Greek Goddesses
The Greek goddesses...
musings on a few of the ways
that they, as archetypes,
remain a part of our daily lives.
The Greek goddesses have entranced poets, philosophers, and artists
for centuries. Greek goddesses and gods occupy a central place, not only in Greek
mythology, but in western civilization.
The Greek goddesses' stories entertain and instruct us.
Why?
Because the goddesses are archetypes, an embodiment of that which is universally
female, embedded in the feminine soul.
The Greek goddesses, legendary ladies of ancient Greek mythology,
continue to live on . . . influencing the patterns of the lives of contemporary women.
With the roots of western civilization grounded firmly in the soil of ancient Greece, it's
hardly surprising that the names and stories of these fascinating females are the ones
most familiar to us in the western world.
It is the Greek goddesses who are most often used to demonstrate the
archetypes. . . who are used to illustrate the enduring and universal feminine traits that
are, to this day, the "stuff" of art, literature and even "pop
culture".
The Greek goddesses and their stories remain
compelling, a vital part of the very fabric of our lives.
Greek goddesses have given us so many gifts, not the least of which are the very words
that we use in our everyday lives.
Take, for example, the words hours, fate, democracy, psychological, aphrodisiac, dawn,
amusement, erotic, echo, ambrosia, looking "pallid", and narcissus, not to
mention the more mundane like amazon.com and Nike!
- The Greek goddesses are definitely with us every day, even though we seldom give much
thought to their legacy!
|
The Greek goddesses have even shaped our expectations of celebrities
. . . no one was particularly surprised when Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in
her later years went on to live out the life of the Artemis we'd always suspected she
was.
Nor were we shocked to see Oprah "digging in like Demeter to win her unsolicited battle
against the beef industry.
Whether it's that Aphrodite wannabe, Zza-Zza,
remarrying . . .
or the tabloids reminding us that Britney is just reliving the story of Persephone, it's
really just the voices of the goddesses reminding us that they're all still alive and well
and living in L.A.!
On a more serious note, it is my humble opinion that "celebrity status" by
definition is a projection of the traits and stories of the goddesses onto the rich and
famous, women whom most of us cannot possibly really know. We just heap our
projections onto their shoulders . . . making them into our very own "mini-
goddesses".
Oh well, such is the nature of archetypes.
The Greek goddesses . . .
These tiara-toting gals were the original wild women,
the first Ya-Ya's,
and the inspiration for the
Sweet Potato Queens . . .
Ya gotta love 'em!
