The feminine beginning was extolled and honored from the earliest times. Our ancestors believed in spiritual love, and not only in carnal needs and tried to convey this concept to their descendants. The Goddess of Love is a symbol of female beauty, fertility, a lady of weddings, a harmonious spiritual principle.
Goddess of Love in Different Mythologies
Different peoples depicted their virgins in all manner of hypostases. The goddess of love and beauty is not just a fragile girl, but the personification of higher goods, the unity of spirit and mind. She was placed on a par with other deities. To celebrate the beautiful maidens, temples were built, and sacrificed as gifts to appease and receive blessings for a long and happy family life. The names of the goddesses of different mythologies vary.
- Lada is a Slavic beauty.
- Freya is a Scandinavian deity.
- Ein is an Irish idol.
- Hathor is an Egyptian creator.
- The goddess of love is Aphrodite.
They were all depicted in different ways. Every nation has its own concept of beauty, its standards of feminine beauty . Someone is a celestial with large facial features, downed physique and elastic muscles, and for someone - a delicate, thin creature. The institution of marriage was highly valued, so people were very careful about their traditions and tried to instill in them children and grandchildren.
Egyptian goddess of love
Hathor . This goddess enjoyed special reverence in ancient times. The goddess of love in Egypt was originally depicted in the form of a cow that gave birth to the Sun. Gradually the displays changed and the deity already looked like a beautiful woman with long horns, later reincarnated in the crown with the sun in the center. It was believed that the goddess could take the form of any living being. Patronized:
- women;
- motherhood;
- creativity;
- fertility.
Hathor is the daughter of God Ra, the sun Eye. It embodies the power of heaven and life energy. Now, after the passage of centuries, many women come to her temple, asking for blessings and maternal happiness. Has not affected the attitude to Hathor and the revolution in the world of religion - the sanctuary of the goddess has a huge energy for believers, because the Goddess of Love works miracles, as many argue.
The Greek Goddess of Love
Aphrodite . Before her spell, neither God nor man could stand. The goddess of love in Greek mythology Aphrodite helped lovers and cruelly avenged those who neglected her and the cult of the goddess. On the images, the deity is always surrounded by violets, roses, lilies, accompanied by an escort of nymphs and harit. Represented always in a form corresponding to the standards of beauty of time, in which the artist created.
According to legend, a maiden of sea foam appeared. Being a chthonic goddess, she had the power to inspire and feel all-consuming emotions, which are inherently destructive. It is described as a loving beauty, loving and caressing. Later mythological publications ascribe spirituality to the goddess of love. Homer, in his works, weakens the chthonic possibilities of the deity, which indicates a change in the human attitude towards natural processes.
The Roman goddess of love and beauty
Venus . Greek mythology greatly influenced the Roman mythology. The origins were the deification of natural phenomena, family ties and other inter-human relationships. Thus, there was a special relationship between the Roman and Greek deities. For example, the goddess of love in Rome, Venus, is analogous to the Greek Aphrodite. In the Romans, the divine being was considered the ancestor of their race.
According to legend, as many know, she fell in love with a man and as a result of this pure feeling she gave birth to the son of Aeneas, who founded an ancient civilization. She was subject to love and fertility. Those feelings, which are today the most vivid and necessary from our life. Everything that was created by the virgin was defended with particular fury and was protected. In legends it is said that the symbols of the celestial were:
- cow;
- bee;
- goat;
- swallow.
Slavic Goddess of Love
Lada . Lada, the goddess of love among the Slavs, was the guardian of the hearth, the consent in the family, the symbol of spring, prosperity and prosperous nature. This deity gave the most precious thing in the world - life. Warriors, going to war, carved the face of the celestial on the stones, in the hope that she would save them. The ancestor of the whole female tribe. It was portrayed as a magnificent young beauty. It was a part of perception, world outlook of marriage relations and interpersonal. The festival dedicated to the deity is Ivan Kupala . On this day the young people met and got to know each other.
Symbolization
- The white swan is a sign of pure purity, fidelity.
- A circle with an inverted triangle inside is a commemoration of the vast universe and its heart.
The Phoenician Goddess of Love
Astarte . The symbol of the feminine principle and the combination of all qualities, the beautiful half, humanity at the same time - Astarte, the goddess of love in Phenicia. The most ancient idol, mentions of which occur with the beginning of writing. It gave rise to all the subsequent incarnations of the goddess-mothers in different cultures. Initially, the image of Astarte reflected not only standard female features, but also extraordinary strength, absolute power.
