Okay, I realize I haven't posted anything in a long time. And my posts--when I do add them--are sporadic at best. I've been spending most of my time on Myth Fix's associated Facebook page, gaining likes (I have sixteen now--aren't I so popular?). So, I've decided to reclaim my blog for a spell, even if it is just for a general update.
I've been working on my Goddess mythology lecture for Smart Janes (my school's feminist club), and sadly it's hit a roadblock. I'm pretty much out of ideas, and I get major stage fright, which is preventing me from coming up with new ideas. But I'll be fishing for suggestions Thursday, and in a couple of weeks (Gods willing), I'll have the video to share with you.
Also, I'm conducting research on Underworld myths and how they vary from pantheon to pantheon for an English project, from which will hopefully spring a fairly decent and presentable short story. I'll probably devote an entry to that when I get it done.
Oh, and I'm currently in one of my "Specific Pantheon" phases. I get these from time to time, where my attention is devoted to (surprise!) one pantheon above all others. This time it's the Norse. So expect a Deity Spotlight on either Odin or Loki in the near future. (And quotes from the Eddas on the Facebook page.)
Well, that's all for tonight. I hope I'll have the time, wit, and incentive to spare in order to blog more often.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
My Personal Top Nine List of Badass Goddesses
I'm a member of my high school's feminist club, and they have allowed me to give a presentation next month on Goddess mythology. Thus far I've done next to absolutely nothing, for the same reason I've been shirking my duty to this blog: I'm lazy and I tend to do better work in the last minute because everything tends to click into place in my brain ONLY when I have hours (or minutes) left until the deadline. But anyway, I've decided to kill two birds with one stone--organizing my thoughts, AND updating Myth Fix. So, without further ado, I present to you my top nine list of badass Goddesses who make me extremely proud to be a polytheist.
Please note that these are in no particular order. I am already indulging in enough favoritism as it is by picking nine out of the hundreds that exist, and I don't wish to anger any of these, as well.
KALI
Kali is a Hindu goddess of death and destruction. If you've ever seen a picture of Her, She's absolutely terrifying. She's depicted with four arms, black or blue skin, and wearing a skirt of severed arms and a necklace of human skulls. Plus, she's the wife of Shiva. She is said to have been created by Durga during the battle with Mahisha, a shapeshifting demon that symbolized pure evil. She may actually be worshipped as a form of Durga, rather than as Her own, completely separate Goddess.
DURGA
Another Hindu goddess, as mentioned above. Durga is essentially the female aspect of the divine, known as shakti, and is shown as both a fearsome warrior goddess and a mother deity. She has eight to ten arms, depending on which form She decides to take, and She uses Her divine power to annihilate those who would seek to upset the natural order.
MORRIGAN
We're moving on to the Celtic pantheon. Morrigan is a member of the Tuatha de Danaan, the People of Danu. Sometimes She is described as having a triple aspect. According to the Ulster Cycle, She first fought with Cu Chulainn, and later turned against him. Her other forms include the Bean Nighe and a crow that flies around the field after a battle and picks the souls from the corpses.
ATHENA
Okay, I usually make a point to avoid discussing Greek mythology on here--not because I don't like it; don't get me wrong, it's awesome. But the problem is that EVERYONE has heard the myths. They're what writers like Shakespeare often alluded to. And with Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, their popularity skyrocketed. But Athena has always been a personal favorite of mine, for the sole reason that She doesn't take crap from mortals. Take the myth of Arachne, for example: Arachne, a beautiful woman and skilled weaver, boasted that she was better than Athena, the goddess of crafts. So Athena called her bluff and challenged her to a weaving contest. She didn't even mind that Arachne ended up winning. But Arachne had decided to make the subject of her tapestry Zeus's various love affairs, so Athena destroyed her work and turned her into a spider.
