Zeus~ 10 awesome reasons to admire a passionate hot headed God

Zeus is one of my all time favorite Greek Gods!

I've been waiting for Z and I saved him for last.

What's not to love and hate about Zeus??

1) First, he's like THE KING of all the Greek Gods and the FATHER of all Men!
He drew lots with his two other brothers- Poseidon and Hades- and basically got the straw that said, "Ruler of the Gods and Heavens" instead of "Ruler of the Oceans" or "Ruler of the Underworld". Lucky guy, eh? :)

2) He has the biggest throne on Mount Olympus.

3) He is the God of Sky and thunder and his best attack is to throw thunderbolts when upset! (I mean, really, who among us, when mad, hasn't wished for THAT power??)

4) His mother saved him from being eaten by his father, Cronus (who ate most of his children in an attempt to forgo being overthrown by his children). His mother Rhea, handed Cronus a swaddled rock baby and pawned it off as Zeus, and stupid Cronus ate that instead. (burp).

5) Zeus was either raised by the Earth Mother Gaia...
Or by goats....
Or by nymphs...
and really, if you think about it....any one or all of those possibilities is fecking kewl.

6) Zeus got up in Cronus's face and ordered his father to barf back up the stone that was him at birth and then to barf back up all his brothers and sisters OR Zeus threatened that he would cut open Cronus's stomach and physically remove them.
Zeus owned and reigned over his father in the end.

7) Zeus fucked everything. I swear, if you look him up, you NEED A damn CHART to see who he fathered by whom. And BONUS! He fathered Ares, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Athena, Castor, Pollux, Helen of Troy, and Heracles for starters! He also is said to have fathered Dionysius and Nymphs. He fathered NYMPHS...as most wild fathers do....

 

(And yes...I'd so bang him too....)

 

8) And all the time he messed around behind his jealous wife's back who would hound you or kill your girlfriends or turn them into a heifer or give them snakes for hair. I mean, that guy's got balls.
 (I adore Hera too by the way. She fecking ROCKS! :)

9) He was the God of Oaths and the Punisher of Liars and the Wicked.
(Don't ya love the irony here after so many affairs and his oath to Hera?? He's the God of OATHS and Punisher of LIARS. Wow. Takes one to know one, eh?  :)

10) It is said that Zeus started AND ended the Trojan War...just for FUN...and was personally responsible for casting the Golden Apple of Discord that started the 3 Greek Goddesses and their row over who was the fairest....(hey, just a little fun for the Gods on a slow day in Olympus)

ZEUS.

What a hottie!

What an asshole.

You rocked the Greek world....and you still rock mine.

Z is for Zephyr

Zephyr is:  a light or west wind ...and from Mythology: Zephyrus ~ God of the west wind

As I approach the end of this blogging project (a full year of writing weekly alphabetical posts for the Pagan Blog Project) I used this opportunity to write about things I knew and got out a lot of information to others.
I also used this time to learn about words I did not know about and pass on what I found as well. I have learned much!

Maybe you've read my stuff...maybe this is a first time for you. No matter. I'm glad you are here.

Zephyr is a word that I don't think I've ever said, much less used in my psyche.

Here is what I found out about this new word to me (link research on the end):

"Zephyr was the gentle wind of the west and the interceder between the World of the living and the Underworld. Zephyr was the fresh wind who brought the spring rains that were so valuable for awakening the nature."

"Zephyr was the son of Astraeus and Eos, the goddess of the dawn and he was the father of the spring flowers. His mate was Podarge and together they created the two immortal horses of Achilles, Xanthus and Balius"

"Zephyrus was the wind that guided Aphrodite to the sea of Paphos when she was born and the only wind Odysseus allowed helping him find his way to Ithaca."

"On the British Isles, it was noticed the Western wind brought "small fine rain" in the spring. Hence, one of the magickal traditions from that island attached the essence or element of water to the direction of West.

"The West represents the essence of water, and is the direction of healing. It is the place where the sun sets."

"What does the West Wind symbolize in the famous writing, "Ode to The West Wind?

