Knot so fast

Tonight is a quickie about the Gordian knot. What was it? The Phrygians (now modern Turkey) had no King. The prophecy, or Oracle of Sabazios (syncretized to Zeus) decreed taht the first to show up to the temple in a cart would be the next King. Gordias, a local farmer, is the first one to show up in a cart. He ties it to the temple and poof- King. There it remained, tied securely. Apparently no one could undo the knot Gordias had tied. It was allegedly prophesied that the one to undo the knot would be "King of Asia" hence its fame as "The Gordian knot." It;s the Mesopotamian version of the sword in the stone. Nowadays it's defined as an extremely difficult problem or mystery.

If you don't know who the "King of Asia" eventually was, it happened to be Alexander the Great. He's the one who figured out how to undo the infamous Gordian knot. Know how? He cut the knot to pieces with his sword. For ages people tried to figure out how to untie the thing, and this kid comes along and slashes the fucker! This is why he was Alexander the Great, and not Alex, that dumb fuck. Of course, the actual story is disputed, but as the saying goes: "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend"

I've often wonder which godly hand was on Alexander's back as he conquered the known world. I've wondered if it was Zeus, with whom he claimed lineage. I thought perhaps it was Mercury for all of the fine words and travel and communication and commerce involved in Alexander's triumphs. Now I wonder, perhaps it was Mars. Alexander, man of action. Slashed through the problem. Maybe it was none of the above, maybe it was all of them. It's fun to speculate. It also reminds me of this, the perfect "Alexandrian Solution" to a Gordian Knot:

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!

Libya

Tonight's blog isn't a political rant or treatise on the astrological implications behind the protests there and the occupy wall street movement here. Libya has just plain been calling to me.

Tanit has been on my mind. So has Jupiter. So has Alexander the Great. I've been pondering an in-depth post on each of these, but the research has been taking a while. Some things are just in-depth. Seeking the connection between the three has been of interest to me as well. My family lineage traces back to Carthage and Leptis Magna, as well as from other areas in Libya. I don't write this blog just to present research papers or book reports, the point is to sit and do the work. Recent posts have been very light lately because I haven't wanted to post about the aforementioned topics because I didn't have enough under my proverbial belt to do it. Some of it is just private. I do, however, want to share what's been on my mind:

Alexander the Great's mother claimed that his real father was Zeus and came to her as a snake. While he was heading around and about conquering the world, he paused at Siwa Oasis, a spot in ancient Libya (now modern Egypt) where there happened to be an oracle dedicated to Ammon. Ammon was nearly identical to Jupiter and Zeus and syncretized nicely. When Alexander asked the oracle if Zeus was his dad, he got what he took as a yes and allegedly considered himself divine thereafter. I'm working my way through two books about Alexander the Great and the founding of Alexandria in Egypt. I'll get back to you as further developments warrant!

Over the years, my relationship with Jupiter has been... well, it hasn't really been. I don't work with him and I know that's because I was burned out on that as a catholic. The Ponifex Maximus, the most important religious position in the religion of ancient Rome, was eventually subsumed by the emperor. The title is still used today for the pope. So is the political side of the title. Vatican City is its own country. But I digress! I was burned out on dealing with a father-figure. I tip a nod during general libations, but that has been the extent of our relationship for a long time... until recently. It's been interesting and when I understand it a bit better I hope to fill you in.

I found a few well put together articles about Tanit on line, but searching books hasn't yielded much. Much of what I have is my family lore.

Tanit, or Tanith, is the Great Goddess of Carthage, worshipped there as its chief Deity. She is a Sky Goddess who ruled over the Sun, Stars, and Moon; and as a Mother Goddess She was invoked for fertility. The palm tree is Hers, as the desert version of the Tree of Life; and as symbolic of the life-force of the Earth the serpent is Hers as well—in fact Her name means "Serpent Lady". She is identified with both Ashtart (Astarte) and Athirat and Her other symbols include the dove, grapes and the pomegranate (both symbolic of fruitfulness and fertility), the crescent moon, and, like Ashtart, the lion.

She was the "Lady of Carthage" and her consort is Ba'al and syncretizes nicely with so many different Goddesses:

She was identified with Aphrodite, Demeter, and Artemis by the Greeks and with Juno by the Romans, especially their Juno Lucina, Goddess of Light and Childbirth. The Romans also associated Her with the Magna Mater, the Great Mother, Rhea or Kybele.

Her symbol looks like the Isian knot!

Happy Autumnalia!

I don't know if "autumnalia" is an actual word or if I just made it up. Who cares? "Mabon" is a made up name too, so let's just roll with it.

Tonight I did a simple ritual, nothing pre planned, all from the heart. I made offerings and petitions, and told the story of this time of the year. However, tonight's rendition was a bit different than in times past. I used to romanticize the abduction of Persephone and Demeter's lament, and the wine and grain festivals and a young girl becoming Woman and Queen. Then I grew up, gained some perspective, and did some research.

Also, with what I now understand of this holiday as a time of parthenogenetic Goddess worship and the passing of knowledge, lore and magic from mother to daughter, woman to woman in a community of women, I just get angry. Now I see my once romanticized mystery for what it is- not just an abduction of a daughter, but the abduction of a way of life and a culture. These Mysteries were taken from Sicily to male dominated Athens exactly the same way Persephone was taken from Demeter, and that just frosts my cookies. On top of that, so many people go around calling it "Mabon" that if I rolled my eyes any harder they'd shoot laser beams. Why the rolling?

Well, let's stick some more Male mythology on top of it all, shall we?