ARTEMIS
Worshipped as Diana in the Roman pantheon, to the Greeks, Artemis is the virgin goddess of the hunt. She is the twin sister of Apollo, the sun god, and even served as midwife during Apollo's birth. As a young goddess She asked her father, Zeus, for six wishes, one of them being to remain chaste for eternity. This was a thing She took extremely seriously. When Acteon, a hunter and descendant of Apollo, was caught spying on her while She bathed, She turned him into a stag, to be torn apart by his own hounds. Chastity was also a requirement for the nymphs who followed Her: When She discovered that one of them, Callisto, had been impregnated by Zeus, She turned her into a bear.
ISIS
She is the wife of Osiris, the Egyptian god of the Underworld, and the mother of Horus. When Osiris's brother, Seth, killed him and cut him into a thousand pieces, it was Isis (the epitome of the perfect wife) who located the pieces and sought the aid of Anubis, the god of embalming, in putting her husband back together. Her cult was widespread, and for a time even rivaled Christianity in popularity.
INANNA/ISHTAR
I'm including them as one entry because they're often associated with one another. Inanna (or Ishtar) is the Mesopotamian goddess of fertility, and the wife of Dumuzi (or Tammuz) the farmer god. She is the twin sister of the goddess Ereshkigal, who rules the Underworld. One of the better-known myths about Inanna is one in which she visits Ereshkigal in the Underworld, and must pass through seven gates. At each gate, she was required to remove an article of clothing, and was completely naked by the time she reached the throne room. When she went to embrace Ereshkigal, as the two of them hadn't seen each other in ages, Ereshkigal's demons thought Inanna was trying to take their mistress back to the world of the living, so they seized Inanna, killing her. Now, Inanna and the judges of the dead had reached a sort of agreement after a while, and said that she could return to life only if she selected another to die in her place. Upon returning to Earth, she discovered that Dumuzi had been having an affair with another goddess in her absence. Inanna was having none of this, so she declared that Dumuzi AND Geshtinanna (the object of Dumuzi's lust) would both be sent to the Underworld, but each only for six months of the year, so that they were separated for eternity.
MA'AT
Ma'at was not only an Egyptian goddess, She was the very essence of cosmic order, often symbolized in Egyptian art by a feather. Souls are judged by way of the heart of the person's ka (or soul) weighed against Ma'at. If the heart is lighter, then the person may enjoy the Afterlife. If it is heavier, however, the soul is devoured by Ammit.
HEL
The ruler of Helheim, Hel is a Norse goddess of death. She is the daughter of Loki by the giantess Angrboda, and is generally depicted as half-living woman, half-decaying corpse. In fact, the word "Hell" comes from Her name. However, contrary to its legacy, Helheim is the place where the "average" souls are said to go. Her siblings are the giant serpent Jormungand (whose arch-nemesis is Thor) and Fenrir, the wolf who is to slay (and be slain in turn by) Odin during the battle of Ragnarok.
Sources:
Images: Wikipedia
Drawing of Isis: Mine
"Hel" (1889) by Johannes Gehrts
www.godchecker.com
Please note that these are in no particular order. I am already indulging in enough favoritism as it is by picking nine out of the hundreds that exist, and I don't wish to anger any of these, as well.
KALI
Kali is a Hindu goddess of death and destruction. If you've ever seen a picture of Her, She's absolutely terrifying. She's depicted with four arms, black or blue skin, and wearing a skirt of severed arms and a necklace of human skulls. Plus, she's the wife of Shiva. She is said to have been created by Durga during the battle with Mahisha, a shapeshifting demon that symbolized pure evil. She may actually be worshipped as a form of Durga, rather than as Her own, completely separate Goddess.
DURGA
Another Hindu goddess, as mentioned above. Durga is essentially the female aspect of the divine, known as shakti, and is shown as both a fearsome warrior goddess and a mother deity. She has eight to ten arms, depending on which form She decides to take, and She uses Her divine power to annihilate those who would seek to upset the natural order.
MORRIGAN
We're moving on to the Celtic pantheon. Morrigan is a member of the Tuatha de Danaan, the People of Danu. Sometimes She is described as having a triple aspect. According to the Ulster Cycle, She first fought with Cu Chulainn, and later turned against him. Her other forms include the Bean Nighe and a crow that flies around the field after a battle and picks the souls from the corpses.
