The Divine Feminine The Birth of Aphrodite/Venus
The
Romans borrowed many of the Greek deities and their legends, changing the names but
very few of the story details. One such deity was Aphrodite, who became
the Roman Venus. In the beginning of the world and the deities, Rhea (the
Earth) gave birth to several children by her son Uranus (the Sky). But
when Uranus started imprisoning her offspring, Rhea made a Moon sickle and
talked her youngest son Cronus into castrating his father. When Cronus
dropped the severed genitals into the ocean, a great mass of foam arose.
Out of this foam stepped the beautiful goddess Aphrodite/Venus.
Actually, Aphrodite, like Athene, was of a much older origin than
the usurping patriarchal pantheon. This tale of her "birth" was
a way of granting an older powerful goddess a position of importance once
again. In her Middle East aspect as Asherah or Astarte, this goddess had
the oldest continuously-operated temple in the world.
Under the Roman name of Venus, this deity fell in love with a
mortal man and gave birth to Aeneas. The Romans considered Venus their
ancestral mother, since legend says that Aeneas founded the Roman
civilization. The city of Venice is named after her.
Venus/Aphrodite is a Full Moon deity, one who sustains and
nourishes life. Her powers are ripe, full-blooded, and powerful, but she
also fiercely protects all that she creates. As a symbol of love and fertility,
her symbols were cows, goats, sheep, doves and bees.
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