Venus
“Venus
favors the bold.”
Ovid
Venus, the planet, was
bold at dawn this morning—like the light of an 747 coming in for a
landing, she lit up the eastern sky. Did you know that Venus formed
at the same time as earth, is about the same size, made of the same
material, and once had liquid water. It's atmosphere was thin, like
the earth's. At some point in time, however, she experienced,
according to Neil deGrasse Tyson, a “runaway greenhouse effect,”
and now is 900 degrees, hot enough to melt lead, bone dry, and
covered by clouds of sulfuric acid so thick they would be like trying
to breathe underwater. Stephen Hawking warns, “Earth might one day
soon resemble the planet Venus.”
The ancient Romans, of
course, considered Venus the goddess of love. Lactantius, who lived
in the 3rd century, told the story about when the Romans
were occupied by the Gauls, besieged in their capital, they made
engines from the hair of women. In gratitude, they dedicated a temple
to the Bald Venus. Those Romans knew how to court their goddesses! Or
as least, keep the peace.
I suppose the designation
“love goddess” came about because of the beauty of Venus. She is
a lovely light, and certainly Ovid was right, she does favor the
bold. Timid people certainly have a harder time finding love. And
she, herself, was also bold, both in love and in war. Though she had
a loveless marriage, the goddess Venus gave birth to many children,
both by other gods, and by mortals as well. According to myth, her
children included: Timor (fear), Metus (terror), Concordia (harmony),
Hermes (androgyny), Fortuna (luck/fate), Priapus (fertility), and the
Cupids, (different aspects of love). Certainly, we all know the
effects of falling in love—it scares us to death, and makes us
slightly crazy.
You may be wondering what
all this ancient Roman mythology has to do with modern spirituality.
Well, I like to revisit the myths from time to time, to refresh my
memory about the human condition. Those ancient peoples recognized
the complexity of human behavior, and honored it. They had gods and
goddesses for everything, every human condition, because they saw how
complicated life is, and rather than turning their backs on the parts
they did not like, they paid homage. They realized more than we that
there's a time and place for everything, and all of it is sacred. I
like that about the ancients—and, by the way, I take Stephen
Hawking and Neil deGrasse Tyson very seriously. You should, too.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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