antlering:

Something that baffles me is when people compare Aphrodite to “bloody” goddesses (Anat, Inanna, Sekhmet, etc.) as a way to say Aphrodite is just a demure love goddess teehee, look how badass my warrior goddess is instead.

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.

There’s nothing wrong in calling Aphrodite a goddess of love – she is, truly. But this doesn’t make her timid. She is not clawless. She is a complex goddess, inextricably linked to the awesome war goddesses of the Ancient Near East. Do not dilute her just because you’re not familiar with her or with the domain of love goddesses. I know this may seem trivial to some people, but don’t reduce one goddess to make another look more powerful – they don’t need it.

wistfulgiselle:

for Aphrodite April ♡

♡ go to the beach- collect sea shells, bottle the sea foam, sing wildly to the waves, walk barefoot in the shallows and spill your heart to the sea.

♡ make your offerings into a picnic or a tea party- oranges, apples, honey, chocolate, homemade cakes and floral teas… lay a space for Aphrodite too.

♡ ‘easter’ gardens- collect moss, jam jars with water, small sticks, weeds and tiny flowers and arrange them on a plate to resemble a miniature garden, perhaps Aphrodite’s own garden on Olympus or one for the fae to play in.

♡ dance- do not simply resign ballet to the winter but embrace it in the springtime. even stretching your limbs to the morning sun is enough.

♡ place fresh flowers on your altar and thread them through your hair- roses and daffodils and jasmine and lilac and wildflowers… even the weeds growing through the cracks in the pavement are beautiful.

♡ in appreciation of the beauty of spring, write a love letter to it, draw a sketch of the flowers, compose a lullaby or a poem. Aphrodite is the goddess of all beauty, that of spring included.

♡ wear clothes that flow and ripple in the breeze- lace dresses, pale silk pajamas, blossom printed blouses and long skirts that flutter about your ankles.

laurelei-witchery:

Day 6 of 30 Days of Aphrodite

Day 6: Share your favorite hymn.

Iridescent-throned Aphrodite, deathless

Child of Zeus, wile-weaver, I now implore you,

Don’t–I beg you, Lady–with pains and torments

Crush down my spirit,

But before if ever you’ve heard my pleadings

Then return, as once when you left your father’s

Golden house; you yoked to your shining car your

Wing-whirring sparrows;

Skimming down the paths of the sky’s bright ether

On they brought you over the earth’s black bosom,

Swiftly–then you stood with a sudden brilliance,

Goddess, before me;

Deathless face alight with your smile, you asked me

What I suffered, who was my cause of anguish,

What would ease the pain of my frantic mind, and

Why had I called you

To my side: “And whom should Persuasion summon

Here, to soothe the sting of your passion this time?

Who is now abusing you, Sappho? Who is

Treating you cruelly?

Now she runs away, but she’ll soon pursue you;

Gifts she now rejects–soon enough she’ll give them;

Now she doesn’t love you, but soon her heart will

Burn, though unwilling.”

Come to me once more, and abate my torment;

Take the bitter care from my mind, and give me

All I long for; Lady, in all my battles

Fight as my comrade.

— Sappho’s Hymn to Aphrodite

wistfulgiselle:

for Aphrodite April ♡

♡ go to the beach- collect sea shells, bottle the sea foam, sing wildly to the waves, walk barefoot in the shallows and spill your heart to the sea.

♡ make your offerings into a picnic or a tea party- oranges, apples, honey, chocolate, homemade cakes and floral teas… lay a space for Aphrodite too.

♡ ‘easter’ gardens- collect moss, jam jars with water, small sticks, weeds and tiny flowers and arrange them on a plate to resemble a miniature garden, perhaps Aphrodite’s own garden on Olympus or one for the fae to play in.

♡ dance- do not simply resign ballet to the winter but embrace it in the springtime. even stretching your limbs to the morning sun is enough.

♡ place fresh flowers on your altar and thread them through your hair- roses and daffodils and jasmine and lilac and wildflowers… even the weeds growing through the cracks in the pavement are beautiful.

♡ in appreciation of the beauty of spring, write a love letter to it, draw a sketch of the flowers, compose a lullaby or a poem. Aphrodite is the goddess of all beauty, that of spring included.

♡ wear clothes that flow and ripple in the breeze- lace dresses, pale silk pajamas, blossom printed blouses and long skirts that flutter about your ankles.