Croft..

Carolee Croft on WordPress: https://caroleecroft.wordpress.com/

►An excerpt from Carolee Croft´s latest book, “Ariella´s Escape”:

Set in a medieval fantasy world, this is the story of Ariella, a lady warrior who is entertained by a male slave while on a dangerous mission.

(Note: The excerpt is the slideshare below, divided in three parts. Press Pause ⏸️ to get to read each part, starting with 1; and then click on ▶️ to move on).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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⇒Links Post: 

https://goo.gl/E6Y3udh

http://www2.ivcc.edu/gen2002/greek_and_roman_women.htm

https://broadblogs.com/2015/05/07/when-gods-were-mothers/

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1984/10/25/platos-women/

https://www.classicsnetwork.com/essays/the-nature-of-women-in-plato-and/786

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►La Poesía no Muerde. Two Poems:

I am very happy to tell you that my poems “Vértigo” (“Vertigo”) and “El Espacio de tu Ausencia” (“The Space of your Absence”) were featured at “La Poesía no Muerde”.

“La Poesía no Muerde” is a blog hosted by Hélène Laurent. It  is a collective blog in Spanish which Poetry prompts are usually triggered by images that might lead to poems or poems that wait to be illustrated with images. In the case of the “magazines”, audio/videos are included. The videos are created by  Hélène Laurent and, usually, each member reads his own poems. You can check out my two poems (In Spanish) in this post and over here. I am adding below the two poems, translated to English and the audio/video for “El Espacio de Tu Ausencia”, in Spanish. 

Make sure to follow La Poesía no Muerde. If you want to submit a poem, contact me in the Welcome page or leave a comment so I can provide a translation to Spanish, as it is the main language for the blog. I´ll gladly do so!. 🙂

🌟💫Blog: La Poesía no Muerde. Facebook. Twitter. ///  Hélène Laurent: Blog (Desenredo), Facebook. Twitter. 

“Vertigo” and “The Space of your Absence”:

(Click on the screenshots for bigger, full resolution)

 

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I was delighted to be over at Esmé´s blog “The Recipe Hunter” to share a tasty recipe. This is such a great blog for all Food Lovers!. You can find many easy, delicious and healthy dishes. Here is my post: “Spanish Paella (Rice with Seafood)”.

🌟💫 Make sure to check out Esme´s blog and follow her there and on Social Media: Blog: The Recipe Hunter. Twitter. Facebook. Instagram.

The Recipe Hunter: https://cookandenjoyrecipes.wordpress.com

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►“Two Special Shout-Outs”:

I would like to thank Debi Riley and Jason Youngman for these special posts on their blogs.

Jason´s post: “Be Grateful – Not Hateful. Canticle of the Sun”.- (Thank you, Jason for the note you sent me as to the Canticle and for sharing your amazing reading of Eliot´s “Four Quartets”).

Debi´s post: “Palette Knife Acrylic Abstract… Scorched Wings of Icarus”.- (thank you Debi for the shout-out and for sharing such sublime Artwork. Brilliant!)

Both are very talented, prolific and talented artists. Please make sure to check out their blogs and follow them!.🌟💫

https://metaphysicaldiscourse.wordpress.com

https://debiriley.com

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Last post of the year!. Thank you to all my readers.

Wishing you Merry Christmas & all the best for 2018! 😀

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►Greek Mythology: “Mnemosyne” / “Collaboration with Resa McConaghy and Christy Birmingham” 💫.-

“Mnemosyne” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1881) .-

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Mnemosyne/ Μνημοσύνη (Roman equivalent: Moneta(0)) was a Titaness, goddess of Memory (1) and the inventor of Words (2). 

Mnemosyne was also a goddess of time. She represented the rote memorisation required, before the introduction of writing, to preserve the stories of history and sagas of myth. She was the daughter of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth). Uranus and Gaia were the parents of the first generation of Titans, consisting of twelve elder gods/goddesses, being Mnemosyne included among them.

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Genealogy of the Olympians in Greek mythology, Mnemosyne among them.-

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She was also lover of the Ruler of Gods, Zeus. 

After Zeus led the war against the Titans and established himself as the leader of the Olympians, he feared that, even though he might be immortal, his great victories and decisions might soon be forgotten.

Longing for a way to preserve the memory of his many great feats, he dressed as a shepherd and went to find Mnemosyne. 

The account tells that Zeus and Mnemosyne slept together for nine consecutive nights, thus birthing the nine Muses (3). 

The Muses were nine young, beautiful maidens who became the representatives of poetry, the arts, the sciences and sources of inspiration.

