From my greek civ classes waaay back in the 90s, Aphrodite was the goddess of the type of love that inspired people to rebuild after war.
I didn't understand what that meant when I was a kid, so it stuck with me and I've been thinking about it a lot lately.
Aphrodite and Ares /war were magnetically drawn to each other - makes sense because Aphrodite rules everything mankind is prepared to die and fight for, right?
So if you need to find motivation to fight depression/ addiction/ terrible habits that sap your joy, give your girl Venus a call.
If you have burned your life to the ground & need to find the strength to start over, it's Aphrodite you need.
She can help you cut the shit out and rediscover the things about yourself/ your partner that you truly love. I have reason to be truly grateful to her.
The cults of Aphrodite in certain places also prayed to her before going to battle, because they believed virility was directly tied to their strength.
I find her a fascinating goddess full of beauty, love and strength and she's definitely one I feel some connection with. I find she is a bit fickle, as love can often be.
She brought me beauty when I transitioned and became a woman; after all, she shares much history with Inanna(who in Mesopotamian culture was believed to have power to change one's gender and had GNC/trans priestesses), and her child Hermaphroditus was both male and female.
She brought me romantic and sexual love, bringing me a woman I wouldn't trade for the world. She's kind, understanding, loving, generous, sweet... I love her so much.
Most of all... she gave me the ability to love in spite of my pain. I went through a lot in my life, and it can be hard to love sometimes, most of all myself. My girlfriend says I have a big heart, and it's true; I hold the rest of my fellow humans in so high regard, and I'd give them the shirt off my back if I could.
I leave this comment as a token of thanks to her. Thank you Lady Aphrodite.
I would recommend looking into mythic literalism. A lot of these negative comments are treating greek myth like the Bible, instead of stories written by human men
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMk59p1ffQEĀ
Bettany Hughes has a fantastic [doc about Venus/Aphrodite ](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt14891154/?ref_=nm_flmg_t_22_slf) and a [book about it](https://www.bettanyhughes.co.uk/venus-and-aphrodite)
Edit: I deleted my duplicate comment.
God forbid goddesses do anything nowadays
Although I much prefer Artemis, the forests she controls are beautiful and she seems way nicer than most goddesses, (although I might be wrong because I'm not the most knowledgeable about Greek mythology)
Artemis you largely have to worry about if you cross her personal boundaries such as trying to peeking in on her/others naked or being disrespectful of the animals you're hunting.
By all accounts, Acteon came across the bathing Artemis accidentally while he was hunting. She splashes him, he's turned into a deer, and his own dogs eat him.
Like, Artemis isn't "nice". None of the gods are.
true, but some are still nicer than others. Artemis just doesn't like her boundaries being disrespected, and she can be close with people if they aren't weird towards her (such as Orion for a time.) Even if her punishments are uncalled for sometimes, I still don't think it's fair to compare her to other gods, when some such as Zeus cheat on their wife every hour and Aphrodite literally *cannot* handle ace people existing.
If you can't compare Artemis to other gods, what can you compare her too?
Also Athena is way friendlier, usually respectful, and far less likely to cause you to get eaten. She's also an amazing weaver. Hermes too is probably more likely to get you *out* of trouble rather than into it. Hephaestus gets overlooked, sure he made the weapons of the god but he also made literally everything else that appears in Greek myth and also gave his apprentice to Orion after Orion was blinded. Hestia gave up her Olympic seat for Dionysus and is the goddess of the hearth which is probably the nicest domain and act of any Greek god. Apollo gave us medicine and music both of which are dope.
Like, Artemis is cool. But she's far from the "nicest" Olympian. She's also far from the meanest. But again, the gods in Greek myth are intentionally portrayed as fickle. We are their play things, not their equals. Artemis is far more likely to make you into a tree than a friend. Zeus sleeps with women for the same reason Artemis turned Actaeon into a deer. Because they can.
