veins! veins! veins!

Aphrodite Ourania rose out of blood and the ocean and walked to land fully-formed. This Aphrodite is a Titaness, older even than the generation of Zeus. She has no mother. She is never an infant. She is the ultimate generative power, the fish, born from a male (upending societal norms) and wielding the power of creation and invention.

Aphrodite Areia is a war goddess - this is the title made famous by Athena and Ares, but Aphrodite does not get this title from her lover. She is a goddess of soldiers and fights on the battlefield of Troy. She is also Aphrodite Hoplismena, the armed, depicted in full armor with a shield and sword. This is the Aphrodite of Sparta.

Aphrodite Nikephoros is not only Aphrodite armored and armed, but Aphrodite commanding the power of Nike - Nike, the goddess usually found at Zeus’s side, ensuring victory. This Aphrodite is not one to be crossed on the battlefield, because you will not win.

Or maybe we just aren’t on the same page as the ancients when it comes to a “love goddess.” Aphrodite Pandemos is a goddess of frenzy, a goddess who incites war and madness, a goddess to whom it was said even the Fates would bend their will. To some Hellenes, Aphrodite was the goddess of creation because she is the spark of all love and desire - and to others, she was the creator of all.

Reynard the Fox

I’m revealing a big secret, but a lot of my songs are just about music and trying to pursue it, and not feeling loved by it. A lot of the ‘yous’ in my songs are abstract ideas about music.