ATHENA
Okay, I usually make a point to avoid discussing Greek mythology on here--not because I don't like it; don't get me wrong, it's awesome. But the problem is that EVERYONE has heard the myths. They're what writers like Shakespeare often alluded to. And with Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, their popularity skyrocketed. But Athena has always been a personal favorite of mine, for the sole reason that She doesn't take crap from mortals. Take the myth of Arachne, for example: Arachne, a beautiful woman and skilled weaver, boasted that she was better than Athena, the goddess of crafts. So Athena called her bluff and challenged her to a weaving contest. She didn't even mind that Arachne ended up winning. But Arachne had decided to make the subject of her tapestry Zeus's various love affairs, so Athena destroyed her work and turned her into a spider.
ARTEMIS
Worshipped as Diana in the Roman pantheon, to the Greeks, Artemis is the virgin goddess of the hunt. She is the twin sister of Apollo, the sun god, and even served as midwife during Apollo's birth. As a young goddess She asked her father, Zeus, for six wishes, one of them being to remain chaste for eternity. This was a thing She took extremely seriously. When Acteon, a hunter and descendant of Apollo, was caught spying on her while She bathed, She turned him into a stag, to be torn apart by his own hounds. Chastity was also a requirement for the nymphs who followed Her: When She discovered that one of them, Callisto, had been impregnated by Zeus, She turned her into a bear.
ISIS
She is the wife of Osiris, the Egyptian god of the Underworld, and the mother of Horus. When Osiris's brother, Seth, killed him and cut him into a thousand pieces, it was Isis (the epitome of the perfect wife) who located the pieces and sought the aid of Anubis, the god of embalming, in putting her husband back together. Her cult was widespread, and for a time even rivaled Christianity in popularity.
INANNA/ISHTAR
I'm including them as one entry because they're often associated with one another. Inanna (or Ishtar) is the Mesopotamian goddess of fertility, and the wife of Dumuzi (or Tammuz) the farmer god. She is the twin sister of the goddess Ereshkigal, who rules the Underworld. One of the better-known myths about Inanna is one in which she visits Ereshkigal in the Underworld, and must pass through seven gates. At each gate, she was required to remove an article of clothing, and was completely naked by the time she reached the throne room. When she went to embrace Ereshkigal, as the two of them hadn't seen each other in ages, Ereshkigal's demons thought Inanna was trying to take their mistress back to the world of the living, so they seized Inanna, killing her. Now, Inanna and the judges of the dead had reached a sort of agreement after a while, and said that she could return to life only if she selected another to die in her place. Upon returning to Earth, she discovered that Dumuzi had been having an affair with another goddess in her absence. Inanna was having none of this, so she declared that Dumuzi AND Geshtinanna (the object of Dumuzi's lust) would both be sent to the Underworld, but each only for six months of the year, so that they were separated for eternity.
MA'AT
Ma'at was not only an Egyptian goddess, She was the very essence of cosmic order, often symbolized in Egyptian art by a feather. Souls are judged by way of the heart of the person's ka (or soul) weighed against Ma'at. If the heart is lighter, then the person may enjoy the Afterlife. If it is heavier, however, the soul is devoured by Ammit.
HEL
The ruler of Helheim, Hel is a Norse goddess of death. She is the daughter of Loki by the giantess Angrboda, and is generally depicted as half-living woman, half-decaying corpse. In fact, the word "Hell" comes from Her name. However, contrary to its legacy, Helheim is the place where the "average" souls are said to go. Her siblings are the giant serpent Jormungand (whose arch-nemesis is Thor) and Fenrir, the wolf who is to slay (and be slain in turn by) Odin during the battle of Ragnarok.
Sources:
Images: Wikipedia
Drawing of Isis: Mine
"Hel" (1889) by Johannes Gehrts
www.godchecker.com
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