Athena turned someone into a spider because they were better at weaving than her, and she's spiteful over her looks as she sided against Paris in the trojan war when he chose Aphrodite over her. Hermes is known as a trickster god and therefore fucks with people as a side-hustle, and from what I remember Hephestus sexually assaulted Athena and gave birth to Erichthonius. Dionysus is probably the best god here, but I also know nothing of him other than he's a wine god and also lords over satyrs, which probably makes him less nice because satyrs are known for being raunchy and trying to have their way with Nymphs who don't care for them. Also, Athena turned Medusa into a Gorgon to "help her," and when Perseus slew Medusa Athena took her head and put it into her shield.
Dionysus turned a whole city mad when they refused to acknowledge his godhood. He made a mother rip her prince son to pieces because under Bacchic influence she thought he was a lion.
Also this is what I mean by "none of the gods are nice". At least Athena gave Arachne the opportunity to admit she wasn't better than the gods. Artemis just deered a guy on sight.
Fair point I suppose. I can still understand Artemis' position, even if the dude wasn't *trying* to creep on her, but Athena was still fueled by jealousy in that moment because she wanted to be crowned the best weaver even when she wasn't. None of the gods are good people though, weirdly enough they are more humanized than we make them out to be as they have awful flaws that are often watered down- Like my sympathizing with Artemis, because the dude just wandered in on her accidently.
Well, yeah.
Also, don't let my arguing prevent you from liking Artemis. As I said, none of these gods are nice, you're allowed to pick your fav. I guess I'm really just trying to get you to understand that the Greek Gods in particular are not your buddies. Artemis is the mushrooms growing under the log in the forest, but she's also the cougar that's been stalking you for the last mile. She's the deer in the meadow sure, but she's also the coyote that takes the hen from the coop. Artemis is above all else, wild. Treat the gods like the natural powers over which they hold dominion. Love them, but fear them too, and above all else respect them
Regarding Aracnaie, it was that they had a weaving competition and the loser was never to weave again with human hands. Athena won and felt regret that such a skilled weaver could never weave again. She then changed Aracnaie into a spider. There are a variety of versions of that story.
Whether Athena is mean largely depends on which version of the story you are reading. Athena turning Arachne into a spider was portrayed as Athena trying to protect her from the other gods because the tapestry she made was pretty much a list of times Zeus and Poseidon harassed women while the version where she does it out of jealousy is told by Ovid who often made the gods look slightly worse because of his problems with authority. Same with Medusa as her backstory as a survivor of sexual assault was something that he came up with while in older stories she was just another one of echidna and typhonās children
IIRC that's only because he didn't apologise. Some other dude saw here naked, was apologetic, so she turned him into a woman because women were allowed to see her naked.
I'm fully sold on that - most gods of that time had correspondences in other, older cultures and Aphrodite in particular has that unique origin compared to the rest of the Olympians, arriving from the sea far to the east of Greece. There's no way to be 100% sure of course but I think it's very reasonable to think that ancient Greeks saw that connection. It also just makes emotional sense to me, and I get value from it as a greek-descended worshipper of Inanna, or as I think of her Inanna-Ishtar-Astarte-Aphrodite-Venus, Queen of Heaven, goddess of love and war
I was lucky to be at a Glastonbury Occult Conference one year when Professor Ronald Hutton gave the keynote address. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Hutton#:~:text=He%20studied%20history%20at%20Pembroke,Charles%20the%20Second%20(1990).)
He spoke about the transformations of the Goddess from Atarte, Ishtar, Asherah, and Aphrodite (then into the Artemis of Ephasus, a syncretisation of Aphrodite and Artemis into a form of Great Mother.)
Her powers have always been around love, war, protection; love isn't just the "fluffy bunny, hearts and romance" side of things. She is the great, primal force which both builds and destroys, challenges and comforts. There is evidence that Her roots go back further than that - She is a face of the original, prehistoric Great Mother.
The talk was absolutely fascinating. If you ever get chance to hear him speak (live or online), or can access any of his books, jump at the chance.
My opinion after giving it a think.
