Echoing Multiverse

 Happy Walpurgisnacht, Beltane, and May Day!  Saint Walburga, burner of witches luxuriating in the flames of the Asherah pole while the children dance for the great mother Goddess of the returning sun and somewhere in the distance the smell of bacon wafts from the sacrificial pregnant sow.  Original painting and fine art prints available through Saatchi Art .  Prints and merch also available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Tonight marks a cross quarter day on the Celtic calendar.  We are halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice.  If Ceridwen was stirring her cauldron for the year, she would be 3/8 of the way through. In ancient Greece, the beginning of May marks the return of Persephone from the underworld.  The Romans named the month of May for the goddess Maia, to whom a pregnant sow would be sacrificed, in the tradition of Demeter  and other Great Mother Goddesses.  The name Maia is an honorific for o...

 Al-Lat was the Great Mother Goddess of pre-Islamic Arabia.  She was worshipped at the Kaaba in Mecca until the city was conquered in 630 AD by Muhammed.  ( source ) Yes...that Kaaba, where Allah is now worshipped.  She was rewritten as a daughter of Allah and a djinn, but was also considered to be Allah's wife, consort, or feminine aspect.  Or...is she the root from which Allah evolved?  In the Quran, Allah is not referred to by gendered pronouns.  Is Allah a Great Mother Goddess?  insert shrug emoji here. Al-Lat original painting based on a bas relief from Palmyra.  Original painting, prints, and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . J ohanna-Hypatia Cybeleia offers the following evidence.  "Although the word ka‘bah itself means 'cube', it is very close to the word ku‘b meaning 'woman's breast' which is derived from the same three-letter root. This turns out to be an appropriate metaphor, as the Ka‘bah nu...

 Huay Chivo is half goat, half man, all monster.  Native to the Yucatan, I first learned about him from the book Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (highly recommended, by the way).  Huay Chivo can also be called Uay Chivo or Waay Chivo.  Waay means "sorcerer", 'spirit", or "animal familiar" in Mayan.  In Spanish he is also sometimes called Chivo Brujo or Espanto de la Medianoche (Midnight fright).  Chivo means goat in Spanish, and brujo means sorcerer. According to Wikipedia, "The Huay Chivo is specific to the southeastern Mexican states of Yucatán, Campeche and Quintana Roo.  Alleged Huay Chivo activity is sporadically reported in the regional press.  Local Maya near the town of Valladolid, in Yucatán, believe the Huay Chivo is an evil sorcerer that is capable of transforming into a goat to do mischief and eat livestock." The Waay Chivo possesses human intelligence as well as enormous strength and speed, emitting dreadful moans, th...

 Jesus was once a child.  The Bible is a bit sparse on this period of Jesus's life.  However, there are many other historic documents that fill in the gaps.  Father Roten and Father Janssen of the University of Dayton have compiled some of those sources for curious readers on the University website .  From the Fathers' research: "Again on Sabbath , Jesus and some boys made fish ponds. The son of Hanan became angry at their working the Sabbath... Hanan kicked the pond of Jesus and the water spilled away. But Jesus told him that as the water vanished away so shall his life. (Arabic Infancy Gospel, 46) "One of the children moved with envy about the passages for water and overthrew what Jesus had built up. Jesus caused him to die. (Ps Matthew 26) "Jesus, playing outside his home made pools of water, but another child of Annas came and broke up the pools. Jesus complained, “You shall not go on your way, and you shall dry up like a stick”… The father came and complain...

 Branwen and Bran were siblings.  Branwen was good, kind, and loving.  Her brother, a giant and the King of Britain, gave her in marriage to the King of Ireland.  Sadly, he was not kind and she was badly mistreated until she managed to train a starling to send a message to Bran, telling him of her plight.  He came to her rescue, but he had also given the evil Irish king a magic cauldron that could resurrect dead soldiers as a wedding gift.  Bad move. Here we see the result.  After all but seven of his soldiers were defeated by the zombie army, Bran  escaped by having the last of his men cut his head off his dying body to carry home.  Bran loved to tell stories, so at least he still had that.  Things did not go so well for Branwen, who we see dead on the shores of Wales, where she succumbs to a broken heart on the way home after the slaying of her son.  The white raven, her spirit animal, guards her body. Bran and Branwen original pa...

