Rati: Bali's sex goddess.
Rati is the goddess of love and sex, according to the Hindus of Bali.
She is called upon to assist one find unrequited love and to
regulate passion in romantic relationships.
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Goddess Rati
Goddess Venus
Venus: Love goddess of the Romans.
Venus is the goddess of love, sex, and beauty, and is the Roman counterpart of Aphrodite.
She is the morning and evening star, as well as the sea's
daughter.
Venus dispels adversity and brings happiness and joy to
devotees.
She is the patroness of prostitutes and treats both mental
and physical sexual problems.
Goddess Anath
Canaanite goddess of love and battle, Anath. Anath was venerated across Mesopotamia as the Virgin, Mother, Warrior, and Wanton.
- "To respond," "strength of life," or "active will" are some of the meanings of her name.
- The deity Ba'al, or Bel, is her brother and consort.
- Her devotees beg her for war and reproductive issues since she has a voracious hunger for sex and blood.
- Women henna their hands, braid their hair, and dress up in the best adornments to pay homage to her during spring and harvest celebrations.
- Many of her stories and characteristics have been mixed together with those of Asherah and Astarte, and some academics believe Anath and Astarte were combined to create Atargatis.
- Anath is typically portrayed naked atop a lion, holding flowers in her hands, or as a young girl dressed in war attire.
Goddesses Of Time And Seasons
The concept of time appears as a goddess in several cultures.
In Hindu India, Nidra is the sleep of time, whose passage is beyond human control, while Kalı represents the many eras of the worlds life, with the final era named after her.
In North America, the Cherokee saw time as ruled by the sun goddess Unelanuhi, who divided night from day and thus invented all measurement.
Among the pre-Roman Etruscans, time was the goddess Nortia, in whose honor nails were pounded each year into her temple.
The later Roman Juno represented time as embodied in womens passage through lifes stages, with multiple Junos representing each woman as she aged.
Some time goddesses are also foretellers of fate, as was Arabic Manat (see Eastern Mediterra nean), Finally, many goddesses are associated with the period before day was divided from night.
These divinities appear in a primordial, often chaotic ‘‘time before time, and are often creatrixes who form the universe.
Many goddesses, especially earth goddesses, are associated with specific seasons that paralleled the seasons of a womans life.
Spring goddesses (Roman Flora, Greek Hebe, Slavic Kostrubonko, Scandinavian Rana Neida) are typically young and sex ually active or even promiscuous, unburdened by children.
They are kind and gener ous, beautiful and tender.
Often spring goddesses are associated with dawn, both representing the promise of new beginnings.
Just as dawn goddesses (see Light/Day, above) could be dangerous as well as desirable, so figures connected with spring, like Slavic Rusalki, could present themselves as threatening.
Spring was a time of hunger to subsistence farmers, who had devoured their stored crops and were awaiting new growth.
Even for gathering-hunting cultures, spring could be difficult, so in the Arctic we find Asiaq (see Circumpolar), to whom shamans made sacrifices if ice did not break up in the rivers, allowing fishing.
Thus maiden spring goddesses such as Greek Persephone were connected to death, an ever-present danger in hungry springtime.
Summer goddesses, by contrast, are typically maternal, indicative of the earth in its agricultural abundance.
Like Roman Ceres (from whom we derive the word ‘‘cereal), these goddesses are often associated with food plants, which flourish in summer weather (see also Vegetation, below).
In North America, such goddesses could be embodied in the important food-crop, maize or corn; see Selu and Oniata.
Such goddesses are typically depicted as mature and fertile, women in the prime of their reproductive years.
But in desert lands, summer goddesses could appear as threat ening, as with Egyptian Sekhmet who represents the scorching sun, or Sri Lankan Pattinı (see India) who began as a gentle woman but became rage-filled and destruc tive later.
It might be assumed that autumn goddesses would represent decline and death, but fall is a season for both harvest and the hunt.
Thus goddesses connected with autumn could be paradoxically both fertile and deadly.
Some, such as Irish Tailtu, were sacrificed in order to provide fertility to the land, while in other cases such as Slavic Baba Yaga, they threatened others with death by devouring.
In Mesoamerican ritual, a mature woman assumed the identity of Toci and was sacrificed and flayed at her har vest festival.
Other autumn goddesses (South American Pachamama, Greek Demeter, Roman Pomona) were goddesses of abundance, appropriate to harvest sea son.
These goddesses are typically shown as a woman past the prime of life but still vigorous.
With the Irish Cailleach, this vigor included sexual appetite; this divine female could exhaust and even kill young men with her demands.
Winter goddesses, typically envisioned as old women, are often threatening.
This is hardly surprising, as winter in earlier times was a time of hardship and want.
Winter goddesses are shown with the power to control the weather (see Weather, above).
Thus they were to be propitiated, lest they grow angry and bring on dangerous storms.
The Scandinavian winter goddess appeared as a pair, with friendly Holle shaking her feather beds to make snow and rewarding those pleasant to her with gold, while her twin Perchta roamed through the world looking for people to punish for minor infrac tions, bringing bitter cold with her.