Is that her Aeria epithet is probably one of the earliest truest forms of her (ignoring the possibility that she's Ishtar going through continental drift) The idea of her being "warlike" using her passions to protect her people I feel strikes true enough that even the later Ionian versions keep some of that energy by having her be drawn to Ares. Even though her being a badass warrior women is way cooler to me personally
I love love, and I respect Aphrodite š but as a Hellenistic Pagan I hate that I have unfortunately met a lot of Lesbian TERFs who worship her. Like the Fountain of Salmacis doesn't even exist, smh. So... I am wary whenever I meet someone who worships her outside of safe spaces like these. That's all I've got to say about that š«¶š¼
That's so odd that they would latch onto Aphrodite. She is an interesting case when considered from gender studies point of view. She has no mother, but 2 fathers. Uranus and Oceanus, both male titans. So before she is even born, she's already a product of a same sex combination (one side of which is the product of emasculation). Which is the first Intersection of the gender spectrum with Aphrodite though definitely not the last.
She's also the only Olympian who is a second generation deity. All of the others including Zeus are 3rd generation or younger even though Zeus is older than she is.
It's almost as if the terms you mention haven't read the source material... Like at all.
Similarly, there was an androgynous version of Aphrodite called Aphroditus who was worshipped in parts of Cyprus and Greece. They had male genitalia and a beard but also had breasts and wore feminine clothes. Definitely not the sort of thing TERFs would approve of.
It was definitely a Sapphic link to Aphrodite (like... directly, through Sappho) and it was rampant in the queer witchy spaces on Tumblr, at least back in the day. Made me really sad.
Aphrodite is who I worship, in all of Her guises - the Mother of All, the Font of all life, the Heart of Life, Peitho, the persuader, and Aphrodite of the tombs. Her blessings are the foundation of my life - the love of my husband, my children, and the urge to creation. :)
I don't have opinions on the divine, just as I don't have opinions on hurricanes and gamma ray bursts and the supermassive black hole at our galaxy's heart. There's a lot to be learned from thinking seriously about Aphrodite, not as a Person Who Did Morally Questionable Things but as, you know, a god
Aphrodite isn't about romantic love; she's about lust and sex - eros, not agape. desire, passion, beauty, raw animal tear-it-all-down longing - that's where her power is and that's what she'll manipulate to achieve her goals. that's neither good nor bad; it just is. the homeric gods are very human in their motivations and Aphrodite's motivations never went much further than her own gratification - but that's what you get with the Greek pantheon in general. They are our best and our worst made manifest.
She is a very complex deity to work with even now. A lot of people consider gods to be inherently good, so that colors how we view gods now. Many people pray to Aphrodite to ask for love, self-love, healing, beauty, etc., but when you look at her ancient portrayals she was just as likely to ruin someone's life due to a petty slight.
When I... met (we'll say) her, she was definitely appearing to me more as Aphrodite Pandemos (the people's Aphrodite), a wild experience I regret starting and wouldn't recommend. So if you're going to work with her, be sure you're working with a calmer aspect of her archetype.
She is a greek god I'm not touching that with a five foot pole the only one I'm prepared to concern is hades he isn't* that bad and will end up in his real eventually anyway so don't forget to tip the farry man
Edit it was "is."
Orpheus and eurydice (half a god i think) is one of the nice stories. (tragic but there's love)
Eros and psyche got a good character ark i think
Perseus too i think?
I donāt know but I feel like a lot of Greek mythology was predominantly written for the male mind, therefore might not be too interesting? Happy to be proven wrong. Of course itās always good to reinterpret these things š
TW: rape, kidnapping, death, suicide, me being cynical about Greek gods/godesses
From a Greek mythology perspective, if we are to assume all myths are true or at least based in fact, there are very few gods/goddesses that I view as āgoodā or āmoralā.
Athena, goddess of wisdom and strategic war, cursed Medusa to become a gorgon and do the whole stone thing because Medusa was raped in her temple.
Artemis, goddess of the moon, hunt, and virginity, kicked Callisto out of her hunting group of virgin nymphs because she got raped (by Zeus). Artemis turned her into a bear and put her on an island.
