Weekly Deity: Calliope

Calliope is the Greek goddess of epic poetry and one of the nine Muses.  Her name is pronounced “kha-lie-oh-pee” and in Greek: καλλιοπε.  She is considered to be the Muse of Homer when he wrote the Odyssey and the Iliad.

Attributes

This goddess is typical shown as a young, beautiful woman.  She is fully-clothed in robes.  Often she carries a writing tablet and may be shown with a scroll or book in hand instead.  Sometimes she wears a golden tiara.

Usually the nine Muses are shown together, but one or two are important enough for are prominent enough in various myths that at times they are shown on an individual basis.  Calliope is one of those who may be shown without her sisters because of her prominence in numerous myths.

Mythology

Calliope is the eldest of the nine Muses, and while the Muses are nonuplets (nine siblings at once), they aren’t generally said to look alike.  Her sisters are: Clio, Erato, Urania, Euterpe, Terpsichore, Melpomene, Thalia, and Polyhymnia.  Their parents are said to be Zeus and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory.

Calliope is perhaps the most active of the Muses in terms of mythology without her sisters.  She was a lover of Ares and bore him four sons: Biston, Mygdon, Odomantus, and Edonus.  All four grew up to become the founders of Thracian tribes that bore their names.  Later, she bore two more sons, Orpheus and Linus, to either Apollo (more likely) or the Thracian king Oeagrus.  Calliope does eventually marry Oeagrus, but her sons are more likely sons of Apollo given their talents with music.  Linus is known in mythology to be a great musician and he taught Orpheus and Heracles music.  Orpheus learned poetry from his mother and combined what he learned from her with the music he learned from Linus and became a great singer–so great that he moved Hades and Persephone to tears with his song when he went into the realm of Hades to fetch his wife back to the living.

Calliope is also said to mediate an argument over Adonis between Persephone and Aphrodite.  The two goddesses were so taken with Adonis’ beauty that they fought over who would be able to keep him.  So Calliope mediated on Zeus’ behalf and decided that Adonis should spend one-third of the year with each goddess and the remainder of the year in any place he chose.

Light and Dark Sides

The Muses are gentle, wise, and benevolent mistresses of their respective domains, and Calliope is no exception.  She is considered the wisest and most assertive of the Muses.

Calliope would be good to call on for aid in papers or projects, especially those projects that deal with writing, books, or poetry in some form.  Basically any task that requires patience, planning, and time could fall under her purview.  Epic poetry isn’t written in a day, which makes her a goddess of perseverance and patience as well as creativity and imagination.  She is particularly good for authors and musicians to call upon.

On her Dark side, she is perhaps a little too entrenched in her work.  It’s possible that she could be so involved in the project that other tasks get pushed aside to the point of neglect.  This is pure speculation, of course, since there are no myths about her actual work, only her relationships–but it’s not much of a stretch to imagine that this is a possibility.

Overall, Calliope, like her sisters, is a benevolent goddess who is willing to give aid when called upon for help with certain projects.

For more about the Muses as a whole, see my earlier post on the ladies.

Weekly Deity: Eos

Eos is the Greek goddess of the dawn. Her main domains are of the sun, new beginnings, and youthful vitality.  Aurora is the Roman equivalent.

Attributes

Eos is generally pictured as a beautiful young woman, with pale skin and golden hair.  Often she is shown with wings and wearing a saffron-colored robe, for the sun.  Flowers are commonly in paintings of her as well, and she wears a tiara or diadem.  Sometimes she is shown driving a golden chariot pulled by winged horses.

Mythology

Eos is not one of the major deities of ancient Greece, but she does figure in a great deal of poetry.  Her parents are either Hyperion (Titan, lord of light) and Theia (a Titan of brightness) or Pallas (a Titan associated with war) and Styx (the river to the underworld).  Thus Eos is a second-generation Titan goddess.  Regardless of her parentage, it is generally agreed that her brother is Helios (the sun) and her sister is Selene (the moon).

In the myths that center around Eos, the primary concern is the lovers she takes up with.  Her first love, and the one that may have caused her much grief, was Ares.  This made Aphrodite jealous, and some sources say that Aphrodite cursed Eos to be a nymphomaniac.  Eos moved on from Ares and fell in love with Orion, a handsome giant and renowned hunter.  However, he was transformed into a constellation by Artemis.  Another lover was Cephalus.  Eos kidnapped him and took him to Syria.  Cephalus was married to a woman named Procris, but he and Eos had three children from the affair, two of which were Phaeton and Hesperus.

The last lover is the most notable.  Tithonus became Eos’ final consort.  She loved him so much that she begged Zeus to grant Tithonus immortality, so he could stay with her forever–but she forgot to ask for eternal youth as well.  Tithonus lived so long that he became the size of an insect, and the gods took pity on him and transformed him into a grasshopper.  Eos bore Tithonus two sons: Memnon and Emathion.

Light and Dark Sides

This goddess is particularly interesting to me.  The more I consider her, the more I find to fascinate.

