Cybele

Cybele processing through Rome, with her lions and frame drum.

Cybele original painting available through Saatchi Art. Prints and other merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America.

Cybele was an Anatolian Great Mother Goddess. The Romans were losing the Punic wars against Carthage. Tanit, the lion Goddess of Carthage was too strong. So the Romans sent to Phrygia for Cybele. Cybele arrived in Rome in 204 BCE, the war was won, and Cybele became one of the chief deities of Rome. St Peters Cathedral in the Vatican is built on the site of Her temple.

"Roman emperors like Augustus, Claudius, and Antonius Pius regarded her as the supreme deity of the empire. Augustus established his home facing her temple, and looked upon his wife, the empress Livia Augusta, as an earthly incarnation of her." (source)

When Cybele moved to Rome, she brought Attis along, her tragic son/lover, whose self-mutilation, death and resurrection represent the fruits of the earth dying in winter only to rise again in the spring. Roman reports of the rituals of Cybele record that an effigy of Attis would be tied to a tree and then buried. After three days, "a light was said to appear in the burial tomb, whereupon Attis rose from the dead, bringing salvation with him in his rebirth." (source)

Barbara G. Walker writes, "There was Christian sect founded in the 2nd century A.D. by Montanus (Mountain man), a priest of Cybele, who identified Attis with Christ. Montanus maintained that women were agents of the Goddess and could preach and prophesy as well as men. This contradicted the orthodox Pauline sect, which followed St. Peter's rule that women must never speak publicly on holy subjects. During the 4th century, Montanist Christianity was declared a heresy, and many of its adherents were slain. Some Montanists in Asia Minor were locked in their churches and burned alive." (source)

Comments

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...

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...

Sheela Na Gig and the Power of the Vagina

The Guardian published a piece on Sheela Na Gigs for International Women's Day on Monday. Here's a link. A few weeks ago, I painted two Sheelas. Found on churches throughout the British Isles and Europe, Sheela Na Gigs are "figurative carvings of naked women displaying an exaggerated vulva." There are over 100 documented examples just in Ireland. The carvings may be remnants of a pre-Christian mother goddess. They may also have been thought to ward off evil spirits. They're often found over doors or windows, and they're generally smiling. The two I have painted are from the Church of St. Mary and St. David at Kilpeck, Herefordshire, England and the Parish Church of Oaksey, Wiltshire. While I was researching the Sheelas I came across other related stories of, as the Guardian so deftly put it, "big vagina energy". The power of women (especially the nude form) to create life, protect it, or - conversely - take it away. My favorit...

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 ...

Bucranium = Uterus

A bucranium is a bull's head and horns. Bucrania have been found in shrines at Catalhoyuk, one the oldest cities ever to be excavated. Dorothy Cameron interpreted the bucrania at Catalhoyuk as a "symbol of life and regeneration--essentially a female symbol, representing the divine power of the female reproductive system." Bucranium = Uterus original painting, prints, and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Layout of bucrania based on a drawing of a reconstruction of Shrine E VI at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in a 2007 article by Joan Relke (below). Source Marija Gimbutas writes, "the key to understanding Neolithic renditions of the bull's head and horns (bucranium in archaeological literature) comes through their resemblance to the female uterus and fallopian tubes." Besides the bucrania from Shine E VI, other images at Catalhoyuk show female torsos with bucranium in the position of the uterus an...

Tawaret

Tawaret is an ancient Egyptian Great Mother Goddess who oversees childbirth. She has the head of a hippo, tail of a crocodile, limbs of a lioness, and torso of a pregnant woman. Saturday was International Worker's Day aka Labor Day in much of the world. Labor Day, Labor Goddess, because being a mom is job and the U.S. needs paid maternity leave like the rest of the developed world. Also, universal healthcare. The average price of hospital births in Pennsylvania is $19,764. That makes Tawaret and I displeased. Tawaret original painting and fine art prints available through Saatchi Art . Prints and other merch also available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . The Glencairn Museum writes, "Her very name emphasizes her power. Taweret (T3-wr.t) means “the great (female) one.” Greeks rendered her name as Thoeris. Further emphasizing her protective nature, Taweret usually carries or rests upon the s3 symbol, whi...

Echoing Multiverse

Search This Blog