Ancient Psychedelia: Alien Gods & Mushroom Goddesses
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    (58a) Graeco-Roman "Venus head" c. 300 BC-100 AD Aphrodite was originally a Western Asiatic goddess, similar to Ishtar and Astarte. (158) Sometimes she was called Mylitta (“She Who Brings Forth Children”), which was the Assyrian name of the goddess Ishtar. Herodotus associated Mylitta with Aphrodite: “now Mylitta is the name given by the Assyrians to Aphrodite.” (159) Aphrodite shared a healing altar at Oropos with Athena, also a healer and the daughter of Asclepius, (160) and while in the form of a dove, visited Aspasia and cured an ulcer on her chin. (161) Pausanius writes on the sanctuary of Aphrodite: “The sanctuary of Aphrodite Urania (the Heavenly) is most holy, and it is the most ancient of all the sanctuaries of Aphrodite among the Greeks. The goddess herself is represented by an armed image of wood.” (162) According to one version of the myth, Aphrodite lost Adonis to Ares, who hid him in a chest which Persephone looked after. It wasn’t until Zeus decreed that he should spend part of the year on earth with Aphrodite and part of it with Persephone in Hades that the matter was resolved. At Byblos on the coast of Syria, there were annual celebrations with a period of mourning, then rejoicing in the return of the dying vegetation in the spring. (163) Sappho was regarded as one of the greatest lyric poets and was given names such as the “Tenth Muse. There are not many existing complete works of hers. In the following hymn, Aphrodite is appealed to for “joy in celebration” by “pouring nectar into their gold wine cups.” It is very unlikely the suppliants are seeking a simple grape-wine: Afroditi of the Flowers at Knossos Leave Kriti and come here to this holy temple with your graceful grove of apple trees and altars smoking with frankincense. Icy water bubbles through apple branches and roses leave shadow on the ground and bright shaking leaves pour down profound sleep. Here is a meadow where horses graze amid wild blossoms of the spring and soft winds blow aroma of honey. Afroditi, take the nectar and delicately pour it into gold wine cups and mingle joy with our celebration. (Source – The Complete Poems of Sappho, translated by Willis Barnstone.) |
Hephaestus (Greek Hephaistos), is a god of fire whose Roman counterpart was Vulcan. Because he was born lame, implying he is disabled in one foot, his mother cast him out of heaven, but he was later brought back to Olympus by Dionysus. His chief role was manufacturer of weapons for the gods and certain mortals. (164) His lameness implies single-footed-ness as well. Shiva had a single foot, and a limp or orthopedic handicap implies the use of one foot only. Several mushroom related deities and also chimeras have this one-footed characteristic as we have seen. Hephaestus was the son of Hera and Zeus, (165) and his consort, though continuously unfaithful, was Aphrodite. There are some accounts in which he was wed to Athena or was going to be. He was considered god of fire, volcanos, metalsmithing, carpentry, metallurgy and other crafts associated with fire. His iconography includes a hammer, an anvil and a pair of tongs. His center of worship was the Island of Lemnos. He was responsible for designing Hermes helmet and sandals, Achilles armor and many other fine magical implements. At some point in the latter Greek period, Hephaestus became associated with volcanos as attested by the writings of Apollonius of Tyana: “there are many other mountains all over the earth that are on fire, and yet we should never be done with it if we assigned to them giants and gods like Hephaestus.” (166) Prior to this time, the association of Thor or Odin or even Zeus, as “thunder-gods” who lived in the volcanos forging their craft, never found them becoming “volcano-gods.” The thunder and lightning were occurrences which early man had noticed happening around the skies above volcanos as we often see, but they also exist in places that do not have volcanos, and this was undoubtedly noticed by early man as well. (167) This part is good to keep in mind for the last chapters. (158) Cult of the Mother goddess, p. 147; Herodotus, i, 105; Pausanius, i, 14, 7; Iliad, v, 330; Odyssey, viii, 362f.; Hesiod, Theogony, 192 (159) Healing Gods, p. 306; Herodotus, I:199 (160) Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum vii, 136 (161) Healing Gods, p. 306; Ailianos, Historia Varia, XII, i) (Hercher, ed. Leipzig, 1866 (1870), p. 117 (162) Pausanius, Descriptions of Greece, 3.23.1 (163) Cult of the Mother Goddess, p. 147-48; Journal of Hellenic Studies, London, ix, 1888, p. 193ff.; Tacitus, Annals, iii, 62; Herodotus, i, 199; Strabo, xvi, i, 20, 745 (164) Apples of Apollo, p. 92; https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hephaestus (165) Homer Iliad, 1.570-1.580 (166) Apollonius of Tyana, Vol. XVI (167) Healing Gods, p. 327 |
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