Mythology

Of Gods and Goddesses

People I am told have watched the movie Avatar and leave longing for that connection with the earth, but I think in our human history we once had that. Cultures are full of stories of Shamen, Oracles, and other mystics who could connect with the spirit realm in many different ways. I think it's fully possible for people to do such things if they want to.

I was just catching up on some mythology stories. Zeus and his seductions are some of my favorites. Some of the underhanded desperate things he did to get women.

Callisto

Daughter of Lycaon, King of Arcadia. She was one of Artemis hunting attendants. As a companion of Artemis, Callisto would have taken a vow of chastity. Zeus appeared to her in disguise, probably as Artemis, gained her confidence, then took advantage of her. As a result of this encounter she conceived a son, Arcas.

I am trying to figure out if he seduced her fully in this guise or at some point took on his own form? Zeus pulled some stunts. These stories are interesting.

Leda

Leda and the Swan is a motif from Greek mythology, in which Zeus came to Leda in the form of a swan. According to later Greek mythology, Leda bore Helen and Polydeuces, children of Zeus while at the same time bearing Castor and Clytemnestra, children of her husband Tyndareus, the King of Sparta. As the story goes, Zeus took the form of a swan and raped or seduced Leda on the same night she slept with her husband, King Tyndareus. In some versions, she laid two eggs from which the children hatched.

Talk about desperation. Depending on which version of the story you read. I mean at which point did she realise it was Zeus? Then to bear four children at the same time. The Gods at times seem to think that the lives of mortals are just things to be played with, maybe they are to an extent.

Vrinda's chastity cast a sheild of invulnerability around her husband, Jalandhara. This made him invincile in battle. Distressed, the gods sought the help of Vishu, who suduced Vrinda by taking on the form of her husband. By the time Vrinda realized that the man who posed as her husband was an imposter, it was too late.

This is another story of unwilling seduction. I mean how desperate would you have to be to pretend to be someone you are not to seduce someone else? The horror she must have felt upon discovering that it was not her husband, or the person that she loved must have been insurmountable. It's a pretty cruel thing to do. In this story the seduction was used as a mean of getting to her husband and destroying him. But in other stories it's used to make wives appear as disloyal, and unfaithful, when that is just not the case.

I couldn't find anymore information on this story, and it's characters. I was trying to find out if this character ended up having the child of her false seducer. That often happens in mythology. Talk about adding insult to injury. To realize you have unwittingly betrayed someone you care about deeply, and then to have to carry the shame and guilt of that in the form of a child, would be equally horrible, but the ancient stories are full of Gods, and mythical creatures pulling stunts like this all the time.

All I could find on this story was that he used this deception to kill her husband and she became a widow.

Still I suppose even if someone takes on the form of the one you love, and pretends to be them, imitates everything about them, it's still pretty unforgivable. I wonder if her husband had lived, could he ever have forgiven her for not realizing the truth or the difference in time? For surly it was he that she loved, and not her fake seducer.

Mythology is full of such stories. I loved mythology when I was younger. Primarily Greek/Roman mythology. However all mythology has value and merit.

I often wonder if these stories come from a time when humans were closer to the earth? When people were more connected. Stories of mythical births like the Goddess of war, being born from Zeus's head, and so forth. Or I wonder if these stories happened on a mythical realm. Even when they found the city of Troy, there was mention of the Gods. I firmly believe at one time, before we became a technological society, we could in some places more easily connect with the other realms. The history of most societies have mentions of Gods and Goddesses.