Happy Lammas!

Lammas starts tomorrow, August 1.  For some ideas on how to celebrate the holiday, and for some of its history, have a look at my previous post, “Lammas: The First Harvest.”

Some other ideas I want to add to my previous list are to greet the sun at dawn, actively focus on harvesting the rewards from the goals you put into place earlier in the year, and light candles.  The energy of the world begins to slow down now, though it’s still very vibrant and fresh and mature. The days have begun to shorten just a bit, heralding the slow slide into autumn.  Now is usually when you can begin to harvest and enjoy the rewards from the goals you put in place earlier in the year–but don’t rest on your laurels just yet!  Just as the farmers keep working in the fields to harvest more food, so you should keep working at making your goals bear fruit.  The year is only half over; we still have 5 more months until a new calendar year!  Lammas is a fun holiday, so make sure to have some fun and enjoy the sunshine while it lasts!

In honor of Lammas/Lughnasadh, I’ve collected some artwork from around the web that celebrates the holiday.  None of it belongs to me; all credit goes to the artists, and links to the original are included where possible.  Enjoy!

Image from spiritblogger.wordpress.com

Image taken from autumnearthsong.com

Image taken from lunarapollo.wordpress.com

Weekly Deity: Ganymede

Zeus (left) and Ganymede (right)

Ganymede is a Greek mortal-turned-deity.  He is the cupbearer to the gods and is associated with water, rain, life, and youth.  He is also the constellation Aquarius.

Attributes

Ganymede has often been portrayed as a young, attractive male, either shirtless or nude, and holding a pitcher.  Sometimes Ganymede is shown with the eagle that abducted him, and so he is associated with eagles.

Mythology

While out herding sheep for his father, Ganymede is abducted by a giant eagle who bears him away to Olympus.  There he is granted eternal youth and immortality and the job as cupbearer to the gods.  This position had once been filled by Hebe.  All the gods enjoyed Ganymede’s company and felt joy upon him taking his office as cupbearer; all except Hera, who disliked him not only for his place in Zeus’ affections, but also for supplanting her daughter, Hebe.  Being the cupbearer to the gods is a very important and distinguished role as the cupbearer brings the gods their life-giving nectar (or just purified and divine water in some stories).  By some stories, Hera became so enraged that Zeus eventually placed Ganymede’s image among the stars as the constellation Aquarius, which is also connected to an Egyptian god of the Nile and of water.

Ganymede doesn’t do very much in the myths.  He shows up in his own myth, of course, about his abduction.  It is unclear whether the eagle that stole him away was sent by Zeus or was Zeus in disguise.  Both are equally plausible.  It is clear that Ganymede was held in very high regard, not only by Zeus but also by other gods, except Hera.  He does appear in one story with Eros, in which Eros cheated him at a game of knucklebones and Ganymede became rather enraged.

Ganymede is never said to have mated or married, and so has no children.  His father is Tros, from Troy (other accounts say his father is Laomedon, a treacherous king of Troy).  His mother is never named.

Because of the affection (myths vary whether it was strictly affection or a sexual affair) between Ganymede and Zeus, Ganymede is often seen as a figure associated with homosexuality or a deity of homosexuality.

Light and Dark Sides

Ganymede is a figure that begins as a humble mortal but gains immortality.  However, he can’t be said to follow the “divine hero” path, as he was not granted immortality for being a hero–in fact, he never did anything heroic.  He was granted immortality for his handsome looks and for his mind.  Despite his mortal origins, he was granted immortality and raised to the status of a minor god.  His domains include libation, water, rain, life, youth, and homosexuality.

Water is almost always connected to the subconscious mind, the emotions, the soul, and psychic ability, whether in dreams or myths.  Ganymede is a giver of water to both gods and men.  It is not a stretch to say that on his Light side, Ganymede has influence over the subconscious and emotions and such because of this connection to water.  This deity is interesting because he is a minor god, yet he fulfills such an important role to the gods.  The water brings life and sustains life, among the gods and among men, and Ganymede carries the water and pours it out.  In a sense, he rations the water to each recipient, which mean he defines how much life is given at a time.

Water is a changeable element, and Ganymede is deeply connected with water.  He also displays the instability in his myth with Eros in which he becomes enraged at being cheated.  It would be easier to get a better sense of Ganymede’s personality if there were more stories about him; sadly, there are so few to go on that it’s hard to say if he was very changeable or if he mostly stuck to the easy-going nature that he seems to have, and also hard to say what constitutes his Dark side.

When working with Ganymede, I suggest keeping in mind his connection to the psyche, the emotions, etc.  He is largely a Light deity; his Dark side may consist of the potential to withhold water, and thus life.  It also may include a changeable or unstable nature, which may require some caution.  Overall, however, he seems to be more Light than Dark, so I would place him on the Light side of the deity spectrum.

Question of the Week: Of Gods and Men

While I was writing the previous posts about DC40 and NAR, the “goddess” Columbia came up in the discussion.  However, Columbia is not an ancient goddess in the way that Athena or Zeus are.  She is not originally a part of Roman culture, although her name comes from Latin.  But today she is considered by some to be a deity, and it got me thinking:

Do we create the gods?