They were often depicted as accompanied by Apollo, who represented discipline and application of the arts. The Muses were: Calliope, epic or heroic poetry Clio, history Erato, love poetry and flute-playing Euterpe, lyric poetry and lyre-playing Melpomene, tragedy Polyhymnia, sacred music and dance Terpsichore, choral music and dance Thalia, comedy and idyllic poetry Urania, astronomy and cosmological poetry.

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“Apollo and the Muses” by Simon Vouet. 1640.

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Mnemosyne’s name derives from Mene, Moon, and mosune, ‘wooden house’ or ‘tower’, so literally means ‘the House of the Moon’.

 

The goddess Mnemosyne is sometimes credited with being the first philosopher, as her gift was the power of reason.

She was given responsibility for the naming of all objects, and by doing so gave humans the means to dialog and to converse with each other. 

The powers to place things in memory an that of remembrance were also attributed to this goddess.

 

The name Mnemosyne was also used for a river in the Underworld, Hades, which flowed parallel to the river of Lethe (4).  

Lethe was one of the five rivers of the underworld of Hades, around the cave of Hypnos, the greek god of Sleep, and through the Underworld, where all those who drank from it experienced complete forgetfulness. 

In chant XXXI of Dante’s “Divina Commedia”, at the very top of Purgatory, Dante is dipped into the River Lethe, which will cause amnesia. The chant of Asperges me (purge me) accompanies his immersion, and he then forgets his past sins and his atonement for them is complete.

Lethe was also the personification of oblivion, daughter of Eris, the goddess of discord who was directly involved with the golden appple and the Judgement of Paris.

Furthermore, the words Lethe or Elysium are often used as metaphors for the underworld or Hades in general.

Charon was the ferryman of the dead, in the service of the underworld domains of Hades. He received the shades of the dead from Hermes, who gathered them from the upper world and guided them through the underworld. Charon transported them in his boat to a final resting place in Hades, the land of the dead, on the other side.

The fee for his service were two coins which were placed on the eyelids of the dead person or just one coin, which was put in the mouth of the dead as a Greek burial custom .

It was believed that those who had not received due burial and were unable to pay his fee, would be left to wander the earthly side of the river Acheron, haunting the upper world as ghosts, being also unable to reincarnate.

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“Mnemosyne, The Mother of the Muses” by Frederic Leighton. (19th century).

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Some ancient Greeks believed that souls were made to drink from the river before being reincarnated, so they would not remember their past lives. 

Other accounts taught the existence of another river, the Mnemosyne; those who drank from the Mnemosyne would remember everything.

More specifically, according to the Orfism, a Greek mystical religious movement, the newly dead who drank from the River Lethe would lose all memory of their past existence.

The initiated were taught to seek instead the river of memory, Mnemosyne, thus securing the end of the transmigration of the soul.

 

Besides, Mnemosyne was considered a minor oracular goddess. She presided over the underground oracle of Trophonios in Boiotia. Ancient Greeks sometimes worshipped Mnemosyne in the form of a spring, alluding to her profuse, flowing energy. 

Before being brought to the oracle, initiates were taken to a place with two pools lying next to each other. They were instructed to first drink from the pool of Lethe, the Goddess of forgetfulness, in order that they might forget their previous lives. Then they were taken to the spring of Mnemosyne to drink so that they would remember all that they were about to learn from the oracle.

Finally, Mnemosyne can be related to Aletheia, the greek goddess of Truth, Remembering and the Unhidden. The Roman counterpart for this goddess is Veritas. 

Aletheia (ἀλήθεια) is a Greek word variously translated as “unclosedness”, “unconcealedness”, “disclosure” or “truth”. Contained within the etymology of the word Aletheia is “lethe” meaning “forgetfulness”, “oblivion” and also applicable to one of the five rivers of the Underworld in Hades, as it was previously said.

The german philosopher, Martin Heidegger in his book “Time and Being” drew out an understanding of the term as ‘unconcealedness’. According to him, aletheia is distinct from conceptions of truth understood as statements which accurately describe a state of affairs (correspondence), or statements which fit properly into a system taken as a whole (coherence).

Instead, Heidegger focused on the elucidation of how the “world” is disclosed, or opened up, in which things are made intelligible for human beings in the first place, as part of a holistically structured background of meaning.

There is also an interesting association between Memory, seen as a faculty and Plato´s theory of Ideas. Plato, through Socrates´voice, states- in the dialogue “Phaedo”- that the soul was immortal and gives four arguments to prove so.

The basis of these reasonings were previous statements which relate the ability to apprehend Ideas through a sort of process of intuitive memory.

