The thing I like about Ishtar is that she breaks life down well for me. To me life is love and war, or maybe it is the mood I’m in. But if you think about it…without love you wouldn’t have hate and without hate you wouldn’t have war. You have to feel passionately about something in order to feel strongly enough to want to kill lots of people (in war) for it, right?

So it’s appropriate (in my world anyway) for the Assyrian goddess of love, fertility, and sex to also be the goddess of war. Yes, I know that she (or rather her followers) were really about sex, but my focus here is love and war. There are lots of interesting stories about love, betrayal, and who was doing what with who. Kind of like modern day drama reality shows, except on a divine level.

Unlike her contemporary gods and goddesses of love, she was just a bit more hard core. For anyone interested in finding out more about Ishtar there are really only two myths that relate to her directly. The story of Gilgamesh tells of Ishtar throwing herself at him and how karma (different culture but you get what I mean, right?) bites her. Another myth describes Ishtar’s decent into hell and then her return trip. All pretty interesting stuff, if you like love and war anyway.

What do you think of Ishtar? Who is your favorite love goddess?

Photo Credit: CarbonNYC

My son was born in the year of the pig, the fire pig to be exact. I’m kind of into astrology and recently have become more interested in Chinese mythology and astrology. While most people call it the year of the pig, the year is actually represented by the boar. The thing is piggies are much cuter and cuddlier than a boar, so I’m sticking with pigs.

So about those pigs. Apparently, they are supposed to be:

• Honest (too early to tell, he isn’t talking yet)
• Tolerant (absolutely true, he’ll put up with just about anything)
• Curious (like a cat…uhm pig)
• Love to read ( he really does, he’ll bring books to me and turn the pages)

I know from past experience that Chinese astrology is right on in regards to myself, a snake if you were wondering, and so far it looks like it is a good indicator of my little angel. I think it is amazing how often the characteristics ascribed to people with astrology are accurate. It makes me wonder how much of the mythology might have truth behind it as well. I think Chinese astrology is sometimes even more accurate than western astrology just because of the amount of specification that is available. For example, not only was my son born in the year of the pig, he was born a fire pig which adds even more levels to his personality. Pretty cool, huh? What is your sign in Chinese astrology and do you think it accurately represents you?

Photo Credit: be khe

Why is this cool? Well it is cool for numerous reasons, which I’ll probably get into later, but for the purpose of this post it is cool because it got me into Norse mythology. I actually know a bit about Egyptian, Greek, and Roman mythology but hadn’t been all that interested in the Norse until Star Gate.

Thor kind of reminds me of Zeus, what with the lightning bolts and all. Of course, he is more well known for the boomerang hammer, which is also pretty sweet. He was basically the sky god, riding above in a chariot controlling rain and throwing lightning bolts. (pretty convenient for an alien alias, huh?)

Back to those Asgard aliens. Oddly enough, Asgard is also the name of the city where the Norse gods lived. Oh the connections. I love it when writers include elements of history and mythology (the original science fiction).

Who would have thought that a television show could bring in so much mythology? What have you learned from non-educational television?

Photo Credit Kyle May

A narcissistic person is in love with himself and shuns the advances of others. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Many people know someone who is narcissistic. Perhaps you’re a narcissus yourself. The question is do we know where the term “narcissistic” comes from?

The Ancient Greeks, apart from having awesome gods and goddesses, had many different moral stories in their culture. As entertaining as they all are the one that I am referring to today is that of Echo and Narcissus. Does narcissus sound anything like narcissistic? It should; even the spellings are similar. For a fuller version of the tale of Echo and Narcissus, click here.

For now, I shall give you the short of it. Echo was a nymph who was punished by Hera so that she would only be able to repeat the last word(s) of what another person said. While out in the woods she came upon a man named Narcissus and being unable to talk first followed waiting for him to speak. Eventually he heard her footsteps and called out asking who was there, which Echo gladly repeated. After much calling out he finally invited Echo, not knowing her name, to meet him. The nymph was overcome with joy and threw her arms around the man. Narcissus shoved Echo away stating he would rather die then be loved by her. This caused Echo to flee into the mountains where she shrank away to the mere echo we hear when we speak in big rooms.

