I am thinking of my friend, she lives next door to me, here in Scarborough. We are all effected by the news and by events.
Even us Bottom-enders down here facing the old harbour wall (it is buried behind buildings now. Where areas are exposed by new development limpet shells are found scattered where long ago fishing hooks were baited). The current harbour is a little further away from us.
There the two harbour bays hold around three hundred boats. Not boats as in the Royal Navy meaning of the word, which is submarine – they are the only ‘boats’ in the RN btw . There are none of them in the harbour – well, not that we know of. Although I do recall a whale visiting for a few days once.
The late husband of my friend and neighbour skippered a pleasure cruiser which is based here.
Long before his time (just after a time he was a twinkle probably) the Caronia turned to use by the RN.
The Dunkirk spirit they talk about, and few realise it was a massive retreat. Britain was against the occupied areas including Europe and all the way to chunks of Russia I think. It went bad. We were stuck on the beaches. That’d be our whole army gone. The call went out. Every tub n yacht n cruiser answered. Over they went, filled up, back again, and yes, back again, and again and again and again. That’s the Dunkirk Spirit.
Imagine the Coronia and her sister ship the Regal Lady as full as an escalator. Over and over again. Over those full-on seas. Taking fire.
Them two ships, right now in the bombing age, are just a short walk from where the call came in that a young man wrapped in nuts and bolts had blown himself up; close to my neighbour’s kin.
Scenario. Next door goes to sleep. Her daughter is holding her daughter. I am asleep. The world is full of news. There are deaths. Indoctrinators are reacting. Viewers are crying. Ambulances are racing. Relatives are distraught. My neighbour wakes up and hear news. We are relieved.
68 children die in Syria.
Something like that.
I only know that I have recently moved into a street with a history of something as simple as fishing; as simple and as rugged and as dangerous and as basic as fishing is worth caring about is about people.
I know that now.
We are crying down this street. And we are lucky.
And I haven’t even told the story yet.
I plan to give my neighbouring family something by celebrating the history of this street we live on.
The history of Quay Street will be a soon blog.
Quay Street is any street. Run. No, they will be in with guns next. Duck. No. they will be setting more bombs. Wonder. See people leap off the balcony. Run. There is blood everywhere. Run. Be fenced in. Be led down the path to a place to be. One in the morning, at last in the hotel, the young one says, ‘You are injured.’
It is just the blood of the brushing past death places. We will be OK, try sleep. A later morning, hear your young child say, “Will there be bombs at our school when I go?”
Behold the God-slayer Typhon – Doom of Zeus – Graphic Novel First Draft
Yes this is what I have been busy with over the past several weeks while in and out of hospital and beginning my long recuperation by the sea.
I came up with the idea of developing a graphic novel around a Greek myth earlier in the year and an independent publisher is now on board with an interest in hybrid publishing (that’s when you publish online and with a major distributor too).
It has been a dream for many years to do something with the quirky and strange Typhon and the terrible Zeus; their battle suited my online graphic novels perfectly.
We are probably hundreds of hours from the ‘for sale’ version, but I shall update here as pieces and text boxes are completed.
Please do share with friends as we will be asking for help shifting the finished product later in the year.
PS the first graphic novel from Viking Comics Inc. The Hammer Flies is almost ready for release as a slide show presentation – my first movie!
Behold the God-slayer Typhon – Doom of Zeus
“Look you mere mortals, look up at me in dread. See atop the tall great mountain Olympus. For I am Zeus.”
Upon that high central mountain looking down upon all. God of all Gods he holds power in a tight fist.
Master of all he watches, he; watches, rules, masters, controls, gloats, but mostly he fumes.Some dark satisfaction comes from the destruction of all that offends him.(wrong image?)
It is a satisfaction tainted with anger. These stupid mortals, these rebellious Gods, Slimy Giants, these ravaging Titans; they must be watched.
They never learn.
Zeus had already destroyed humanity three times, he killed Titans here and there, Cyclops fell on a ferocious whim, Goddesses lost loves, teachers lost livers.
He fumed. He hardly even was aware in his mighty rage that he was hated. What did the dissatisfaction of others matter to the one who was all powerful! – Master of the Earth.The Earth Mother Goddess.She mattered.
The Earth Mother Goddess.
The Earth Mother Goddess, the Mother of the Earth, the Earth itself, some call Eurynome; creation from chaos: She mattered.
And she was a mother – the Mother!
“Zeus killed my children
and I shall revenge.”
“Let my earth bring its very bones to life and bring forth to birthing my rage. For a huge child, has been born to me.”
“Typhon”“Typhon, my child, my monster, my destructive force personified.”He darkens the sky. Largest monster ever born.“Let him rise,” he is too giant for the earth.“My Typhon” His very thighs are snakes writhing across the world beneath him.
“Behold the God-slayer.” Each arm a myriad of snakes; in their multitudes, they stretch across the very heavens.
“Burn him, crush him, poison him.” His eyes are fire.