Answer:

IN The West Wind ,the west wind symbolizes the rejuvenating force of the universe ,at the same time it is the emblem of the eternal dichotomy of creation & destruction that is innate in the continuity of existence.It is the omnipresent force that acts as a "destroyer" to do away the contamination while preserving the dormant potentiality to usher in a rejuvenating future for the whole world-both elemental and human."

Just recently...as in 2 days ago...
at Yule 12/21/12 some folks around the globe were concerned about the "Mayan Prophecy" about the End of the World.
Some of us had "end of the world" parties mingled in with our Yule celebrations.

Ok, Merlyn....What does this all have to do with Zephyr?

Well, there's nothing like a little doomsday prophecy...
or bad news about a person's health...
or the upcoming New Year to blow in.....
to make folks THINK and PONDER about their lives.

It comes to us like a Zephyr. A warm wind. To shiver us and warm us to living, to heal us from our faults, to give us the wafting breeze of OTHER THINGS that are more important. To remember that our sun WILL SET someday. Maybe today. Maybe not today.

We need to live our lives on the Zephyr wind.

Live each day as your last.
Be grateful.
If you have something to say, say it.
If you have good things to do, do them.
If you want to go somewhere, go there.

Why wait?

The Zephyr breeze is a gentle thing, that stirs the soul. We know what it is that we must do.
The Zephyr breeze from the west wind, reminds us that it is time. Time to do, time to change, time to heal.
It cleanses us and the wind whips away the contamination of our hearts and leaves us with a warm feeling in our hearts and souls.

Indeed, Zephyr is a grand rarely used word!

And one that I shall now use more often and with clarity.

Take time today, before the holidays, to ground and let the Zephyr winds put you on the right path with the wind at your back to go into this next new year!

                                 "Zephyr" by Danielle Cavanaugh
***************************************************************************

More research can be found hither:
http://www.greek-gods.info/ancient-greek-gods/anemoi/zephyr/

http://www.jesterbear.com/Wicca/FourEssences.html

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_the_West_Wind_symbolize_in_Ode_to_The_West_Wind

Yule~ The end of the dark night....

Yule is the season of the Longest Night and the Shortest Day...which is the tipping point of the days growing longer after that. The earth's tilt is the reason for the season. It brings with it the birth of the Sun King. And in the Christian religions, it brings the birth of the Son King, Jesus.

We are in this season right now, with the nights growing longer and longer....as we approach the Winter Solstice.

Interesting to note, also, is that this coming Yule date: December 21, 2012 is also the date that the Mayans have noted for another big change too. Some folks are thinking it's "The End of the World" as we know it.
(cue song :)

How'ere...you have to admit....that IS noteworthy!

I don't think it's an End, persay....but rather....like the Death Card in Tarot...

it is a Beginning and a time of Transformation.

I would submit to you, that with the Longest Night this year we shall be experiencing the JOY of banishing some darkness and growing into consciousness of Light and Love.

The Darkness will indeed be shrinking in our Consciousness...and the Light will grow in our Love Expressed.

With energies swirling now, I doesn't take much to see that people are indeed, energized with mixed emotions. I say that we just keep LOVE and HOPE in the forefront of our hearts and minds and look forward to the resetting of the calendar as "The Age of Aquarius" and bring the Light into our spirits.

So this Yule...

when you stand by your fire pit this Solstice, please do keep our Earth Mother Goddess in your prayers especially at this time. She is being harmed by our pollution, our audacity, our wars and our noxious emissions.

Also hold Mankind in your prayers that we, as a species, will wake up to the damage we've done, and let's just start loving...paying it forward....do random acts of Kindness...and Attract Good.

I wish you a very Blessed Yule and a Merry Christmas...and a Happy New Year 2013!!

The Witch in the Woods....

Last night our StoryBook Club got dressed, loaded our pockets full of white stones and set out for the woods. We followed the story line of Hansel & Gretel and meandered our way through some craggy terrain.

We covered many stoney topics of: issues of trust, food for love, crazy mommies, weak daddies, grand illusion, learning confidence and ingenuity, yes and even touched on darker subjects like abduction, stranger danger and child pornography.

We were brave indeed.

In digging down to the roots of this story though, some research emerged that was bigger than all of these things put together.

