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Do Not Mess with Cupid
February 13, 2013
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Apollo and Daphne
The myth of Daphne is an illustration of fate and revenge of the gods. She was part of cruel power play between two archers, Apollo and Eros. The proud Apollo bullied Eros who shot two arrows, one tipped in gold and the other in lead to find revenge. Eros, the son of Aphrodite enchanted his arrows to cause total lust and desire in the golden arrow victim, and total hatred in the recipient of the lead tipped arrow. Apollo was hit with the golden arrow, and the object of his desire, Daphne, was struck by the lead one. The struggle between lust and chastity is ended when Daphne turns into a laurel tree. She begged her father to transform her body forever in order to escape Apollo’s desire for her.
Eros is the god of sexual desire. He marries Psyche, a goddess/human representing the human soul. They have one daughter Hedone. Hedone is the quest for pleasure with only good consequences. The English word hedonism is derived from this word, but has a meaning far from the original. Eros is also known in Rome as Cupid. We know this god as a logo for Valentine’s Day, a time when we honor a Christian martyr by consuming mass quantities of cheap chocolate. Neither Valentine nor Cupid will be impressed nor honored with a mindless mandatory purchase of tacky gifts. That is neither pleasurable nor sexy. Eros, Apollo, Daphne, and Aphrodite are archetypes that exist in the human pantheon of possibility. Which one will you play on Valentine’s Day?
Aphrodite, Cupid’s Mother
February 10, 2013
— 17 Comments
Aphrodite
The Greek goddess Aphrodite was born from the sea near Cyprus. Some claim she had parents (Zeus and Dione), others say she sprouted up in the vicinity of the severed genitals of the Titan sky god Uranus. She walked ashore where she encountered the seasons who were beautiful, but had nothing to compare with the loveliness of Aphrodite. She was taken to meet Zeus at Mt Olympus who recognized her striking beauty and the power she wielded with it. He insisted that she marry immediately, and arranged a marriage to his son Hephaestus, blacksmith of the gods. He made her jewelry and even a fabulous girdle that made her even more desirable. She was pure attraction and her husband was busy making all the weapons for the gods, so she had several affairs with gods and mortals.
The Olympian gods took power from the Titan gods. Kronos, the son of Gaia and Uranus (Titans) removed his father’s genitals at his mother’s request and threw them into the sea. The ambiguity about the birth circumstances ( Did she spring up on the scallop shell as an (un?)intended consequence of the disposal of Uranus’ genitals ?) cloud her relationship to the gods of Mt. Olympus. Her full-time job is love, desire, and the attraction that draws people together. This naturally lead her to attract Ares, the god of war, to her bed. She had many children, but none with Hephaestus. Her most well-known child is Eros, also known as Cupid. He too has parentage issues, but some say he is the son of Ares. It reminds me of all those WWII movies in which they are at war, so they fall in love.
Get your red dress out for Valentine’s Day , but give a nod to the mother of all desire. Consider wearing some very sexy sea foam green panties as your foundation.
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