Happy Happy Happy!!

Well I sat down to write today, encouraged by the feedback I had gotten from a recent post I'd left at the Aeclectic Tarot Forum (if you'd like to participate over there it's in the Tarot Deck Creation board, although, granted, my deck isn't a Tarot one but an Oracle, as they call them), and having gotten overwhelmed by just how much information there is out there on Diana (and me without a copy of Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana at Aricia--can you tell I am lusting, lusting, after this book?), so much information, actually, as to be almost useless (kinda like trying to define just what Isis is the 'Goddess of' in a single sentence) I instead decided that maybe I'd be best off getting back into the groove of things by starting a little smaller. So I chose Laverna, the Goddess of Thieves, as a good place to start.

And so I went through the books I've got on Roman religion (most of which just say She had an altar in Rome by the gate named after Her the porta Lavernalis, and a grove somewhere near by); and after going through those I turned to the internet.

Where I found that someone had lifted, word for word and including my titles and picture, and not of course crediting me, my entry for Laverna on a random forum. I couldn't decide at first if it was simply Divine irony (being that She is Goddess of thieves) or if it was in fact worth getting my panties in a bunch about; in the end I concluded, that, since I'd have to sign up to the damned place to comment that it wasn't worth my time.

And so I went through my usual routine of research for the Roman Goddesses, looking up the Latin, &c. When I came to an old bookmark, an old sad bookmark.

It was for the Ancient Library site, one that used to have the entirety of William Smith's 3700-page Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, which, though written in 1867, is still an indispensable resource, and surprisingly less outdated than you'd think. After all, in the 19th century they had pretty much all the texts we have now; and though some of the interpretations may have changed, the basic references are the same.

But Ancient Library had disappeared a while back, I don't know why (funding, maybe?) and that had made me very, very, sad. Now, Smith's stuff has also been entered into Perseus over at Tufts, but I've never been able to get that site to work in anything approaching a timely fashion, and, so, well, rather than tear my hair out I just kind of gave up on the damned thing.

But lo and behold today when I nostalgically clicked on the Ancient Library link there it was, back to its former glory! I suppose only a Goddess-geek like me finds this that wonderful, but let me tell you it has made my day.

Because it will make writing the Goddess Oracle Deck book a Hel of a lot easier. I'm taking it as a sign.

Moving On

Okay, I am totally sick of looking at Benzaiten's boob. She has proved to be a far more complicated Goddess than I would have thought, having a long and convoluted history as She originates in the Hindu Sarasvati (a river Goddess so old even in ancient times Her river was lost) Who then was adopted into Buddhism which then made its way into China which is how She came to be known to the Japanese Who took Her as their own even assimilating Her into a couple of the native Shinto Goddesses.

I mean I think I've got that straight.

Anyway, I'm not sure now that my portrait of Her is quite appropriate, and the whole shebang of Her will need some Musing; but while I give that time I've decided I shouldn't let that hold up the writing of The Book. So I'm going to put Her aside even though I haven't finished Her entry, and even though I am usually quite loathe to do so, as I have this problem with finishing things as it is. But I think in this case I will have to move on if I am to move at all.

So, then, it's back to the Roman Goddesses. Which makes Diana next.

Another Book Update

Well I officially finished Ceres; and though I probably ought to move ahead with the next Roman Goddess, Diana, I think I will allow myself to be distracted by the Japanese Goddesses. There are only three of them in my deck, Amaterasu, Benzaiten, and Sengen, and I'm in the mood.

Book Update

I am nearly done with the entry for Ceres, but somewhere in the last week I got distracted by Amaterasu and the Japanese Goddesses and began assembling and researching their entries for the Goddess Oracle Deck book. This, I think, is one of the reasons it's taking me so long to write this book; my brain just does not work in a linear fashion (yeah, yeah, quelle surprise). So, while I exceeded my writing quota by rather a lot this past week I don't have a finished page to show for it yet.

Hopefully soon I will.

