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When I mention "Minoan," most people think of the famous Snake Goddess figurines. And many people think those figurines represent "the Minoan goddess," as if there were only one of them. But there are many Minoan goddesses, not just one.
In fact, there's a whole pantheon. Like everyone else in the Bronze Age Mediterranean, the Minoans were polytheists.
...Every year I've made the Northern Lights Goddesses Brew, I've added something to the recipe to honor additional goddesses. This year I added something for Hel and something for Sunna. This year's batch is going to taste similar to last year's, but sweeter. I think. I can never be sure how it will come out until I taste it. This is a story about the internal mental process by which I arrived at the ingredient to add for Hel (also called Hela.)
So there I was in my kitchen. I had all the usual ingredients out on the counter, ready to start this year's batch of brew. I had not decided on an ingredient to add for Hel yet. I usually like to plan ahead, but I had an hour of time to myself when I was not likely to be interrupted, and no more pressing task to accomplish, so I had decided it was time to get the brew going. I needed to figure out what to put in to honor Hel, and started considering and rejecting various ingredients. Nothing seemed quite right.
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Series: A Wiccan Wheel Mystery
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Persephone is risen today,
Alleluia!
we need a god who bleeds now
a god whose wounds are not
some small male vengeance
some pitiful concession to humility
a desert swept with dryin marrow in honor of the lord
we need a god who bleeds
spreads her lunar vulva & showers us in shades of scarlet
thick & warm like the breath of her
our mothers tearing to let us in
Quan Yin is a powerful archetype of veganism. In the Buddhist legend, the “Complete Tale of Guanyin and the Southern Seas,” she is determined to save every sentient being on earth from their suffering. As she tries to contemplate this suffering, her head shatters into eleven pieces.
The Buddha Amitabha sees her plight and grants her eleven heads so she can continue on her noble work. She goes on to try to reach out to all the suffering, and her arms shatter. She is then granted 1000 arms. There are different variations on this story, and one of Quan Yin’s names is “the goddess of 1000 arms.”
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