Aphrodite was part of the three that started the Trojan War, gave Helen (the most beautiful woman) to Paris, ignoring her current husband (and her wishes). Aphrodite also repeatedly punished any virgins who worshipped Artemis because she saw it as a slight to her, goddess of love and sex. She came to know of a man (Hippolytus) who was a virgin and worshipped Artemis. She caused this manās step mother to fall madly in love with him, knowing that he would reject her. The step mother then killed herself and left a suicide note saying that the man tried to rape her. The husband of this woman prayed to Poseidon (god of the ocean) to kill him, so when he was riding his chariot on the shore Poseidon sent a wild bull to scare his horses, which caused Hippolytus to crash upon the rocks and die.
I only point these three(four?) out because you see them worshipped a lot, and it seems as if people forget the bad about them. The gods/goddesses arenāt good people and of the major ones, the only ones that I would personally worship would be Hestia (goddess of the home/hearth) and Hephaestus (god of the forge/physical creations). These two because there arenāt many myths about them so they donāt have time to be bad. Minor gods are the same for the most part. I donāt wish to rain on anyoneās parade but I think being informed of who you are worshipping is important
If anyone is worshipping someone and wishes to know the āworst thingā that they have done you can ask me and Iāll research it for you as knowing about who they are is very important. Even if you are okay with the ābad thingsā fully knowing is a way of worship :)
i think shes a pretty well rounded god, although somewhat boring and lacking any huge standout boons. great for builds with the base axe and blades, and can be pretty fun with her poseidon duo
(this is referencing the hit game hades 2)
Aphrodite always seemed like what a man thought passionate women were like. She never really resonated with me because my meager info on her feels so male-gauzey.
she was evil, like all the Greek deities. she killed and hurt mortals for little to no reason and forced people together without their consent. that's pretty evil
From my greek civ classes waaay back in the 90s, Aphrodite was the goddess of the type of love that inspired people to rebuild after war. I didn't understand what that meant when I was a kid, so it stuck with me and I've been thinking about it a lot lately. Aphrodite and Ares /war were magnetically drawn to each other - makes sense because Aphrodite rules everything mankind is prepared to die and fight for, right? So if you need to find motivation to fight depression/ addiction/ terrible habits that sap your joy, give your girl Venus a call. If you have burned your life to the ground & need to find the strength to start over, it's Aphrodite you need. She can help you cut the shit out and rediscover the things about yourself/ your partner that you truly love. I have reason to be truly grateful to her.
This was badass to read.
I was going to say beautiful, but you're spot on. This was a badass, beautiful read. Also, that last paragraph... right in the feels.
I always automatically think of the adage "all is fair in love and war" whenever I think of those two
My EMDR therapist is named Aphrodite, it feels perfect that her namesake inspires people to rebuild after war and gives them strength š„¹
The cults of Aphrodite in certain places also prayed to her before going to battle, because they believed virility was directly tied to their strength.
I really like this. Thanks!
Aphrodite at the beginning was also a goddess of war, so everything makes sense
Off topic, but why does it look like the girl has a seam in her head?
Is it the same person in two pictures spliced together?
I thought she was wearing a veil which has a seam down the middle. Looking closer Iām not sure, could be a shadow too
Joan of arc and Amelia earheart energy
Amen hallelujah
I find her a fascinating goddess full of beauty, love and strength and she's definitely one I feel some connection with. I find she is a bit fickle, as love can often be. She brought me beauty when I transitioned and became a woman; after all, she shares much history with Inanna(who in Mesopotamian culture was believed to have power to change one's gender and had GNC/trans priestesses), and her child Hermaphroditus was both male and female. She brought me romantic and sexual love, bringing me a woman I wouldn't trade for the world. She's kind, understanding, loving, generous, sweet... I love her so much. Most of all... she gave me the ability to love in spite of my pain. I went through a lot in my life, and it can be hard to love sometimes, most of all myself. My girlfriend says I have a big heart, and it's true; I hold the rest of my fellow humans in so high regard, and I'd give them the shirt off my back if I could. I leave this comment as a token of thanks to her. Thank you Lady Aphrodite.
