The Cycle of Venus

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 reappearance of the morning and evening stars in their 584 day cycle is posited to have inspired many myths, including Inanna's descent into the underworld and Ausrine's kidnap by fairies.

Ancient seal cylinder showing Inanna with Venus and a lion

Artistic rendition of cylinder seal - original painting, prints, and merch available via shop link above or through Redbubble or Fine Art America.

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Sophia and the Apocryphon of John

In 1945, thirteen leather-bound papyrus codices buried in a sealed jar were found by an Egyptian farmer near the town of Nag Hammadi, Egypt. These early Christian texts date from the 3rd century CE, and include writings attributed to John the Baptist. The writings of John became known as the Secret Book of John, or the Apocryphon of John. A translation by Frederik Wisse can be read online . In the Apocryphon, there is a female counterpart to the Father - the holy Mother, Barbelo. "She is the forethought of the All - her light shines like his light - the perfect power... The first power, the glory of Barbelo, the perfect glory in the aeons, the glory of the revelation... she became the womb of everything, for it is she who is prior to them all, the Mother-Father." I became aware of the Apocryphon of John after reading a graphic novel by Marisa Acocella, The Big She-Bang, The Herstory of the Universe According to God the Mother (highly recommended, by ...

Asherah

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...

Cihuateteo

Cihuateteo means "Women Goddesses". These Goddesses are native to Mesoamerica, appearing in the pantheon as mortal women who died in childbirth and then were deified. The Chihuateteo travel throughout the day, dwelling first with the stars in the western sky in the heavenly region called Cihuatlampa or "place of women". Then, from noon to sunset they accompany the sun, following it through the night as it lights the underworld. Every 52 days the Chihuateteo would descend to earth to reign for a day associated with the west. On these days, children were cautioned to stay inside and men to be careful. Only those skilled in dealing with divine possession should be outside on the days the Chihuateteo descended. In modern writings the Cihuateteo are often characterized as monsters, however this was not originally the case. Rather, they were powerful, benevolent ancestors who were honored and revered. In prayers they were...

Medusa

Who was Medusa before the invading sea god supposedly defiled her? According to Marija Gimbutas, she dates at least as far back as 6000 BCE, based on a mask found at Sesklo. More recently, Medusa appears on the pediment of Artemis's Temple at Corfu, built around 580 BCE. On the pediment, Medusa is flanked by leopards. Large cats, like those associated with Artemis of Ephesus , the Great Mother Goddess of Anatolia, are sometimes considered to be guardians between worlds. Medusa's snakes are a symbol of rebirth. I've read that she may be a chthonic aspect of Artemis, much like Ereshkiga l was the underworld aspect of Inanna. Medusa original painting available through Saatchi Art . Prints, stickers, and other merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Pediment from Artemis's Temple at Corfu ( source ) Or perhaps Medusa was a Moon Goddess. Robert Graves in The Greek Myths writes, "The Gorgons' names--Sth...

The First Known Artists were Women

In 2013, Dean Snow of the University of Pennsylvania published research on sexual dimorphism of hand prints present in Upper Paleolithic cave art. His analysis showed that the overwhelming majority of hand prints present in the European cave art analyzed belonged to women ( source ). Marija Gimbutas and others write that in Old European religion caves represented the womb of the earth Goddess. Women, in the womb of the Earth Mother, creating artwork at the dawn of time. The Creator creating creators, matrilineally. The Creator original painting. Blogger Art Chester writes, "There is also an indirect argument based upon observations of modern primates. Blogger Greg Laden, who studied with Prof. Snow at Penn State, states that when you study chimpanzees, you find that the males are virtually technophobes: 'Virtually all chimp technology is used by females, invented by females, passed from female to female, and so on. Males don’t seem ...

Athena

I painted Athena in December 2020 as part of a Goddess painting challenge, at the very beginning of my deep-dive into Goddess traditions. I painted her as a mean girl, inspired by Regina George. I had never liked Athena, and the result was an unflattering portrait. Athena, the Mean Girl, original painting by Echoing Multiverse, December 2020 Inspiration: The pop culture Mean Girl, Regina George My perception of Athena was based on the story of her punishment of Medusa. I had recently seen a YouTube video from Medusa's perspective. I wasn't yet aware of the complexity of Greek mythology, especially with respect to representations of the divine feminine. Later I learned that this story of Medusa was written by Ovid, a Roman poet, around 8 AD, well after the classical period of Greek mythology. From Robert Graves, I read that Plato identified Athene with the Libyan Goddess Neith, "who belonged to an epoch when fatherhood was unrecognized...Virgin...

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