Rather showed the warrior girl, than the sweet and kind. Such symbolization is built on the matriarchal principles of ancient society. With the advent of the patriarchate, the image underwent tremendous changes. Eventually, from the pantheon of the gods, her image was lowered to the patroness of prostitutes, lies and deceit. The stronger the patriarchate's assertion, the less space was devoted to women's power.
Indian goddess of love
Lakshmi . This deity symbolizes not only prosperity and prosperity, but also the power of knowledge, immortality, happy karma. The goddess of love in India, according to one of the legends, was one of the 14 wonders produced by the ocean, during the transformation into milk. She came out of a lotus flower with a lotus flower in her hand. The deity can be portrayed with two hands, with four and with eight. The purposes of the beautiful maiden:
- bring love and beauty to life;
- material must not be an end in itself;
- harmonious development of spirit and body;
- the desire to reach heights for his chosen one.
Japanese goddess of love
Bendzeiten . Cityfuku-jin is a list of seven gods, bearing happiness. The Goddess of Love in Japan is one of them. Bendzeiten brings luck, especially in sea voyages, patronizes art, love and passion for knowledge. According to the legend, the island of Enoshima originated from the depths of the lake, after which a beautiful Benten appeared with his children. The dragon, rampant at that time in the vicinity, instantly assumed the reign of the virgin, was fascinated by it. As a result, the couple joined in marriage.
Goddess of Love with the Celts
Brigitta, Nemon and Cliodna . The mythology and religion of Celtic peoples is not quite clear to many of us. The name of the goddess of love of the Irish people is difficult to say. Each god personified not only the natural elements, but also a spiritual feature. The most ancient celestial was Nemona, the patroness and guardian of the hearth and community. Approximately the same symbolization is carried out for Brigitte:
- signifies the element of fire;
- patronizes fertility, fortune telling, art, helps in childbirth.
Later, with the advent of Christianity, her image merged in Holy Brigitte, the daughter of a druid, who was a blacksmith and healer. The most vivid example of the transition of paganism to Orthodoxy, with the preservation of the ancient idol. Cliodna is the fairy queen. Goddess, who kept chastity before meeting her beloved. Love was so strong that the divine beauty left her habitation and began to dwell on the earth. The rest of the gods were unhappy with this course of events and created a coalition to bring Kliodna back.
Chinese goddess of love
Nyuva - a female snake, reborn seventy times, created the universe. The goddess of love in the mythology of China is the creator of humanity. Traditions describe it as a deity that saved the world from the flood and the light overrun. The woman-snake divided people into classes. Those who were fashioned from yellow clay and their offspring, became ruling dynasties. Scattered mud and clay with the help of a rope became the working class. Nyuwe was credited with a very large force, even her intestines gave birth to ten gods.
Aztec goddess of love
Shochiketzal . What is the name of the goddess of love in the Aztecs and what does her image symbolize? Shochiketzal was associated with the moon. Charming deity in the Aztec pantheon. The image is identified with fruit trees, flowers, butterflies. Living in paradise, Shochiketzal disobeyed and ate the forbidden fruit of a tree on which all kinds of fruits grew. It emitted blood and announced sin to the inhabitants of the paradise country. She appears as the patroness of illegal love, vice, treason. The Goddess personifies:
- virginity;
- femininity;
- The goddess of love Venus is comparable to her.
The Lithuanian Goddess of Love
Milda . This deity floats above the world in an air crew harnessed by white pigeons. The goddess of fertility and love among the peoples of Lithuania patronizes lonely people, tired of loneliness and wandering. Unlike other deities, he is not a benefactor of marriages, but only a spiritual feeling. The symbolism of the goddess fully conveys the whole essence and meaning of her deeds and inspires the lovers.
- The spiral, which is the sign of the first mythological month of April, the month of Milda.
- A figure of a woman with flowers.
It is known about the deity is not so much. The first time her name was mentioned in the document of 1315 together with the name of the river Milda. The day of the celebration of the beautiful maiden was called the Feast of Love, corresponding to Valentine's Day in our days. In the Lithuanian countryside, various idol sculptures are popular. The goddess of love Milda is associated with the Greek Aphrodite.
Mythologies of different cultures influenced one another, finding further reflection in legends and religious views. With the passage of time, the foundations changed and gradually the level of strength of the female goddesses decreased. However, and now many people believe that this or that goddess of love will help to fulfill the innermost. And individual images found their place in the Orthodox Church.