In Plato’s Dialogues, learning appears as a process of remembering, assuming that the soul, before its incarnation in the body, was in the realm of the “Forms”. There, the soul saw the Essences-Forms or Ideas, rather than the pale shadows or copies we merely experience on earth. Hence, when we identify an object, we are just remembering the Idea or Form which remains as an incorruptible and eternal essence behind and at the same time beyond the particular object.

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 ►Notes:

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Study of Jane Morris for ‘Mnemosyne’ (detail), 1876.-

(0) Moneta. In Roman mythology, Moneta was a title given to two separate goddesses: the goddess of memory (identified with the Greek goddess Mnemosyne) and an epithet of Juno/Hera, called Juno Moneta. Moneta is also a central figure in  John Keats‘ poem “The Fall of Hyperion: A Dream”. (See Excerp below)

‘Is Saturn’s; I Moneta, left supreme
‘Sole priestess of this desolation.’
I had no words to answer, for my tongue,
Useless, could find about its roofed home
No syllable of a fit majesty
To make rejoinder to Moneta‘s mourn.

 

(1)Mnemosyne, Goddess of Memory.  Socrates: “Let us, then, say that this is the gift of Mnemosyne (Memory), the mother of the Mousai (Muses), and that whenever we wish to remember anything we see or hear or think of in our own minds, we hold this wax under the perceptions and thoughts and imprint them upon it, just as we make impressions from seal rings; and whatever is imprinted we remember and know as long as its image lasts, but whatever is rubbed out or cannot be imprinted we forget and do not know”. Plato, Theaetetus 191c (trans. Fowler).-

(2) Mnemosyne, inventor of Words. “Of the female Titanes they say that Mnemosyne discovered the uses of the power of reason, and that she gave a designation to every object about us by means of the names which we use to express whatever we would and to hold conversation one with another; though there are those who attribute these discoveries to Hermes. And to this goddess is also attributed the power to call things to memory and to remembrance (mneme) which men possess, and it is this power which gave her the name she received”. Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 67. 3 (trans. Oldfather) (C1st B.C.).-

(3) Mnemosyne and Zeus, parents of  the nine Muses. “And again, he [Zeus, after lying with Demeter] loved Mnemosyne with the beautiful hair: and of her the nine gold-crowned Moisai (Muses) were born”. Hesiod, Theogony 915 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (C8th or C7th B.C.) 

(4) Mnemosyne, a river which flowed parallel to the river of Lethe. “He [Aithalides, son of Hermes, gifted with unfailing memory] has long since been lost in the inexorable waters of the Acheron, yet even so, Lethe (Forgetfulness) has not overwhelmed his soul [ie unlike the other dead he remembers his past lives and retains his memory in the underworld]”. Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1. 642 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.).-

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►Gallery: “Mnemosyne, Goddess of Memory ”:

The goddess Mnemosyne places her hand on the back of a man’s head, symbolically aiding his memory. Mosaic. C2nd – C3rd AD. Imperial Roman Period.

“ River Lethe” by Lizzy Schule.

God Hypnos, Bronze sculpture found at Perugia in 1915. British Museum.

The rivers Lethe and Mnemosyne.

River Lethe. Engraving.

Mnemosyne by Johann Theodor de Bry. 16th century.

“Charon, the ferryman”. Illustration.

“Dante’s Inferno: Etching” by Gustave Doré

“Charon, the ferryman”. Illustration.

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“To Mnemosyne (Memory). The consort I invoke of Zeus divine; source of the holy, sweetly speaking Mousai nine; free from the oblivion of the fallen mind, by whom the soul with intellect is joined. Reason’s increase and thought to thee belong, all-powerful, pleasant, vigilant, and strong. ‘Tis thine to waken from lethargic rest all thoughts deposited within the breast; and nought neglecting, vigorous to excite the mental eye from dark oblivion’s night. Come, blessed power, thy mystics’ memory wake to holy rites, and Lethe’s (Forgetfulness) fetters break”. Orphic Hymn 77 to Mnemosyne (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.).-

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This part of the post on Mnemosyne consists of a collaboration with two talented canadian women. Resa McConaghy and Christy Birmingham.
I was initially invited to join Resa and Christy in order to work in something together. Resa is an artist and costume designer and Christy a freelancer writer and poet.
I was delighted to be part of the project which figuratively unites a continent from North to South, or viceversa. And, nor less than having a Greek Goddess as pretext!.
Resa created a beautiful gown based on Mnemosyne whilst Christy wrote a poem following the same implicit prompt.
So, without further ado… I am leaving you with these two Northern Stars, and their respective contributions…

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Resa has created a mesmerizing gown inspired in Mnemosyne. She chose red and white for the dress and added some beautiful details such as golden traces representing Mnemosyne’s daughters, the Nine Muses. I also liked the way she introduced the iconic two masks, depicting Comedy and Tragedy.