“Shatter his bones to feed me” From the bellowing maw of his huge mule head burst mountainous boulders; deafening, crushing.
“This is my son.”
How Zeus laughed to hear.
How Zeus quaked to see.
How Zeus screamed.
The Goat-god Pan he screamed.
All the gathered Gods – they froze in fear.
“Change shape! Be monstrous. Save us.” “Mighty mighty Zeus.”
A lion. A thunderbolt. An eagle. A quail. A wren. A sheep.
They all became sheep.
He ran.
And as is the way with sheep, they all ran.
Panic flicker-flashed across their psyches, multitudes of animal images blasting out of sheep-skin into other beings.
Meanwhile, in sumptuous splendour lay Athene; pampered, petted, soothed and bathed.
These beautiful handmaidens were nothing as beautiful as her. This sensual existence is far too ecstatic for a mere mortal to bare.
Look on Athene!
While far far away
Rubble roared, bellows broke the peacefulness.
Athene heard.
Athene flew.
Raced across the wide seas in the very first ever ship. Her crafted craft. The ship.
See the peak of Olympus.
Rising up, flying, over the fires.
To the meadows far beyond.
She lands among the May flower and bee song to see fields of sheep silently grazing.
She sees one sheep.
She stands beside it.
“I know who you are beloved King of Heaven.”
“See over flaming mountains; the creature will seek you.”
“Die sheep or become brave.”
Quail, wren, serpent, thunderbolt, eagle.
It is Zeus.
“Fly high our beloved god, for you must defeat him.”
Rising up to his mountain. Almost returning to true form.
The thunderbolt flies.
The great beast is engulphed in a cataclysm of lightning.
Out of the fiery storm burst mountainous boulders.
Zeus is knocked backwards, flattened as
the monstrous Typhon bellows boulder after boulder.
Hermes bursts out of his ovine masquerade and lets fly towards Zeus his sharp and powerful flint sickle
to spin through the air.
Zeus slices through the stone, the boulders split and fall.
Zeus stands to slice again.
Burning eyes fire down upon him.
Zeus falls in faint.
Typhon looms above him; scooping him up in hundred league snake arms.
Then like wind of thunder, a hurricane of heat, he rises flies, blows fierce…
Gods and Goddesses look on in horror at Typhon disappearing across the sea.
High among the mountains, bellowing, Typhon stands.
Zeus’ sickle in his hand he swings high to cut.
Down the sickle sinks into wrists and spine.
Zeus’ very sinews are exposed.
A myriad swarm of snake limbs grapple as teethed maws snatch.
His snake arms pull.
The very sinews from inside Zeus’ limbs.
Deep into a cave he throws these strings.
Doll-like dead-limbed Zeus is laid in powerless torment.
As jelly laid in stony dark.
“I Delphyne sister-monster guards.” The voice it echoes out from cave to across the seas.
All Gods lay and wail in writhing pitiful despair.
“The world is ending while you wail!”
“This darkness will take us all, he will not rest at Heaven’s Father, the universe shall squirm.”
Hermes and Pan they clutch at each other and terrified towards the chariot they step.
The dark cave below.
Great Goat God leaps; from chariot to deep within.
Delphyne is waiting; serpent sister she has poisons ready see she writhes.
He screams. Pan screams.
He screams his terrifying paralyzing scream. Pan’s panic scream.
As poison drips from massive teeth Delphyne is catatonic gripped.
This is the moment Hermes needs. He leaps.(Above to be replaced)
And from the cave with Zeus to drag.
The sinews gathered drape across the lifeless God.
The chariot flies.
“We have him,” Hermes cries, “Be ready, run, run gods hide.”
Between them Athene strides.
“Zeus must save us, sew him, thread him, string him, stitch!”
The God of Heaven stands again; uncertain stands, at centre of his universe he stands.
He backwards falls.
Athene has lead his chariot behind him, and into this he falls.(Ade – import art 0029 b bx from PC)
“See great Father God, you simply need to stand.”
The Thunderbolt he suddenly clasps, the sickle once again; the glistening flint.
He takes the reins.
“Fly Father God, Great God, fly.”
“My spirit flies with you,” cries Athene, “As I am all the Fates I fly to aid.”
Upon the highest mountain amid enormous range it stands.
The Fates attend him. Flying to him.
He is besotted by three beauties bringing him rare treats.
“Behold our exotic fruits.” “With these we bolster you.” “Great strength we promise.”
“Typhon we love you.”
The beast feasts. Now…
Typhon has a whole huge mountain in his arms.
A tiny chariot high in sky as monstrous mountain flies.
The chariot tilts up and wide and fires a firebolt down.
The mountain bursts aside.
A mountain flies
The chariot climbs.
The thunder bolts.
A mountain flies
The chariot climbs.
(this may move)
The thunder bolts.
A mountain flies
The chariot climbs.
The thunder bolts.
Mountain after raging mountain, Typhon is unstoppable.
The final summit is his to wield now – Vesuvius.
The great Vesuvius, yes, this beast is monstrous strong.
