Goddess of Life
Holy Symbol: Encircled Tree
Gaia is the daughter of Arawyn the all creator. Her brother is Galmachis god of death. When followers look at trees and the earth below they believe that to be the embodiment of Gaia.
Followers of Gaia believe that the earth and all living things must be preserved.
Above all things life is precious and must be treated as such. Gaia's worshipers will constantly be seen planting seeds and growing life.
Gaia's worshipers give offerings at shrines built at the base of an old tree in the woods.
These shrines are randomly found throughout the forest.
Strictures:
Gaia allows her clerics to fight with a mace or staff during times of combat.
Followers of Gaia will never willingly take the life of another and will make every attempt to save a life.
Followers should spend at least one hour of their day communing with their living surroundings.
Worshipers should leave offerings of food and flowers at Gaia's shrines.
Hesiod's Theogony (116ff) tells how, after Chaos, arose broad-breasted Gaia the everlasting foundation of the gods of Olympus. She brought forth Uranus, the starry sky, her equal, to cover her, the hills, and the fruitless deep of the Sea, Pontus, "without sweet union of love," out of her own self. But afterwards, Hesiod tells, she lay with Uranus and bore the World-Ocean Oceanus, Coeus and Crius and the Titans Hyperion and Iapetus, Theia and Rhea, Themis and Mnemosyne and Phoebe of the golden crown and lovely Tethys. "After them was born Cronos the wily, youngest and most terrible of her children, and he hated his lusty sire."
Hesiod mentions Gaia's further offspring conceived with Uranus, first the giant one-eyed Cyclopes, builders of walls, later assigned individual names: Brontes ("thunderer"), Steropes ("lightning") and the "bright" Arges: "Strength and might and craft were in their works." Then he adds the three terrible hundred-handed sons of Earth and Heaven, the Hecatonchires: Cottus and Briareos and Gyges, each with fifty heads.
Uranus hid the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes in Tartarus so that they would not see the light, rejoicing in this evil doing. This caused pain to Gaia (Tartarus was her bowels) so she created grey flint (or adamantine) and shaped a great flint sickle, gathering together Cronus and his brothers to ask them to obey her. Only Cronos, the youngest, had the daring to take the flint sickle she made, and castrate his father as he approached Gaia to have intercourse with her. And from the drops of blood and semen, Gaia brought forth still more progeny, the strong Erinyes and the armoured Gigantes and the ash-tree Nymphs called the Meliae.
From the testicles of Uranus in the sea came forth Aphrodite. For this, a Greek etymologist urged, Uranus called his sons "Titans," meaning "strainers" for they strained and did presumptuously a fearful deed, for which vengeance would come afterwards; for, as Uranus had been deposed by his son Cronus, so was Cronus destined to be overthrown by Zeus, the son born to him by his sister-wife Rhea. In the meantime, the Titans released the Cyclopes from Tartarus, and Cronus was awarded the kingship among them, beginning a Golden Age.
After Uranus' castration, Gaia gave birth to Echidna and Typhon by Tartarus. By Pontus, Gaia birthed the sea-deities Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto and Eurybia.
Zeus hid Elara, one of his lovers, from Hera by hiding her under the earth. His son by Elara, the giant Tityas, is therefore sometimes said to be a son of Gaia, the earth goddess, and Elara.
Gaia also made Aristaeus immortal.
Gaia is believed by some sources (Joseph Fontenrose 1959 and others) to be the original deity behind the Oracle at Delphi. She passed her powers on to, depending on the source, Poseidon, Apollo or Themis. Apollo is the best-known as the oracle power behind Delphi, long established by the time of Homer, having killed Gaia's child Python there and usurped the chthonicpower. Hera punished Apollo for this by sending him to King Admetus as a shepherd for nine years.
Gaia in Neopaganism
Many modern Neopagans, particularly Hellenistic Neopagan sects in the United States, actively worship Gaia. Beliefs regarding Gaia vary, ranging from the common Wiccan belief that Gaia is the Earth (or in some cases the spiritual embodiment of the earth, or the Goddess of the Earth), to the broader Neopagan belief that Gaia is the goddess of all creation, a Mother Goddess from which all other gods spring. Gaia is sometimes thought to embody the planets and the Earth, and sometimes thought to embody the entire universe.
Worship of Gaia is varied, ranging from prostration to druidic ritual.Unlike Zeus, a roving nomad god of the open sky, Gaia was manifest in enclosed spaces: the house, the courtyard, the womb, the cave. Her sacred animals are the serpent, the lunar bull, the pig, and bees. In her hand the narcotic poppy may be transmuted to a pomegranate.Some who worship Gaia attempt to get closer to Mother Earth by becoming unconcerned with material things and more in tune with nature. Others who worship Gaia recognize Gaia as a great goddess and practice rituals commonly associated with other forms of worship.
Many sects worship Gaia, even more than worship Themis, Artemis, and Hera. Some common forms of worship may include prostration, attempting to reach a greater connection to the earth, shamanistic practices, tithing, praising and praying, creating inspired works of art dedicated to the goddess, burning oils and incense, rearing plants and gardens, the creation and maintaining of Sacred Groves, and burning bread or spilling drink as offerings. Other forms of worship may indeed be common, as worship of Gaia is very broad and can take many forms.
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