Today’s word is Synchronicity!

Synchronicity ~ “the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events (as similar thoughts in widely separated persons or a mental image of an unexpected event before it happens) that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality —used especially in the psychology of C. G. Jung” Merriam Webster online http://www.m-w.com/

I was contemplating Aphrodite, and other Goddesses of Love, both real and imagined, yesterday on my way home. As is my habit when I got home, I started checking the many blogs that I try to read regularly.

“Hi, my name is Pax and I am a Blogaholic.”

Anyway, one of the blogs I check up on is At The End Of Desire by Inanna, and this particular week she had a post up about the Temple at Aphrodisias

My train of thought on Aphrodite and Love Goddesses started out from the station of our societies attitude towards Happiness and Joy. I remember one day during my Psychology Class our professor had brought in a Tai Chi Fundementals DVD for us to watch a part of as part of the discussion of Stress and healthy ways of dealing with it. The Host/Instructor of this DVD, Lawrence Biscontini, comes across as an especially happy/cheerful/joyful person in his delivery. Within a few moments of his starting to speak there was some tittering laughter from the class…

It seems like in our society (U.S. North American) there is an attitude of pessimism and suspicion towards anyone who expresses a sense of Joy. In my own everyday experiences it seems like when I try to express my own Cheerful and Positive nature I am viewed as somehow simple or silly. I think it’s a sad comment on our society, especially when you consider that Anti-Depressants are one of the most prescribed medications in the U.S.!

My Train of Thought then turned along the familiar path of how our society views Aphrodite in particular and Goddesses of Love in general… us Geek Pagans sometimes think about these things ya know!

See, I am an old school, non-techie, Geek. I play Role Playing Games (Dungeons and Dragons, folks, not Dungeons and Daddies~ although the later can be great fun too!), I am a History and Sociology freak, and I have a great memory and am a voracious reader. I am also a Sci-Fi and Fantasy freak…

I remember in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys how shallow and flighty they tended to portray Aphrodite… and yes I know it was only a T.V. show and Aphrodite is hardly the only thing they got wrong, but it was their cavalier attitude towards portraying the Gods and Goddesses that left me cold towards this show and its spin-off Xena.

I remember in many of the fantasy RPG’s I’ve played, the Goddess of Love is portrayed as shallow, self-absorbed, and somewhat ditsy…

Now I realize there is some precedent in the Mythology for this image of Aphrodite… but I sometimes wonder if this attitude towards The Heavenly One isn’t symptomatic of our societies fear of or suspicion of Love, and Joy, and True Happiness?

Aphrodite is the Goddess of Love and Beauty, of Procreation and Fornication, of Desire and Flirtation: She is Fairest of the Gods of Marriage, the Goddess of Prostitution, She whose wrath can strike men impotent, She who bestows Beauty and Grace, Lady of Pleasure and Merriment; She Who with Erato and Apollon presides over Love Poetry and Song, Lady of the Morning Star, Protectoress of the Homeland, and Goddess of Peace.

The threads of Cynicism, and Self-Doubt, and the Abdication of Personal Responsibilities that are woven through our culture ~ especially our popular culture ~ sometimes seem like an pandemic. I find myself wondering if Aphrodite isn’t the cure?

Maybe we Pagans can start calling upon Her in our rites at Beltane or in the Month or Moons of February when modern minds turn to thoughts of Love… or in the Month of April when Her Festival of Aphrodisia was observed in the ancient days?

Or Perhaps we can call upon Her in our Pagan Pride observances as one of the Honored Ones?

Or maybe we should simply strive to remember Her in our secret hearts and sacred selves, and carry her influence out into the world with us each day.

Peace, and Love,

Pax

PS- to learn of the Lady Arising you can go here, or there, or even over here!