Reading Notes: 7 Secrets of the Goddess Part A

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Important Figures
Gaia: Earth mother in greek mythology
Cronus: Kills his father in order to be born, then eats his children to prevent them from doing the same thing he did to his father
Zeus: The only child of Cronus saved by Gaia, kills his father and "declares himself father of Gods of men"

 Theme in Mythologies Around the World
A primal female deity is at first adored, and then "brutally sidelined" by a male deity

 Sedna
-Inuit story
-Sedna marries a seagull; unhappy, she asks her father to take her home in his boat
-A flock of seagulls attacks
-Sedna's father throws him overboard to save himself
-As she tries to climb back, he cuts off her fingers
-He then also cuts off her arms
-As she sinks into the ocean, her dismembered limbs turn into the creatures of the sea: fish, seals, whales, ect.
-Those who wish to hunt the children of Sedna must appease her through the "soothing words of Shamans"

Aadya
-From tantric Hindu tradition
-Laid three unfertilized eggs that became Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva
-Sought to unite with the three male Gods
-Brahma refused, citing her as a mother figure
-Vishnu was "shifty and shrewd"
-Shiva agreed to be her lover if she gave him her third eye
-After the third eye was given to him he used it to destroy Aadya, reducing her to ashes
-The ashes became three Goddesses who became the wives of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, as well as the Goddesses of human civilizations



A statue of Lakshmi, one of the wives born from the ashes. Source: Wikimedia Commons

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