The history and parentage of Gaea goddess
Over 200, 000 years ago, individuals in Africa formed beliefs and myths depending on their nature of life. This resulted from realization of the fact that they are finite in nature. Due to migration of people into the ancient East, the myths found their way into Greece.
Gaea is an ancient god on earth. Her siblings were among the other gods who lived on the land. All the other gods transformed into demons. Gaea was left fearing that the dead gods would finish the generations that were to come. She therefore asked the earth’s biosphere to use its force and eliminate the evil spirits.
She was the only one who survived amongst that entire god’s generation. As a result, she infused her godly nature on other living beings. She was believed to be the spirit of harvest, growth, life and change of planet and its renewal. It is also believed that Gaea was the daughter of Chaos and Taturus (Conway, 1995, p. 51-57). This paper seeks to analyze various issues associated with the goddess, Gaea.
The power of the goddess
Mythically, Gaea, a wife and mother of Uranus, was known for her powers with regard to motherhood and prophesy. She had the power to curse and release evil spells on those who defied her rule.
It is believed that Gaea’s Deep Breast hold the mountains and the sea around the earth. This power was believed to be very effective. Studies conducted on myths show that even after the male gods succeeded her Shrines, the gods still used her name when taking oaths. This shows that she was an extraordinary being (Conway, 1995, p. 53).
Gaea had the power to bring chaos upon the earth. Being the great mother on earth, Gaea had sex with herself and gave birth to the sky, earth and dark void. These were symbols of maiden, mother and crone respectively. This means that she would control humanity through the use of the moon, sky and the dreaded Cronus.
She also had the power to grant freedom to humans so that they could learn through experiences (Marier, & Graf, 1996, p. 80-89). In addition, she had the power to give dreams and nature plants and human beings in their growth. Her celebrations involved slaughtering of young cows. Gaea was also able to cause or deter fertility.
Characteristics of this goddess that may affect or influence us today
One major characteristic of Gaea is that she controlled the earth and its forces. These powers were capable of bringing natural catastrophes such as Katrina and draught. This is because she had the power over wind and production in the land. The effects of this would definitely be felt by the earth’s creatures. More so, Gaea was behind procreation abilities on people and the green vegetation and therefore the ability to decide the fate of a generation’s life (Conway, 1995, p. 51-57).
Gaea is also depicted as the force behind procreation in human nature and propagation in plants. In addition, Gaea was an earth maternal goddess and hence she is a parent to all other gods that are worshipped on earth today.
Modern day goddess
Today, Gaea is not worshipped but is often invoked by the white witches commonly known as the Wiccan religion. Such witches in the current world include Sara Bailey of Los Angeles and Paige Halliwell of San Francisco. These individuals have extraordinary powers and psychic skills. She is also represented in the world by a loose group of spirits during cupid modern holidays.
How the goddess’ characteristics relate to the definition of the ideal woman in her culture and time period
Gaea’s husband, Uranus hated all his children but she would hide them from their father who used to eat them due to fear of being succeeded. Culturally, this is a characteristic of an ideal woman. The woman is depicted as caring and loving. She also carries on generations by allowing procreation and propagation (Marier, & Graf, 1996, p. 80-89).
The story of the goddess Gaea enlightens about goddess worship as a suppressed evil or devil worship. This is only the back side of the Gaea goddess and her control. Other insights relate to sorceresses and wizards who are mostly affiliated to this goddess.
Below is Gaea’s image. She is believed to be a matronly woman. In this picture, she is pleading on behalf of her son Gigantean not to be killed by gods when in war.
Reference List
Conway, J. (1995). Maiden, mother, crone: the myth and reality of the triple. Goddess, U.S: Llewellyn Worldwide. Web.
Marier, T. & Graf, F. (1996). Greek mythology: an introduction. U.S: JHU Press. Web.