Some winter goddesses are paired with a spring deity.
In Scotland, the Cailleach appeared with the girl Bride, who spent winter trying to escape the hags grasp.
Finally, some winter divinities are witches (Roman Befana, Finno-Ugric Louhi) who kidnap good weather and growth, holding it hostage until spring.
You can learn more about Goddess Symbolism here.
Goddess Sjofn
Sjofn: Love goddess in Norse mythology.
Sjofn coerces women and men into falling in love using magical plants, potions, and musical enchantment.
She inspires passion for the opposite sex by removing fear
and past regrets from the heart.
Sjofn also guarantees that married couples' love lasts and
that emotions are calmed amid fights and conflicts.
Goddesses Of Abstract Qualities
Where abstract qualities are associated with goddesses, the goddess might appear as the embodiment of the quality, or she may be envisioned as bestowing it upon favored humans.
Beauty, love, wisdom, and justice are commonly associated with goddesses, as is the control of fate or destiny.
Some of these qualities are associated with an essen tialist ‘‘femininity, while others are more typically associated with ‘‘masculinity.
In the realm of goddesses, expectations of the social roles typically occupied by women do not always hold true.
Even within a culture, goddesses defy gender stereotypes, as with war goddesses found in imperial patriarchies like Rome (see Bellona).
Beauty is the quality most commonly associated with goddesses.
The beauty of some goddesses reflects their status as divinities of earth and represents the idea of natures loveliness.
One such is the Tantric Bhuvanesvarı (see India), described as so beautiful that the god Shiva made himself a third eye, the better to enjoy her.
At other times, beauty is connected with sovereignty.
Queenly figures are flatteringly described as beautiful.
Thus the Queen of Sheba, Bilqis (see Eastern Mediterranean) was described as possessing great beauty, although she was also said to have had the legs of a goat.
Hera, Greek goddess of womens power, was renowned for her beauty, as was the Irish warrior queen Medb (see Celtic), who represented sovereignty over the land as well as womens sexuality.
The Celtic goddess who appeared variously as Grainne, Iseult, and Gueneviere embodied the lands need for a vigorous king, with the ‘‘love triangle of their stories describing the replacement of an aging ruler with a younger one.
Not surprisingly, beauty is often (although not invariably) connected with love.
Such love could be generic, as with Greek Aphrodite or African Oshun, whose power infused the world of animals as well as humans.
Other goddesses embody divine love, such as Indian Parvatı whose beauty was reserved for her consort Shiva.
Finally, a goddesss desire could be directed only toward humans, as with Celtic Niamh, who sought lovers among human men, or the group of Indian spirits called Yaks˛Ä± who have sex with human men before eating them.
More positively, Lakota Whope (see North America) formed the pattern of beauty after which human women were designed, so that they might attract vigorous mates.
Love goddesses are not always benevolent.
Many narratives emphasize betrayal and heartbreak (Celtic Bloduewedd and Deirdre, Hebrew Naamah, Greek Sirens).
Although a beautiful goddess can be heartless, loyal lovers such as Indian Radha and Hebrew Sarah are found in mythology alongside destructive seducers like the Celtic Leanann Sidhe and Hebrew Lilith.
Additionally, some myths warn of the difficulties that beauty can bring, as with Hindu Manasa (see India), whose beauty attracted the god Shiva, leading to her mutilation at his wifes hands.
Unlike beauty, wisdom is not today necessarily connected with the archetypal femi nine.
But in many cultures, goddesses were associated with this quality, which refers to a right ordering of society that aligns it with natural law.
Thus Greek Athena and Metis, Roman Egeria and Providentia, and Hebrew Hokmah all connected the human world with nature through wise counsel.
In some cases, as with Scandinavian Voluspa and Greek Python, wisdom was conveyed through oracular practices inspired by an all-seeing earth goddess.
Roman Egeria pronounced the first laws of the city-state while in an oracular trance.
In Ireland (see Celtic), goddesses of wisdom such as Boand gained knowledge through eating nuts that fall from a magical tree that con nects underworld, middle earth, and sky; thus their wisdom encompassed the universe.
In most of these Irish narratives, the woman was specifically forbidden from seeking wisdom, but her decision to break that prohibition results in world-creating acts.
Goddesses of justice, often pictured as mature or even elderly women, control the orderly structure of society.
Thus Greek Themis, on whom oaths were sworn, repre sented the just underpinnings of civilization.
Similarly, Hebrew Torah represented ‘‘the law that controlled and defined appropriate human behavior.
The domain of Egyptian Maat (see Africa) extended beyond death, for she judged the souls right eousness.
The Iroquois heroine Genetaska (see North America) brought justice and peace to her people.
Some goddesses of justice were also goddesses of vengeance, demanding retribution for wrongdoing, as did Greek Erinyes and Nemesis.
Goddesses also represent scholarship and learning.
Because most societies have been oral rather than literate, such goddesses were associated with the transmission of wisdom through speech and stories (Scandinavian Saga and Edda, Indian Vac).
The connection between memory, including historical memory, and the creation of art was emphasized in the Greek belief that Mnemosyne, goddess of memory, was mother to the Musae, goddesses of art.
