Tales and stories of love abound in February. To pick the eternal Goddess
of love, Venus or Aphrodite seems an obvious choice. Part of what we, at
Hestia's Hearth, would like to do, is get away from the traditional and
examine some of the lesser known Deities. For further information about
Venus, please refer to the Goddess calendar page.
February is a special month, containing St.Valentines Day, a holiday for
lovers. The origin of that tradition is worth looking up but it is not the
focus of our attention this month. Instead we look at the wonderful
opportunity this is to utilize the energies of the nine muses.
Nine is a very significant number in Goddess worship. We have mentioned
before that there are generally three faces to each Goddess, representing
the maiden, mother and crone aspects of a women's life. Multiples of three
maintain that aspect so that we always have access to the deeper mysteries
and meanings of life within ourselves.
The Muses were daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne or Memory who was a
Titaness. She was the daughter of the Earth and Sky. The story is that
Mnemosyne and Zeus made love for nine days before she gave birth to the
Muses or Goddesses of art. Memory was traditionally significant in an
'era' when there was no written word to record history. After her
daughters were born, they were raised by the bowman Crotus who became
Sagittarius after his death.
The Muses are the dancing maidens divinely inspired by the Gods Apollo and
Dionysius. Each of them was given a special area of art, over which they
ruled. Of the nine Calliope was probably the best known. Here are there
roles. Try to see which Muse would represent your most artistic side.
Calliope ruled over epic poetry
Clio ruled over history
Euterpe ruled over lyric peotry
Melpomene ruled over tragedy
Tersishore ruled over choral dance and song
Erato ruled over love poetry
Polyhymnia ruled sacred poetry
Thalia ruled over comedy
Urania ruled over astronomy and astrology.
As the day approaches when we give our lover outward signs of our
affection, we call upon the talent of the muses to help us to find the
right words, music or dance that will help to convey what is written in our
heart. There are many ways to express love. It is good to remember that
we must first love ourselves too. Sit quietly and listen to your favourite
kind of music or dance barefoot and kick up your heels or read that book
that has been gathering dust on the shelf or sit and watch the moon and
stars while you contemplate your role on this wonderful planet.
Happy Valentine's day to you!
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