The fates look on as he only just can throw this thing.
“We loved you,” whisper Fates from far cave, “we loved you and we strengthened you, but only for a short time. See you falter, weaken now.”
Zeus is higher now than even the stars. And flying down hard.
Gigantic Vesuvius is hurtling right at him.
“Let Heaven and Sky and Fate empower me!”
Fire thunderbolt, thunderbolt on thunderbolt on thunderbolt. All God’s energy is spent on this last mighty blast.Vesuvius repelled it falls.
Down with such increasing speed.
It hits the beast. Down
Down still through the earth it crushes down.
Typhon’s fiery rage it burns and builds and climbs. See the fire near as Typhon strives.
The very Vesuvius it burns because of him.
Very nearly he is out, he fights it still, see mountain rage.
Vesuvius volcano is his rage, and Typhon he may yet one day succeed.
Listen, hear his bellowing.
I have done a great deal of research in the build up to turning this very strange and ancient tale into a graphic novel so that it is all based on history, (unless it was the morphine). Some of the research work helped me create the individual features linked to below:
Doom of Zeus Greek Myth Graphic Novel – the Making of….
This is an exciting new direction and I thought you would like to travel along the journey with us as we discover and are learning.
The final publication will have several forms as we work with an indi agent who works in Hybrid Publishing. Basically that is getting the book out in several forms and with several services; our first task is online publishing with various sites, then on to major publishers and being able to buy the book via all online distributors and in the shops eventually too.
The first draft is about to be blogged and we are aiming for you our supporters to build up interest and followers towards the eventual publication in all its glory.
To enable prolific artist Tony Lawrence to visualise the very florid characters in these ancient and indeed ‘Graphic’ tales I have used my quaint scribbles to help him formulate a vision. The first draft blog will contain these scribbly pics and may be your last chance to see them; enjoy.
The main activity for me has been research. I wrote the draft of the story in half a day, and here we are two months down the road at the draft script stage. I have had the idea bubbling away in my mind for a long long time, so when Tony suggested that we worked on a project together it leapt out of my inner being right at me. It would be perfect I knew, full of the scenes and characters which would suit Tony’s styles so well.
I cannot wait to see what he makes of it all (Look out for Draft Two for the first selection).
I thought it might be of interest and indeed useful for many of you to see the fascinating stuff I picked up as part of the research. I have already blogged on the activities of Athene, Pan and Hermes and there are links to these blogs below. The next stage was to consider the appearance of the various characters involved; Zeus, Athene, Hermes, Pan, Typhon, The Fates, Delphyne and the Earth Mother Goddess.
Here is all the material I gathered for Tony to help visualise these characters:
Zeus appearance
Ive struggled to find too much on how Zeus looks, so I guess it is more about getting his character across in your own way. He is horrid, and is always peeved. Is always out there ravaging women. He keeps all the other gods under control by fear.
So quite mean.
Actually now I get to typing it all up I realise there is quite a bit, but only use what fires your imagination.
He does have a scar on his head; when Athene was trapped inside his head Prometheus split his head open with a wedge and hammer so she could burst out. So that’s quite a scar he’s got there.
Some say he wore ram’s horns on his head. Many say he wore a golden fleece, and that this golden sheep-skin turned purple black when he uses his thunderbolt.
Yes he is armed with a thunderbolt.
He also wields a flint sickle in battle.
He is said to wear a blue nimbus, I shall look nimbus up now. Right looked it up, it’s a type of cloud but is also means a surrounding for a god, so ring of light, a halo is a nimbus. Sometimes gods in classic art were cloaked in bright clouds and sometime in rain clouds, I guess this means a stormy cloak. It has also been depicted as a long blue glowing cloak with the sheep-skin and well. Do what you want with it.
He sits upon Mount Olympus looking out at the world all around him. It is said on a throne but I haven’t seen any descriptions.
Some say a double axe with a cuckoo on top is his symbol. The thunderbolt looked like that until it was split from the trident. So I guess it still could, or the back of the throne could. (Ade: Look up a labrys maybe = a double headed axe (a birth symbol))
He is said to have come from Arcadia. This is part of Greece, so he kind of looks Greek. But back then it was the land of spirits and Pan and dryads and nymphs, so he could look kind of magical. (Like something by Brian Froud).
When he rose up to become King of Heaven he wore goat-skin, so a bit of that wouldn’t go amiss.
He was god of the sky.
He rode or more likely flew in a four-horse chariot.
There are loads of things he turns into and loads of things that symbolise him. I am listing them but only use what takes your fancy. Might help with backgrounds.
Stuff that symbolises him:
He dined on banquets of nectar and ambrosia. Guarded by a golden mastiff. Jupiter in the sky behind him. He is described as Lord of the Universe. Lord of Heaven and he is credited with the zodiac cos he sent people to be them. He made the Cornucopia; the horn of plenty. He was the cup bearer as a youth so might have a nice goblet laid about. In older stories he was King of the Oak-cult, so the odd oak leaf wouldn’t hurt.
