GAIA


 
by
Ezevia Rose

 
  A HISTORICAL BASE
 

In the beginning there was no earth, or sky or sea. There was only a dark mass of confusion called Chaos.
After many years, Mother Earth called Gaia was born.
 

Gaia gave birth to Pontus (the sea) and Uranus (the sky also known as Father Heaven). Father Heaven loved Mother Earth, he made rain fall on her, so that her flowers and trees and grasses grew. The rain fell into the crevices, forming seas, rivers and lakes. Then she created many kinds of animals to live in the forests and fields, lakes and oceans.

Gaia after creating the great oceans took Uranus as her husband who was also her son. Together they brought forth forms of nature with precise names.  Their offspring included the Titans, six sons and six daughters. She gave birth to the Cyclops and to three monsters that had fifty heads and one hundred hands each, they  became known as the “Hecatonchires”.  The Erinyes (spirits of punishment) were also offspring of Gaia and Uranus. Here the mother goddess and son-lover myth is glimpsed.

It is said Uranus could not stand the sight the children monstrous as they were, soon after birth he planned to hide them in a secret place so they would never see light.  This was straining to Gaia as she was vast and she groaned mightily. She thought of a plan to overcome Uranus and brought forth gray iron. A huge sickle with great teeth was formed, she then urged her sons the Titans to repay their father’s crime. It was Cronos who took up the challenge on for his mother.

“Great Heaven came, and with him brought the night.

Longing for love, he lay around the Earth,

Spreading out fully. But the hidden boy

Stretched forth his left hand; in his right he took

The great long jagged sickle; eagerly

He harvested his father’s genitals

And threw them off behind. They did not fall

From his hands in vain, for all the bloody drops

That leaped out were received by Earth; and when

The yea’s time was accomplished, she gave birth

To the Furies, and the Giants, strong and huge,

Who fought in shining Armour, with long spears

And the Nymphs called Meliae on the broad Earth.”

Cronos released his brothers and sisters. The Titans then made Cronos the ruler of heaven
and earth and their sister Rhea his wife and queen.

After the separation of the Earth and Sky, Gaia gave birth to those fathered by Pontus. Their names were sea-god Nereus,
Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto and Eurybia.

Rhea bore sons one of which was to overtake Cronos.

It was Gaia who saved Zeus from being swallowed by Cronos, after Zeus was born, Gaia helped Rhea to wrap a stone in swaddling clothes to trick Cronos, who heard that one of his children would depose him. To rid that fear he swallowed them. Gaia tricked Cronos and Zeus was taken to Crete.

Gaia is the primordial element from which all Gods and Goddesses originated and were worshipped in Greece. She later went into decline and was supplanted by other Gods.

In Roman mythology she is known as Tellus or Terra.

Her name is also spelled as Gaea or Ge and is pronounced as jee’-uh.

 

THE REAPPEARANCE


 

Gaia was largely suppressed by Christians  but later emerged in the 18th century when references are made of her as the female earth , Mother Goddess.

Interest continued greatly in the 19th century, many tribal peoples worshipped the Earth as a female deity.

In 1861 the first volume of “Das Mutterrect” written by Johann Jacob Bachofen (1815-1887) a Swiss Anthropologist argued that the matriarchate  or gynecocracy found among tribal peoples, where authority in both the family and the tribe was in the hands of women. That the worship of both family and tribe was of a supreme female deity.

These ideas later meshed with those of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution in 1859 in his “On the Origin of Species” there emerged the view that human evolution passed through an early matriarchal stage.

It was with this background of ideas that in the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century that archeologists saw the newly discovered Paleolithic “Venus” figurines. Viewing them as representations of the Mother Goddess.

In more recent studies the “Venus” of Willendorf as been seen as more of an amulet functioning in connection with fertility.

At the time of its discovery the statuette showed traces of red ochre pigment, which thought to symbolize or serve as a surrogate of menstrual blood, or a life-giving agent.

The fact that the statuette “Venus” of Willendorf would have served this purpose would emphatically place the figure in a female sphere. This would increase the idea that they would have been sculpted by a woman and not a man.

 

“THE GAIA HYPOTHESIS”
 

In contemporary science there is a theory that the earth-soil, water, atmosphere, and living creatures, all together is one system. One so intricate and self regulating that it is viewed as an enormous conscious living entity.

James Lovelock has called this the “Gaia Hypothesis” The Gaia theory suggests that in some sense the earth is “alive”. Lovelock writes: “I recognize that to view the Earth as if it were alive is just a convenient, but different way of organizing the facts of the Earth. I am of course prejudiced in favor of Gaia and have filled my life for the past twenty-five years with the thought the Earth may be alive: not as the ancients saw her- a sentient Goddess with a purpose and foresight-but alive like a tree.  A tree that quietly exists, never moving except to sway in the wind, yet endlessly conversing with the sunlight and the soil. Using sunlight and water and nutrient minerals to grow and change. But all done so imperceptibly, that to me the old oak tree on the green is the same as it was when I was a child.”

 

IS SHE ALIVE
 

The idea of a living earth is ancient. “We shall affirm that the cosmos, more than anything else, resembles most closely that living creature of which all other living creatures, severally or genetically, are portion; a living creature which is fairest of all and in ways most perfect.”  Plato

The thought of Earth as alive has only been lost since Descartes and the coming of objective science.

There are advocates of a living earth even in this scientific period : James Hutton (a physiologist) Lamark, Goethe, Humbolt and Vladimir Vernadsky who introduced the concept of a biosphere, the recognized matter as “living”, life a geological force and the atmosphere as an extension of life

 



http://www.creativegallerytwo.com/Earth-mother
 

SYMBOLS OF GAIA
 

        The snake was the original ancient surviving symbol of her original worshipers.  In myth Gaia is served by the great snake Pithia who is resident as Delphi. The snake now is often misinterpreted as the serpent of Christianity in the story of Adam and Eve.