 Ceridwen is a Welsh goddess, an enchantress, owner of the cauldron of knowledge, Awen.  She is the goddess of poetry, wisdom, change, and transformation.  She may be a dawn goddess as well, a lady of Venus.  Ceridwen is mentioned several times in the 14th century Book of Taliesin .  However, her most well known story comes from the  Hanes Taliesin , written in the mid 16th century by Elis Gruffydd, a man who was raised Catholic, but converted to Protestantism.    When I first heard the story of Ceridwen, told by a modern day bard on YouTube , I was excited to paint it.  A series of paintings, it would be so fun and colorful.  Interesting characters, lots of animal chases, creepy unnatural pregnancy, what could be better?   The story begins Ceridwen's children, the twins Creirwy and Morfran.  Sadly, they are not identical twins.  Creirwy is sublimely beautiful, while Morfran is disturbingly hideous.  If Morfran c...

 Namaka is the Hawaiian goddess of the sea.  She is the older sister of Pele, and the reason why Pele has had to move from island to island.  They have a bit of a sibling rivalry.  Namaka gets angry from time to time and extinguishes Pele's fire. Namaka original drawing.  Prints and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America .

 The Erinyes, or Furies, of Greek mythology were born from blood splatters when Kronos cut off the genitals of Ouranos and tossed them across the Earth into the ocean.  They are the goddesses of vengeance for bad behavior.  You might think you get away with a crime, but then the Erinyes show up with their brass studded scourges and rage.  Here Mr. Unfettered Capitalism Fossil Fuel Earth Killer Military Industrial Complex is visited by three modern furies, Greta Thunberg, AOC, and Bernie.  How can Bernie be a goddess?  Didn't you know that Gloria Steinem named him an honorary woman ?  True story.  The Furies original painting, prints, and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Arts America .  This would be an excellent greeting card, right?  Or socks...RedBubble has socks.  

 Mary, Queen of Scots, was a golfer.  She was the first known female golfer.  She commissioned the first golf course in Scotland.  And...she was beheaded for golfing.  More or less.  One of the reasons she was assumed guilty of aiding in her husband's murder, and was subsequently deposed and imprisoned, was a rumor that she went golfing two days after his death. Mary, Queen of Golf original painting, prints, and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Sources: https://19thholemag.com/golfing-empress-mary-queen-of-scots/ National Portrait Gallery http://golfhistoryapp.com/2013/09/mary-queen-of-scots-was-seen-golfing-after-husbands-murder-in-1567/

 I started painting after the first covid shutdown in 2020.  How did I start painting?  With an interactive painting show by Landis Expandis, entitled "Let's Get Painting".   It ran during spring and summer of 2020.  And...brilliant news...it is back, every Sunday at 4:00 pm EST.  Yesterday was the first episode, and the audience suggested theme was bears, eyeballs, and springtime flowers.  My result: Mama Bear, in Springtime, Watching.  Original painting, prints, and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . You could learn to paint with Landis Expandis too!  His show streams live from his Facebook page,  https://www.facebook.com/landisexpandis

 Amaterasu is the Sun Goddess of Japan.  Amaterasu is portrayed in Japan's earliest literary texts, the Kojiki (ca. 712 CE) and the Nihon Shoki (720 CE), as the ruler of the heavenly realm of Takamagahara.  She is the head of the pantheon. The Japanese Imperial family has traditionally claimed descent from Amaterasu, which confers upon them the right to rule.   Original drawing of Amaterasu - prints and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Source:  Wikipedia

You've probably seen the happy, waving, beckoning Maneki Neko, but have you heard of her cousins, the Bakeneko? Bakeneko are demon cats.  If a cat lives longer than 13 years in Japan and has not been treated like a god, it is likely to turn into a demon cat.  It may kill its owner and shapeshift to take their place.  If you have an old cat, beware.  Every October in Kagurazaka, Tokyo, there is a bakeneko parade.  I visited, through the magic of YouTube. Original painting, prints, and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America .

 The first woman, Aakuluujjusi, transformed her trousers into a caribou. She gave the animal sharp teeth and long tusks. Then, taking off her jacket, she made a walrus with horns on its head. "But the Inuit took fright before these animals that attacked them on land and in the water: she therefore decided to interchange their horns and tusks, and kicking the forehead of the caribou she broke some of its teeth to render it inoffensive, and caused its eye sockets to bulge out to weaken its vision. She then said, 'Stay far away like true game.' But the caribou were now too quick for the hunters, so she reversed the direction of the hair on their bellies to slow them down." These were the first big game animals of the Inuit. ( Source ) Aakuluujjusi’s creation was a process.  She didn’t create the perfect game animals on her first try.  She looked at the results, sought feedback, and then adjusted.  She created boldly, knowing that perfection wasn’t required.  Origin...

