Happy Lupercalia

Oh, how I long for the old days.

Since the holiday is right, I thought I'd post this this little micro-essay. It's heavily based on a posting I put up here a while back, but reworked to be used in a project I'm currently working on, so it's only a partial repost. Enjoy!

"First came the Chaos; and then broad-breasted Gaia, secure seat for ever of all the immortals who occupy the peak of snowy Olympus; the misty Tartarus in a remote recess of the broad-pathed earth; and Eros, the most handsome among the immortal gods, dissolver of flesh, who overcomes the reason and purpose in the breasts of all gods and all men."

Hesiod (~800 BCE)

Gaia is the female principle, the generative, the creator, the penetrated, the yin. Eros is the male principle, the provider, the destroyer, the penetrator, the yang. Both sprang from Chaos and all three are fundamental principles of creation, without which there could be no life.

Although as strongly associated with sexual desire as Gaia is with fertility, it is a mistake to think of Eros solely in such limited terms. These are primordial forces. They are the parents of the gods themselves, too large and powerful to be safely confined to simple cartoon sketches. Eros is passion, not procreation. He invades and permeates you, obsesses you, controls you. He is the shaker of limbs, the dissolver of flesh.

He is the consort of artists and autocrats as much as of the amorous. He is there when music makes it impossible to sit still. He is there when a book makes you so happy or so sad that you burst into tears. He is there when you are full of rage and blindly lash out. He is there when the smile of a stranger brightens your day.

Eros is neither good nor evil. He just is. Without him you would not exist, and his power burns strong in your very soul. Still, he's dangerous, tricky, and when you're not careful, can destroy without a thought. Destruction, creation, and chaos have always been inextricably bound, after all. The gods play for keeps.

Yet, for all of his fearsome power, a power which terrified even Zeus himself, the legends tell us there is one who can restrain him, keep him from becoming too dangerous, who he listens to, respects, and needs.

There is Aphrodite.