Mnemosyne was the patroness of poets, and she played a very important role when it comes to preserve the Oral tradition. So I think this detail speaks out loud in that sense. 

Resa tells us more about this gown in her post on Goddess Mnemosyne, which you will be able to find on her blog Art Gowns.

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Goddess Mnemosyne. Artgown by © Resa McConaghy. 2016.-

Goddess Mnemosyne. Artgown by Resa McConaghy.

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 ►About Resa McConaghy:

Resa is a canadian artist, costume designer and author.

She hosts two blogs Graffiti Lux and Murals and Art Gowns.

She has written a book, “Nine Black Lives”, available on Amazon. You can follow Resa on Twitter, too.

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Art Gowns: http://artgowns.com/ Graffiti Lux and Murals: http://graffitiluxandmurals.com/

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Christy has written a beautiful poetic ode to Mnemosyne. The title is so clever, I like the fact that she has chosen a gerund and that Mnemosyne, the Goddess of Memory is being remembered.

The first stanza delves into the temporal dialectic of memories (second and third verses), alluding to Mnemosyne´s daughters and developing that idea in the second stanza, in which Zeus is also mentioned as the father of the Muses.

The third stanza entails a great twist as it places Mnemosyne´s influence among us, hic et nunc (here and now). Christy highlights how Mnemosyne is being acknowledged in the collaboration that beckons her spirit to birth again.

You can check out more Christy´s poems on her blog Poetic Parfait.

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Remembering Mnemosyne

She is one with memory,
Closer to the past than the present,
With a future that pops forth nine muses who
Walk with mythically-lined toes full of
Musicality, poetic verse, and
Laughter for miles.
~~~
The talented Muses are born as
Presents to the mind –
They are gifts from Zeus and Mnemosyne,
Whose passionate harvest spread over evenings that
Would later inspire three creative women afar.
~~~
Her magical wonder ignites poetic words that
Mix with design and descriptions into a
Collaboration that beckons her spirit to birth again,
This time with dialogue, syllables and an exquisite
Red fabric that cloaks us all in comfort.

© Christy Birmingham. 2016 .-

©Poetic Parfait 2016. Artwork for Christy Birmingham´s Poem.

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►About Christy Birmingham:

Christy is a canadian freelance writer, poet and author. She is the author of two books. The poetry collection “Pathways to Illumination”(2013), available  at Redmund Productions. And another poetry book,  “Versions of the Self” (2015), which you can find on Amazon.  She also hosts two blogs: Poetic Parfait and When Women Inspire. You can connect with Christy on Twitter too. 

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Poetic Parfait: http://poeticparfait.com/ When Women Inspire: http://whenwomeninspire.com/

“Pathways to Illumination”: http://redmundpro.com/book-store/pi/ “Versions of the Self”: http://www.amazon.com/Versions-Self-Christy-Birmingham/dp/0994094906

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►Links Post:

http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanisMnemosyne.html

http://greekmythology.wikia.com/wiki/Mnemosyne

http://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/PotamosLethe.html

https://lpsmythologywiki.wikispaces.com/Greek+Myths–The+River+of+Styx

http://symbolreader.net/2014/02/16/the-secrets-of-the-odyssey-2/

http://www.britannica.com/topic/Lethe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aletheia

http://artgowns.com/2016/02/01/goddess-mnemosyne/

http://poeticparfait.com/2015/05/16/versions-of-the-self-poetry-book-kindle-and-hard-copy/

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►Greek Mythology: “Hera, Zeus’ Wife” / Poetry: “Two Poems”.-

“The Peacock complaining to Juno”, by Gustave Moreau (1881).

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Hera (Roman equivalent: Juno) was Zeus’ wife and sister, and was raised by the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. She was the supreme goddess, patron of marriage, family and childbirth, having a special interest in protecting married women. 

Hera, like her siblings, was swallowed by her father Cronos (Rhea‘s husband) as soon as she was born.

Zeus with the help of Metis later tricked Cronos into a swallowing a potion that forced him to disgorge his offspring.

The legitimate offspring of her union with Zeus are Ares (the god of war), Hebe (the goddess of youth), Eris (the goddess of discord) and Eileithvia (goddess of childbirth).  