Goddesses like the Eastern Mediterranean Nisaba represented both the act of writing and the priestesses who employed it.
Finally, one of the most common powers ascribed to goddesses is control over destiny.
Individual fate goddesses are connected with midwifery.
Such divinities as Baltic Laime˙, Egyptian Hathor, Slavic Dolya and Orisnitsi, and Finno-Ugric Madder-Akka appeared at a childs birth and predict its future life.
Fate goddesses could be ancestral spirits (see Scandinavian Dıs) because heredity is one determinant of fate.
Fate goddesses measured a persons life, like Hittite Wurusemu (see Eastern Mediterranean) or Greek Lachesis (see Moirae).
Other fate goddesses, like the Roman Camenae and Carmenta who lived in springs, were associated with especially hal lowed places.
Goddess Freya
Goddess of love and battle in Norse mythology.
Freya is the maiden mistress, and she is said to be the most beautiful goddess of all.
No human or deity can stand up to her.
She is said to provide happiness in love and family
relationships, as well as sex and sensuality problems.
She collects the spirits of the dead and fallen soldiers and
escors them to the hereafter as the Queen of the Valkyries.
Freya, the mistress of cats, is said to be the source of all
poetry.
Friday is her holy day, and thirteen is her lucky number.
Goddesses Of Reptiles, Birds, And Amphibians
Like animals, reptiles and birds appear frequently as images of feminine divinity.
While these creatures might seem opposites, many early statues show them united, as we find in the unnamed bird-headed snake goddesses of central Europe, whose image may represent the cosmic reach of a goddess who ruled both earth and sky.
The imagery survives into historical times as the Greek Gorgons, winged snake haired sisters of the goddess Medusa.
Snake goddesses often represent rebirth or renewal, for as the snake sheds its skin, so the soul is reborn into another life.
Egyptian Mafdet and Mertseger were con nected with both burial and the promise of an afterlife.
In India, black-faced Kalı, ruler of death and transformation, is bedecked in writhing snakes.
Other Indian goddesses associated with snakes include Manasa, who guards against snakebite and brings prosperity, and the snake-women called Naginıs, associated with water and the mon soon season.
This connection of snakes with water is also found in Australia, where the rainbow serpent Julunggul (see also Kunapipi) lived in deep pools, from which she stirred herself at times of creation and of initiation ceremonies.
Snakes could appear maternal, for snakes protected stored grain from encroaching vermin and thus preserved the familys health.
Lithuanian Aspelenie was such a protector, as was Greek Athena.
Even in nonagricultural societies, we find snake pro tectors, such as Siberian Irt (see Circumpolar), who protected the fecundity of rivers.
Snakes appear as images of reproductive sex in the image of Chinese Nu¨wa, entwined with her serpent mate, while Indian Kadru offers an image of reproductive abundance with her clutch of a thousand eggs.
Conversely, snakes could be fearsome and threatening.
Some terrifying snakes were connected with magic and shape-shifting, such as Greek Hecate, Roman Angitia, Celtic Morrıgan, and Aztec Coatlicue.
Perhaps as an extension of this power, serpent goddesses ruled sexuality, as we find with Celtic Melusine and Ezili-Freda of the African disapora.
The snake Kundalinı, in Hindu India, symbolizes sexual power that rises through the snakelike spinal column linking the groin and head.
Finally, reptilian goddesses appear as cosmic creatrixes.
In Africa, the snake Aido Hwedo was present at creation and provided the pattern for the sinuous shape of mountains and rivers.
Some serpents provided the material for the world from their own body, as did Aztec Cipactonal and Babylonian Tiaˆmat.
Polynesian Walu tahanga suffered dismemberment but, once made whole again, provided fresh water and food to humanity.
The snake goddess can appear as a dragon, especially in Asia where these imagi nary hybrids were a common mythic motif.
Typically, dragons were associated with the oceans power.
Japanese Benten either took the form of a dragon or rode one on the ocean waves.
In Egypt, the goddess Meretseger was a snake with human head, or a snake with three heads, a form that stressed her otherworldly aspects.
Other rep tiles appear as goddess images in regions where they are common, as with African Nyakae, a crocodile.
Birds also appear frequently as goddess images.
Pedamma-Mariamma (see India) was one of several creatrixes who took bird form; she laid an egg that contained the universe and the gods.
Polynesian Tuli flew across the primal ocean, creating island homes for people as she did.
Finnish Luonotar was not herself a bird, but provided a place for the cosmic eggs to be laid by a duck in primeval times.
Sometimes the bird is of a specific species: the owl accompanied and represented Greek Athena, while Irish E tain took the form of a swan (see Celtic).
In such cases, the birds qualities were associated with the goddess (wisdom and loyalty, respec tively).
Observation of bird behavior led to the connection of the Greek tragic heroine Aedon with the loud-crying nightingale; the Celtic war goddess Badb with the carrion-eating crow; the Saami spring goddess Barbmo-Akka (see Finno-Ugric) with migrating waterbirds; and the loyal Celtic heroine Fionnuala with the similarly loyal swan.