One thing I did learn which is very interesting but probably too much detail to get into in the book is that several of the Goddess Benzaiten's shrines in Japan are located within caves. Benzaiten, or Benten, the Japanese Goddess of Luck, Love, Eloquence, and Music, is an odd one: She is a version of the Hindu Sarasvati who was syncretized with various local Shinto Kami (roughly, Deities) and adopted into Buddhism when that came by; so She has elements of all three. Lucky, indeed!

Two of Her cave-shrines are located in the city of Kamakura. One of them, the Zeniarai Benten Shrine, is home to an unusual custom: it is believed that money washed in the underground spring there will double, so there are baskets and ladles provided for doing just that. (The Wikipedia article is here, though I do apologize for linking to Wikipedia; as a lover of obscure Goddesses, I find Wikipedia generally disappointing, but in this case it is a decent starting point). Another of Her shrines in Kamakura is the Benten-kutsu cave, which has several figures carved into the living rock of the cave wall.

She also, for whatever reason, tends to get depicted nude (perhaps it's those Hindu origins) unlike a lot of Japanese sculpture; here is a collection of images of Her. Check out that modern metal one that has Her pulling a Jimi Hendrix on the biwa!

Ravings of a Frustrated Wannabe Scholar

I was a scholar in a past life, I really think I was; but in this one I'm just an artist. I make no bones (I think) about not being a proper expert in any of this Goddess stuff, by which I mean, one with degrees and a dissertation behind her; really, I am just a (very) interested amateur when you come down to it.

So this week, in researching the Goddess Ceres for The Book To Go With The Goddess Oracle Deck (for which I really should attempt to come up with a catchier title), I came across Barbette Stanley Spaeth's book The Roman Goddess Ceres. Which book, alas, is not available at my famously crappy local university library (and, as I am not a student there I do not have access to inter-library loan); so I've been reading what I can of it on Google Books. And I only got to page two before I hit this passage:

Ceres’ name also links her with several ancient Italic divinities, such as Kerrí, Keri Arentikai, Regina Pia Cerria Iovia, and Anceta Ceria. These divinities were worshipped by the Osco-Umbrians or Sabellian-Umbrians, peoples of the central and southern regions of Italy.

And my head just about exploded. These are Goddesses, obscure Goddesses, about Whom I've only ever found a diabolically mysterious mention there and here; and I am fiercely, fiercely jealous of the access to material proper scholars have. I mean, it's true, I have to rely on others' work, and that in English to boot, as I can't read things for myself in Latin or Greek, or even French or the German that every freakin' work on the Etruscans seems to have been written in; so I have a few limitations. But damn. She just tosses these names around like it's the Red Sox lineup for the year.

Yeah, jealous, a bit.

But excited too, in a way I suppose only a fanatic, or a Goddess worshipper who leans towards the nerdy side of things can get; because, OhmyGod! more Obscure Goddesses for the collection, as it were. And I find myself in an odd state, one that I've been in a lot lately for some reason: a kind of blocked or unfocused inspiration.

It's very strange. I have been quite inspired, I mean on fire! about my various projects; yet the way it's playing out in me is that I am so inspired and so excited I can't actually sit still long enough to get anything done. I am full of plans and dreams and ideas but am having a terrible time just doing the damned stuff. I'm not usually like this; not, I mean, that I've ever been any good with discipline, I suppose.

It's not even quite a question of not knowing where to start; I've had that problem all my life and have some ways around that by now. It's that when I sit down to do one thing, I find myself passionately thinking about something else I'd like to do; but if I start on that something else comes up. It's like my inspiration is misfiring, or isn't timed correctly. I need the psychic equivalent of one of those strobe light thingies for your car engine.

Any ideas?

Writing Update

Well I finished up the Sibyl entry just now, which was a little tricky as she's not really a Goddess, and not really a single person, more a type or title; but that sews up the Greeks. Now, on to the Romans, starting with Ceres.