Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood by Merlin Stone

Aphrodite:

White bird of the heavens, dove wings gliding over the sea, Aphrodite Ourania, Queen of Heaven, came from ancient Phoenician Ascalon in the land of Canaan to the nearby isle of Cyprus. Landing at Kition, landing at Amathus, landing at Paphos, those who saw Her shake the water from Her wings upon the rocks of Petra Tou Romiou thought that She had been born of the sea, the whiteness of Her feathers blending with the whiteness of the aphros foam.

They say Phoenicians carried Her to the Cyprian isle, even to the Holy Island of Cythera that Homer spoke of as divine. Still some say that Her

home is on the Holy Hill of Corinth in the land of Greece. Once called upon as Ashtart, Queen of Heaven known throughout Canaan, Her April

festivals continued along the coast of Cyprus. Her sacred essence was in the milk white marble stone, Galatea stone that Pygmalion adored, stone anointed with the oil of olives by pilgrims who travelled from far across the sea, to receive a phallus and a lomp of salt on the first day of the month of Nisan. In this way they paid their respect at the holy shrine of Paphos where Aphrodite Ourania, Queen of Heaven, had chosen to make Her new home.

With Her came the memories of Adonis, he who had been Her son/lover Tammuz in Canaan, the sweet young shepherd of the myrtle tree whose

gentleness and beauty were lost in untimely death, his blood escaping from the wild boar wound, colouring the poppies of the Cyprian Troodos Mountains, so that women in their sorrow at Aphrodite's loss, wove poppies and myrtle leaves in wreaths about their heads. Lamenting with Aphrodite, the women carried the pomegranates of Persephone, Queen of

the Land of the Dead, and planted basket gardens of seeds that would die as Adonis died, before full maturity could come. Such were the sacred rituals for Aphrodite, enacted only by the women, for Lucian complained that these were the mysteries from which all men were excluded. And in his anger, Lucian claimed that they were lascivious orgy, mere corruption of the mind.

Holy women, sacred women, served Aphrodite in Her temples, taking lovers from among those who came to pay respect and honour to Aphrodite Who Gives Life, to Aphrodite who blessed Her devotees with eternal youthful

vigour, to Aphrodite who took Her bodily pleasures from both deities and mortals. Many were the men She had possessed - gentle Adonis, rocklike Hermes, warlike Ares, royal Anchises, watery Poseidon, delicate Dionysus, metalsmith Haephaistos, and oar pulling Butes. Thus the women who served at Her temples, both princesses and peasants, followed the ways of Aphrodite, burning myrrh and frankincense in sacred invocation, while bedding any they desired within Her holy shrines. Those who worshipped Aphrodite kept the love of women in their hearts, as poet Sappho of the isle ofLesbos, who called out to Cypria, Queen of Paphos, Golden Crowned Aphrodite, wrote of the blessing of 'sleeping on a tender girlfriend's breast' and of 'girls who lay upon soft mats with all that they most wished for beside them.' To those who entered the holy places of Aphrodite, love was love. Thus at Her Oschophorian rites, young boys dressed as girls. And at the Argive feasts for Aphrodite, men put on the robes of women, while women donned the clothes of men.

Yet some remembered Aphrodite as the Mother, First Mother of the Race, She from whose body the first Thebans had sprung. Essence of Love,

essence of Motherhood, Oldest of the Fates inscribed upon Her shrine at Athens, Aphrodite was known as Goddess of the Spear at Paphos, She Who Battles in Mylasa, and as Armed Aphrodite on Cythera and at Akrocorinth.

Thus when Her broken image was raised from the sea at Milos, perhaps it spoke not of perfect female body, but of arms that had been wrenched away.

At Sikyon, even then the ancient site of Mekone, Aphrodite held the sacred mekon poppy in one hand, the pomegranate in the other. It was

here they say that Demeter first discovered the poppy. And at Hermione, where the shrine of Demeter Chthonia stood, a shrine for Aphrodite was the site where all virgins came to sacrifice to the Queen of Paphos, before accepting the love of a man.

Though some would say that Aphrodite thought only of physical pleasures, Aeschylus heard Aphrodite say:

"I am the Goddess Cypria, mighty among people.

They honour me by many names. From the tides of Pontus to the Pillars of Atlas These lands are mine to rule. To those who acknowledge my power, I give honours and rewards. But those who dare to defy me, I shall swing them by their heels. For how can I be joyous in my heart, If I am not honoured by my people?"

Though centuries have passed, and churches have been built upon the ancient sites, echoes of Panagia Aphroditessa linger in the Shrines of

Maria, as the ancient corner stone of Paphian church is anointed with the oil of olives, and a candle lit before the ancient stone - in honour

of Holy Aphroditessa - as the Maid of Bethlehem