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)

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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...

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 ...

Nuwa

Nuwa is the great mother goddess of Chinese mythology, credited with creating humanity. She molded the first people out of clay by hand. Then she got tired, dipped a rope in the mud, and swung it around her head to make more. Thus were made the nobles and the peasantry. She has the body of a serpent. Nuwa, original painting by Echoing Multiverse. Available via Saatchi Art .

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...

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...

Demon Cats

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 .

Echoing Multiverse

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