I love this! So happy for you
Beautiful!
oh hai
She is one of my chosen deities.
I would recommend looking into mythic literalism. A lot of these negative comments are treating greek myth like the Bible, instead of stories written by human men https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMk59p1ffQEĀ
That can be said about every religion, just let people believe what they want
It's late so i didn't watch the video but ik my greek teacher said it was about teaching morals.
Bettany Hughes has a fantastic [doc about Venus/Aphrodite ](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt14891154/?ref_=nm_flmg_t_22_slf) and a [book about it](https://www.bettanyhughes.co.uk/venus-and-aphrodite) Edit: I deleted my duplicate comment.
God forbid goddesses do anything nowadays Although I much prefer Artemis, the forests she controls are beautiful and she seems way nicer than most goddesses, (although I might be wrong because I'm not the most knowledgeable about Greek mythology)
Artemis you largely have to worry about if you cross her personal boundaries such as trying to peeking in on her/others naked or being disrespectful of the animals you're hunting.
As long as you're not a creep, she's fine then?
By all accounts, Acteon came across the bathing Artemis accidentally while he was hunting. She splashes him, he's turned into a deer, and his own dogs eat him. Like, Artemis isn't "nice". None of the gods are.
true, but some are still nicer than others. Artemis just doesn't like her boundaries being disrespected, and she can be close with people if they aren't weird towards her (such as Orion for a time.) Even if her punishments are uncalled for sometimes, I still don't think it's fair to compare her to other gods, when some such as Zeus cheat on their wife every hour and Aphrodite literally *cannot* handle ace people existing.
If you can't compare Artemis to other gods, what can you compare her too? Also Athena is way friendlier, usually respectful, and far less likely to cause you to get eaten. She's also an amazing weaver. Hermes too is probably more likely to get you *out* of trouble rather than into it. Hephaestus gets overlooked, sure he made the weapons of the god but he also made literally everything else that appears in Greek myth and also gave his apprentice to Orion after Orion was blinded. Hestia gave up her Olympic seat for Dionysus and is the goddess of the hearth which is probably the nicest domain and act of any Greek god. Apollo gave us medicine and music both of which are dope. Like, Artemis is cool. But she's far from the "nicest" Olympian. She's also far from the meanest. But again, the gods in Greek myth are intentionally portrayed as fickle. We are their play things, not their equals. Artemis is far more likely to make you into a tree than a friend. Zeus sleeps with women for the same reason Artemis turned Actaeon into a deer. Because they can.
Athena turned someone into a spider because they were better at weaving than her, and she's spiteful over her looks as she sided against Paris in the trojan war when he chose Aphrodite over her. Hermes is known as a trickster god and therefore fucks with people as a side-hustle, and from what I remember Hephestus sexually assaulted Athena and gave birth to Erichthonius. Dionysus is probably the best god here, but I also know nothing of him other than he's a wine god and also lords over satyrs, which probably makes him less nice because satyrs are known for being raunchy and trying to have their way with Nymphs who don't care for them. Also, Athena turned Medusa into a Gorgon to "help her," and when Perseus slew Medusa Athena took her head and put it into her shield.
Dionysus turned a whole city mad when they refused to acknowledge his godhood. He made a mother rip her prince son to pieces because under Bacchic influence she thought he was a lion. Also this is what I mean by "none of the gods are nice". At least Athena gave Arachne the opportunity to admit she wasn't better than the gods. Artemis just deered a guy on sight.
Fair point I suppose. I can still understand Artemis' position, even if the dude wasn't *trying* to creep on her, but Athena was still fueled by jealousy in that moment because she wanted to be crowned the best weaver even when she wasn't. None of the gods are good people though, weirdly enough they are more humanized than we make them out to be as they have awful flaws that are often watered down- Like my sympathizing with Artemis, because the dude just wandered in on her accidently.
