AS THE UNIVERSAL GODDESS OF LOVE, HER PROVINCE EMBRACED EVERY PHASE OF NATURE. THUS, SHE WAS THE DIVINE PERSONALITY WHO BROUGHT TOGETHER IN PROCREATING LOVE NOT ONLY HUMAN BEINGS BUT THE BEASTS OF THE FIELD AND THE FOWLS OF THE AIR, AND, MOREOVER, WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE APPEARANCE OF FRESH GROWTHS AND NEW GENERATIONS OF PLANTS. HER SACRED ANIMAL IS A GOAT. HER NAME DERIVES FROM THE GREEK WORD FOR THE SEXUAL ACT.
IT IS IN THE STORY OF "ADONIS" tHAT "APHRODITE" MOST CLEARLY APPEARS AS THE FORCE WHICH PROMOTES VEGETATION. A CERTAIN ASSYRIAN KING, THE TALE RUNS, HAD A DAUGHTER NAMED "SMYRNA", WHO, BECAUSE OF HER CONTINUED DISDAIN FOR "APHRODITE", DROVE THE GODDESS, IN ANGER, TO COMMIT A DREADFUL SIN UPON HER FATHER, AND WHEN HE LEARNED OF HER WICKEDNESS, HE DREW A SWORD AND PURSUED HER. HE WOULD HAVE THRUST HER THROUGH HAD NOT THE GODS INTERVENED AND CHANGED HER INTO A MYRRH TREE WHOSE BARK BURST OPEN NINE MONTHS LATER, REVEALING THE INFANT "ADONIS".
"APHRODITE" HID HIM IN A CHEST AND ENTRUSTED HIM TO "PERSEPHONE", BUT WHEN THE LATTER HAD BEHELD HIS BEAUTY, SHE REFUSED TO SURRENDER HIM, WHEREUPON THE TWO GODDESSES LAID THEIR DISPUTE BEFORE "ZEUS" WHO DECREED THAT "PERSEPHONE" WAS TO POSSESS THE YOUTH FOR ONE THIRD OF THE YEAR AND "APHRODITE "A SECOND THIRD; AND DURING THE REMAINING FOUR MONTHS ADONIS WAS TO BE FREE TO DO AS HE WISHED, BUT AS SOON AS HE HEARD OF THE VERDICT, HE GAVE THIS PERIOD OF FREEDOM TO "APHRODITE" AND BECAME HER FAVORITE.
WHILE STILL IN HIS YOUTH, HE WAS SLAIN IN THE CHASE BY A WILD BOAR, AND "APHRODITE" GRIEVED BEYOND CONSOLING...AND, FROM HIS BLOOD GREW THE BLOSSOM OF THE RED "ANEMONE". THIS GRAPHIC PORTRAYAL OF THE CYCLE OF CONDITIONS THROUGH WHICH VEGETATION PASSES IN THE COURSE OF A YEAR WAS THE THEME OF CERTAIN DRAMATIC ACTS IN THE WORSHIP OF "APHRODITE."
"APHRODITE" EPITOMIZES THE STANDARD STORY CHARACTER AND ARCHETYPE OF THE TEMPTRESS....THE TRUE TEMPTRESS WHO IS AMORAL AND DESTROYS MEN, YET THEY CANNOT HELP BUT LUST FOR HER. TODAY, "APHRODITE" IS CONSIDERED A FEMALE MYTHOLOGICAL ARCHETYPE. BEING ASSOCIATED WITH AN INFINITE SERIES OF HUMAN PHENOMENA SUCH AS LOVE, BIRTH, DEATH, FERTILITY, WAR, VIRGINITY, MARRIAGE, MOURNING AND SO ON, "APHRODITE" IS BROADLY REGARDED AS CONTROLLING THE RITUAL THAT CHARACTERIZES AN IMPORTANT PART OF HUMAN CULTURE IN THE ANCIENT YEARS, BUT ALSO TODAY.
Keywords: ancient greece gods and goddesses names inca gods and goddesses aphrodite the goddess of love and beauty olympian greek gods and goddesses roman goddess of the underworld butterfly net astral projection magie book crowley thelema the ritual magic manual magical book
This entry was posted
on 27 March 2008
at Thursday, March 27, 2008
. You can follow any responses to this entry through the
.
