Resurrecting the Goddess in Me

Pam, my brilliant partner here at WritersLi.P.P. posted the Gods/Goddesses Quiz on Monday which tickled me in terms of me and my alleged goddess. Apparently, I am most like Hera - "The Greek goddess Hera was a powerful queen long before her marriage to Zeus, the mighty king of the Olympian gods. She ruled over the heavens and the earth and was responsible for every aspect of the environment, including the seasons and the weather." After these last few days in Georgia, I would love to "rule the weather."

Do you ever look in the mirror and wish you could be a goddess? Recall the Aphrodite archetype. Envision her perched on a mound of pillows sucking grapes from a vine held fervently by a scantily clad servant man, her moist skin quivering under the breeze generated by the broad-leaf fan wielded by yet another. That’s an idea I can get behind, or in front of in this case. However, as we exist in a time when men and women happily co-exist and men still seem to find themselves “on top” of the pillows it’s hard to fully realize this goddess. So, I have identified one, well, I can identify with.

Get off! These pillows are mine!

Pleasure is my goddess! That’s what I said – pleasure. Across cultures her name takes many forms - Bast (Egyptian), Hedone (Greek), Bidhgoe (Celtic), and Ichpuchtli (Aztec). This is present day reality! I may not be able to have the servant men taking care of my every want and need, but friends, I'm taking back my pillows! To wrap our heads around this, let’s examine the senses:

Taste. I love this particular sense because it can incite enormous amounts of my pleasure goddess. The fresh taste of a crisp cucumber straight out of the garden. The salty sweat you lick from your lips after a successful workout. All of the sweet and savory flavors life offers can be found in taste. I’m a foodie so on a whim I might want to savor something in particular. That’s when my creativity, or passion, begins to emerge. My goddess of pleasure finds me and together we craft a delicious dish.

Smell. This one is an attention-getter. Imagine being on the cross trainer at the gym. You’re endorphins haven’t quite mounted against the pain you are feeling in your thighs and back. The music you chose for your workout makes you want to cry out in dissatisfaction until a man walks past. You’re body is realizing entirely too much chaos to notice his appearance but his cologne captivates you. The perfect blend of skin and musk you can’t help but wonder who is taunting you with this scent. Your mind races with sexy ideas of what it might be like to get close to his warm, damp skin after his workout; to feel his breath on your neck. You take a deep breath and find that your pain is gone and the music has improved. Ah, pleasure.

Touch. This one I should probably save until last but you deserve a little tease. I love the feel of anything that brings me closer to my goddess on the tips of my fingers. They are very sensitive after all and deserve only the finest sensations. One of my passions is painting so feeling cool, colorful paint glide across paper, or any medium, guided eagerly by my fingertips yields pleasure. Stroking the skin of a lover, feeling tense muscles and warm, damp skin probably elicits more pleasure in me than him, to the point of addiction. Wait! We are talking about pleasure, right?

Sight. The vision of a lovely garden, children playing, the perfect meal spread on an ornate cloth, tight muscles, the sun reflecting off the water; all of these things encourage imagination. They inspire my goddess who in turn inspires me.

Sound. The funniest of sounds to me is the sharp trill of a cow bird. It reminds me of how something seemingly unattractive (plain black bird with a brown head) can create something unique and beautiful. The deep belly laugh of a man in love, the high-pitched giggle of a little girl, or how the ocean crashes against the shore taking on the notion of breaking glass all inspire creativity and therefore pleasure.

Opening my mind, body and soul to these senses, allowing myself to experience life around me sparks inspiration and the goddess Pleasure joins me for a while on my reclaimed pillows. 

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Do you have a goddess or muse? Can your senses inspire passion or creativity in you? Comment for the chance to win the hot, not-available-in-stores WritersLi.P.P. t-shirt.

Goddess Pam

Aphrodite

This week's blog topic here at Writers Li.P.P. is GODDESSES. As I did research for my today's post, I couldn't help but compare myself to each deity as I read about her, although I was unable to objectively determine which one I most closely resembled. Then I found an online quiz which removed all the guesswork. Click HERE to take the quiz yourself.

I was delighted to discover that I am Aphrodite, also known as Venus, the Greek goddess of love - at least until I found out a little bit more about her. The thing is, I have always found mythology to be fascinating and its applications to modern times profound. It seems that people really haven't changed all that much in three thousand years, give or take. So I decided to explore some of Aphrodite's characteristics and figure out what I might be able to learn from her.

Here's the short version of the story. Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, god of the forge. But Aphrodite didn't really love Hephaestus - after all, her father had arranged the marriage, and she was convinced she was too good for her husband  - so she insisted on an open marriage. For whatever reason, Hephaestus went along with this; he even made his wife a magic girdle which rendered her irresistible to any man she wanted. Weird, huh? And whereas most of the gods and goddesses had several jobs, Aphrodite had only one responsibility: to bring love into the world. What a life, right? Once the goddess Athena caught Aphrodite weaving and scolded her for getting involved in Athena's line of work. Aphrodite apologized immediately and promised such a thing would never happen again. And it didn't.

Aphrodite didn't have female friends, although she was quick to help gods and goddesses as well as mortals to win the love they sought. But she is best known for her own many passionate love affairs and numerous offspring. Generally loving and generous, she could also be quite hateful and vindictive when she wasn't given the honor she felt was her due.

So the more I learn about Aphrodite, the less kinship I feel to her. I enjoy the structure that my work provides - the gentle rhythm of creation that buzzes around me, whether I am teaching music students or working on my novel or making a piece of jewelry. I don't know what I would do without my girlfriends, and while I like to think of myself as loving and generous, I also like to think I am compassionate and forgiving when wronged. I am always happy to help others in their quest for true love, but I haven't been so lucky in love myself. I was married for nineteen years and have three wonderful sons to show for it, but since my divorce ten years ago nothing has quite worked out. Being single isn't without its perks; I have enjoyed online dating, meeting new people, dressing up and going out for dinner and dancing, being open to mysterious strangers in clubs and coffee houses and on cruise ships. But something deep inside me yearns for more. And sometimes I wonder if I will ever find that special someone.

Maybe all I need is a magic girdle. Try doing a google search for THAT.

However, I found it interesting that Aphrodite is associated with the sea. Although I am not a good swimmer, I am drawn to the ocean and dream of someday owning a home on the water somewhere. And just as the waves constantly renew the beach, Aphrodite gives us hope in the power of love. That's something you can think about the next time you are lying on the sand, watching the tide roll in.

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Which goddess do you most closely identify with? Have you found true love or are you still looking? Leave a comment for a chance to win a Writers Li.P.P. t-shirt - they're the hottest shirts in town! Leave a comment AND become a follower for two chances to win. Congratulations to Kendall Grey for being last week's lucky winner. Thanks to everyone for your support!