 The Chinook Nation is located in the lower Columbia River region of the Pacific Northwest.  From their website , "It is here that our Chinook families welcomed Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Ocean and helped them survive the winter of 1805 and 1806."  In thanks, Lewis and Clark stole a canoe when they left. The Chinook Nation is currently (as of 2020) working to obtain federal recognition.  They did gain Federal Recognition in 2001 from the Department of Interior under President Bill Clinton.  After President George W. Bush was elected, his political appointees reviewed the case and, in a highly unusual action, revoked the recognition. My painting of the day is based on a Chinook creation myth that I found on native-languages.org  and paraphrase here.   South wind was traveling north, hungry.  He met an old woman, a giantess and asked her for food.  She didn't have any, but offered a fishing net.  South wind caught a whale.  T...

Hannahanna is an enigmatic goddess.  She is the Great Mother Goddess worshipped by the Hittites of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), circa 1800–1180 B.C.E.  (Source:  Brooklyn Museum ). The word for grandmother in Turkey derives from her name. She may be a grandmother of Artemis of Ephesus and Demeter.  All three share a bee connection.   Hannahanna is known for saving the world by sending one of her bees to awaken a depressed Telepino, sulky god of agriculture. Another myth tells of how Hannahanna herself disappeared in a fit of anger, causing all the crops to die and parents to abandon their children until, her anger absorbed by the dark side of the Earth (the underworld), she returned. This, combined with the myth of waking the god of agriculture, presents a close parallel to the myths of Demeter and Persephone. Additionally, the priestesses of Persephone and Demeter were known as Melissai or “bees.” Persephone’s nickname among the ancient Greeks was Melit...

 An inscription from Khirbet El-Qôm (near Jerusalem) dated to the 700s BCE and translated by archaeologist Judith Hadley reads, "Uriyahu the Rich wrote it. Blessed be Uriyahu by Yahweh for from his enemies by his Asherah he has saved him by Oniyahu by his Asherah and by his A[she]rah.” ( Source ) Asherah was the Great Goddess of the Ancient Near East.  From this inscription and other evidence, it is surmised that Yahweh, the God of the Jews, once had a wife - Asherah.  Asherah was also sometimes known as Astarte and was associated with lions and the planet Venus, like her relative, Ishtar/Inanna.  Asherah's symbol was the tree of life, and her worship involved sacred groves and asherah poles.   Asherah original painting available through  Saatchi Art .  Stickers, prints, and other merch available in shop or through  RedBubble  or  Fine Art America.   All of the Asherahs in my painting are based on figurines housed in the Isra...

 Demeter and her daughter Persephone were honored every spring and fall at the Eleusinian Mysteries, held in Eleusis, a town near Athens.  According to a 2018 exhibit in the Acropolis Museum, reported here , "Every prospective pilgrim had to sacrifice a piglet in honor of Demeter."  It is likely that the piglets were sacrificed on "the second day of the celebration, since the pilgrims returned from the sea where they themselves and the sacrificed animals had a purifying bath." According to the exhibit catalogue, "piglet sacrifice in honor of the goddess Demeter was a common practice in the whole ancient world, both in ancient Greece and in the colonies." I've been pondering pigs lately, specifically in relation to the Goddess.  Are the Jewish and Muslim pork bans related to Goddess worship?  Insert shrug emoji here. In an article from the University of Michigan Museum of Art and Archaeology, about a bronze coin from Eleusis, the author writes, "T...

   Many goddesses have been associated with the morning star, the planet Venus.  Venus is unique in that she is the morning star for 263 days, disappears behind the Sun for 50 days, reappears as the evening star, which she embodies for another 263 days, and finally, disappears again between the Earth and the Sun for 8 days, before finally rising once again as the morning star.  ( diagram here ) Where does she go?  Sometimes, she visits the underworld. Morningstar Entering the Underworld original painting, prints, and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Entrances to the underworld punctuate the countryside of the ancient world, often associated with caves, rivers, or hot springs.  Underworld dieties varied from culture to culture as well.  This entrance to the underworld is based on Orcus's mouth in the Gardens of Bomarzo. Orcus was a god of the underworld, a punisher of broken oaths in Italic and Roman mythology.  ...

