ARTEMIS
(Diana,
Dione, Cynthia, Lucina) ...................................Greek/Roman
.......Artemis is one of the major Olympian deities,
daughter of Zeus (Jupiter) and Leto (a Titaness), and twin sister
of Apollo. Most likely pre-Hellenic, perhaps originating in Crete,
she is known as a Moon Goddess. The Greeks and Romans turned
to her for help in hunting, protection of the young, and support
during childbirth, which are reflected in her titles: Divine
Huntress, Lady of Wild Things, Lady of the Beasts or of Creatures,
Mistress of the Woods, Lucina (Goddess of Childbirth, of Bringing
to Light).
.......From birth she exhibits the powers
of an immortal. The first-born of twins, Artemis immediately
sets to aiding her mother Leto during her difficult nine-day
labor to deliver Apollo. Thereafter, women prayed to the Divine
Midwife to ease their pain. At the age of three, she climbs upon
her father's knee and states what she wants: a silver bow and
arrows, a pack of hunting dogs, a knee-length tunic that would
allow her to run through the forest, the mountains and woodlands
as her sacred places, eternal chastity, and attendant nymphs.
Zeus, delighted, grants her wishes: "Little daughter, you
shall have all you desire."
.......The bear is one of the goddess'
totem animals, and Artemis is attended by the arktoi,
her "she-bear" priestesses. She is associated with
Ursa Major, the Great She-Bear in the sky and ruler of the axis
mundi, Pole of the World. Artemis also shoots the hunter
Orion with her arrow (some say inadvertently, others say to punish
him), and then places him in the sky. The deer is another of
her totem animals, and she is often depicted accompanied by a
deer. In the myth of the hunter Actaeon, it is said that he stumbles
upon the virgin goddess bathing in a stream. To prevent him from
reporting on her nakedness, she changes him into stag, and his
own hounds then chase him and tear him to pieces. This story
may refer to ancient, pre-Hellenic rites in which the Stag King
is pursued and killed at the end of his rule. The priestesses
of Artemis would have performed this drama, part of which was
the ritual bath of the goddess/priestesses. Later, during the
time of classical Greece, Artemis' shrine at Ephesus is so magnificent,
it is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
.......Artemis is the archetype of the
independent feminine spirit. She runs freely through the woods
at night, guided by moonlight and her intuition, and confident
in her unerring aim. At home in the wild, she needs no man to
protect her. On the contrary, she is Divine Protectress of all
Creatures. As a symbol of feminine competence, in modern times
she has been championed by feminists as well as lesbians. Although
our conceptualization of her focuses on her virgin aspect, she
was likely originally a triple goddess: the Moon Goddess as Maiden
(the virgin), Mother (who oversaw the orgiastic cult at Ephesus),
and Crone (who brought death with her arrows and brought in new
life with her midwifery).
§§
To further contemplate the Triple Goddess, see also: "The
Trinity"
____________________________
DEMETER
(Ceres)........................................................... Greek/Roman
.......Demeter/Ceres, with the title of Goddess of the
Grain, is an Earth Goddess who comes to us from our primeval
past. Indeed her name may have evolved from Gaia --> Ga -->
Da --> DaMater (Earth Mother) --> DeMeter, or the Greek
(De=grain) Meter (=Mother). She is the consummate Mother, the
most complete manifestation of the Great Goddess in classical
Western mythology.
.......The daughter of Cronos (Saturn)
and Rhea, she is one of the original twelve Olympians. Although
she bears Persephone (Proserpine) by Zeus (Jupiter) and has occasional
affairs, she is not associated with any particular man. Known
for her generosity, the Barley Mother bestows upon mortals the
knowledge of agriculture - the cultivation of fruits and grains,
the principles of sowing and reaping, and the disciplines that
establish order in civilization. The Romans called her Ceres
Legifera, "the Lawgiver", and her priestesses founded
the Roman legal system.
.......Her rites coincided with natural
cycles. During the October celebration of the Thesmophoria, a
Greek fertility festival, women re-enacted the descent of Persephone
to the Underworld. When Demeter's daughter Persephone (Proserpine)
is abducted by the Lord of the Underworld, the Grain Goddess
searches for her in vain. High and low she searches, with maternal
persistence. In her depression, she neglects the Earth's crops,
and there are no harvests. During this time, her divine radiance
disguised by her grief, she is taken in by Celeus and Metanira
of Eleusis, where she works as a nurse to their young son Demophoon.
Lovingly caring for the baby, she bathes him in the fire of immortality,
until Metanira comes upon the scene and screams, breaking the
spell. At this point Demeter resumes her true appearance, leaving
the household awestruck that they have been harboring a goddess.
Demeter commands them to build a temple and altar to her. This
they do. When the temple is completed, Demeter retreats into
it to mourn her daughter, while the Earth suffers drought and
famine. After a retinue of immortals plead with Demeter to no
avail, Zeus realizes he must satisfy the Earth Goddess in order
to save humanity. He dispatches Hermes (Mercury) to the Underworld
to fetch Persephone and manages a compromise: Persephone may
dwell with her mother two-thirds of the year but must return
to Hades for one third of the year. Persephone's yearly return
to Earth, of course, is springtime. Mother and daughter rejoice
in their reunion. Trees burst forth in bloom, seeds sprout in
the ground.
