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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in Zeus

Posted by on in Paths Blogs
What do you call a Minoan midwinter god?

I've talked before about the names the ancient Minoans used for their gods, here and here, and the difficulties of trying to figure out what those original names were. All we really have to go on is the administrative texts written in Linear B by the Myceneans (or their Minoan scribes). So all that information is filtered through the lens of the Mycenaean Greeks. Case in point: Dionysus.

He's very apropos for today - Winter Solstice - since this is his birthday in the Minoan sacred calendar, when he is born to the great mother goddess Rhea in her cave at sunrise. If you want to view the Minoan pantheon in terms of hierarchy, you'd have to say Rhea is at the top (at least, of the earthbound and Underworld gods - the ocean goddess Posidaeja and the cosmic goddess Ourania could be considered to be "above" her but that's another blog post).

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  • Gwion Raven
    Gwion Raven says #
    Thank you. I very much enjoyed this piece
  • Laura Perry
    Laura Perry says #
    You're very welcome!

Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Absent Lover/Hidden God

I spent my adolescence listening to Nana Mouskouri: sentimental, schmaltzy songs, yes, and none more so than “I Have a Dream.” Yet the lyrics have stayed with me:

 

I'll bring to you the secrets of my life

Like petals in my hand and you will understand…

 

Demand of me all that I have to give

And while I live I'll give it gladly

Command me to deny the world I knew

I'd give it all away if you but asked me to.

 

It used to make me a little weepy back then. Perhaps it still does. The singer addresses a unknown beloved, who may only be a figment of her longing. But that longing was one I shared. The idea of complete surrender had a strange attraction, as did the undefined perfection of the distant lover. It doesn’t really leave us, this need for a deeper solace, for intensity of experience and blissful oblivion both. We may direct our desires to gods or lovers or just into the void of mystery, but deep down we know—or hope we know— that somewhere out there is the beauty our souls were made for.

 

But lovers disappoint and gods remain elusive.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs

A tale for your reading pleasure...this came to me today as I was researching another topic.

A woman frantically spins a crystal in the light from the window making rainbows swirl around the room.  “Iris, storm-footed and golden winged, you who nursed my child when I could not, hear me.  My boy has been taken from his cradle by Apollon, furious to behold.  Tell his father!  Bring my baby back!”

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  • Jamie
    Jamie says #
    Thanks for writing the story and sharing it with us!
  • Melia/Merit Brokaw
    Melia/Merit Brokaw says #
    I am pleased that it has been well received. Thank you.
  • Terence P Ward
    Terence P Ward says #
    By "came to me" you're saying that the tale just popped into your head during your research? If that's the case, I find it uplift
  • Melia/Merit Brokaw
    Melia/Merit Brokaw says #
    That is exactly what I'm saying. It ended a wee bit differently than originally planned... Pry away!
  • Rebecca Buchanan
    Rebecca Buchanan says #
    Yes, pry! The world needs more stories about the Gods.

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

I’m AWOL this week attending a Pagan festival/retreat here in Colorado.  This was written before I left. 

I readily admit that thinking about philosophy gives me a headache.  Literally.  Attempting to discuss it or read it makes me nauseous on top of the headache.  I suspect this physical reaction is embedded in the fear that I’m dumber than I like to think and attempting to sound intelligent during a discussion of philosophy will only prove that a 3rd grader is smarter than me.  (Oh the dreams along this line are most humbling…)

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  • Jamie
    Jamie says #
    Yeah, I'm a Platonist and reading a detailed summary of Proclus' take on philosophy (one of Plato's legitimate successors) can giv

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

I am a loss on what to write for you this week, so I leave you with a story I wrote over a year ago...The aegis is variously described as a shield, buckler or breast-plate. 

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  • Jamie
    Jamie says #
    Thanks for sharing! Very nice.

Appropriation or syncretisation?  Or maybe just the evolution in understanding?  You decide.

Zeus is the Greek king of the gods, the god of sky and weather who fertilizes the fields and protects the home.  He is the god of law, order and fate.  He was typically depicted as a mature, regal man with a beard.  Typical symbols associated with him:  lightning bolt, eagle, ram, bull, snake, cornucopia and scepter.

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  • Apuleius Platonicus
    Apuleius Platonicus says #
    This is a fascinating subject and a very nice overview of it. Honestly, though, I don't see where talk of "appropriation" comes in
  • Melia/Merit Brokaw
    Melia/Merit Brokaw says #
    Personally I'm never sure where the line of appropriation is...Americans can be "gaga" over anything and everything Native America
  • Freeman Presson
    Freeman Presson says #
    The Greeks who came back from the grand tour of Egypt and sold fake Khemetic initiations for 10 talents were appropriating (like $
  • Freeman Presson
    Freeman Presson says #
    There's even a catchword for it: orientalizing. Exactly like what modern Pagans and esotericists do with India and Tibet (a distan
  • Samantha Lahlali
    Samantha Lahlali says #
    Interesting Zeus-Ammon has a great deal in common with Apollon Karneios in appearance (who was a Doric deity and a god brought to

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

 

One of Zeus’ epithets is Georgos, meaning “farmer” or literally “earth worker”.  This epithet obviously describes his agricultural connections.  Now some may find this surprising.  “But he’s a sky god!”  He is now, but remember, Zeus was raised on Gaia.  He only became a sky god when the Titans were defeated in the Titanomachy.  Zeus Georgos was honored on 30 Maimakterion (November/December) which was the time plowing and planting of grain.  (I like to imagine it as right around the time of the US holiday of thanksgiving.)  He received bloodless sacrifices like ambrosia (water, oil and a sweetened mixture of edible seeds) or cakes. The dios kodion, the fleece of Zeus, was probably carried around the fields in his name for purification and protection from bad weather. 

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