As for Narcissus, after leaving a trail of broken hearts, he looked into a pond one day and saw his reflection. He fell in love with it and attempted to hold the figure in his arms, believing it to be a nymph. He wasted away beside the pond starring at his own reflection, leaving only a flower in his place when he died.

Since then psychologist have referred to people who have fallen in love with themselves as being narcissistic after this Greek myth. The next time you run into that person who thinks they are the greatest thing in the world, remind them of what happened to poor Narcissus in the end and maybe they can save themselves from the exact same fate.

For a bit of fun I have included a link to a site where you can take The How Narcissistic Are You Test. Mine was a score of Echo and 32 percent Narcissist. I guess that means you might say I have learned the moral of this tale.

Danielle Patterson

(photo credit: gauri_lama)

Apollo, the sun god, rode his fiery chariot every morning and pulled the sun into the sky. Every night, he would ride that same chariot and pull the sun out of the sky so that the world could rest. Apart from pulling the sun Apollo was also know for his talents in healing, prophecies and the use of the oracle. He was also known to be like his father, Zeus, in character, often chasing nymphs and sometimes even mortals. His Roman equivalent was the Sun, odd coincidence, right?

Artemis is the goddess of the hunt and is often associated with animals and woodlands. Unlike her fellow Greek gods, she has more than one Roman name. She is known as both Diana and the Moon. She is the twin sister of Apollo, who we know as the Sun god. Besides being excellent with a bow, Artemis was also wonderful with words when it came to poetry and an athlete on the field.

Ares is the Greek god of war. He was known to be fierce and merciless on the battle field. When going to war, the Greeks, or any other civilization that had an Ares-like god, would pray to him. They would pray for victory, honor, courage and death to all of their enemies. Often before battles, they would hold a great feast in his honor. His alter ego is Mars, who lives the Roman life.

Hermes is the gods’ favorite messenger. This however was not his only job. He also dealt with travel, trade, animal husbandry, writing, astrology and even thievery. Often he was depicted as a handsome youth with winged boots or as an old man dressed in a travelers cloak. The Roman version of this jack-of-all-trades, in a manner of speaking, is Mercury.

The great Zeus is the king of all the gods. He is the thrower of lightning bolts and the Olympian hypocrite. One of his jobs as a ruler is to punish those who lie and break oaths. This is highly entertaining, considering the amount of times he himself has broken oaths and told lies. Zeus was famous for his many affairs with the nymphs and often mortals, something that his wife Hera did not look kindly on. You do remember the story of Echo and Narcissus, right?

Many wonder how it is that Zeus became the ruler and not his brother Hades. I shall tell you the great secret: They drew lots and whomever’s was longest won the right to be king. By chance Zeus happened to pull the right one and won. This is something that Hades has yet to get over. His other self is that Roman god Jupiter.

Before I leave you to digest all of this information and to wait in nail-biting suspense for my next post, notice how the Roman gods are named. They are all named after planets in the sky. The word “planet” means “wanderer” in Greek. I wonder if the Romans knew that …

Until next time, keep these gods straight. Next week, I will introduce you to the last two gods involved and share how the names of the days of the week were given … as soon as I find my astronomy notes, that is …

Danielle Patterson

(photo credit: mc5)

Aphrodite, the goddess of love, is probably one of the more popular goddesses. People both young and old would prey to her. They would pray to her asking for someone’s admiring eye. They ask for the courage to tell a person that they love them. Aphrodite was also known for watching over sailors as they were at sea. Her Roman equivalent is Venus–Release the goddess in you. (Sorry I just could not resist doing that.)

Last but not least, by far, is Cronus. He is the father of time. Cronus also has a very interesting story. Years after he was born Cronus castrated his own father then disposed of him. When he married Rhea, Cronus was told a prophecy. That prophecy stated that one of his own sons would over throw him. Fearing this, Cronus swallowed each child as they were born. Rhea however managed to save one child, Zeus. Later, Zeus forced his father to throw up the rest of the children. After this, Zeus and Cronus waged a war of the gods vs. the Titans. Cronus is Saturn in Rome.