Johann Jakob Bachofen (“An Investigation of the Religious and Juridical Character of Matriarchy in the Ancient [1861]), considered that Hera, was originally the goddess of a matriarchal people, presumably inhabiting Greece before the Hellenes. According to this author, her activity as goddess of marriage established the patriarchal bond of her own subordination.

Her sacred animals were the cow, the lion and the peacock, and she favoured the city of  Argos.

She is usually portrayed enthroned, and crowned with the polos (a sort of crown worn by several of the Goddesses.

 ►Three Myths featuring Hera.

•The Judgement of Paris:

Hera, Aphrodite and Athena were the three goddesses who all claimed to deserved the Golden Apple of Discord, introduced by  Eris in Peleus and Thetis‘ wedding. This golden apple was labeled “For the fairest one”). Zeus chose Prince Paris of Troy to decide who was the fairest. Still, Paris could not decide, as all three were ideally beautiful, so they resorted to bribes. Hera offered Paris control over all Asia and Europe, while Athena offered wisdom, fame, and glory in battle, and Aphrodite offered the most beautiful mortal woman in the world as a wife, and he accordingly chose her. This woman was Helen of Troy, who was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta. Paris abducted Helen and her abduction would lead to the Trojan War.

•Hephaestus, the son that Hera produced alone: 

Hera was jealous of Zeus’ giving birth to Athena, without recourse to her (actually with with Metis), so she gave birth to Hephaestus without him, though in some stories, he is the son of her and Zeus. Hera was then disgusted with Hephaestus’ ugliness and threw him from Mount Olympus. Hephaestus gained revenge against Hera for rejecting him by making her a magical throne which, when she sat on, did not allow her to leave. The other gods begged Hephaestus to return to Olympus to let her go, but he repeatedly refused. Dionysus got him drunk and took him back to Olympus on the back of a mule. Hephaestus released Hera after being given Aphrodite as his wife.

•Heracles, disowned by Hera and… the Milky Way: 

Hera hated Heracles, being the scapegoat of the illegitimate offspring sired by Zeus. Heracles was the son of the affair Zeus had with the mortal woman Alcmene.

Thus, Heracles’ existence proved at least one of Zeus’ many illicit affairs, and Hera usually conspired against him, as a revenge for her husband’s infidelities.

Fear of Hera’s revenge led Alcmene to expose the infant Heracles, but he was taken up and brought to Hera by his half-sister Athena, who played an important role as protectress of heroes.Hera did not recognize Heracles and nursed him out of pity. Heracles suckled so strongly that he caused Hera pain, and she pushed him away. Her milk sprayed across the heavens and there formed the Milky Way. But with divine milk, Heracles had acquired supernatural powers. Athena brought the infant back to his mother, and he was subsequently raised by his parents, who had originally named him Alcides, being Heracles a derivated name.

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“Juno Borrowing the Girdle of Venus” by Guy Head (1771).

“Hera in the House of Hephaistos William” by Blake Richmond (1902),

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 ►Gallery: “Hera, Zeus’ Wife”:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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Links Post:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hera

http://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Hera/hera.html

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Click above to visit the blog / Click en el logo para ingresar al blog.~

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→On May 12th I had the honor to be part of a poetic challenge at La Poesía No Muerde, a great community blog of Poetry, hosted by Hélène Laurent. Please, make sure to also read the poems by Verónica, from En Humor Arte; José from Viajes al Fondo del ALSA and Johan from Johan Cladheart.

Later on, that same week a second poem written by me was also posted at La Poesía No Muerde. (May 15th).

You can check out the poems, in Spanish and translated to English, below… 

 

→ Se adjuntan dos participaciones poéticas, del 12 y 15 de Mayo, respectivamente, publicadas inicialmente en La Poesía no Muerde.

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 ►La Poesía No Muerde: “The Walking Chair” (Imagen encontró Poemas):

~“Auf Wiedersehen, Liebling”… (“Hasta pronto, querido”).~

 

Llevo mi silla a cuestas,

como la conciencia del amo en el esclavo

Mas la carga es semántica, 

por eso… el oprobio. 

 ~~~

Y las contradicciones, son ideológicas, 

cada tarde esperándome, 

se arremolinan en pantallas

Ovejas de otro rebaño.

 ~~~

Mis ventanas las abro de noche

para que las esperanzas florezcan de día.

Procuro que los ideales clavados en el cielo ideal

estallen contra las estructuras materiales.

~~~ 

Mas sólo en términos dialécticos

Mi silla potencial es sólo un bloque de madera

Qué importa el futuro si todos los días

se clavan en un cetro onmímodo.

 ~~~

Auf wiedersehen, Liebling...