He wore eagle feathers as a disguise at times, so a couple of them maybe. Thirty guards painted white with spears and shields guarded him when he was a kid. He was the rainmaker in early tales. He was tricked with two large bull-skin bags full of bones and fat. Black doves on oak trees. Blue spotted serpents.
Stuff he turns into:
Serpent. And a horned one too. Bears. Sheep. Cuckoo. Swan. Shower of Gold. Thunder and lightning. Quail. Wren. He often turned people to stone so some background images like Pompeii might fit. Kingfisher. Woodpecker. Beaver. Many beasts. Stallion.
Typhon Appearance
Basic Description:-
The largest monster ever born
Thighs downwards nothing but coiled serpents [so I picture more like animated spaghetti than snake legs]
Arms when he stretches them out reach a hundred leagues in either direction countless serpent heads instead of hands
His brutish mule-like head touched the stars
(I reckon there is a bit of liberty with this head business, it did say ass head, and I’ve changed it to mule-like to make it less daft, you might not want it to be too donkey like, maybe boney instead of furry or something.) (see also nightmare bit below)
His vast wings darken the sky
Fire fires from his burning red eyes when he looks at you
When he bellows rocks the size of mountains burst out of his mouth and fire at you crushing you.
Ade’s Additional Comments
He is a monster right enough but there are also descriptions of him as a mighty wind, maybe that is something to play around with? I.E. Typhon – Stupefying smoke – hot wind – hurricane
This quote shows that he was also part of the horse-head nightmares myths.. A beast that descends on you in the night. (so he could have a nightmare aspect instead of being furry???)
Alcyneus (mighty Ass) is probably the spirit of Sirocco; the breath of the wild ass or Typhon it brings bad dreams, murderous inclinations, and powerful desire.
[Hippolytus (stampede of horses) recalls the ancient attribution of terror-dreams to the mare-headed goddess. in the north sufferers invoked Odin.
He is in Egyptian mythology too but they call him Python
Extra bits
Mother Earth lay with Tartarus in revenge for the destruction of the giants
(24 serpent-tail footed giants) by Zeus
Typhon was born in the Corycian caves of Cilicia
When Zeus turned to a ram, the others turned into a crow, a goat, a white cow, a cat, a fish, a boar, an ibis, and so on.
The three fates offered him ephemeral fruits, they said they would empower him, but really they weakened him.
Not needed but interesting
Echidne his mate was beautiful, in one side, the other side of her was a speckled serpent
They lived among the Arimic in a deep cave where she ate men raw.
She had a huge brood of terrifying monsters but 100 eyed Argos snuck in while she slept and killed them all.
Older children now grown and in the world included Cerebus three headed hound of hell, the water spirit many headed Hydra, the Chimera a fire breathing goat with lion’s head and serpents body (whats left to be goat then?).
and Orthrus the two headed hound of Geryon begat her the Sphinx and the Nemian lion.
The Three Fates Appearance
Basically three women in white linen. Most usually described as beautiful, most often as maidens but they can also appear as crones.
They are sometimes described as conjoined so perhaps they could be separate or melding in and out of each other, or just close.
One spins the thread to tie to your back, one measures it to see how long you will live and one, the small one, cuts it to end your life.
They use a sickle to cut the tree twigs.
Atropos is the smallest and Atropos is the most terrible.
White linen thread trailing behind connects you to life.
For Clotho spun you; every incident of you.
Stretched across the rod to be counted by Lachesis
It is Atropos who cuts.
Let their brazen pestles fall upon the head of giants. Where the evil fall dead because of them the ground will burn forever onwards.
They come from the moon goddess so the moon can be in the image or can effect the way you depict them.
They are the death aspect of the moon goddess so there is the option to make them a bit spooky.
Born of Shadow and Night
Zeus has spoken, claiming supremacy – how the Three Fates laugh at that.
Ordinary people they say they resist the Fates; stay in that day etc
Threads flow from us
Babies wear swaddling clothes marked with symbols and sigils; ancestry and family are marked upon the bandages of birth to place the babe within its place
The new, the maiden-goddess of the spring, the first period of the year.
The full moon, the nymph-goddess of the summer, the second period.
The old moon, the crone goddess of autumn, the last period.
The trees reflect the phases in their needs and growth – they are big on trees, types of trees.
Gave us astronomy, gymnastics, weighing scales.
They also brought us the cultivation of the olive tree.
Let them bring fruits of the moment, fleetingly beautiful to empower, or Death-Apple to poison, the fleeting fruits of the Fates.
Gifts: eye of perception, tooth of divination, herbal sickle, sacred bag
They will even sing at your wedding.
Feasts lamb and honey fermented in the Oak Grove we gather around the altar.
