Artemis
wants us to revisit her with regard to her connection to the Thermodon
Amazons to assist us with strengthening the Solar Plexus and our
personal power.
We will build our personal power in a balanced way–not over or under
expressing it–especially now, in the glow of the cosmic balance of the
Equinox– when Day and Night are equal!
Plus she has something special related to sound, which is our theme this week!
Artemis, is not a Greek name. She has pre-Greek origins and was
absorbed into Greek culture becoming one of the most popular deities.
Copies of her cult statue have been excavated all over the Roman Empire.
It is said that the Thermodon Amazons created the original temple at
Ephesus (eastern Turkey) ‘under an oak tree’, sacred to Artemis, before
700 BCE. They came from northern Turkey on the southern shores of the
black Sea.
Her multi-breasted cultic statue, also known as Ephesian
Artemis, highlights her life-giving Mother Goddess aspect and all the
animals and insects in relief on the statue reflect her title as ‘Mistress of the Animals.’
In fact, I chose this copy of her ‘Ephesian’ statue because the Zodiac appears above her breast area– enhancing her cosmic connection to animals and life.
[https://www.livius.org/pictures/libya/lepcis-magna/lepcis-magna-amphitheater/artemis-of-ephesus-4/]
Artemis and Bees
On many of the copies of the Ephesian Artemis, we see several bees on both sides.
Rigoglioso goes into extensive detail about the significance of bees and
how they are a parthenogenetic symbol as they were understood, in
antiquity, to be “chaste” and born spontaneously from flowers or the
carcasses of bulls.
[Closeup of Bee on Artemis statue;
https://www.livius.org/pictures/turkey/selcuk-ephesus/ephesus-prytanaeum/artemis-statue-beautiful-4/]
Biologically speaking, she notes that bees are partially parthenogenetic, meaning that the queen bee can produce male drones without having ‘sex’.
She produces female worker bees when she has sex with a male- which they accomplish in mid-air, no less! Truth is stranger than fiction!!
[Western Honey Bee, Public Domain, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11108000]
Also
found in connection to Ephesian Artemis worship– she is represented
with insect wings and the body of the bee, dating as far back as the 7th
or 8th century BCE.
[Gold plaques embossed with winged bee goddesses, found at Camiros, Rhodes, dated to 7th century BCE By Unknown artist – Jastrow (2006), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1405561]
Bees were also associated with the Egyptian Goddess Neith who we learned was a parthenogenetic Goddess and was also associated with the Libyan Amazons.
Artemis’ Nymphs as Virgin Amazon/Warriors
In this picture, we switch to Greek Artemis (also known as Diana by the Romans) – she is commonly depicted with a bow, quiver, arrows or spear.
Like Athena, she held the title Parthenos, Virgin.
She was named “Virgin of Profuse Arrows” as well as “Revered Virgin.”
She is the huntress and patron Goddess of the Amazons and insisted that
her nymphs be chaste.
Rigoglioso shows that this requirement of virginity was because ‘
“nymph” was in many cases a marker for divine birth priestess, a holy parthenos.’
Nymphs were also in many cases, athletes and hunters who accompanied
Artemis on her hunting trips like Amazons and enjoyed footraces.
They also joined her in her bath in the wild, and performed circle dances with her, singing her praises.
[ Diana Versailles, By Commonists – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=99819999]
Artemis: Goddess of Nymph Song & Dance
Artemis loves to dance and sing!
Virgil says, she ‘foots the dance’ and has a thousand mountain nymphs weaving a constellation around her, ‘who in grace of movement excels all goddesses.’
In the Iliad, Homer calls her ‘the sounding one’, or ‘clamorous’ Artemis, ‘dancing in the choir’ among the nymphs.
(Homeric Hymn 5 to Aphrodite 19) Artemis…’loves the lyre and dancing and thrilling cries.’ Rigoglioso points
out that the ‘thrilling cry’ is the equivalent of ‘ululating’- which
you hear belly dancers do by moving the tongue back and forth while
sounding a high pitch tone.
“Herodotus
(4.189.2) says that the Greek women learned how to make this cry from
the “Libyan women,” who emitted the sound ceremonially during religious
rituals.”
Depending on the intention of the ‘ululating’, it can also be as a war cry or a way to stimulate and motivate.
This ties Artemis to Neith and Athena and brings in the element of sound to build our personal power!
We will play with:
? ululating
? howling (at the moon!)
? buzzing bee ? sound
? humming
as alternative doorways to stimulate the Solar Plexus.
We’ll explore the Solar Plexus area through movement & meditation to:
?wake up the digestive organs
?bring more flow into the ribcage
?allow more ease of breath and sound.
?connect the Womb and the Solar Plexus
Of course there is so much more to say about ALL of this, so to read more, check out the blog. It’ll be updated sometime on Thursday 😉
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I hope you’ll join us this Thursday, March 25th, 5-6:30 pm PT
If this is your first class, please come as my guest- just let me know you’d like to come!
If you’d like to invite friends, they can join here.
This is a practice, where the journey is more important than the destination.
Thursdays, 5-6:30 pm PT/ 8pm ET/ 10:00 am Sydney, AU
$15 for single // $50 for 4 classes/replays (save $10)
International folks can paypal US dollars to michelle@michellewhitehart.com
USA folks can Venmo me: @Michelle-White-Hart
You will receive Zoom + Music link before class
Replay will come a few days later- lasts a few weeks
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions to make sure you have the tech sorted out.
Very much looking forward to diving in with you!
Michelle
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