Hilos de títere en sus vetas inertes, 

tejen implacables

oleajes de río… 

  ~~~

 ©2015 Amalia Pedemonte.-

 ►Originalmente publicado en:

 La Poesía No Muerde: “The Walking Chair” (Imagen encontró Poemas).

•~~~• ⭐ •~~~ • ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~•

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 ►La Poesía No Muerde: “Imagen encontró (¡Otro!) Poema”.

~”Fragmento de un Final”.~

Corola tallada de pétalos sin flor.
una hoja con ápice impermeable.
Eterna y seca primavera,
rivera incipiente, sutilmente verde.

Una furtiva mirada azul
sobre un camino oscilante,
surcos muertos, árboles vacíos de hojas.
Bajo el sol inagotable del mediodía interminable.

~~~ 

Réplicas de galerías.
Redundantes sonidos.
Las palabras que no dijimos
te hacen una reverencia.

~~~ 

Tus fantasmas esculpen mis recuerdos.
Soy todo lo que fui en tu cautiverio,
persistes, con codicia te acumulas.
A cada nombre me retiro, te invoco y te devuelvo.

~~~

Te conjuro, brisa efímera .
Nunca volverás a ser mi aire.
Escúrrete por la puerta de las sombras y el olvido
Deja de asediarme…

 ~~~ 

 ©2015 Amalia Pedemonte.-

 

 

►Originalmente publicado en:

La Poesía no Muerde: “Fragmento de un final”(Imagen encontró (¡otro!) poema).

•~~~• ⭐ •~~~ • ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~• ⭐ •~~~•

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 ► Last but not Least: Special thanks to Lisardo Sobrino Fernández for his poem Aquiles, on his blog, Tiempo de Letras.

©2015. Lisardo Sobrino Fernández. Click on the image.

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Greek Mythology: “Myrrha, Adonis and Persephone”. (Myths and Interpretation).-

“Myhrra assisted by Lucina, the Goddess of Birth” by Jean de Court (1560).

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As we know from the previous post, Adonis, Myrrha’s son, was raised up for both Goddess Persephone and Aphrodite.

Myrrha’s mother (being more precise, Adonis’ grandmother) had said that her daughter Myrrha was even more beautiful than Aphrodite herself . This was taken as offensive by the goddess of Beauty, who took revenge on that.

And in this case she took revenge of Myrrha’s mother by punishing her daughter, cursing Myrrha to fall in love and lust after her father, Cinyras.

Aphrodite appears here as a trouble maker. It is not the first time that she had looked for acknowledgment of her Beauty.

We must keep in mind here the Judgement of Paris in which Aphrodite offered Helen the most beautiful mortal woman, to Prince Paris of Troy, in exchange of that famous Golden apple labeled for the fairest one.

Retaking the preceding points, roman poet Ovid referred to Myrrha’s story in “Metamorphoses,” Book 10, lines 467-518.

Myrrha was the daughter of King Cinyras and Queen Cenchreis of Cyprus.

Myrrha felt attracted to her father. Knowing the love was forbidden she fought it as hard as she could to avoid her feelings. But as he couldn’t do so, she tried to kill herself. Just before she was goindg to commit suicide, Myrrha was discovered by her nurse who finally dissuaded her.

Myrrha confided her forbidden love to the nurse. The nurse tried to make Myrrha suppress the infatuation, but could not calm the girl. Finally the nurse agreed to help Myrrha get into her father’s bed if she promised that she would not try to kill herself again.

The women got their opportunity during a feast. Myrrha’s father, King Cinyras, was drunk in his bed. The nurse helped Myrrha to get into the bed by telling the King she was a young woman who was deeply in love with him.

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“Myrrha and Cinyras”. Engraving by Virgil Solis for Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”. Book X.

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In this manner, Myrrha and the nurse were able to deceive Cinyras. The affair lasted several nights in complete darkness to conceal Myrrha’s identity. One night, Cinyras wanted to know the identity of the girl with whom he had conducted the affair. Upon bringing in a lamp, and seeing his crime, the king drew his sword and attempted to kill her but she could escape.

After becoming pregnant of her own father Myrrha walked for nine months, lost in her own guilt.

Zeus finally took pity on her and transformed her into a myrrh tree.

When it came time for the birth, the Myrrh tree was somehow assisted by the birth goddess Lucina and six water nymphs. The tree appeared to wrench and finally cracked and delivered a baby boy, who would be later called Adonis.

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“The Birth of Adonis”. Engraving by Bernard Picart for Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”.

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Aphrodite found the baby by the myrrh tree. She sheltered Adonis as a new-born baby and entrusted him to Persephone, the wife of Hades, who was the God of the Underworld. 