Mother Earth appearance
I shall call her Mother Earth
Sometimes Earth Mother Goddess
Born naked from chaos which separated out ie sky land sea etc
As she slept Uranus (sky) was born
He showered fertile rain from the mountains into her sacred clefts
From her flowed grass, flowers, trees
Then beasts and birds
All life flowed from her
The rain filled the hollow places and caused the rivers
She is mother earth and earth is her
She is often described as the white goddess too
She might be a misty vision sometimes
Or rise out of fire
But mainly I like her naked with all the growing things coming from her.
Possible background etc
Symbols
The sweet acorn
She was right into snakes
Shrine of bees wax, of twisted fern stalks, of laurel bows, of bronze with golden songbirds, of stone.
Her Cretan sceptre; the Labrys or double axe.
nightingales.
a golden apple tree.
Hermes – Hints and Tips on Appearance
Hermes is son of Zeus and Maia the daughter of Apollo.
Hermes is at best an anti-hero with the historic crimes division after him probably! Once he has grown up that is. People would rather jump off Olympus than have anything to do with him. He turns people to stone at the drop of a hat. Horrid he is.
Hermes grew fast, and had many adventures at the age of seven months old, including using the bow and arrow.
So he will have a bow and arrows maybe
And I reckon he had a baby face even when he was all big and horrid and grown up. When properly grown into a large strong man and titled Hermes the Destroyer – Messenger of Death – see the blog link to him below too.
I suggest that he still had a bit of a baby face.
He was wrapped in swaddling (bandages) as a baby so he may have still worn them as leg or arm wraps (a bit like WW1 soldiers legs).
Herald for Zeus (1 to 3):
1: Zeus gave him a round hat that kept off the rain but sometimes he is depicted as wearing a helmet, so perhaps somewhere between the two.
2: His signature item is his flying golden winged sandals given to him by Zeus.
3: He also gave him a staff with lots of white ribbons swirling from the top, some say they were shaped like serpents. Everyone must respect him on matters of laws when he holds this staff.
Apollo gave him a golden staff of cow-herding and death-easing.
So perhaps a golden staff with white serpent ribbons.
He played a tortoise-shell lyre or a reed pipe.
So might carry these or on his belt etc
He sometimes bares Moly the white scented flower with black roots that only the Gods can gather. Perhaps they might be a background feature if needed.
He is described as Cairn-man or Pillar of Stone sometimes, that is what he used to be in his past life. So could have those around him or something.
Crane are sacred to him and often fly around or towards him. He has a pet one.
Leather
He has the power to charm through singing praise
Hermes gathered long grasses and wove them into a pipe.
Woven stuff?
Bits
Ingenious, eloquent and persuasive
Guides the dead to the underworld
Oversee all matters of business
Teaches the gods the twirling of sticks to make fire
Assists the Three Fates
Invented the knuckle bones
Learned the tree alphabet.
Turns people to stone
Can shape-change – into a ram
His son was Sicilian
He had a chariot
The power of augury to read the flowing pebbles in the swirling bowl.
Sexy nymphs like Cyllene hang around him.
The Fates gave him an eye as a gift of perception. They also gave him a tooth, a sickle and a crane-skin bag.
Delphyne appearance
Delphyne the womb; the monster.
Apollo was seven years old when Themis fed him nectar and ambrosia. He went to Mount Parnassus to seek revenge upon Python for deeds against his mother. Python was waiting and shot him full with arrow before running to the temple of Delphi which was named after his mother and would keep him safe, that was his plan. Apollo dared to follow right inside the shrine of the oracle to the Earth Mother and right besides the sacred chasm he shot him dead.
For when the gods had seen this serpent-tailed sister-monster they had been enthralled and fearful.
Athene Appearance
This is all I have as clues to her appearance and surroundings.
Born in Libya, lived in Palestinian, born by lake Tritonis in Libya.
So she was Libyan!
Nurtured by the Libyan Nymphs.
She was half nymph half triton, all Goddess
Bright-eyed Athene
She used spear and shield in battle. But would borrow a spear if needed. So was only armed when in battle.
She had an amazing shield in her magic bag, see below.
She went to Greece via Crete to the city of Athenae by river Triton.
She wore an Aegis, a magical bag. It produced a sound as from a myriad roaring dragons. See pics in link below.
It was a goat-skin bag with a gorgon mask (Medusa’s head) that held a serpent, which is ageless and immortal: a hundred tassels of pure gold hang fluttering from it, tight-woven each of them, and each the worth of a hundred oxen. These are serpents as well.
So golden serpents
[Virgil says the Cyclopes busily burnished the aegis Athena wears in her angry moods—a fearsome thing with a surface of gold like scaly snake-skin, and the linked serpents and the Gorgon herself upon the goddess’s breast—a severed head rolling its eyes”, furnished with golden tassels and bearing the Gorgoneion (Medusa’s head) in the central boss.
Some of the Attic vase-painters retained an archaic tradition that the tassels had originally been serpents in their representations of the aegis.
It was a magic bag.
Libyan girls wore a goat-skin apron, so she probably woar some.
Ethiopian girls still wear sometimes with cowries attached. Cowries are a Yonic Symbol. (like the vulva). But that’s Ethiopian girls for you.
