Moon Owl Observations
Gaia- The Earth Mother
Gaia is the oldest Goddess and is also very well known. She was born from chaos and is the mother and lover of many. There are several stories around Gaia and many different interpretations. This is mine.
Gaia is the mother of all creation. She is the earth mother and created beauty that most people are ignorant of today. She created birds, trees, flowers, grass, and many more amazing additions to our Earth. She goes by many names, some of them including: Gaea, Ge, and Gea. She is represented by fruits and cornucopia. Over time Gaia became better known as a metaphysical notion more than a recognized Goddess. Gaia represents the living earth and is best known in Paganism as the Goddess of Wicca, also many Gods would invoke Gaia when they would make their oaths. Her center of worship is in Attica, which is a popular historical site in Greece which contains Athens.
Gaia gave birth to both the sea (Pontus) and the sky (Uranus), and she later went on to have many children with her son Uranus. These Children are the most well known of hers and there are many stories surrounding the births and lives of these born from Gaia.
The children she had with Uranus are:
The Titans*: Oceanus, Coeus, Hyperion, Crius, Iapetus, Cronus, Theia, Rhea, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys and Themis.
The Cyclops: Arges, Brontes and Steropes
The Monsters (Hecatonvhrties): Briareus, Cottus and Gyes
The Elder Muses: Mneme, Melete and Aoide.
One of the best known stories of Uranus and Gaia is that when Uranus sent the Titans to prison so they could not overthrow him. When Uranus did this Gaia was very upset and had him castrated by Cronus (Seperation of the earth and sky) When this happened, Uranus’ genitals were thrown into the sea which lead to the birth of Aphrodite. From the blood of a defeated Uranus came more children. These are the Giantes, Erinyes, and Meliae.
After Uranus was castrated, Gaia mated with one of her other children, Pontus (The sea). With Pontus she gave birth to Ceto, Phorcys, Eurybia, Nereus and Thaumas. After this Gaia went on to have many children with numerous others. The most well known of her other children would be Antaeus, Charybdis, Typhon, Echindna, Campe, Manes, and Erichthonius. She is also responsible for the mountains, seas and nymphs. Some believe she also gave birth to the harpies and python.
As you can see Gaia is one remarkable Goddess and is the deity for many pagans and witches today, including me. She is a strong, outstanding and notable Goddess who deserves to be recognized.
* The Titans were the first generation of Gods with 6 female and 6 male.