Four faces

I mentioned at the end of my last post the masks the Creator wears to show Itself to us; the mask I see most often is that of Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt/Wild Places. She wears a lot of other hats too, depending on the historical period and where the stories come from; add childbirth/fertility and virginity to that as well. A friend and I have talked of rejecting the dichotomy of Male/Female, Agressive/Passive when it comes to Paganism because it's such a narrow definition of relationships. It privledges heterosexual monogomous relationships above all others, just like the rest of the world, when honestly, we both feel that all relationships are equal as long as there's respect and caring on both sides.

In my effort to further distance myself from that dichotomy my brain came up with the following during my morning shower.

Artemis as Maiden: As a forever virgin, Artemis empowers those who would stand alone and strive for excellence on their own terms, outside of a sexual relationship. Artemis had friends (Orion is one of the more better known ones), a mostly good relationship with her brother Apollo, and of course her servants, the nymphs and dryads of the forest, but no lovers. She demanded of her father to never be forced to marry and he allowed it, having foolishly said "I will give you whatever you want" in front of the other gods.

Mother: In her creation story, Artemis is born of Leto on an island while her mother is in hiding from Hera. Artemis then assists Leto with the delivery of her own brother, Apollo. While she never has children of her own she is seen in early art as having multiple breasts, capable of suckling all life.

Warrior: Artemis is known in many of her stories for killing those who have angered her or for vengence and some people did sacrifice to her before a new military campaign. Artemis rarely showed fear, usually only when facing Hera, and always did what she thought was right, acting by her own code of ethics. She was a tireless defender of the wild and its' creatures, a warrior for those that couldnt' defend themselves.

As a forever-Maiden, unfortunately Artemis has no way of representing the Crone, except in her death-dealing ways, and her later associations with the moon and its' phases. She sometimes is associated with Hecate and her death/Crone aspects but those are borrowed or put upon her.

That's it for now. Showers just seem to be a good place for me to think.