Greek Aphrodite was associated with several kinds of birds, including the goose and the sparrow, which were imagined as sexually vigorous.
Occasionally the bird was not the goddess but her mate.
The goddess of sexuality in the African diaspora, Oshun, is associated with the peacock, the male of which preens its lavish tail to attract a mate.
Eskimo Sedna (see Circumpolar) was mated to a sea bird, but grew tired of living on scraps of fish that he provided.
In Greek mythology, the sky god Zeus turned himself into a bird in order to assault goddesses and Nymphs.
Thus Hera was associated with the quail, for Zeus disguised himself as one in order to gain access to Heras lap, while Leda was associated with the swan, in which form Zeus raped her, as he did the goddess of vengeance, Nemesis.
Frigg, the Scandinavian all-mother, lived in a sky palace to which she ascended on hawks wings.
Birds provided a disguise for shape-shifted goddesses such as Russian Baba Yaga (see Slavic) and Irish Morrıgan (see Celtic).
Nemain, a Celtic war goddess, flew over the battlefield like a crow to observe the slain, as did the Scandina vian Valkyries.
Birdsong figures in goddess imagery both as a positive image of beauty (Thai Kinnarı, see Southeast Asia) and as a threatening one of loss of self (Greek Sirens).
In addition to the earthbound serpent and the airy bird, we find goddesses in the form of amphibians, which live in water as juveniles and, after undergoing metamor phosis, breathe air as adults.
The most common amphibian image of the goddess is the frog or toad, often used as an image of the birthing creatrix because its bent legged shape looks like a woman squatting in labor.
This connection of frogs with birth was found in Egypt, where Hekt, a woman with a frogs head, was a midwife.
Frogs and toads were also widely associated with weather.
The Australian frog goddess Quork-Quork was the mother of rain, thunder, and lightning.
Yang Sri, the toad goddess of Vietnam, controlled the weather, as did the Baltic weather witch Ragana.
Scandinavian Holle hid in a deep well disguised as a frog.
Finally, in a few instances, we find a connection between frogs and fire, notably in South America, where the frog goddess Nayobo made fire by vomiting, while another frog goddess of the region, Kibero, brought fire to humanity.
You can learn more about Goddess Symbolism here.
Goddess Druantia
Druantia is associated with oak trees and the Druids as the everlasting wise and knowing mother.
She instructs and teaches the holy ways of the forest, guiding searchers to their right pathways.
She is the creator of the Celtic tree calendar and is the
goddess of love, fertility, and sex.
Druantia, as queen of the dryads, guards trees and forests.
Who Is Goddess Chuang Mu?
Chuang Mu is the goddess of the boudoir in Chinese mythology.
Chuang Mu is a goddess of love who rules over sex, sensuality, and desire.
She is known as the Lady of the Bedchamber, and she is in charge of all bedroom activities, including sleep, dreams, and disease healing.
She teaches real lovemaking etiquette and builds trust between couples.
During China's annual Lantern Festival, Chuang Mu is honored with presents of rice, tea, and fresh flowers, as is customary.
Goddess Morrigu Or Morrigan
Morrigu, often spelled Morrigan, is an Irish goddess of prophesy.
Morrigu forms a trio of battle deities with her sisters Badb and Macha.
She is known as the Witch Queen of Death because she
foretells the result of all wars.
She is the Celts' great sorceress, with unrivaled magical
skills of foresight and enchantment.
Morrigu is also the goddess of passionate love and sex,
especially affairs with bad outcomes.
She is frequently shown as a beautiful woman with black hair
or as an elderly woman dressed in dark robes.
Goddess Akhushtal
Mesoamerican Goddess of childbirth, Akhushtal.
- Akhushtal is the Mayan god that oversees the whole process of childbirth, from conception to delivery.
- Akna was a term given to Akhushtal, among other goddesses, that meant 'Our Mother,' and was strongly tied with fertility and birthing deities.
Mayan Midwifery And Society.
Midwifery is a female-dominated profession that aids women from conception until postpartum care.
Akhushtal goddess of midwifery is worshipped in certain Maya tribes, and midwives are said to be allocated their vocation via signs and visions.
Ixchel was the name of the pre-Spanish Yucatan deity of the old midwife.
Childbirth is the Maya's ultimate rite of passage, completing a girl's transformation to womanhood.
Many women who give birth in remote regions are cared for by midwives who have no official training but are said to have gotten instruction in dreams by the Maya religion.
Traditional birth attendants are referred to as comadronas or iyom kexelom, and their work is regarded with respect.
Maya midwives are in charge of the ajtuj ("pregnant lady") and her unborn child during the pregnancy as well as the week of bed rest after the delivery.
Unlike other communities, the Maya believe that they receive a holy calling from God via dreams, allowing them to perform their intended career.
The midwife's calling is divine, and she has the ability to speak with the supernatural realm.
Though midwives are revered for their holy role in society, they sometimes face animosity from their spouses and children since they must spend so much time away from them in order to do their duties.
Midwives are required to refrain from sexual activity, which might cause conflict with their spouses.