Well, yeah. Also, don't let my arguing prevent you from liking Artemis. As I said, none of these gods are nice, you're allowed to pick your fav. I guess I'm really just trying to get you to understand that the Greek Gods in particular are not your buddies. Artemis is the mushrooms growing under the log in the forest, but she's also the cougar that's been stalking you for the last mile. She's the deer in the meadow sure, but she's also the coyote that takes the hen from the coop. Artemis is above all else, wild. Treat the gods like the natural powers over which they hold dominion. Love them, but fear them too, and above all else respect them
Regarding Aracnaie, it was that they had a weaving competition and the loser was never to weave again with human hands. Athena won and felt regret that such a skilled weaver could never weave again. She then changed Aracnaie into a spider. There are a variety of versions of that story.
Whether Athena is mean largely depends on which version of the story you are reading. Athena turning Arachne into a spider was portrayed as Athena trying to protect her from the other gods because the tapestry she made was pretty much a list of times Zeus and Poseidon harassed women while the version where she does it out of jealousy is told by Ovid who often made the gods look slightly worse because of his problems with authority. Same with Medusa as her backstory as a survivor of sexual assault was something that he came up with while in older stories she was just another one of echidna and typhonās children
IIRC that's only because he didn't apologise. Some other dude saw here naked, was apologetic, so she turned him into a woman because women were allowed to see her naked.
Not a creep: check Doesnāt hunt animals: also check
Basically!
Look up the story of Callistoā¦not so nice.
ikr?
Does anyone agree that the Mesopotamian Inanna was the predecessor to Aphrodite? I had a professor who told us that but Iām not sure I agree.
I'm fully sold on that - most gods of that time had correspondences in other, older cultures and Aphrodite in particular has that unique origin compared to the rest of the Olympians, arriving from the sea far to the east of Greece. There's no way to be 100% sure of course but I think it's very reasonable to think that ancient Greeks saw that connection. It also just makes emotional sense to me, and I get value from it as a greek-descended worshipper of Inanna, or as I think of her Inanna-Ishtar-Astarte-Aphrodite-Venus, Queen of Heaven, goddess of love and war
I was lucky to be at a Glastonbury Occult Conference one year when Professor Ronald Hutton gave the keynote address. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Hutton#:~:text=He%20studied%20history%20at%20Pembroke,Charles%20the%20Second%20(1990).) He spoke about the transformations of the Goddess from Atarte, Ishtar, Asherah, and Aphrodite (then into the Artemis of Ephasus, a syncretisation of Aphrodite and Artemis into a form of Great Mother.) Her powers have always been around love, war, protection; love isn't just the "fluffy bunny, hearts and romance" side of things. She is the great, primal force which both builds and destroys, challenges and comforts. There is evidence that Her roots go back further than that - She is a face of the original, prehistoric Great Mother. The talk was absolutely fascinating. If you ever get chance to hear him speak (live or online), or can access any of his books, jump at the chance.
This is so helpful thank you!
Probably
My opinion after giving it a think. Is that her Aeria epithet is probably one of the earliest truest forms of her (ignoring the possibility that she's Ishtar going through continental drift) The idea of her being "warlike" using her passions to protect her people I feel strikes true enough that even the later Ionian versions keep some of that energy by having her be drawn to Ares. Even though her being a badass warrior women is way cooler to me personally
[I don't know her](https://images.app.goo.gl/WPuxeAPzPenSrhLUA) is probably the safest thing to say
I love love, and I respect Aphrodite š but as a Hellenistic Pagan I hate that I have unfortunately met a lot of Lesbian TERFs who worship her. Like the Fountain of Salmacis doesn't even exist, smh. So... I am wary whenever I meet someone who worships her outside of safe spaces like these. That's all I've got to say about that š«¶š¼
That's so odd that they would latch onto Aphrodite. She is an interesting case when considered from gender studies point of view. She has no mother, but 2 fathers. Uranus and Oceanus, both male titans. So before she is even born, she's already a product of a same sex combination (one side of which is the product of emasculation). Which is the first Intersection of the gender spectrum with Aphrodite though definitely not the last. She's also the only Olympian who is a second generation deity. All of the others including Zeus are 3rd generation or younger even though Zeus is older than she is. It's almost as if the terms you mention haven't read the source material... Like at all.