For some, this is about a son, Mabon, being taken from his Mother and rescued by King Arthur. So why is it about the son and not the Mother? It's Her lament! And she is given back what she lost by a man. Just sayin. Modron is typically syncretized with Demeter too. Interesting.

Then we have the perpetual battle of the Holly King and Oak King, with one vanquishing the other through the year. All male all the time.

Don't get me wrong, I adore men and am having a red hot love affair with Mercury. But as this is the supposed to be the time of balance (the sun is even in Libra now- the literal sign of balance!), I have to ask: Where is the balance in all of these celebrations?

There is the matriarchal focus which I mentioned earlier, and others who unwittingly celebrate this holiday from an entirely patriarchal point of view. Is there ever any actual balance involved here?

After the Eleusinian Mysteries had concluded, there was a festival of Demeter and Apollo. These two are not often associated with each other. Don't you think they would be? In aspect as Mother Earth and Father Sky? If there is no sun, there is no grain. Apollo is mentioned along with Hekate in the lore of Eleusis, but only in passing (Hekate was hanging out with Apollo in the sky and they saw what had happened to Persephone). So how were Demeter and Apollo celebrated together? Were they? Anything about Demeter having a connection with male deities is either Zeus or Poseidon and remotely, Dionysus. However! There still stands the ruins of a temple dedicated to Demeter and Apollo as a pair on the island of Naxos:

This has been a lot of Greek talk tonight- so what did Italians do? Eat. Drink. Make offerings of bread and wine and fruit. Prep for the winter. There's no time to be high falutin when you're concerned with survival!
No matter which way you look at it, this is not the happiest time of year, a time to bid adieu to the blooming earth for a while, knowing that She will be restored. No wonder so many Pagans skip this holiday or just gloss over it!

No matter how you celebrate, no matter what you call it, I hope you have a good one :)

Grand Mercury

 

 

I drove by here while taking a trip to NYC. It's Grand Central Station. And there's Mercury overseeing it all: Commerce! Travel! Communication! All in the heart of New York City! Flanking him are Minerva and Hercules. Behind him is the eagle of Zeus. I love how commanding he is in this portrayal. In many cases you see him standing around, or preparing to take off. Often he is depicted as a youth- so young, in fact, that it's hard to take him seriously as cunning. He looks incredibly innocent, nothing reflecting the experience beneath the surface. Perhaps that's the best deception of all?

In this portrayal, he is commanding. His cape is in motion, He is in motion. Minerva is reading over her scrolls, Hercules is ready to wield his hammer, and the eagle has his back. Don't forget the cornucopias on either side of the clock and the sheaf of wheat! What especially moves me is his face. Apologies for gushing tonight. Total crush lol

There are so many places around the country where we can still find Our Gods, and our ways, that it's a happy surprise, like a gift you didn't expect. I didn't expect that crossroad yesterday and I didn't expect to see Mercury that day, even though I knew He was there. Magic is all around us, we just have to shift our own perspective to appreciate it. 

Buona festa della Cornucopia!

I'm under the weather tonight so I'm going to take it easy. Hope you enjoy my fevered ramblings!

I saw HP 7.5 today. It should have been called: Harry Potter: The Initiation. Best line of the entire series, courtesy of Dumbledore: "Of course it's all in your head, Harry, but why should that mean it isn't real?"

Cornucopia reading led me to the legend of Amalthea, who is said to have been the foster-mother of Zeus while he was an infant and hiding from Cronus. I love the wiki quote on this one:

In Greek mythology, Amalthea or Amaltheia is the most-frequently mentioned foster-mother of Zeus. Her name in Greek ("tender goddess") is clearly an epithet, signifying the presence of an earlier nurturing goddess, whom the Hellenes, whose myths we know, knew to be located in Crete, where Minoans may have called her a version of "Dikte"

Amalthea's skin, or that of her goat, killed and skinned by the grown Zeus, became the protective aegis in some traditions, a vivid enough metaphor for the transfer of power to this Olympian god from that of the goddess who preceded his cult.

That's been a theme here, hasn't it? Digging back to see where the ancient patriarchy usurped the matriarchy... Is this another reason why Isis is so adored? Because she took power from Ra and placed Osiris and Horus on the throne? Here again we have Goddess as King-Maker in the realm of the living and of the dead.


I also find it interesting that today is the "Birthday of Isis" and in 2 weeks it is the Feast of Diana (Nemoralia) and the Greek Feast of Hecate and the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. Coincidence? Not so much.


Abundantia is depicted as carrying the horn of plenty, as were other Goddesses, but she is the one many picture. This point in the year is indeed the time of plenty: fruits and veggies are ripe, the fields are about ready to harvest and as Gershwin put it: "Summertime and the living is easy."




To close, here's funny to share with readers who aren't on my Facebook: A friend waxed snarky about the perils of being a bystander to the Feast of Cybele amongst other Mystery/Initiate undertakings and lamented that "those were the days." That phrase happened to get a song stuck in my head, so here it is, the Ancient Ways Lament:

Boy the way Apollo plagued,
Goddess Feasts and Cult Parades,
Vestal Virgins had it made,
Those were the days.

And you knew the Mysteries then,
Some for Women some for Men,
Goddess, we could use an Emperor like Hadrian again.

Rome had the largest Cult of State,
Overflowed libation plates,
Triple Goddess cakes taste great,
Those were the days!

(If you don't know which tv show theme song that was from, you might be too young to read this blog. But only slightly ;)

And welcome to our newest team member, Word, who will hopefully provide us with a few to muse about.