((( )))
.......The worship of Demeter centers in Eleusis. There
she teaches mortals her sacred rites and initiates them into
the mysteries of life and death. Since participants were sworn
to secrecy, we do not know many details of the actual Eleusinian
Mysteries. After seven years of preparation, initiates could
undertake the Mystery of Demeter in her temple. It seems that
this rite involved drinking a special (trance-inducing?) drink
of fermented barley, descent into darkness (as Persephone faced
the Underworld) and finding one's own inner light (just as Demeter's
life-giving power could sprout grain). It is said that once an
initiate passed the Eleusinian Mysteries, they would never again
fear death. Perhaps the initiate was able to directly experience
the immortality of the eternal soul. According to Sophocles [Triptolemos,
fr. 837], "Thrice happy are they of men who looked upon
these rites ere they go to Hades house, for they alone have true
life."
.......Demeter, viewed as Triple Goddess,
becomes the Holy Trinity of Maiden (Kore), Mother (Demeter),
and Crone (Hecate). Ceres, in Latin, is likely a cognate of the
Greek Core/Kore. Kore is the virginal aspect of Persephone. Together
they illustrate the cycles of Nature as well as the fruitfulness
of the Earth.
.......Because her worship persisted
even into Christian times, Demeter became known as St. Demetra.
Legend had it that a wicked Turkish wizard kidnapped her daughter
and locked her in a tower. When a young man, in trying to rescue
the maiden, is dismembered by the wizard, St. Demetra puts him
back together and resurrects him, so that he can free her daughter.
The Church never officially recognized St. Demetra but in the
Middle Ages did canonize St. Demetrius, a (male) warrior saint.
§§
See also: BAUBO, PERSEPHONE.
§§ To further contemplate the Triple Goddess, see also:
"The Trinity"
§§ "Crete and the End of Civilization" describes
our experiences at Eleusis
____________________________
GREEN
MAN
(John Barleycorn, Jack-in-the-Green, ............................European
Robin Hood, Merlin, Green Knight,...................................
Herne the Hunter, Cuchullin, ..........................................
Robin Goodfellow, Cernunnos,..........................................
Green Jack, Gromer Somer Jour,..........................................
Green Giant)..........................................
.......Green Man comes to us in so many guises, perhaps
because he is closer to a raw archetype than other mythological
characters. He is Spirit of the Forest, the intelligence inherent
in Nature, the repeating cycles of birth, growth, death, and
decay. Most often he is depicted as a tree, or a foliate head.
In pre-literate cultures of Northern and Central Europe, he was
celebrated on the spring equinox, midsummer, and at harvest time,
though his influence was strongest on May Day throughout the
Middle Ages. May Day revels included the erecting of the May
Pole, the crowning of the May King and May Queen, games, dances,
and freer sexual liaisons.
.......In the story of John Barleycorn,
the Corn King is killed and plowed into the earth. His three
murderers are certain he is dead. With the rains, however, John
Barleycorn awakens from his sleep and emerges from the soil as
a green sprout. The hero who is killed and resurrected takes
a more anthropomorphic form in the myths of Tammuz, Adonis, Attis,
Osiris, and Jesus Christ (the latter two meeting death on a tree).
.......During Roman times, the King
of the Wood fought to be the worthy consort of Diana, the Goddess
of the Animals. Together they protected the forest and its creatures.
Similarly in Celtic rites, the old Stag King was killed, so the
new Stag King could couple with the High Priestess, to insure
the fertility of the land. Green Man is sacrificed, only to appear
in a different form, all the time affirming the abundance of
Nature. Cernunnos, the Celtic Horned God, is depicted holding
a tore (large ring) and a serpent, symbolizing female and male
genitalia respectively.
.......Herne the Huntsman, from Saxon
lore, is a horned wildman who gallops on horseback through the
woods, leading a pack of hounds, to round up the souls of the
dead and take them into the Underworld. Here Green Man has the
role of psycho-pomp. Like a tree, he lives on Earth but connects
the depths (through his roots) with the heavens (through his
branches).
.......English and Scottish ballads
from the 14th century tell the story of Robin Hood and his band
of Merry Men, who would rather live in the wilderness (Sherwood
Forest) than in civilization. In response to the oppression of
the Christian Church (in the form of the Abbey of St. Mary's)
and Norman overlords (in the person of the Sheriff of Nottingham),
Robin Hood, a trickster aspect of Green Man, champions the common
people by stealing from the Abbot and outwitting the Sheriff.
Robin and his sidekick Little John win the Sheriff's archery
contest, and Robin also succeeds in wooing his May Queen, Maid
Marian.
((( )))
.......Green Man is enjoying a resurgence in Europe
now, at a time when world deforestation and ecological threats
have reached unprecedented heights. Green Man is a positive male
archetype exemplifying the power and wisdom of Nature.
_____________________________
Excerpted
from The Pillow Book of
Venus and Her Lover - Reinventing the Myth by
Becca Tzigany and James Bertrand
©
2004 Copyrighted material
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