SHAMANIC JOURNEY 

Like Joseph Campbell talks of Hero's Journeys...this story is one of a Magickal Path of a Shaman in making.

There are elements that make up a Shaman's journey and all are represented here in this simple (?) childhood fairy tale.

The elements of a Shaman's Journey (like the Native American's "Vision Quests")  include:

1) an experience of separation or isolation from society and culture
2) an encounter with extreme mental & physical suffering (including experiences of being eaten or killed)
3) an encounter with death
4) an experience of nature (through creature/ancestor/spirit/God /element)
5) a return to life (sometimes featuring Celestial/World Tree or bird flight)
6) a return to society as healer

As you can see, from those, the story of Hansel and Gretel is so much more. They are pushed out onto a path by the "evil" (step)mother(witch) and forced to find their way. Hansel, the man-child is full of more courage than his own father in standing up for himself and his sister.

In encountering the illusion of the gingerbread house and the witch's promises, they befall calamity. Or is it? Gretel is now "apprenticed" to the witch. In order to save her brother Hansel, Gretel is forced to cook for and feed her brother, who feigns starvation but gets fat, indeed. (We must all fill our own hunger for our own fulfillment and not for the fulfillment of others- thus prove the "bony finger" of Hansel)
Gretel now feigns ignorance, but deep within, finds her own power and kills the witch by forcing her to accept the same fate she would deliver.
Thus Gretel has "stolen the power" of the witch....
and is now a witch herself.

The "children-witches" now have access to the treasure within, and have also received a new power of speaking to the animals (which they did not have on the original setting out of their journey). They come home to "heal their father." They also find that the "evil step mother-witch" is gone/dead. They have overcome their fears.

Kewl beans, huh?

But while we didn't have beans to eat at our Grand Gingerbread Feast we DID have GOODIES!!

There was crusty bread and decadent garlic oil to dip (bread crumbs for the story and garlic to ward evil :), there was German noodle soup (with a nod to the German roots of the story), an edible Gingerbread house (and yes, we ate from the house as Hansel and Gretel would have :), Celery root with mustard sauce (a tonic and a potion for our strength, no doubt :), Chicken wings in Slathering Sauce (for Hansel's bony fingers and basting), Stuffed Clam shells (Gretel's Moon Goddess dinner), Roasted Veggies (to fatten us up with some veg),

Snicker doodles and Roasted Chestnuts (for our German woodsy dining pleasure) and Hot Cocoa and Rum and Pumpkin Spice Vodka (to give us heart and to ward off the night air chill).
Oh and enough candy and assorted cookies to choke a White Swan.
Lots of fun company!

All in all, a VERY magickal night with brilliant conversation, decadent food and drink, delightful companionship and even some festive Heimlich maneuver and grip of clenched dog face, (to dissuade Monty the dog that clam shells are not good for his colon.)

Well, after this wondrous strong female role model in fairy tale (FINALLY!!)
we thought we'd visit yet another kind next month.

The bitch. The snooty, spoiled, promise breaking little Princess.

That's right, we will undertake the psychological, class division and economical aspects of...

Ribbit.

 
Some research came from this site about the Shaman journey:
www: culturepotion.blogspot.com/2011/05/shamanic-initiations-hidden-theme

the rest is group speculation gathered from many many versions of the Grim fairy tale of Hansel & Gretel.

Keep Reading!!

YES is a Magick word

Well, coming down to the wire here with my last two letters approaching the end of this very fun and informative writing experiment!

I'm getting close to finishing a whole year of writing on this "Letter of the Week" Pagan Blog Project! WOOOT!

My "Y" word of choice today is?
 
YES!

To me, it is an extremely MAGICK word.

When you say YES to the Universe, Yourself and to someone for their Greatest and Highest Good....

Grand things happen!

In acting class you learn your first lesson of Improv with following someone's statement with the words...

"Yes! And..."

it keeps the dialog going forward by being able to add to it.

So doth the word YES do the same in real life.

Try using the word YES more often, if possible.
Or use the phrase, "Yes, and..." build on what you need to, today.

The Universe will bring more good things to you if you are open to receiving them.

So go out there and have a good day!

YES? :)