The Libyan cry of triumph ‘Olulu Ololu’ is for Athene, when in a war-like stance she is often depicted shouting.
Some say Athene’s father was called Pallas he was a winged goatish giant and he outraged her. She flayed his skin from him to add to her Aegis.
Others say her adopted father was Itonus (meaning willow man) of Iton.
Prometheus split Zeus’ skull with a wedge and beetle [ringed maul or mallet]. Athene sprang out fully armoured shouting.
As Alaphria she married a goat king on may eve.
She had a rain making willow cult in Iton.
Aegis is a goat-skin chastity tunic worn as a bag at the belt.
Athene’s contained a magic disc.
An ancient disc of spiralling pictographs predicting Athene being born
Athene planted an olive tree as they are sacred to save Athens, so them and willow symbolised her.
She also weaves
Caronis (crow) (mother of Asclerius by Apollo) was a title of hers.
She shared her temples in Athens with Hephaestus (he who shines by day) as she was the moon goddess.
Athene invented the flute, trumpet, the earthenware pot, the plough, the rake, the ox yoke, the horse bridle, the chariot, and the ship.
She taught the science of numbers and all domestic arts such as cooking, weaving spinning.
Goddess of war with no pleasure in battle, rather for settling disputes, and upholding the law by pacific means.
Bears no arms in times of peace. Often borrows from Zeus.
in her rage turned Medusa into a winged beast. She had glaring eyes, protruding tongue, huge teeth, brazen claws and serpent locks. One look at her turned the onlooker into stone. BTW
She was the Harpies, the storm winds as the triple goddess, the Sudden Destroyer.
She was the Graeae, the grey ones; Engo (warlike), Pemphredo (Wasp) and Deino (terrible).
Athene was patroness of a pre-Hellenic medical cult of the moon. Her priestesses of the cult gathered at oracular shrines of dead heroes and reincarnated them as serpents or crows.
She was given the titles Coronis because of the oracular crow or raven and Hygieia because of cures.
Her all-heal was the mistletoe ixias, from the oak.
Goat-athene????
Gorgopis (grim-faced) is another name of Athene’s. Processions for Athene would carry paralune (white parasols).
She created the golden bridle which tamed Pegasus (the moon horse).
Athene was Laphria (she who wins booty) and was a goat goddess.
Athene changes into a sea eagle, a swallow, a vulture, a dove, lark, diver bird (gannet), but the wise owl was her principal epiphany (manifestation).
Athene’s couch at Tegea shows she is Neith or Anatha the orgiastic moon goddess.
Great Goat God Pan: The Greek Myth Lives On
In the magical land of Faerie where all is possible and nothing is as expected…. Faerie is the British cover-all term for anything fairylike; from trolls to slender naked winged things.
And Arcadian is the Ancient Greek equivalent. this land was Arcadia among the nymphs and fair things danced a monstrous being, half man half goat.
They laughed at him, but listen not to his music or you will dance.
The wildest passion possible.
Silenus father of the satyrs was father of Pan.
Yet others say he was fathered by Hermes.
Arcadia is a place now in Greece, so he might look a bit Greek, but is more likely to have a hint of nymph or fairy. Among the hairiness.
Pan was so ugly at birth it is said that his mother ran away from him. Born with horns, beard, tail and goat-legs. Magical birds and dryads and all are not accustomed to such fierceness among their midsts.
Hermes thought it a laugh to take him to Olympus to show as a novelty. Following his freak show upbringing he went on to lead quite a life, quite a wild life.
He taught Daphnis pipes.
He was humble, easy going yet wild and some say lazy. He certainly liked his afternoon naps; after his revels with the mountain nymphs.
From Arcadia he guards all herds, flocks, and beehives
He helps all hunters who ask for help in finding quarry.
Beware you wake him as you pass a grove or grotto for he will raise with a great shout which will terrify you to the bone.
Pan is from paein:- to pasture, the upright man of the Arcadian fertility cult leading to the North Western Witch-cult and later as the devil – so it is said.
His terrible shout brought us the word and the state of ‘panic’.
He has many lop-eared hounds around him and he loves to eat lynx.
Old goat-legged god from Arcadia.
Oh how the Maenads go mad. orgiastic worshippers of mare-headed Daphoene.
He, Pan, was invited to their dances. upon the high mountains
Amid the Maenads dance there is a shaft, a stone shaft
Pan’s mother the woodpecker taps there still.
This rain will cool even the passion-mad Maenads as they dance an intoxicant dance of writhing limbs.
I have done a great deal of research in the build up to turning this very strange tale into a graphic novel so that it is all based on history, (unless it was the morphine). Some of the research work helped me create the individual features linked to below:
There have been big new developments in the field of healthy deliveries.
I would like to say a great big thank you to Shopkeeper for all the health bringing gifts that have been arriving almost daily in little parcels ever since I came home from hospital.
She-who-must-exist-somewhere probably had some thing to do with it as I know that Shopkeeper is based in Old Lee.
