Gaia The Living Planet In The Moment Of Creation
In celebration of the choice of theme that RedBubble have chosen for their current competition (which secretly I believe was my overwhelming obsession for myth subliminally working the pipes of thought), it is right and proper for us all to bow down and worship that who we as a creative force are most inspired by. I have no statistics but an overwhelming number of artists find creativity in the earth, nature and the Great Mother herself.
In celebration of the choice of theme that RedBubble have chosen for their current competition (which secretly I believe was my overwhelming obsession for myth subliminally working the pipes of thought), it is right and proper for us all to bow down and worship that who we as a creative force are most inspired by. I have no statistics but an overwhelming number of artists find creativity in the earth, nature and the Great Mother herself.
Gaia (or Gaea, Ge, Terra, Tellus and many other epithets for Earth) was the matriachal basis of religion in the ancient times and still transposes her all encompassing influence throughout religion, art, society and politics. The strong Mother figure as a creative energy for all to understand as the primal Earth force resonating from the Genesis.
Greek myth atones for existence by recounting the stories of the evolution of the forces of creation and nature through a personification of survival, battle and dramatic (often melodramatic) saga.
Great poets such as Homer, Hesiod and Aristophanes recount in verse the struggles of the forces of the light to separate from the forces of the dark. The misty spiritual spell that forms the magic of the world and universe we are all a part of. Each stage and interaction of chemistry and physics creating a fractal drama that would offshoot into a war one moment, the creation of the music of the lyre another, the worst sexual perversions followed by the most just of tortures in the misty, marshy Underworld. Gaea, no matter how far down the generational line of gods and goddesses the action was, is always honoured as the divine creative mother, which makes the competition theme even more relavent in that the notion of Gaea as a living breathing organism is so relevant in the environmental times of today. There have been massive scientific studies of the environment undertaken in the past with the very same theme.
Gaea the Earth Mother along with her partner Ouranos (Heaven and Sky) are credited with the parentage of all who exist in the realm of Earth consciousness, but they were not the only Protogenoi (immortal creation spirits) to emerge from the magical bang. As the story of the creation of the cosmos goes in ancient Greek myth…
The first born formed the very fabric of the universe, the mesh by which all creation is suspended, Protogenoi literally means first born in Greek. Most of them were purely elemental in form, in that they were quite literally Earth, Air, Fire and Water, however a few were described in anthropomorphic form, particualarly those spirits bound to their physical and native environment.
Gaea herself emerged at the beginning of creation to from the foundation of the Universe. One of the few depicted in anthropomorphic form she was still however shown as a woman partially risen from the ground, inseparable from her element…
Gaea’s siblings and children were thus spawned…
Aether – the a primeval god of the mists of light which fill the upper atmosphere.
Ananke – the goddess of necessity, compulsion and inevitability. She was incorporeal (spirit and not matter) and of serpentine form. She cracked open the world egg in the necessity of creation.
Erebos – the immortal god of the mists of darkness which fill the upper atmosphere. His darkness was sunk into the Earth and surrounded the Underworld.
Eros (not to be confused with the Eros of future generations) – god of generation. Also known as Phanes, he was the ‘driving’ force which drove the Universe into a creative frenzy. As the Immortal god of generation, the creator god, he sprung forth from the silver egg of creation at the beginning of time and set the order of the Universe.
Hemera – the personification of Day, rose from the ends of Earth to scatter the darkness of Night, she was spread throughout the heavens by her Mother Nyx to allow the blue of Aether to shine on the Earth.
Hydros – Water. Together with Earth they formed mud and was usually equated with the Titan god of fresh water Okeanos.
Khaos – goddess of the lower air. She filled the gap between Aether in the upper air and the Earth floor. She was the mother of the other airs Erebos, Nyx, Aether and Hemera.
Khronos – the immortal god of time was the first being to emerge at creation in self. He was incorporeal and was attributed with 3 heads and a serpent’s tail and circled the whole of creation.
The Nesoi – The islands and rocky forms that break from the earth to protrude from the sea.
Nyx – the Night. She would draw the mists of her consort Erebos over the heavens to make it dark. She was depicted as a woman with a star encrusted mantle.
Okeanos – The great Earth encircling fresh water river. From him flow every river, spring and rain bearing cloud. He was a horned man with a serpentine fish instead of legs.
Ouranos – The solid dome of Heaven. His form stretches from one horizon to the other, he sprung from Gaea at creation.
The Ourea – The mountains, born of the Earth.
Phusis – The Protogenos of nature. Mother Nature was a different spirit to Gaea and encompasses the collective spirit of creation on Earth.
Pontos – The primal god of the salty sea born of Gaea.
Tartaros – The Protogenos of the stormy fire pit which lay beneath the crust of the Earth.
Tethys – The goddess of the flow of fresh water throughout the Earth. The form of nourishment for all of Mother Nature.
Thalassa – The goddess of the surface of the sea. The tention that keeps the water liquid and separate. Born of Aether and Hemera, she mixed with the deep waters of Pontos the sea.
Thesis – The Protogenos of creation itself. The goddess of all that came forth from the moment of creation itself.
peterT
So would’nt ouranos be the son of Gaea, and
The Sun being her real partner.