{"id":3169,"date":"2010-02-01T01:10:35","date_gmt":"2010-02-01T06:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=3227"},"modified":"2010-01-22T18:18:54","modified_gmt":"2010-01-22T23:18:54","slug":"the-grove-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2010\/02\/01\/the-grove-6\/","title":{"rendered":"The Grove"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aphrodite<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"aphrodite\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A chill clings to the air yet the sun shines brightly overhead. A tease. A hint of promise. <\/span><\/p>\n

In February we still rest in the belly of winter waiting impatiently for the Wheel to turn & begin another cycle of rebirth. Imbolc reminds us that there’s warmth just around the corner. In a matter of weeks bits of green will assert themselves through the ice & snow. <\/span><\/p>\n

Although traditionally the day belongs to the Celtic goddess Brigid, mistress of the forge & of bardcraft, one might feel the pull of any number of deities at this time of year. It might be tempting to blame Hallmark for this. Thanks to Valentine’s Day, many love &\/or fertility gods can be acknowledged this month. <\/span><\/p>\n

Aphrodite is the quintessential goddess of love. But what is it about her that captivates us?<\/span><\/p>\n

At the risk of sounding like a cheesy seasonal greeting card, love is eternal. Aphrodite has been around before Zeus & his lot ascended Olympus. She came into being when the titan Cronos slew his father Ouranos & chucked his severed genitals into the sea. Eventually she was adopted into the Olympian family, but Zeus was left with a problem. Because of her great beauty it was feared that jealousy would ultimately lead to war as they gods fought over her like a pack of dogs with a particularly tasty bone. Hmm… perhaps if she was married off she’d be less of a threat? So Aphrodite was given to the lame smithy god Hephaestus for a wife. <\/span><\/p>\n

Oh yeah. That <\/em>worked out well. <\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps being the embodiment of physical love & desire, it was a bit unreasonable to assume she could remain faithful. Her numerous conquests ranged from Adonis to Ares, god of war. Some girls groove on testosterone & the whole bad-boy mystique, I guess.\u00a0 Hephaestus wasn’t happy about his wife’s… umm… hobbies. Once the sun god Helios rode the skies in his chariot & caught her getting a little too friendly with her flavour of the moment. He swiftly warned the smithy god, who crafted a magickal net to capture the pair as they got physical & shame them before the rest of the gods. The incident didn’t dampen their lust, as she went on to bear him a number of children.<\/span><\/p>\n

Being beauty personified, maybe it was natural for her to be a bit vain at times. Like most Greek deities, she could also be somewhat vindictive. Look at what happened with Psyche. It infuriated Aphrodite that a mere mortal would be compared to her. Fearing that those who once adored her would now turn to this upstart, she sent Eros to shoot her with his arrows & cause her to fall in love with the ugliest man on earth. However he accidentally pricked himself with his own arrow & fell in love with her instead. Aphrodite said she would allow the union if Psyche could pass a\u00a0\u00a0 certain challenge. She was allowed to stay with her new husband as long as she never knew who he was or what he looked like. A visit from her sister left Psyche with doubts. She\u00a0 gave into temptation & looked upon his face. Aphrodite said that she could regain her husband if she completed 4 tasks, which she does with the help of Zeus. As a bonus she’s raised to godhood & the couple are reunited. <\/span><\/p>\n

As you gather around your hearth fires & wait for things to warm up, consider Aphrodite’s ultimate lesson. See her at the moment of her birth, stepping from the sea in all her glory. A creature of grace & foam, she has always been unabashedly herself.\u00a0 She celebrates physical love, but also love in its broader aspect. This includes self love. Aphrodite challenges us to be bold & go forward with confidence, accepting the quirks that make each of us unique. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aphrodite A chill clings to the air yet the sun shines brightly overhead. A tease. A hint of promise. In February we still rest in the belly of winter waiting impatiently for the Wheel to turn & begin another cycle of rebirth. Imbolc reminds us that there’s warmth just around the corner. In a matter of weeks bits of green will assert themselves through the ice & snow. Although traditionally the day belongs to the Celtic goddess Brigid, mistress of the forge & of bardcraft, one might feel the pull of any number of deities at this time of year. It might be tempting to blame Hallmark for this. Thanks to Valentine’s Day, many love &\/or fertility gods can be acknowledged this month. Aphrodite is the quintessential goddess of love. But what is it about her that captivates us? At the risk of sounding like a cheesy seasonal greeting card, love is eternal. Aphrodite has been around before Zeus & his lot ascended Olympus. She came into being when the titan Cronos slew his father Ouranos & chucked his severed genitals into the sea. Eventually she was adopted into the Olympian family, but Zeus was left with a problem. Because of her great beauty it was feared that jealousy would ultimately lead to war as they gods fought over her like a pack of dogs with a particularly tasty bone. Hmm… perhaps if she was married off she’d be less of a threat? So Aphrodite was given to the lame smithy god Hephaestus for a wife. Oh yeah. That worked out well. Perhaps being the embodiment of physical love & desire, it was a bit unreasonable to assume she could remain faithful. Her numerous conquests ranged from Adonis to Ares, god of war. Some girls groove on testosterone & the whole bad-boy mystique, I guess.\u00a0 Hephaestus wasn’t happy about his wife’s… umm… hobbies. Once the sun god Helios rode the skies in his chariot & caught her getting a little too friendly with her flavour of the moment. He swiftly warned the smithy god, who crafted a magickal net to capture the pair as they got physical & shame them before the rest of the gods. The incident didn’t dampen their lust, as she went on to bear him a number of children. Being beauty personified, maybe it was natural for her to be a bit vain at times. Like most Greek deities, she could also be somewhat vindictive. Look at what happened with Psyche. It infuriated Aphrodite that a mere mortal would be compared to her. Fearing that those who once adored her would now turn to this upstart, she sent Eros to shoot her with his arrows & cause her to fall in love with the ugliest man on earth. However he accidentally pricked himself with his own arrow & fell in love with her instead. Aphrodite said she would allow the union if Psyche could pass a\u00a0\u00a0 certain challenge. She was allowed to stay with her new husband as long as she never knew who he was or what he looked like. A visit from her sister left Psyche with doubts. She\u00a0 gave into temptation & looked upon his face. Aphrodite said that she could regain her husband if she completed 4 tasks, which she does with the help of Zeus. As a bonus she’s raised to godhood & the couple are reunited. As you gather around your hearth fires & wait for things to warm up, consider Aphrodite’s ultimate lesson. See her at the moment of her birth, stepping from the sea in all her glory. A creature of grace & foam, she has always been unabashedly herself.\u00a0 She celebrates physical love, but also love in its broader aspect. This includes self love. Aphrodite challenges us to be bold & go forward with confidence, accepting the quirks that make each of us unique.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}