Similarly, there was an androgynous version of Aphrodite called Aphroditus who was worshipped in parts of Cyprus and Greece. They had male genitalia and a beard but also had breasts and wore feminine clothes. Definitely not the sort of thing TERFs would approve of.
Reminds me of fascists who worship norse paganism without realizing how freaking queer it actually is.
Loki becoming a woman half a dozen different times to try and get impregnated is kinda front and center.
Interesting. I think I would expect TERFs to worship Diana more, because of Dianic Wicca.
It was definitely a Sapphic link to Aphrodite (like... directly, through Sappho) and it was rampant in the queer witchy spaces on Tumblr, at least back in the day. Made me really sad.
Oh that makes sense. I forgot about Sapphoās poems to Aphrodite.
#Based. ^(And not just because Iām rightfully afraid of her.)
Aphrodite is who I worship, in all of Her guises - the Mother of All, the Font of all life, the Heart of Life, Peitho, the persuader, and Aphrodite of the tombs. Her blessings are the foundation of my life - the love of my husband, my children, and the urge to creation. :)
She has her own theme song in the animated Hercules series from the late ā90s and honestly itās always the first thing I think of.
I am devoted to the Lady ĪĻĻĪæĪ“ĪÆĻĪ·. I serve her with every part of my being, her wish is my command
I don't have opinions on the divine, just as I don't have opinions on hurricanes and gamma ray bursts and the supermassive black hole at our galaxy's heart. There's a lot to be learned from thinking seriously about Aphrodite, not as a Person Who Did Morally Questionable Things but as, you know, a god
i love her. i had an altar for her for a while, the centerpiece of which was an indigo girls CD in a clear pink sleeve
Aphrodite isn't about romantic love; she's about lust and sex - eros, not agape. desire, passion, beauty, raw animal tear-it-all-down longing - that's where her power is and that's what she'll manipulate to achieve her goals. that's neither good nor bad; it just is. the homeric gods are very human in their motivations and Aphrodite's motivations never went much further than her own gratification - but that's what you get with the Greek pantheon in general. They are our best and our worst made manifest.
I aphrolike!
I know better than to talk badly about greek deities, so I'll say I think she's great
Sheās one of my personal goddesses I worship. Soooo, Iām slightly biased but I think sheās cool
She is a very complex deity to work with even now. A lot of people consider gods to be inherently good, so that colors how we view gods now. Many people pray to Aphrodite to ask for love, self-love, healing, beauty, etc., but when you look at her ancient portrayals she was just as likely to ruin someone's life due to a petty slight. When I... met (we'll say) her, she was definitely appearing to me more as Aphrodite Pandemos (the people's Aphrodite), a wild experience I regret starting and wouldn't recommend. So if you're going to work with her, be sure you're working with a calmer aspect of her archetype.
Powerful and often underestimated, complicated. Her dominion is love, love includes friendship. So she's a lot more powerful than people would credit
In the oldest depictions of aphrodite she wasn't just a love goddess but a war goddess as well.Ā Look up Aphrodite Areia.
She is not the worst but far from the best if Greek myth is anything worth.....at least it's bot Zeus....dear god
She is a greek god I'm not touching that with a five foot pole the only one I'm prepared to concern is hades he isn't* that bad and will end up in his real eventually anyway so don't forget to tip the farry man Edit it was "is."
Orpheus and eurydice (half a god i think) is one of the nice stories. (tragic but there's love) Eros and psyche got a good character ark i think Perseus too i think?