To our Foremothers the snake was rebirth. The snake is able to shed its skin giving it the look of re-birth a symbol of life not evil.

The Greeks left offerings of honey and barley to the Goddess Gaia.

Both honey and barley are symbols of feminine abundance. Honey is connected to sweetness and the matriarchal bee, while barley is a seed that upon examination is shaped like a small vulva with it’s conch type shape and little central slit. Both would be appropriate today to use in calling down the great beneficence of the wonderfully fertile Goddess Gaia.

 



http://www.themes.myquth.com/Mother

 

FEAST OF GAIA
 

Records of Gaia have perished over the centuries, thus Gaia may be honored on any day, however April 22 The Spring Equinox or Earth Day would be an appropriate day of celebration. People all over America today celebrate Earth day in honor of preservation. There are organized clean up days and presentations of awareness to protect and help our Mother Earth.

 
WORKING WITH GAIA
 

To Heal

Healing with the Earth works through the process of transference. The wound or disease is transferred magically to another substance, usually an organic one, which is then buried. As it rots it releases the wound or disease.

To remove a disease or heal a wound, rub the afflicted part with an apple or potato. Then as quickly as possible, dig a hole in the ground, put it in, and cover it over with earth. It is done.

One note here is be wise. Healing magic should always be used in addition to conventional medicine and never as a replacement.

 
To Lose your Troubles

Take a handful of earth and gaze into it; pour into it all your problems. Outline in minute detail all of those problems plaguing you.

When you are finished, throw the dirt behind you and walk away from it, not turning back.
 

An Earth Charm

Tie up a small green square of cloth some fresh, rich soil. Firmly tie this so no earth can escape.

Carry this with you if you have troubles with stability, security, and self-control; if you are apt to let your emotions rule your life; if you are constantly angry or nervous. This amulet of earth will help.

Exerpts from Scott Cunningham’s “Earth Power”
 


http://www.bnr-art.com

Bev Dolittle
“The Earth is My Mother”
 


CHANTS AND PRAYERS TO GAIA

 “Green growth, green growth,

Flesh and hair and dress

Of our universal Mother Earth

O Terra Mater, bless us always

With Green Growth.”

Taken from Barbara G. Walker’s “Women’s Spirituality and Ritual”

 

“Of her I sing, the All-Mother,

old and rock-hard and beautiful.

Of her I sing, the nourisher,

She upon whom everything feeds.

Of Gaia I sing. Whoever you are,

Wherever you are, she feeds you

 From her sacred treasure of life.

Bountiful harvests, beautiful

Children, the fullness of life:

These are her gifts. Praise her.”

“The wide blue sky wants to penetrate the earth.

The earth longs for utter union. Look it comes!

Rain falls. Rain falls as sky meets the earth.

Rain falls. Earth bubbles with life.

Life springs forth form the damp soil:

Flocks of sheep like clouds, oceans of wheat.

All gifts of earth’s children. And one more:

Peace. Peace that blossoms in a rain of love.”

 
“Earth, holy mother, source of nature,

you feed us while we live, hold us when we die.

Everything comes form you, everything returns to you.

What else could we call you but Our Mother?

Even the Gods call you that. Without you,

There is nothing.  Nothing can thrive, nothing can live

Without your power. Queen and Goddess, I invoke you:

You are all – powerful and my needs are so small.

Give me what I ask in exchange, I will give you

My thanks, sincere and from my deepest heart”

Experts from Patricia Monaghan “The Goddess Path”

 

A QUARTER CALLING TO THE TREES
 

This quarter call does indeed draw on the trees and their magical attributes. You will notice that there are coordinating times of day as well as directions and magical correspondences. To perform this circle  casting, start in the east. As you call each quarter, you will keep moving to each new direction to your right. Then move to the center to seal the circle.

 
“Circle of the Trees”
In the east, maple leave rustle in the morning breeze,

Element of air, I call for inspiration, join me now please.

In the south, the midday sun shines upon the mighty oak tree,

I request the element of fire for strength and to illuminate me.

In the west, the willow sways by the silver springs at twilight,

Element of water, I call for love and the gift of second sight.

In the north grows the cypress, tree of the midnight hour,

Element of earth, grant me protection, wisdom and power.

Four different trees of magick, four separate times of power.

This circle of trees is now cast by root, stem, leaf and flower.”

 
To open the circle, begin in the north. Release each element with your love and thanks. Try something like this:

“Element of Earth, I thank you for your presence. Go in peace. Blessed Be”

Then move to your left and release each element in turn. To finish up, I would open the circle by using the oldie but goodie
 “The circle is open, but unbroken. Merry meet, merry part and merry meet again.

Taken from Garden Witchery by Ellen Dugan
 

 
 
MY GARDEN GAIA GODDESS
 


 



For my personal project I chose to make a Gaia that was created mostly from my garden plants. It was my aspiration to make a creation that when completed out of earthen materials would stay in the garden to watch over and guide me throughout my day.

I began with a large wooden spoon which I painted cream color, then coated that with green tissue paper for color. I drew her face with permanent marker and colored in areas with metallic paints.

Her hair is fashioned of birch sticks and her clothes are from Oak leaves and ribbon grasses. Her hair decoration is bergamot and mountain mint. I really had a fun time creating her and the children in my class loved watching me create her. They hope they can make one of their own in the future.

 

Copyright

This page is the intellectual and creative property of Ezevia Rose.