 Malakas and Maganda are a mythical couple from the Philippines.  In the beginning, there was nothing but sea, sky, and a kite bird.  The kite bird tired, so she stirred up the sea and sky into a furious battle.  The sky threw down boulders, creating islands.  The land breeze and the sea breeze had a child, bamboo.  Bamboo struck the kite bird accidentally, so the kite attacked the bamboo, pecking until it split open, revealing the first woman and the first man.  Maganda, meaning beautiful, and Malakas, meaning strong. Malakas and Maganda original painting, prints, and merch available via shop link above, or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Sources:   http://bakitwhy.com/articles/ancient-philippine-creation-myth-malakas-and-maganda https://pantheon.org/articles/m/malakas.html

  Tuchulcha is an Etruscan goddess of the underworld.  The Etruscans lived in the area around Rome before it became Roman.  Some authors have viewed Tuchulcha as a god, however there is evidence that she was actually a Goddess.  According to Nancy de Grummond, "This monster is often referred to as male but in fact is very likely female (or neither gender), for she wears a woman’s dress, has decidedly pale pinkish skin (compare the standard brick-red male flesh of These), and even appears to have breasts."  de Grummond also identifies the Tuchulchas diamond-marked snakes, as the poisonous Viper Vipera Berus. ( source ) Tuchulcha, Etruscan Goddess of the Underworld - original painting, prints, and merch available via shop link above or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Tuchulcha and These in the Tomb of Orcus II, Tarquinia.

The Ophanim are listed by ancient Jewish scholar Maimonides as the highest of God's angels.  In the Bible, the Ophanim are described as sets of nested wheels, covered in eyes, that move next to the Cherubim angels, beneath the throne of God.  They never sleep, but along with the Seraphim and Cherubim, guard the throne. The Ophanim See All.  Original painting, prints, and merch available via shop link above, or RedBubble or Fine Art America . Ezekiel, in the Bible, describes the Ophanim as sparkling like topaz, high and awesome, full of eyes all around. Sources: Wikipedia The Bible

Learning about goddesses has led me to learn a bit about astronomy.  Many goddesses and a few gods throughout history have been associated with the morning star and the evening star .  Different cultures discovered at different times that both of these stars are the same celestial object, known today as the planet Venus - the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the moon.  The internet contains diagrams of the cycle of Venus, but I couldn't find one that put all of the pieces together.  So I drew one!  Here, I use a symbol from reliefs of Inanna to represent Venus's current position in her cycle. She just transited behind the Sun (represented by the Norse goddess Sol), and has reappeared low on the horizon as the evening star, which she will embody for the rest of 2021 before vanishing for 8 days to reappear as the morning star for most of 2022 ( source ). The Cycle of Venus, as viewed from Earth, not to scale The disappearance and reappearanc...

Seated Goddess of Catalhoyuk - excavated by archaeologist James Mellaart in 1961. She is estimated to date from approximately 6000 BCE.  Mellaart writes that during that time, "Art makes its appearance in the form of animal carvings and statuettes of the supreme diety, the Mother Goddess."  This statue is sometimes identified as Cybele or Kybele, a Great Mother Goddess who would later be adopted by the Romans.   The animals at the sides of her throne are thought to be leopards or lionesses.  Billie Jean Collins notes, "Mortals in the iconography of the historical periods would not normally be represented flanked by wild animals, a fact that lends itself to the interpretation of the female as a goddess."  Goddess figurines at Catalhoyuk were found by Mellaart near areas he believed to be shrines, and also in grain storage areas - which is where this Goddess was found, suggesting a role in ensuring the harvest or protecting the food supply. The Seated Goddess i...

Today I learned about the Adelitas - female soldiers of the Mexican revolution, on whom George Lucas claims to have based Princess Leia .  I can see it. Original painting, prints, and merch available via shop link above or through Fine Art America . The name Adelita came from a popular song, and grew to be applied to the soldaderas of the Mexican Revolution, who fought against government forces with the rebel army. According to Wikipedia , Adelita "came to be an archetype of a woman warrior in Mexico, and a symbol of action and inspiration. Additionally, the name is used to refer to any woman who struggles and fights for her rights." The Adelita in my painting is based on this historical photograph.  ( Source )  I was drawn to the woman in the lower left hand corner.   A Public Radio International story from 2016 backs up the Princess Leia - Adelita connection, noting that "in 2002, Lucas told Time magazine that he was “working very hard to create something d...

When a painting is finished, I often have a little bit of paint leftover on the palette.  I hate to waste anything, so I'll usually have a leftover painting in progress that I add to, little by little.  I recently finished a leftover unicorn and phoenix.  Slightly abstract.  I like their colors. Unicorn and phoenix original, prints, and merch available via shop link above or through Redbubble or Fine Art America .

 This week's inktober52 prompt was shield.  The obvious feminist subject is the Viking shield maiden . Original art, based on Viking age shield maiden figurine.  Available on greeting cards and other merch through RedBubble , Fine Art America , or via shop link above. The Valkyries of Viking mythology are thought to be based on female Viking warriors, also known as shield maidens.  Archaeological evidence of such warriors has been found, including this figurine and, most notably, the Birka warrior , a woman buried with two shields, two horses, and an arsenal of weaponry.  Additionally, there are written accounts of Viking women fighting alongside men in battle, as well as leading armies on their own.