The Subtle Pagan

da-pu-ri-to-jo po-ti-ni-ja, “Lady of the Labyrinth”.

⚖️⛈️Zeus Pater🪶🏺

He has been a lot on my mind with the April rains here

WIP Dionysus and Artemis & Apollo Concepts

⚡️🌱 Zeus Velchanos, the greatest kouros ⛰️🐂

🪞🐐 Laughter-Loving Aphrodite 🦪🕊

"Of Cytherea, born in Cyprus, I will sing. She gives kindly gifts to men: smiles are ever on her lovely face, and lovely is the brightness that plays over it. Hail, goddess, queen of well-built Salamis and sea-girt Cyprus; grant me a cheerful song. And now I will remember you and another song also." -Homeric Hymn 10 to Aphrodite

"Heavenly, smiling Aphrodite, praised in many hymns, sea-born, revered goddess of generation, you like the nightlong revel and you couple lovers at night, O scheming mother of Necessity. Everything comes from you; you have yoked the world, and you control all three realms. You give birth to all, to everything in heaven, upon the fruitful earth and in the depths of the sea, O venerable companion of Bacchos. You delight in festivities, O bridelike mother of the Erotes, O Persuasion whose joy is in the bed of love, secretive, giver of grace, visible and invisible, lovely-tressed daughter of a noble father, bridal feast companion of the gods, sceptered she-wolf, beloved and man-loving giver of birth and of life, with your maddening love-charms you yoke mortals and the many races of beasts to unbridled passion. Come, O goddess born in Cyprus, whether you are on Olympos, O queen, exulting in the beauty of your face, or you wander in Syria, country of fine frankincense, or, yet, driving your golden chariot in the plain,you lord it over Egypt’s fertile river bed. Come, whether you ride your swan-drawn chariot over the sea’s billows, joying in the creatures of the deep as they dance in circles, or you delight in the company of the dark-faced nymphs on land,(as, light-footed, they frisk over the sandy beaches). Come, lady, even if you are in Cyprus that cherishes you, where fair maidens and chaste nymphs throughout the year sing of you, O blessed one, and of immortal, pure Adonis. Come, O beautiful and comely goddess; I summon you with holy words and pious soul." - Orphic Hymn to Aphrodite 

2: Hera

You have the spirit of your mother in you, Hera, who will not yield or be controlled, and I can scarcely check her with my words.

Zeus to Ares, The Iliad 5.1170, translated by Emily Wilson

"Hera's origins are generally thought to lie in a powerful prehellenic goddess (or goddesses) whose cult was adopted by the Mycenaean Greeks. Her name has been connected with the word hōra, season, indicating fertility and ripeness for marriage, and appears on Linear B tablets from Pylos (in connection with Zeus) and Thebes. The same etymology makes Hera a feminine form of herōs, and this background may help to elucidate the goddess' complex ties to heroes, Herakles above all, and the genesis of the Greek concept of the mythic cultic hero."

"Greek poetry and myth tell us of a goddess who vehemently opposes her husband's extramarital affairs and attempts to punish her rivals and their offspring. She is a scheming and vengeful deity, who plots against the Trojans when she loses the beauty contest judged by Paris, but she also has favorites such as the hero Jason, whom she aids in his quest for the Golden Fleece. She is not a tender mother, but Homer describes her sexual union with Zeus as a source of fecund power."