Here are a few days deliveries. They might not be all organic or anything, but just what I needed and Shopkeeper says that is what makes them healthy.
and besides, I can only now eat very small meals so these mean I can still have everything.
and the lager went down a real treat. Especially as I am not allowed it.
It was mum who was treated the most of all…
Mum was delighted.
Although Shopkeeper did point out the difficulties in delivering the next present as it was actually giant sized.
I am feeling better already, and mum is delighted.
There is a new group on the case now though. Shopkeeper has moved our centre of operations away from Old Lee to a more central spot for our needs. He has sent in the Local Team.
I look forward to seeing what they will come up with.
Footnote; Local Team have pointed out that although they distribute in a small range area they do in fact accept deliveries from anywhere in existence, from anyone or any being willing to send gifts.
The meals dont seem quite so small now that I have shrunk to fit. In fact I have my eyes on my mums chocolates.
But perhaps fresh orange would be better for me.And there is nothing like a cream of chicken pie.The secret to local deliveries working so well is that Shopkeeper (down in head office in Old Lee) has sent the local boys the most vital of pieces of equipment.The secret to distribution and organisational success is of course the all powerful clip board.
How else could the sick get their eggs or their Lucazade.
The Three Fates They Spin Your Thread – More of Adrian’s Ancient Greek Myth Collection
Erebus the deep dark which is shadow is in union constantly with that which is Night and from this long intertwining long ago there came three beings; the Fates. Night has spawned us many more beings as we all know but none so beautiful, so powerful, so timeless and old. Even before Erebus and even before there was Night some say then there were the Fates; Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos the conjoined. For they are the death aspect of HER. They are the Triple Goddess. They are the Moon Goddess. They are the Goddess. Some may say her name, think that they dare and remain to be right. And if that name they spoke for the Fates; the Triple Moon Goddess in her death aspect it may be the word that they say would be Athene. So some say.
Of the three conjoined begot by Erebus in Night Atropos is the smallest and Atropos is the most terrible.
Feel now for the white linen thread trailing behind as you go, for it connects you to life and it is her who watches this where you cannot see. It is her who chooses the moment that you are only dimly aware will happen one day. Though perhaps it will be night when Atropos decides. Perhaps tonight.
Before all of that there is the moment of your arrival, spinning upon a thread which you will follow as you will lead it through. For Clotho spun you; every incident of you.
Year by year is stretched across the rod to be counted, moment by moment even, until your line is set, this your length of thread is laid by Lachesis who has decided how long you exist.
It is Atropos who cuts. She determines in the end and you descend, or float at her attending.
All is pre-set.
Oh how the younger gods laugh at this.
For Zeus the mighty Zeus has spoken, claiming supremacy for his sovereignty. The ruler of all, the father of all, the ruler of fate and the ruler of the Three Fates. Ruler of all.
How the Three Fates laugh.
“I am the father of the Fates!”
The people of Delphi, at least, accepted his mastery of fate, supremacy; Lachesis no longer acknowledged there in their temples.
Some say Zeus was their father and Themis was their mother. He wasn’t the father though, no one could accept or swallow that. They were before even he.
Oh how the Three Fates laugh.
The Three Fates hold the power over all.
Younger gods, however, they say Zeus he weighs out lives in charge of Fates.
The thread of life is spun on Clotho’s spindle, measured by the rod of Lachesis and at its end is snipped by Atropos, Yet Zeus says he can intervene. “Let that one live!”
Oh how the newer gods they laugh.
Ordinary people they say they resist the Fates; stay in that day, train up to fight, move house, refuse betrothal, dodge the snip. They say they live.
Oh how the younger gods laugh.
These gods they talk of when the Fates were fooled, unsealed, when Apollo tricked them got them drinking, “Come relax, enjoy; eternity is a very long time.” Admetus was saved, or so they say. And…
How the young gods laugh.
Once when the Pythian Priestess danced she danced into a trance, an oracular trance, what she confessed the listener entranced. Not his children after all, the Fates are from the long before, are parthenogenous. The Fates they sprang from Necessity, the ancient Goddess Necessity she saw the
Three Fates flying from her. Long long before. There is more, if they are from before, then Great God Zeus must answer to them; dangle on their very whim.
Oh how the Three Fates laugh now.
The folks in Delphi worship only two Fates; Birth and Death. In Athens Aphrodite Urania is the oldest of the three, the Eldest of the Fates; the Nymph-goddess to which the sacred king was sacrificed eons back at summer solstice. The people of Athens know Urania means queen of the mountains, the Delphinians know this too. They are but the some who say, the some who say the thing some say. Not us who listened to the dancing Priestess who informed us of the Mother of the Fates, Necessity for she is the strong Fate, not even any Gods contend her. So Zeus must answer.
Oh how the Three Fates laugh now.
So Athens says there are three fates, Delphi they say two fates, Dancing Priestess tells us there are four, three are born of one and all the four of them become the Three Fates. Let that be how it is explained.
And yes, the Three Fates laugh.