Aphrodite fell in love with the beautiful youth (possibly because she had been wounded by Eros’ arrow).

Persephone was also taken by Adonis’ beauty and refused to give him back to Aphrodite.

The dispute between the two goddesses was settled by Zeus 

Adonis was to spend one-third of every year with each goddess and the last third wherever he chose. Thus he decided to spend two-thirds of the year with Aphrodite.

Adonis’ death was tragic. He was killed (castrated) by a wild boar and died in Aphrodite’s arms, who sprinkled his blood with nectar from the anemone.  

It was said that Adonis’ blood turned the Adonis River, or Abraham River, red each spring.

After Adonis’ death, Aphrodite was so sad that Zeus decided to make Adonis immortal, allowing him to leave the underworld, to spend eight months of the year with Aphrodite.

He always, however, had to return to Hades and remain there the other four with Persephone.

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“The Death of Adonis” by Giuseppe Mazzuoli.(1709). The State Hermitage Museum

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Something worth highlighting here. There is a remarkable analogy between Adonis’ stay in both the Underworld and the World of the Living and Persephone’s myth, being also this Goddess one of the women (with Aphrodite) who raised Myrrha’s child, Adonis. 

This is shown specifically by the fact that Persephone (Demeter’s virgin daughter) was abducted by Hades, King of the Underworld.

According to the myth, Hades planted a meadow full of the narcissus flowers in order to entice Persephone. When she pulled on the flower, the Underworld opened up and Hades sprang up, carrying her off.

Later on, he gave Persephone a pomegranate. As she ate it, the fruit somehow cemented her marriage to Hades. Thus, she was bound to Hades for six months of each year, winter and autumn.

Persephone was allowed by her husband to join her mother in the World of Living, but only when summer and springtime arrived. 

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“Venus Verticordia” (“Venus / Aphrodite the Changer of Hearts”) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1868). On the Right: Detail: Golden Apple.

“Primavera”, also known as “Allegory of Spring” by Sandro Botticelli (1482).Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy.Aphrodite (Venus) in the middle, representing the “Humanitas” (the benevolence), which protects men.

“Birth of Adonis” by Marcantonio Franceschini (1690).

“Adonis killed by a wild boar” by Francesco Albani Bridgeman.

“Death of Adonis” by Luca Giordano (1686)

“Persephone, Demeter, and Hades: The Abduction” by Rembrandt. (1631).-

“Hades Snatches Up Persephone”, by Peter Paul Rubens. (1636).-

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►”Greek Myths of Myrrha. Symbolism and Interpretation”:

Critical interpretation of this myth has considered Myrrha’s refusal of conventional sexual relations to have provoked her incest, with the ensuing transformation to tree as a silencing punishment. It has been suggested that the taboo of incest marks the difference between culture and nature and that Ovid’s version of Myrrha showed this.

Myrrha’ s love for his father may be related to the Electra complex, as proposed by Carl Jung.

The Electra complex is a girl’s psychosexual competition with her mother for possession of her father. In the course of her psychosexual development, the complex is the girl’s phallic phase, a boy’s analogous experience is the Oedipus complex.

As a psychoanalytic metaphor for daughter–mother psychosexual conflict, the Electra complex derives from the 5th-century BC Greek Mythological character Electra, who plotted matricidal revenge with Orestes, her brother, against Clytemnestra, their mother, and Aegistus, their stepfather, for their murder of Agamemnon, their  father. This story is told by Sofocles in his tragedy and by Aeschylus in his trilogy “Oresteia” (Second tragedy, “The Libation Bearers”).

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►Greek Myths of Myhrra, Adonis and Persephone. Symbols and Meanings”:

•Myrrha, transformed into a Myrrh Tree: Punishment. Myrrha is transformed and rendered voiceless making her unable to break the Taboo of Incest. The word “myrrh” in Ancient Greek was related to the word μύρον (mýron), which became a general term for perfume.

•Myrrha having sexual relationships with her father: Myrrha’s behavior here might be linked to the hero archetype, known as “The Fall”. It describes a descent in action from a higher to a lower state of being, an experience which might involve defilement, moral imperfection, and/or loss of innocence. This fall is often accompanied by expulsion from a kind of paradise as penalty for disobedience and/or moral transgression.

•Myrrha feeling guilty while she is pregnant: This attitude might be associated with, was is known in the Hero Pattern, an Unhealable Wound. Here, the wound, physical or psychological, cannot be healed fully. This would also indicate a loss of innocence or purity. Often the wounds’ pain drives the sufferer to desperate measures of madness. 