Midwives are said to acquire their calling from God via a sequence of dreams in Maya civilization.
Visions of Saint Anne, the patron saint of all midwives, are said to often carry subtle signals that a woman is destined to become a midwife.
Women, according to the Mayan faith, discover little artifacts along routes that represent symbols and objects associated to midwifery, in addition to getting dreams and visions.
Small unique stones in the form of faces, shells, marbles, and shattered parts of prehistoric figures are common.
In Maya religion, stones are typically ascribed holy qualities and are said to be sent from the spiritual realm as a symbol of one's vocation to midwifery.
Some things placed in a midwife's path are said to be the instruments they require to execute aspects of the delivery process, such as a penknife for cutting the umbilical cord.
Women often contact shamans, who explain their calling to them, and if they accept their calling as midwives, they are said to have a series of dreams and visions about the birthing rituals they must follow.
They may also be called to mountains or other holy sites, where they may meet supernatural entities, in addition to these specific things and the repeated dreams.
Mayans think that women who disregard their calling are more likely to get sick, and that if physicians are unable to diagnose their diseases, they may even die.
They also think that supernatural creatures tell them in their visions that they will get presents from the families of the children they deliver, and that they must not be greedy since many will offer what they have, and that they must take it with a good heart.
Midwives are in charge of pregnant women throughout their pregnancies with no official training or education other than what they think they acquire through their dreams.
These dreams are said to include visions from the spirits on how to correctly inspect women, massage them, feel for the position of the fetus, measure dilation, cut the umbilical chord, pray, and prophesy a child's destiny based on the marks on their umbilical cord.
Midwives think that by seeing these visions, they will be able to recognize difficulties that might jeopardize a healthy birth and will be able to take women to local clinics and hospitals.
Midwives are called during the third to fifth month of pregnancy and provide prenatal care at monthly intervals until the last month of pregnancy, when they begin to visit weekly.
Midwives offer prenatal care that includes massages, exams, attending the delivery, and caring for both the new mother and infant during the week of bed rest.
Many things, according to the Mayans, may be interpreted when a child is born.
The "Sacred calendar," or Maya calendar for divination, is said to forecast a child's destiny since certain days are more favorable than others.
In Maya civilization, the calendar is crucial for understanding and determining the destiny of children.
Mayans, on the other hand, believe that midwives may predict a child's life based on the marks on the umbilical cord and the amniotic sac.
They think that the sex, number, and spacing of subsequent births may be predicted based on the marks of the firstborn.
The most essential marks are those of a future shaman (worms or flies gripped in a newborn's hand), a midwife (white mantle over the head, which originates from the amniotic membrane), and a baby who will imperil future siblings' life (born with a double whorl in its crown).
The midwife is the first person to view the newborn, and before a mother can connect with her kid, the midwife is supposed to carefully read the child's symptoms, and she alone will determine what career the child will pursue.
She must then carefully remove, dry, and conserve the signs, which the maternal grandma will maintain.
Praying is regarded crucial in the delivery of a child, and the midwife starts praying as soon as she is notified about the birth.
Before entering the home and touching the pregnant lady, she is also supposed to pray.
She must also pray to each of the room's four corners, which are thought to be guarded by unseen guardians.
When subsequent children die, one ritual must be completed because it is thought that the first-born child (sometimes born with a double whorl on the umbilical cord) pursues and consumes the newborn's soul.
The midwife wraps a live chicken in a cloth and travels the room with the eldest kid praying to each of the four corners in an attempt to preserve the newborn's life.
On the back of the oldest kid, the chicken is battered to death (behind closed doors and away from the newborn).
She then cooks a chicken soup, which the oldest kid is obliged to consume in its whole, even if it takes many meals.
The midwife must execute her last cleaning rites at the conclusion of the bed rest week, indicating the end of her duties.
The infant is washed, and a fresh dress is put on the naval, as well as the hammock in which the baby will sleep.
She requests that the infant be kept safe.
In a semi-public hair washing ritual, the mother is also purified.
Before she goes, the last ritual she must undertake is sweeping and cleaning the room.
She then says a last prayer, thanking the spirits for a safe delivery.
The Birthing Figure at Dumbarton Oaks is spectacular, dramatic, and completely unique.
The anguish and bliss of labor are perfectly captured in this Aztec-style sculpture of a lady giving birth.
It has long wowed spectators, including artists, researchers, and notable collectors of Pre-Columbian art, thanks to its excellent carving in a hard, speckled stone called aplite.
Its distinctive iconography and carving have provoked a heated discussion about its origins and validity.
The sculpture has been related to a portrayal of the goddess Tlazolteotl in the process of childbirth found in the Codex Borbonicus, which was first cited in an 1899 book by the French anthropologist E.T. Hamy.
This goddess, whose name means "eating of dirt," was linked to sexuality and the atonement of crimes.
She wears a big cotton headpiece with crescent-shaped decorations on her nose and/or garments in the codices.
Her mouth is filthy and stained.
The Birthing Figure sculpture is unique in that it lacks Tlazolteotl's typical characteristics.