Is it myth that makes the threads flow from us taken from the habit of the swaddling clothes, for they are marked with symbols and sigils; ancestry and family are marked upon the bandages of birth to place the babe within its place for all the rest of its life, to seal its fate. Or are the babies swaddled because we know the Fates will thread us from behind and we label / swaddle to show we loyally are of similar mind. Then though perhaps the Three Fates send the ancestry bandages right after they have cast the thread which is our life?
Family and clan names are things for humans in their mere humanness and that is mortal, Gods and Fates however have their other ways of being from the past and future. Take the Fates, the Three Fates; they are the Triple Moon Goddess of Necessity; Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos as Birth and Death of Delphi, Aphrodite Urania Athenian Nymph-goddess royal of the mountains. Hence their white robes and linen thread, Spinner, Measurer and Unavoidable sacred are they as Isis. The Pariae, the Ancient Ones, the Three Fates are the three Danaids; with three Rhodes’ cities named for them, Linda, Cameira and Ialysa, formerly Linodeousa (binder with linen, Catamerizousa (sharer out), Ialemistria (wailing woman). Yes they are the Telchines; the enchanters ie the Triple Moon Goddess Danae. Yes, they are the Moerae, if we moera-out (share out) the phases we have the three beings and the three moon times:
The new, the maiden-goddess of the spring, the first period of the year.
The full moon, the nymph-goddess of the summer, the second period.
The old moon, the crone goddess of autumn, the last period.
The trees reflect these phases in their needs and growth and character, and the Fates embrace the trees and feed us knowledge through them.
Take you sickle cut the twigs from tree type, tree type, till the echoes of the moon time spell the letters of your learning. God Hermes knew the power of the Fates and assisted in the alphabet of trees. The alphabet of trees is the alphabet of sharing is the alphabet of seasons is the alphabet of everything.
And from that alphabet came everything, for Hermes with them helped them shape us, gave us astronomy, scales musical, pugilism, synchronised physicality, mass and distance. They also brought us the cultivation of the olive tree.
These are they, the Three Fates who give us opportunity, the chances life brings, and so much more, they bring us powerful gifts, even love making, like with Aphrodite, she was spinning when they met her, now her life is devoted to love, to widespread love and you may call upon her influence because of the three.
Even with death they empower you, send you where you deserve to go, no heroes ever if not for the cutting of the cord to send them homeward, no reincarnating, no freedom from torture, although it is true no visits to Hades where one twitters like a bird and gasps for falling blood drops.
Have you wefted and weaved along your thread as best you could or tugged against the pastel way?
They will fight for you if you fight the way of right, they will fight for Gods and you alongside if the enemy is evil. Let the brazen pestles fall upon the head of giants. Where the evil fall dead because of them the ground will burn forever onwards.
Let them bring fruits of the moment, fleetingly beautiful to empower, or Death-Apple to poison, drink if you will of the juice of such fruits for it is sure that you are pure, pure as the fleeting fruits of the Fates.
The Three Fates can save you even, if it is unfair that you should die, and if loved ones love you enough and cry enough the Fates will invest a twig with parity with your life, so you will live as long as the twig is unburnt.
Please them as they please us and gifts can come; eye of perception, tooth of divination, herbal sickle or sacred bag. Wish them well, they will even sing at your wedding.
Other great feasts where the Fates are fawned over is when sheep are with lamb and honey has fermented. There in the open in the Oaken Grove we gather around the altar for the Three Fates Feast.
So every year a length of white linen thread is lifted from the great bundle which is your life and this will be your allotment of line for the year ahead, enough to last, yet, if it were to not stretch quite far enough this is because they have decided this is the end for you. You will not know for certain until it is suddenly cut and you fly from the earth. You might want to feel to see how much you think the Fates have given you this year though, feel to see.
For at its end, either the year has ended or you have.
Recent blogs include from the Greek Myths, Athene , Hermes and Pan.
This piece was originally part of my research for a forthcoming graphic novel with artist Tony Lawrence, but for now I felt the Three Fates deserved a blog of thier own. Current artwork for this blog is from myself. This is my interpretation from studying Graves’ Greek Myths and a few bits from the Iliad. Look out for the forthcoming Graphic Novel with Tony: Behold the God-slayer Typhon the Doom of Zeus.
Behold the God-slayer Typhon – Doom of Zeus – Graphic Novel First Draft
Some dark satisfaction comes from the destruction of all that offends him.
(wrong image?)
She mattered.
“Typhon, my child, my monster, my destructive force personified.”
He darkens the sky. Largest monster ever born.
“Let him rise,”
he is too giant for the earth.
“My Typhon” His very thighs are snakes writhing across the world beneath him.
(Above to be replaced)
(Ade – import art 0029 b bx from PC)
Vesuvius repelled it falls.
Down
The secret to local deliveries working so well is that Shopkeeper (down in head office in Old Lee) has sent the local boys the most vital of pieces of equipment.
The secret to distribution and organisational success is of course the all powerful clip board.
Adrian Spendlow The Blog 