Gaia
existed before time begin, or time was one of her children. Gaia existed
before time began, for Time was one of her children. But finally Gaia
desired love, and for this purpose she made herself a son; Uranus, the
heaven, who arched over his mother and satisfied her desire. Their mating
released Gaia's creative force, and she began to produce innumerable
creatures, both marvellous and monstrous. The jealous Uranus hated Gaia's
other children, so the primeval mother kept them hidden from his destructiveness
by keeping them inside her.
Eventually, however, her dark and crowded womb grew too heavy to endure. So Gaia created a new element: gray adamant. With this Gaia armed her son Chromos (Time), who took the weapon from his mother's hand and hid himself. Uranus came, drawing a dark sky blanket over himself as he approached to mount his mother/lover. His brother/son Chronos sprang into action, grasping Uranus's genitals and sawing them off with the rough blade. Blood rained down on the Mother Gaia. So fertile was she that the ash-tree nymphs, the Meliae who where humanity's ancestors, sprang up from that blood. Thus we ourselves are grandchildren of earth and sky, according to the Greeks. Gaia was a powerful creator goddess, a parthenogenetic mother who could create the entire world without assistance. When the Greeks worshipped Gaia, they left her offerings of honey and barley. Both are symbols of feminine abundance: honey, because of its rich sweetness and its connection with the matriarchal bee; and barley, a seed that looked to the ancients like a tiny vulva, with its conch shape and little central slit. Both are appropriate to employ today in calling down the beneficence of great and fertile Gaia. Just as her symbols have disappeared, so has any record of Gaia's feast days. Thus we can honour her on any day we choose and what would be more appropriate than Earth Day, April 22nd. The day dedicated to honouring the living earth is a good choice for a ritual aimed at calling down Gaia's abundance on her children. The celebration of Earth Day is springtime also makes it appropriate for an invocation to Gaia, for many earth goddesses are honoured in that season. So, how do we invoke Gaia, the goddess of abundance, the most appropriate way is through ritual involving food, because it is a highly-charged experience for most women today, consciously and thankfully eating the food that Mother Gaia provides can be an astonishing experience. Eating the food of the mother goddess means, symbolically allowing ourselves to be nurtured by her. After you have finished, invoke the goddess again, and this time ask her to make all her creatures aware of her bounty. Make a pledge to help in some way, however small to share your own bounty with others. Finally, thank the goddess for all she has given her children and will give us in the future. |