Unlike any other Aztec god sculpture, this one is nude and unadorned.
Scholars have noted other unique aspects, such as the figure's crisp edges and immaculately straight hair, since the 1960s.
Some have speculated that the sculpture was not done by Aztec carvers.
A scanning electron microscope (SEM) study of the item in 2002 revealed that most of the carving was done using contemporary rotary tools.
The Dumbarton Oaks Birthing Figure was carved – or maybe re-carved – in the nineteenth century.
The history of the sculpture is interesting.
It travelled through various members of France's Academy of Sciences around the turn of the twentieth century, and was chronicled by anthropologist E.T.
Hamy, who prepared a plaster cast for the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro.
By the early 1930s, the figure had passed through the hands of Parisian art dealer Charles Ratton, who sold it to Joseph Brummer, a New York-based art dealer and collector.
Until his death in 1947, Brummer kept the artwork in his personal collection.
The Birthing Figure was purchased by Robert Woods Bliss, the creator of Dumbarton Oaks, at that time.
He exhibited it in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and then at the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, D.C., beginning in 1963.
Many books, exhibition catalogues, and other media have included The Birthing Figure.
It's also sparked a slew of creative initiatives.
Man Ray, a surrealist photographer, made a four-part photomontage (about 1932) to emphasize the piece's dynamic lines.
The sculpture was used in a mural by Diego Rivera depicting the history of Mexican medicine (1953-54).
Eduardo Paolozzi created a huge papier mâché replica, which he put in a traveling exhibition of his work (1988).
The Golden Idol in Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) is perhaps the most renowned reincarnation of the statue.
A search on the internet uncovers a plethora of other creative works inspired by Aztec-style sculpture.
References And Further Reading:
- Evans, Susan Toby 2010 Ancient Mexican Art at Dumbarton Oaks. Pre-Columbian Art at Dumbarton Oaks, No. 3. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C.
- Grossman, Wendy A. 2008 Man Ray’s Lost and Found Photographs: Arts of the Americas in Context. Journal of Surrealism and the Americas 2 (1):114-139
- Hamy, E. T. 1899 Commentaire Explicatif. In Codex Borbonicus; Manuscrit Mexicain De La Bibliothèque Du Palais Bourbon (Livre Divinatoire Et Rituel Figuré), pp. 1-24. E. Leroux, Paris
- Hamy, E. T. 1906 Note Sur Une Statuette Mexicaine. Journal de la Société des Américanistes de Paris III (1):1-5.
- Walsh, Jane McLaren 2008 The Dumbarton Oaks Tlazolteotl: Getting beneath the Surface. Journal de la Société des Américanistes 94 (1):7-43.
Goddess Worship In Cypress
Greek History And Culture In Cypress
There is at least 5,000 years' worth of historical evidence indicating a settlement close to Old Paphos, Cypress.
Although it is unclear exactly what name the Goddess was worshipped under, archaeologists think it was here before the Chalcolithic era (3800–2300 BCE).
Wanassa, Paphia, and Golgia are just a few of the many names for this ancient goddess that have been suggested by the dedications found at the archaeological site.
Some of the female miniatures showed ladies with raised arms, while others showed expectant women giving birth with raised arms.
When the Greeks arrived, Paphos was already well-established as a center of religion.
That is not to say that the Greeks did not leave their mark on Paphos, however, as archeological data seems to indicate that both the independent King Kinyras and the Arcadian King Tegea, who is best known for his exploits during the Trojan War, made contributions to the temple of Aphrodite's history.
Paphos is the location of a holy forest and a large altar, according to Homer.
The temple of Aphrodite had a significant role in the holy site's continued prominence in the ancient world up until Theodosius I forbade the practice of pagan worship in 391 CE.
Goddess Worship At Palaepaphos.
At her temple close to Old Paphos, or Palaepaphos, a city famed throughout antiquity for its extravagant luxury and reputation as a major religious center, Aphrodite, who had been confused for too long as just the "Boudoir Babe," reveals her actual identity.
Her temple reflected a fusion of Aegean and Oriental style, much like the Goddess.
This was regarded as her most sacred site since it was thought that she was born here from sea foam, which served as a metaphor for her father's sperm.
Aphrodite is very ancient, and many people thought that she existed from the beginning of existence.
She was really a prehistoric global Mother Goddess who most likely came from the Near East and was not Indo-European in origin.
One of her first temples, according to historical accounts, was in Syria.
She is older than the Olympians and first appears in literature from Classical Greece before being identified as the daughter of Zeus, which is the position that popular culture today often gives her.
The mix of customs that make up the Cypriac Goddess, who has been revered here for more than 1,500 years, were profoundly affected by the near vicinity of her temple in Cypress to Anatolia, Crete, and Mesopotamia.
She is unquestionably more than simply a beautiful lady emerging from the sea foam, the seductress of Paris, or the adulteress Hephaistos' wife.
Due to the conventional misconceptions that appears to be so ubiquitous, such as her representation in the adored television series Xena, Warrior Princess, her image definitely merits a reintroduction to modern visitors and readers! One thing is for sure: from her refuge on Cypress, Aphrodite is able to project a sharper picture.