Now that you have become familiar with the gods, we need to have a brief astronomy lesson. We know now that the Earth is not the center of the universe. This however is not true for the ancient Greeks and Romans. Back then, they believed the Earth to be the center of the universe. They often used this belief in relation to important cultural ideas. In this case, they used it to name the days of the week.

Here is where it gets a bit tricky. Just remember that the Earth is the center of the universe. If you lined the planets up in the order of how close they are to the sun what would it be? The closest is the Moon, which is where Monday comes from. Next is Mars who represents Tuesday. Third is Mercury who is Wednesday. After that is Jupiter who stands in for Thursday. Then comes Venus, which is Friday. After Venus is Saturn who is Saturday. Finally comes the Sun who is Sunday.

All of the planets either kept their English names or were changed into Nordic in order to get the names we have today. That is how the days of the week got their names.

Danielle Patterson

(photo credit: julesstoop)

Mexico’s most widely adopted creation myth is that of The Five Suns. This creation myth is a more complicated one. It deals with exact and approximate numbers. This is not surprising considering what else the Aztecs achieved. The myth that is considered Mexico’s hero myth is that of Quetzalcoatl. (I could not find a decent version of the myth; I apologize for that). This is also an Aztec myth. It is one of cunning and bravery. I recommend researching it at the library, since it is far too long to summarize it properly.

Neither of these myths, however, is as well-known as the legend of La Llorona. This story is known by many Mexican and Spanish households as well as by many who live along the border in the United States. It is the story of a mother gone mad then taken over by grief. It is also a very scary story to hear when you are in the third grade sitting next to the cooling vent while your teacher is reading with the lights out. One of the best versions out there can be found in a book that contains a small collection of Mexican legends that makes for a good read on a stormy night.

These are just a few of Mexico’s great myths. Although they mainly come from the Aztecs, all of their myths are touched by different cultures. When they were conquered, the ruling country influenced each myth (some more than others) with their values. This is why some of them, La Llorona, for instance, have different versions. Regardless of which version you read, they are all excellent.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Danielle Patterson

(photo credit: gail)

It starts out with the only daughter to a handsome and often rich man who is newly widowed being given a stepmother. This stepmother usually comes with baggage in the form of two horrible, and often ugly, daughters. Shortly after this the father has to go away, or in some versions he dies as well. After the father is out of the picture the daughter is made to do chores without breaks and to wait hand and foot on the stepmother and her two daughters. Sometime during her labor a ball is thrown and the girl is promised that she may go.

However, the stepmother changes her mind and the girl is left home. After this, some form of a fairy godmother appears and the girl is given beautiful things to wear to the ball. Once at the ball the girl dances with the prince who falls madly in love with her. As her curfew approaches, because all magical things must end, the girl flees the party and leaves behind a shoe, or some other object. The prince then spends the next few weeks searching for the woman who owns the item left behind. He finds her and they live happily ever after.

That is the basic story line for the Cinderella themed stories. However, I have recently come across a refreshingly new version of this story. It is the Russian version to this classic tale. The story is entitled Valissa the Beautiful and contains not only the evil stepmother and the ugly stepsisters, but also a witch, light up skulls, a house with chicken feet, a talking doll, and a creepy tale of a poor girl who is made to get light.

While I could not find a good internet version of the tale, I highly recommend finding it in book form. Besides you never know when you might need a scary story to tell a class or you kids.

(photo credit: expressmonorail)

After the call there is the transition. The transition is when the hero enters the usually supernatural world. In place of the supernatural they may enter a world of the nonliving. If that s not the case then they enter non normal way of life. In some religions, they even meet with gods.

Soon after they face their challenge. This challenge sometimes occurs while the hero is still in transition. The challenge maybe either physical, mental, spiritual, or emotional. However the hero does not need to beat these challenges in order to proceed to the next part of the tale. In fact, many cultures have heroes that fail.

The final stage is the return. This occurs when the hero returns to their home. For most heroes their homecoming turns into a huge festival. Other heroes return to a family celebration. The type of homecoming depends on the values the culture holds.

That is the basic formula for a hero tale. However, Campbell also made a good point when he said that this formula can be applied to everyone. We all face our own challenges and go through our own heros journey at least once in our lives. So the next time you receive the call to go out on your own journey remember there is a hero in all of us.

(photo credit: harrsch)