Gaea

Thanks to an unexpected half hour delay this evening (the main source of the annoyance), I had the chance to reread the first few chapters Dion Fortune's Psychic Self Defence (a minor contributor to said annoyance). Yay for ebooks. I like the book, and can really hear her voice in the writing. I don't have a problem with the language and looking up 1920s references can be fun, however I do tire of her tone about Pagans and Witches and "Left hand path" and North being evil and other such references. I understand, it was the 20s when she was writing this, but still- I don't like to do that much work just to get to the valuable information, the diamonds from the mine, as it were. Hence, my annoyance. The comment about the Ancients believing the direction of North is "evil," or the source thereof, really irked me. It set off a mental chain reaction about the ancients in question which lead to the Olympians "battling" the Titans and how Gaea (aka Gaia) was thought of as evil.

Gaea, in Greek lore, is the personification of earth: Mother Earth. Her union with Ouranos, aka Father Sky, produced all of the heavenly deities. Her union with the sea created all of the sea gods. Her union with Tartaros created all mortal creatures. As always, Theoi.com has the details, so here are a few more highlights:

She was the first being. When Ouranos tried to "imprison Her children in Her womb" she rebeled and helped the titans overthrow him. When Kronos imprisoned the others, Gaia helped Zeus overthrow Him. When Zeus sent her sons to Tartarus, She tried to overthrow the Olympians with the help of the Gigantes and Typhoeus.

Gaia was worshiped at Delphi long before the "arrival" of Apollo. Quoth the holy wiki: 

The name Delphoi comes from the same root as δελφύς delphys, "womb" and may indicate archaic veneration of Gaia, Grandmother Earth, and the Earth Goddess at the site... Apollo killed Python but had to be punished for it, since she was a child of Gaia. The shrine dedicated to Apollo was originally dedicated to Gaia and shared with Poseidon. The name Pythia remained as the title of the Delphic Oracle. Erwin Rohde wrote that the Python was an earth spirit, who was conquered by Apollo, and buried under the Omphalos, and that it is a case of one deity setting up a temple on the grave of another.

Crete was another center of Earth Goddess worship. I remember a lovely post from She who Seeks, which I linked here back in March. Here is an excerpt of the exact thought I had started typing, but you should go check out the entire post and blog too!

"I think the myth we know today is a later patriarchal version interpreting (and distorting) much older symbolism. We know that bulls were sacred to the Goddess in ancient Crete. "Minotaur" means "moon bull" so it was probably a revered symbol of the Divine Feminine in Crete's early days. In the myth's patriarchal version, the Minotaur becomes a symbol of death and evil which must be slain. Scholars also believe that Ariadne was originally the Great Goddess Herself but was downgraded in the patriarchal myth to simply being the daughter of the King and a priestess in the temple. She betrays her people and her religion to help Theseus, who callously uses and deserts her. So, given these later patriarchal distortions, it's not really surprising that a unicursal labyrinth gets recast as a multicursal maze. It moves the plot along, creates suspense and sets the context for Ariadne's betrayal. In fact, this Greek myth as a whole may be understood as a metaphor for the ascendancy of patriarchal culture over the Goddess-centred culture which preceded it."

Yeah, that! 

I especially recommend checking out the Cult of Gaea section on Theoi.com. I'd love to know how drinking bull's blood proves virginity.  Actually, I wouldn't. So nevermind. 

More tomorrow!