Aphrodite was born in an unusual way, as shown by her Greek name, aphros, which means froth.
However, Kronos, the youngest, detested their father.
Ourano's genitalia were severed by Kronos one evening, and he flung them into the sea after borrowing a sickle from Gaia.
With this brazen deed, Kronos tore apart Earth and Heaven, shedding light on the relationship between his parents.
Foam sprang out of nowhere where Ouranos' genitalia had been dropped into the ocean, and a little while later, Aphrodite surfaced from the depths.
Her birth therefore played a significant role in the early creation myths.
Petra tou Remiou, also known as "Aphrodite's Rock," is located not far from her shrine in Paphos.
It is said that here is where she initially emerged from the sea's froth and took her first steps onto land.
According to legend, as soon as the Goddess's feet hit the ground, grass began to flourish.
These three sizable boulders that protrude into the bay are visible to visitors.
The Birth of Venus, a renowned artwork by the artist Botticelli, depicts Aphrodite emerging from a big scallop shell, a motif of female genitalia, as an artistic representation of this birth.
It corresponds to a version of her birth narrative in which the Hours welcomed Aphrodite when she arrived through her shell on the beaches of Cypress.
They continued to help her out of the river while dressing her in heavenly attire.
This account of her birth was crucial to her devotees at the Paphos temple because it clarified some of the rites taking place there and revealed a far deeper significance.
Her birth from the ocean came to be associated with the changing of the seasons, namely the rebirth of the Earth, which was represented by Aphrodite's virginity.
Of course, if you were a Goddess, it wasn't impossible to restore virginity once lost! (Obviously, a Goddess' virginity had a different significance than that of a normal human.) In reality, the Hours were the seasons, who, with the help of the Graces, would help celebrate Aphrodite's birth as the Maiden, or a metaphor for spring.
This was most likely performed by ritually washing and dressing an Aphrodite statue or Aphrodite's priestess, who served as the goddess' earthly embodiment.
During the excavations, a terra-cotta bathtub was discovered in a religious structure.
Aphrodite naturally shares characteristics with the Semitic Ashtoreth, Philistine Atargatis, Phoenician Astarte, and Babylonian Inanna/Ishtar due to the likelihood that she is of Oriental origin.
The tale of Aphrodite's son-lover Adonis is similar to that of Attis, Cybele's consort, as well as Dumuzi and Tammuz, the consorts of Inanna and Astarte, respectively.
It is hardly surprising that she shares multiple titles given her closeness to the Middle East.
She is once again linked to Asherah and Astarte since she is the daughter of Heaven and the Sea (Lady of the Sea).
Aphrodite was a creatrix, just as life began in water.
The Aphrodite rituals established here were observed during the time of the fish, or Pisces.
Naturally, the net—typically worn over her robes or tied around her waist—became Aphrodite's other nautical symbol in addition to the fish.
Her priestesses, in turn, often wore the same attire, but some were known to cover their heads with the nets.
Doctor describes "The Language of the Goddess" According to Marija Gimbutas, the iconography on the internet is from the Neolithic period and may be connected to the vulva of the Sea Goddess.
As a result, she starts to be associated with "Living Water," the revered primordial liquid from which all life first emerges.
Particularly those around the eastern Mediterranean Sea beaches, many of her temples and shrines were covered with seashells.
She shares both a title and a characteristic with the Egyptian goddess Isis.
Her son Eros and spouse Adonis, both vegetative gods who occasionally appear as bulls and represent dying and emerging vegetation, are frequently likened to Isis' son Horus and Isis' husband/brother Osiris, respectively.
It should be mentioned that Eros (Cupid), popularly known as the representative of Aphrodite who pierces his victims with enchanted arrows and wounds them with the gifts of desire and love, has older beginnings than Classical Greece.
Some myths describe Eros as a much older god who arrived on the scene shortly after the beginning of creation rather than the child of Aphrodite, making his actual identity a little bit mysterious.
Although the details are obscured by the passage of time, scholars have sometimes hypothesized that he, too, may have played the part of the son-lover.
In order to maintain the fertility of life and the land, the worship of these deities by their people and the holy union or marriage between these Goddesses and their consorts, or Lords, came to signify a covenant between man and the Divine.
Scholar Miriam Robbins Dexter offers another intriguing comparison between Aphrodite and Eros by comparing their frothy births in ancient myth and literature to that of Shri Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess, and Kamadeva, her son and the "love deity." The commonalities in belief across continents and ages become more apparent the more one examines.
Although Aphrodite had several facets, by the fourth century BCE she had come to represent two distinct facets.
She is connected to loftier aspirations, divine love, and soul-stirring inspiration in her Aphrodite Ourania side.
Similar to Ishtar, she is worried with mundane issues pertaining to her people's survival as Aphrodite Pandemos.
She is a Goddess whose priestesses perform holy prostitution since it is thought that she rules over the world of the lower chakras.
It should be recalled that Paphos was known as such a temple of holy prostitution; yet, the context in which this phrase was used has nothing to do with what it means in modern use.
