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.