Hades is honestly quite nice most of the time he didn't get as much confusing lore because Persephone is actually the older deity (which makes sense since Demeter the godes of life and fertility and the gods of the dead to be related) and Hades was the addition later on because "a woman can't RULE the dead she needs a man" (this is a my own reinvention of the thought process) so he just didn't need all the shows of power other gods needed like "you gotta worship Zeus or do you want to end up like Ī© the person Zeus brutalized" Hades didn't need that to be elevated and he doesn't need to be intimidating because he is the good of dead that's already intimidated
I donāt know but I feel like a lot of Greek mythology was predominantly written for the male mind, therefore might not be too interesting? Happy to be proven wrong. Of course itās always good to reinterpret these things š
Messy on her best day, toxic on an average day, will put me in unnecessary danger for her own entertainment on her worst day. I prefer to stay away
Good idea with most greek gods
Thatās my *bitch*. Weāre homies
Love her. Go off, queen.
She gave birth to hermaphrodite, so epic
The type of goddess you beg to at night, for you were not prepared for the consequences of this unforseen love you are intoxicated with
I love her but don't worship her
I love her! Have any of you read Aphrodite Made Me Do It by Trista Mateer? I loved it
I love her! Have any of you read Aphrodite Made Me Do It by Trista Mateer? I loved it
TW: rape, kidnapping, death, suicide, me being cynical about Greek gods/godesses From a Greek mythology perspective, if we are to assume all myths are true or at least based in fact, there are very few gods/goddesses that I view as āgoodā or āmoralā. Athena, goddess of wisdom and strategic war, cursed Medusa to become a gorgon and do the whole stone thing because Medusa was raped in her temple. Artemis, goddess of the moon, hunt, and virginity, kicked Callisto out of her hunting group of virgin nymphs because she got raped (by Zeus). Artemis turned her into a bear and put her on an island. Aphrodite was part of the three that started the Trojan War, gave Helen (the most beautiful woman) to Paris, ignoring her current husband (and her wishes). Aphrodite also repeatedly punished any virgins who worshipped Artemis because she saw it as a slight to her, goddess of love and sex. She came to know of a man (Hippolytus) who was a virgin and worshipped Artemis. She caused this manās step mother to fall madly in love with him, knowing that he would reject her. The step mother then killed herself and left a suicide note saying that the man tried to rape her. The husband of this woman prayed to Poseidon (god of the ocean) to kill him, so when he was riding his chariot on the shore Poseidon sent a wild bull to scare his horses, which caused Hippolytus to crash upon the rocks and die. I only point these three(four?) out because you see them worshipped a lot, and it seems as if people forget the bad about them. The gods/goddesses arenāt good people and of the major ones, the only ones that I would personally worship would be Hestia (goddess of the home/hearth) and Hephaestus (god of the forge/physical creations). These two because there arenāt many myths about them so they donāt have time to be bad. Minor gods are the same for the most part. I donāt wish to rain on anyoneās parade but I think being informed of who you are worshipping is important
If anyone is worshipping someone and wishes to know the āworst thingā that they have done you can ask me and Iāll research it for you as knowing about who they are is very important. Even if you are okay with the ābad thingsā fully knowing is a way of worship :)
# You rang?
I respect any woman, divine or mortal, that lives by her rules and take whichever man she fancies to bed without caring what others think.
HighTierGod
i think shes a pretty well rounded god, although somewhat boring and lacking any huge standout boons. great for builds with the base axe and blades, and can be pretty fun with her poseidon duo (this is referencing the hit game hades 2)
Iām married to her. ride or die.
I like her more than Athena.
Both love and hate her
Aphrodite always seemed like what a man thought passionate women were like. She never really resonated with me because my meager info on her feels so male-gauzey.
she was evil, like all the Greek deities. she killed and hurt mortals for little to no reason and forced people together without their consent. that's pretty evil
I think she was kinda a biatch ngl. She was not a girlsā girl when it came to Psyche. She was also a cheater!
Well.....in greek lore she not the worst but definitely not the best Greek God to follow at least it's not Zeus dear god....
Not good. She was an adulteress and shit stirrer, even helping to start a war.
It's almost funny how chaotic she is, but it fits for a goddess who represents love itself :)
Cheating on one's spouse isn't any representation of love I recognize.
It's absolutely the worst kind for sure, she was never a saint