No simple brothel, temple prostitution bore actual religious significance, whether conducted literally or metaphorically, to ensure reproduction, attaining enlightenment, or possibly a greater relationship with the Divine.
Over time and space, her perception has changed.
She and Astarte both appear in imagery with beards, suggesting that they may have traits in common with bisexuality.
One depiction of Aphrodite shows her coming from a scrotal sac, which may be connected to her roots as a goddess of male genitalia (philomimedes), which means "to her belong male genitals." In the past, she was revered in Paphos as a conical stone, which historian Merlin Stone recalls was anointed during yearly Cyprian festivals.
Her iconography often depicts her semi-naked, wearing exquisite robes with copious quantities of jewels, semi-naked with long, flowing locks in a bun, or completely nude.
She appeared to have a special affinity towards jewelry.
Similar to Artemis and Cybele, Mistress of the Animals, she is seen at Aphrodisias, Turkey, with a polos, or tower, on her head and a body covered with registries of animals.
This moniker belongs to Aphrodite since it has been thought that she calms the wild animal and encourages breeding between them rather than predation.
Animals are said to adore her and follow her across the wilderness.
The dolphin, swan, goose, goat, and dove are her pets.
She is often seen on the back of a huge bird, perched on a swan, or carrying a box containing the gifts she gives to the world.
She develops ties to the Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit via her bond with the dove, an animal that has long been associated with goddesses.
Readers are brought full circle toward comprehending the gifts and attractions of a more real Aphrodite when they learn that she has a magical embroidered girdle, or kestos imas, that stimulates "beguilement, ardent discourse, desire, and love." She is the Goddess of Love, but not just any love—sacred, euphoric, heavenly love—the kind that can be lost in modern culture.
She symbolizes "humanity's need for reunification with the entire," as well as "playful tenderness and exhilarating delight, combined with wonder and reverence," according to Anne Baring and Jules Cashford.
They quote Erich Neumann, who claims that the patriarchal sexualization of the feminine has destroyed Aphrodite's divinity, leaving us to forget who she really is.
Aphrodite is an unabashed love and sex appetite.
She is the wisdom-wrapped, sweet-smelling gardenia.
She elevates life and makes it lovely.
She bestows her bright laughter onto humanity.
Sappho's poems claim that she guards against the sorrows and tiredness of life.
She represents the Sacred Feminine, the delightful aspect that was filtered away with the advent of Judeo-Christian ideology.
Humanity was left with a loving mother who lacked sexuality, cutting them off from nature and the sensual and sexual joys of life, which are an essential aspect of Goddesses, especially Aphrodite.
At Palaepaphos, excavations started in 1888, and they uncovered the earliest sanctuary, which was built about 1200 BCE.
The Late Bronze Age complex, which according to archaeologists like Franz George Maier, who has authored numerous books on the location, has deteriorated over time, although it was formerly composed of a wide open temenos and a smaller, covered inner sanctum.
The complex is further dated to the 12th century BCE by the discovery of Mycenaean pottery in tombs that are contemporaneous with the first hall and temenos.
The religious complex, which includes a court sanctuary and includes such architectural features as horns of consecration, stepped capitals, and ashlar masonry, reflects these influences because this first Aphrodite had an unmistakably Oriental character.
Paphos's megalithic temenos wall and the pillared hall that it stood next to to the north were two notable features.
It is believed that it served as the storage location for the conical stone that represented the Goddess.
When the earthquakes of 76–77 CE damaged the shrine, the Romans arrived and had it restored.
The Late Bronze Age Sanctuary was only partially integrated into the Roman structure.
The 86 × 73 yard (79 x 67 m) Roman Sanctuary of Aphrodite was constructed perhaps towards the end of the first century CE.
It was originally made up of a complicated collection of structures from several eras, including a hall and a section of the temenos from the sanctuary from the Late Bronze Age.
Romans also built raised platforms around banqueting halls with mosaic floors.
There were several altars and sculptures in the temple, but the shrine lacked a statue of Aphrodite in human form; instead, it was assumed that her conical sign stood in the Roman Court or in the temenos of the former sanctuary.
It is now housed at Kouklia's local museum.
On Cypress, Aphrodite never had a traditional Greco-Roman temple.
Even though it is not in its original position, the massive monolith that is seen at the temple site today was once a Bronze Age temple.
Even though the temple is in ruins, it is holy and deserving of being included in our exclusive list of 108 places since Aphrodite is significant both historically and now.
How to reach Palaepaphos.
The third-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, Cypress lies only 74 kilometers (51 miles) south of Turkey and is readily accessible by boat or airplane.
The current settlement of Kouklia, which is 14 miles (21 km) southeast of the contemporary city of Paphos, and the Temple of Aphrodite are both situated on the western side of the island.
The excavation site is home to two museums.
Visitors must come by cab or private tour since there is no direct public transport service to Kouklia as of this writing.
Be sure to stop by Aphrodite's Rock on the road between Paphos and Limassol, her baths, which are situated 8 miles (13 km) west of Polis, and an Astarte temple that is located right inside the city of Larnaca.
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