Eos is the goddess of new light.  Part of her domain includes new beginnings, emergence from the darkness, and vibrancy and vitality.  To me, she speaks of youthfulness and young energy.  The dawn is the start of a new day; it makes sense that as goddess of the new day, she is in charge of new beginnings.  And with the myth of Tithonus as an example, I can even see how that myth relates to her youthfulness–she didn’t think through her idea, a common ailment of the young, and neglected the youth that she could have commanded.

On the other hand, some of her mythos doesn’t make as much sense.  Why would a goddess of the dawn be so involved in tales wrapped with sexuality and/or love?  OK, as a goddess of new beginnings, I could maybe see how a new relationship every month would fit the bill, but I don’t see what that aspect has to do with her function–yet the sex and love aspects are largely what are focused on in the myths.

On the Light side, she would be great to call on for vibrant energy.  If you have a new beginning you want to make, I could see calling on her.  On the Dark side, she seems a bit rash, not thinking things through enough.  And I could even see how her energy might be a bit overwhelming at times, maybe be a bit much to handle because it’s so vibrant and radiant and energetic.

Still, all in all, I don’t see any huge negative effects of her, so I’m putting her on the Light side of the deity spectrum.

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: Eurus

Eurus was one of the Anemoi, the four Greek gods of wind. He was the east wind and, unlike his brothers, was not associated with a particular season.

Attributes

Like his brothers, Eurus was sometimes shown as a winged man. At other times the winds were shown as winds and not as men. His attribute was that of a vase he held, which spilled water.

Mythology

The east wind was thought to be unlucky, so Eurus was considered an unlucky god because his winds tended to bring blustery wind and storms.  However, he was also thought to be the bringer of warmth and rain.  Because of the sun’s rising in the east, Eurus was also associated in a small way with Helios and the sun.

Not much else is known about this deity.  He appears in a number of ancient texts, but does not appear to have any myths of his own.

Light and Dark Sides

Because very little is known about Eurus, I can’t pin down a Light or Dark side for him.  Without some indicator of his personality, I can’t say whether his unluckiness is due only to the weather patterns or due to his actions in myths.  Since he brings rain, which tends to be a good thing, I tentatively put Eurus just inside the Light side of the spectrum.

Weekly Deity: Iris

Hera and Iris

In the Greek pantheon, Iris is a messenger of the gods and the personification of the rainbow as well as a goddess of sea and sky.  Iris’ name has a double meaning that encompasses both of her duties.  In Greek, “iris” is rainbow and “eiris” is messenger–these two words would have been pronounced as English “iris”.

Attributes

Iris was often shown as a young woman carrying a caduceus and/or ewer, and had wings on her shoulders.  As the personification of rainbows, she could also be shown simply as a rainbow.

Mythology

The parents of Iris were the Titan Thaumas and an air nymph Elektra.  Iris as the Harpies for her sisters, according to Hesiod.  Her husband is Zephyrus, the west wind.  They have a son, Pothos, who is one of Aphrodite’s retinue.  [His parentage is questionable, different authors have him with different family groups.  It actually is more likely that Pothos is not Iris' son since she was often considered to be something of a virgin/virginal goddess.]

Iris is frequently mentioned in myths but does not seem to have any of her own.  She is often portrayed as the messenger of the gods as a whole and as Hera’s personal messenger as well as her handmaiden.  She reaches the earth by running/flying down the rainbow to deliver her messages.  The clouds are replenished with water by Iris’ doing.

She also fulfills a very important function: by order of Zeus, Iris is to always carry with her an ewer filled with the water of the River Styx.  The Styx was the river the gods swore by and oaths sworn on the Styx were unbreakable.  Iris uses this water to put to sleep any who are guilty of perjury.

In one myth she saves her sisters the Harpies by turning back the Argonauts Zetes and Calais, who had been pursuing the Harpies.

Light and Dark Sides

Iris doesn’t have much of a personality, so her Light and Dark sides take some guessing.  As a messenger, she is responsible for communication, whether good or bad.  She’s not associated with bringing either good news or bad news, which works in her favor in terms of the Light/Dark scale.  She simply facilitates communication by the passing of messages.

She is also responsible for punishing perjurers, which is a heavy responsibility.  Iris brings what seems to be a rather light punishment to those who perjure themselves, but since this punishment was commanded by Zeus, Iris can’t really be judged by it.  She simply does her duty and in the process punishes those who lie.  It is somewhat fitting that she have this duty, since as a goddess of communication she is punishing those who communicate falsely.

In addition, she saves her sisters the Harpies from being caught and probably tortured or killed, and all she does in doing this is convincing the men to turn back.  She doesn’t harm them or seek revenge, as other gods would have.  Iris just sends them away and goes on about her business, as if they were annoying flies who buzzed away.

While Iris seems to be very passive, she really isn’t.  She’s doing all of these things and accomplishing things, so she is hardly inactive.  And doing nothing is still doing something.  Overall, I’d say Iris is a Light goddess–she does her duty to Zeus with the Styx water, does her duty to the gods by running their messages, replenishes the clouds with water, and is the rainbow.  Nowhere in any of that does she do something that is negative.