You could lengthen that question by also asking if the gods lived before humanity, or which came first the chicken or the egg.  But what do you think of this matter?  Post your response in the comments section below.

Gods and Goddesses of Litha

Happy summer solstice everyone!  Otherwise known as Litha, today is the day when we have the longest day of the year.  Enjoy the sunshine!  This post is a very short collection of the popular deities honored primarily on Litha.  The gods and goddesses of the sun are prominent at this time of year.  Most of the deities so honored on this Sabbat are those whose primary domains are fire, hearth and home, light or the sun, family, growth and prosperity, and, in a small way, love.  I say love because not only are some of these deities presiding over some aspect of friendship or brotherly love or love, but they are also very popular and well-loved deities in turn.  Enjoy!

Aditi: Hindu goddess who gave birth to the universe and all the heavenly bodies.  She is the keeper of the light that illuminates all and ensures consciousness.  Although not necessarily a fire deity, she could be honored at the solstice as a goddess of light.

Amaterasu: Shinto goddess from which all light comes.  Her festival is held annually in Japan in July.  Amaterasu is the sister of the moon and the storm.  She is a loving and well-loved goddess.

Apollo: A very popular Greek and (later) Roman deity, Apollo is a god of many things–music, medicine, healing, and the sun.  His sister is Artemis (the moon), and his parents are Zeus and Leto.  As his cult grew and spread to many parts of Europe, his primary domains became those of the sun and healing.

Beiwe: Sami goddess of Lapland.  Beiwe provided the light the plants needed to grow, i.e., the sun.  Those plants in turn fed the reindeer, which were vital tot he people of Lapland for food and hides for clothing.  Her festival was held at the summer solstice.

Hestia: Greek goddess of the hearth and hearthfire.  Hestia is the goddess of the home and the family, and often was honored first in the house above all others because any home was her domain.  She is honored at the solstice because of her hearth fire.

Horus: Egyptian god of the sun.  In later mythology, he became associated with Ra, another Egyptian sun god, and at one point was also associated with Nut, the sky deity.

Huitzilopochtli: Aztec god of the sun and warriors and patron deity of the city Tenochtitlan.  In early time, he battled with another sun god, Nanahuatzin, for supremacy and fought back darkness.  He is a harsher god, and requires his worshipers to make sacrifices to him for the next fifty-two years.

Juno: Roman goddess of the home, family, and marriage.  She is a bit nicer than her Greek counterpart Hera.  As the patron deity of marriage and handfastings, it is popular and common for weddings to be held in her month, June.  She is honored at the solstice in part because the longest day falls in her sacred month.

Lugh: Celtic god of light and many other things.  He is in some ways similar to Apollo in terms of popularity and role in his myths.  Although Lugh technically has his own Sabbat at Lughnasadh, he is acknowledged at the solstice as well because of his role as a solar deity.

Sunna/Sol: Norse goddess of the sun.  She doesn’t get talked about very much in the myths, but she is honored at the solstice for her role in providing warmth and thus life in the cold Nordic countries.

Vesta: Roman goddess of the hearth.  Her counterpart is Hestia, and Vesta has the same functions as Hestia in that she is the goddess of the hearth, hearth fire, and home.

For a description of what this holiday is about, see my post about Litha here.

Weekly Deity: Aether

Aether is the Greek deity of space, heaven, and the upper sky/atmosphere.  He is the god of pure air, which only the gods breathe, and is not the same as Aer, the normal air that we lowly mortals breathe.  Aether is a primordial deity, in existence before Zeus and the Olympians were born.

Attributes

Aether isn’t really said to have an anthropomorphic body the way many of the other gods do.  So he doesn’t really have attributes.  He’s more like a disembodied spirit, very different from the Greek gods many people know.

Myths

Aether doesn’t really have many myths.  According to Hesiod, Aether is the son of Erebus and Nyx.  Another source says Chaos is Aether’s parent.  His sister is Hemera (goddess of daytime).  He was said to have various children, among which were Ouranos and Gaea, yet other sources say his only child was Ouranos.  Aergia, goddess of sloth and laziness, is the daughter of Aether and Gaea.  Aether is not said to have a wife or other partner.

Aether is the defensive wall of Zeus when he fights against the Titans.  Aether is also said to be the wall surrounding Tartarus.  According to the Orphic hymns, Aether is the source from which all life emanates.  Aether is the soul of the world.

Light and Dark Sides

With so little information about Aether, it’s harder to tell what his personality is like.  As the god of pure air and the supposed soul of the world from which all life springs, he seems like a fairly nice deity. I think primarily he should be considered a deity about purity and life.  But not necessarily human life.  At the heights of the atmosphere which we now call aether, we can’t breathe because there isn’t enough oxygen.  Aether isn’t necessarily the god of human life, but the god of godly life, if that makes sense.  In the Greek system, life came from the gods, the gods came from other gods, and all the gods came from primordial deities of the universe necessary for any kind of life at all.  Aether is from that class of primordial deities necessary for any life.  From what little we know of him, we can’t really say if he has a Dark side or a Grey side.