•Adonis, castrated by a Wild Boar: Adonis Castration might be considered equal to a Father-Castration, performed by Cinyras (Myhrra’s father and Adonis’  father and grandfather at the same time).

Castration is here performed as an extreme punishment which leads to death. It also entrains the fact that Adonis won’t be able to have sons or daughters with his substitute mothers (Aphrodite and/or Perspehone).

The symbology of Wild Boar is that of truth, courage and confrontation.

In some native Indian tribes Wild Boar was used as a way to teach young braves how to be honest and find their courage when they told a lie to the tribe.

•Aphrodite sprinkling Adonis’ blood with nectar from the anemone: Anemone blossom stories are mostly about death – that’s why its blossom is often liken with being forsaken or left behind. In the Greek version of Adonis’ death, the Anemone is a plant that symbolizes unfading love. 

For the Christian version of the meaning of anemones, it’s a symbol of the blood that Jesus Christ shed on the cross.  That’s the reason why you’ll see a bunch of anemones on several paintings of the crucifixion.

•Adonis’ death and resurrection: The most common of all situational archetypes, Death and Rebirth grow out of the parallel between the cycle of nature and life. The cycle of death and rebirth was linked with the regeneration of vegetation and the crop seasons in ancient Greece. Besides, this myth is related to the perennial nature of beauty, as Adonis died only to be reborn in the underworld.

•Adonis’ blood, which turned the Adonis River, or Abraham River, red each spring: Red (Blood and river colors) Red represents sacrifice; violent passion, disorder, sunrise, birth, fire, emotion, wounds, death, sentiment, mother. Rivers/Streams: They represent life force and life cycle

•Adonis resurrected, spend his time with both Persephone in the Underworld and Aphrodite in The World of Living: Beyond the fact that both Goddesses raised Adonis, this metaphor might be linked to the double dichotomy Light-Life / Darkness-Death. In which Light usually suggests hope, renewal, life and intellectual illumination; whilst darkness implies the unknown, death, ignorance, or despair.

It might be also related to the opposites Hell (Underworld)/Heaven: Hell represents the diabolic forces that inhabit the universe and heaven the God Forces.

•Persephone eating the pomegranate that Hades gave her: In this myth, the pomegranate is related to the changing of seasons and might be also considered as a symbol of indivisibility of marriage. Seasons: Spring: It represents Birth and New Beginnings. Summer: Associated to maturity and Knowledge. Autumn: Linked to Decline, nearing Death, growing old. Winter: Representing Death, sleep, hibernation.

•Persephone’s realms: The Underworld: Black space. Black color: It represents darkness, chaos, mystery, the unknown, death, the unconscious and evil.

•Persephone released from the Underworld by Hades: As Persephone came back to the Living World to spend six months of each year with her mother Demeter, the flowers and crops grow great. 

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“Myrrha in Hell, condemned for incest”. Illustration by Gustave Doré, for Dante’s “Divine Comedy”.

“Myrrha accouche d’Adonis par son écorce” by Bernard Salomon (1557).

“Mirra e Cinira, nascita di Adone, Venere e Adone” by Giovanni Rusconi (1553).

“The boar hunt” by Frans Snyders (1650).

“Hunting of the huge boar of Calydon”. Detail from the top band of the famous François Vase. Dated 570/560 BC.

“The Awakening of Adonis” by John William Waterhouse. (1900) / On the right: Details: Anemones.

Red Anemone.

“Proserpine” (three-quarter portrait holding a pomegranate), by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1874). / On the Right: Detail: Pomegranate.

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►Links Post:

http://www.uffizi.org/artworks/la-primavera-allegory-of-spring-by-sandro-botticelli/

http://www.iconos.it/le-metamorfosi-di-ovidio/libro-x/venere-e-adone/immagini/21-venere-e-adone/

http://spiritsymbols.blogspot.com.ar/2013/10/wild-boar.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrrha

http://ancientsites.com/aw/Post/1260902

http://www.squidoo.com/pomegranatesymbolism

http://froggey.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/the-pomegranate-the-righteous-fruit/

http://www.auntyflo.com/flower-dictionary/anemone

http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/greek_goddess_persephone.htm

http://www.paleothea.com/SortaSingles/Persephone.html

http://mythologyinfo.webs.com/theseasons.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electra_complex

http://www.muhsd.k12.ca.us/cms/lib5/CA01001051/Centricity/Domain/520/English%203/Unit%201%20–%20Early%20American%20Lit/ArchetypesandSymbols.pdf

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