MAKE AUGUST A LITERARY VACATION

August is the eighth month of the year and a time to create something new. Leo is ruling, and our global village is in turmoil. It is easy to get overwhelmed and want to bury our heads in the sand, but we must keep on. What if our ancestors had given up? What if no one cared enough to create the amazing medical and technological gifts we use daily? We can’t give up hope. We must discover daily motivation. We must keep on keeping on.

The key ingredients to stay motivated are curiosity and interest. Even if you are overwhelmed today by what is going on in the world or the despair of your personal life, curiosity can be your best buddy. What will tomorrow be like if we eat healthy today? What will I have at the end of the week if I save my Starbucks money? What organization needs my volunteer energy? Who needs me to call or receive a note from me today? The list of curious questions goes on and on and on. As you ponder these simple but curious questions, your energy rises, and your motivation is nurtured into action. Make today count. Make this month a month of curious frivolity.

Curiosity Is Playful Energy!

 

Here is an idea on how to become curious. Ever wonder what Greek Goddesses can teach us?

Here is an idea:

Over the years, I have immersed myself in Native American Spirituality, Celtic Spirituality, Buddhism and women’s studies. Currently, I am reading Goddess studies. While in school, I was never into Greek literature, myths, or adventures, but with the pandemic, I decided to explore them. I started with Ariadne because she was the woman who helped Theseus kill the Minotaur. Ariadne, the Cretan Princess, daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, grew up in the palace. Beneath the palace was a great labyrinth, dark and smelly because it housed the Minotaur, half bull and half human. The minotaur, was named Asterion by his mother, Pasiphae, and his sister, Ariadne. The Minotaur was born as a result of the sexual relationship of Pasiphae and a bull. King Minos was angry and banned the bull child to the underground Labyrinth.

Every year, Minos demanded that the King of Athens send his best ten virgins, boys and girls, for Minos to feed them to the Minotaur.  This was the punishment to the Athenian King because Minos lost his human son in a bloody battle in Athens.   The story goes on, full of mysteries, struggles, conflicts, and a very thick plot. It is a great background story to the Labyrinth we walk today that intrigues us to look within and below the surface into our unconscious.  It also is a great starter novel as you begin your journey to explore Greek Mythology.

 

Because of  Jennifer Saints Book,  I became interested in Circe by Madeline Miller.  Circe is the sister of Pasiphae and an enchantress in the Odyssey!  Circe leads an adventurous life of a Greek Goddess, full of twists and turns. She demonstrates that being empowered to be your true self is worth the journey.

And from there, I became interested in Artemis, mostly known as the Greek Goddess of the hunt. As the daughter of Zeus and Leto and sister to Apollo, she is considered a virgin Goddess and protector of women and childbirth. However, I first heard of her as the Bee Goddess from Ephesus. The story of the bees and honey seems to be her later evolution of growing wisdom and Crone -ism.

Of course, one Goddess leads to another, so I broke with some of these wonderful novels and filled in the missing data with academic research with Joseph Campbell’s Goddess: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine. Histories, context, and valuable information seem relevant to where we are today.

The Labyrinth is popping up worldwide and bringing people together to share stories, become activists, and reclaim all that patriarchy has stolen from us over millennia. Now, the battle for our rights is more relevant and necessary than in past generations. Patriarchy is raising its evil and ugly hatred. White supremacy seeks to be reborn. We must raise our arrows, pulling from our collective quill of resources, and aim for the dead center, freeing ourselves once and for all from the hostile powers that seek to make us into the women of Handmade Tales.

It has been a very enjoyable, thought-provoking, and soul-feeding reprieve from what I usually read. I encourage you to take an August reading vacation from your normal genre and enjoy with curiosity the many other avenues out there. Of course, I suggest the above Goddess readings, but venture where you must! Make August an adventure of literary prowess!