Hebe

Hebe, Greek Goddess, was an embodiment of eternal youth, the ideal maiden, cupbearer to the gods.

Hebe pours Zeus some elixir of immortality. Original painting, prints, and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America.

When my daughter saw this painting, she said, "It looks like blood." Yes, yes, it does. According to Barbara Walker's Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, "The lives of the very gods were dependent on the miraculous power of menstrual blood. In Greece it was euphemistically called the "supernatural red wine" given to the gods by Hera in her virgin form, as Hebe."

This is how they remained immortal. The fountain of youth, blood of a maiden Goddess.

This makes sense, considering the understanding of the functions of menstrual blood at the time. "Pliny called menstrual blood the 'material substance of generation', capable of forming 'a curd, which afterwards in process of time quickeneth and groweth to the form of a body.' Aristotle said the same: human life is made of 'coagulum' of menstrual blood. Plutarch said man was made of earth, but the power that made a human body grow was the moon, source of menstrual blood" (source).

What is more magic than creating life? The blood of the Goddess, elixir of immortality. Zeus seems to like it.

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Saint Helena

I generally blame much of the patriarchy in today's society on Abrahamic religion. I recently started reading Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It, by Janina Ramirez, and I was struck by the fact that it was largely women who first brought Christianity to the English speaking world, and who were the early adopters. Even before that time, it is widely believed that it was Helena, the mother of Constantine, who convinced her son, the Roman Emperor, to convert to Christianity. Why, ladies? Today's painting shows Helena, now known as Saint Helena, following her travels to the Holy Land where she built the Church of the Nativity, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Church of the Ascension. She's posing with the cross upon which Jesus was crucified, which she located and brought back with her as one of the most sacred relics of Christianity. She has the nails in her outstretched right hand. Helena has been given a position of honor ...

Jowangsin

Jowangsin is a Korean Goddess of fire and the hearth. An offering to Jowangsin in the form of a bowl of fresh water would be placed on an altar above the hearth. Jowangsin had rules for the kitchen. Do not curse while in the hearth. Do not sit on the hearth. Do not place your feet on the hearth. Maintain the cleanliness of the kitchen. You may worship other deities in the kitchen. ( source ) Throw your muddy shoes inside or put them on the hearth, and you will experience her vengeance. She was believed to keep track of household activities and communicate with the heavens. Jowangsin helping with the cooking in a traditional Korean kitchen, circa 1950. Original painting, prints, and merch available in shop or via Fine Art America or Saatchi Art . Left: Women in a kitchen in Korea in 1950. Right: An example of a traditional kitchen in hanok (traditional Korean-style homes) during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). [National Archives of Korea, N...

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...

Dewi Danu

Dewi Danu is a Balinese water, lake and river Goddess. The form of Hinduism practiced in Bali is also called Agama Tirta, or religion of the water ( source ). The "floating temple" of Pura Ulun Danu Bratan, on the western shore of Lake Bratan, is dedicated to Dewi Danu ( source ). Built in 1633, the temple is used for offerings and ceremonies dedicated to the Goddess, due to the importance of Lake Bratan as a main source of irrigation in central Bali ( source ). In Bali, besides supporting irrigated agriculture, holy water also holds power that can "cleanse spiritual impurities, fend off evil forces, and render the recipient immune to the attacks of negative or demonic forces." "In Indonesian Hindu Dharma, the 4 elements of Nature, or panchamahabhuta (Earth, Water, Fire, Air) are used in all religious rituals. Out of those, Water is the building block of life and of all living beings that are at the mercy of [the] God[dess]" ( source ). Dewi Danu orig...

Jeanette Rankin

Jeanette Rankin was the original nasty woman - the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress - before women had even secured the right to vote nationwide. A Republican from Montana, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1916, and again in 1940. As a lifelong pacificist, she was vilified for voting against WWI, and again for voting against WWII. She is noted for saying, "You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake." Also notable, "If I had my life to live over, I would do it all again, but this time I would be nastier." ❤️❤️❤️❤️. Original drawing of Jeanette Rankin available as prints and on merch via shop link above or through Redbubble or Fine Art America . Original drawing of Jeanette Rankin available as prints and on merch via shop link above or through Redbubble or Fine Art America . Sources: Wikipedia Brainy Quotes U.S. House of Representatives

Cosmic Goddess Eggs

I'm reading The Living Goddesses by Marija Gimbutas. She writes about the abundance of divine feminine figurines found in almost all levels of almost all Neolithic archaeological sites throughout Old Europe. She discusses how exaggerated body parts on these Neolithic figurines express various manifestations of the divine force. For example, “The symbolic value of exaggerated buttocks relates to ... double eggs, where the power of the life giving symbol increases by doubling. Sometimes the artisan molded the buttocks of a figurine on egg-shaped clay cores or pebbles; thus she or he may have felt the interconnectedness of the symbols of buttocks and eggs.” Creation myths around the world, from prehistory to Big Bang quantum science, involve the cosmic egg . Perhaps there were two cosmic eggs. The cosmic Goddess eggs. Cosmic Goddess Eggs original painting and fine art prints available through Saatchi Art . Prints and other merch also a...

Echoing Multiverse

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