The transformative fire

An interesting confluence of dreams, readings and experiences has just happened. I woke up this morning and was pondering these recent events when I had an epiphany and came up with the following words:

The trick to using the fire of anger is not to turn it outwards but to turn it inward. Fire always burns itself out. That is its nature. When you turn it outwards at others or the world sooner or later you end up exhausted and defeated, the burden of the world on your shoulders. But when you contain the fire of desire and ego inside, it burns out all that is impure in you; what is sick, dying, weak, fearful and ungenerous. Everything that must die. With every encounter you have that enrages the ego... keep hold of that fire. Don't let it dissipate into fantasies of revenge or, even worse, into actual outward directed action. Keep that fire for yourself. Use it to burn another tiny bit of ego out; to fuel the long, slow transformation of your Self from mud into Diamond.

So... I've been dealing with issues of anger, of self-defense and protecting oneself from all the slings and arrows of living in a cold, hard city like New York. Every day brings endless (ENDLESS!) encounters with the millions of other New Yorkers all doing their best to annoy the shit out of you: the idiots who block the doorway of subway cars, not letting people get off or get on. The people who cut you off to save a couple nanoseconds... that you catch up to at the next red light. People constantly trying to get one over on someone else, or being angry when they can't. Biking in the city in particular has become an exercise in maintaining my zen despite almost unbelievable idiocy and rudeness.

I've always been one of those people who'd rather avoid confrontation and just let things go but recently I've felt the urge to "defend my space". And I have. And MY GOD IS IT EXHAUSTING!!! When people get onto a train with plenty of extra space but feel the need to crowd into you and lean on the pole you're trying to hold onto, and you try to bump them out of the way, but they decide they're not going to let you be the boss of them and bump you back, and then shake their umbrella on your leg like a dog peeing on his territory. Countless incidents like this.

At one point I realized that, although this was something I was glad to have done to prove to myself that I could, it was absolutely exhausting! And totally not worth it. But it got me to thinking about certain types, like Heras and Zeuses (like my grandfather), people for whom this kind of jockeying is a way of life, and I thought no wonder they're angry all the time!! I'm not sure about Zeuses but I've noticed that Heras' sense of hurmor tends to be on the bitter, angry side. And they're always, always so angry! Like, all the time. Well, I know why now; being constantly obsessed with not letting others "get one up on you" makes you angry!

This realization didn't happen until I gave up trying to defend myself, and getting all angry about it. But I still had to figure out what to do with all the anger being generated by living in a city filled with rude assholes, so I went back to being zen but this time with just observing the emotion and not trying to make it go away; just letting it be and burn itself out. And I found myself feeling stronger and calmer each time I did it. Then I had the dreams, and did the reading. And this morning, as I was thinking yet again about the issues of anger, and Heras, it occurred to me that that's what anger is for; anger is the purifying fire that burns out whatever needs to be destroyed. In one of my dreams was this part:

A huge enemy army is outside our walls, attacking us. Many of the walls are broken. I get a weapon and start shooting them. Then I realize heat is coming from my hands. I aim my palms at them and concentrate. They become hot. I go out of the defense and among them. I set them on fire, but its with compassion. I hold them and tell them they can rest now. As I’m doing this all, these sad people are being burned to charcoal. My people are safe, though. I had given them a message to take the group far away, to a certain location, and I’d meet them there. I take the burning hot fire and blow it back over the rest of the army, completely destroying them.

I realized that the "sad people" in the dream were these parts of myself that needed to be burned out, that were tired and exhausted and needed to rest.

I'm not sure where all of this is going but the following part of my dream reminds me of the final outcome card in my reading:

We try to leave, but a woman (commander?) catches us. She sees the girl’s “knife” and takes it. I say it belongs to the girl. I’m very strong, powerful and relaxed. I’m also angry and I want to hurt the woman commander. I take her by the wrist (her arm is very thin – she herself is pretty thin as well) and life her whole body up, levering it at her wrist. I won’t let go. Finally, I feel it start to crack. Then I put her down. She says I’m really strong, that I must work out a lot. I tell her I don’t (implying that I’m just naturally strong.)

When I interpreted the reading, this part reminded me of the above:

His decisions are almost always the right ones, because he sees the big picture and never lets his heart sway his judgement. Though they might not benefit the King directly, his decisions are always in everyone's best interests. When this part of you starts to manifest you'll know it right away. The King of Swords' arrival in your life is an event that almost never goes unnoticed simply because he commands attention from everyone around him. He does not linger waiting for something to do; he appears only when he is needed to drive raging emotions from you, or when his impartiality and cold judgement will help you solve a problem.

The dream seems to imply that I'm dealing with the masculine female and the feminine male. The masculine female I think is what I used to be - to try to use the sword of my will to defend myself. But something was wrong with that. The tarot reading also indicates it has something to do with masculinity and will. It appears that all that time I spent in the last year or so trying to develop a relationship with my animus is finally strarting to come to fruition.

Archetypal relationships: Hera & Zeus

Zeus

Mythology

Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus drew lots for their kingdoms. Zeus got the sky, Poseidon the seas, and Hades the underworld. They agreed to share the earth. Instead, Zeus dominated the earth and the humans who later inhabited it. The Romans knew Zeus as Jupiter.

Emotional Control System

The sense of self enables power, freedom, and dominance. Too little Zeus energy causes impotence or passive-aggression.

Life Purpose

Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades were the "alpha" males of the Greek pantheon. Zeus men conform to society's rules. A Zeus man seeks a public identity - usually a career - that matches his inner sense of self-importance.

Shadow

Zeus men are status-seekers. A Zeus man may use deception to create the appearance of success. He may sacrifice his subordinates. He may claim credit for another person's work. He may blame another person for his failures. As the sky god, Zeus saw in wide overviews. He didn't have his feet on the ground. Zeus men can be ungrounded, out of touch with reality. They believe in positive thinking. They tune out negative facts and feelings. E.g., employees say that a "reality distortion field" surrounds Steve Jobs. A Zeus man may work for years to achieve success, then find that it's not what he expected. He spends his life climbing a mountain, then realizes that he climbed the wrong mountain.

Sex

Zeus had sex with any beautiful woman he fancied - and paid the price with a jealous and vengeful wife. Zeus men keep mistresses. But Zeus men aren't great lovers. Their focus on power stunts their emotional maturity.

Hera

Mythology

Hera was the wife of Zeus. She jealously and cruelly persecuted Zeus's lovers and their children. The Romans knew Hera as Juno.

Emotional Control System

Hera energy is about tradition, ritual, and ceremony.

Life Purpose

A Hera woman's life purpose is to embody her culture's traditions. She uses awareness of the past to create group cohesion. She makes individuals feel they are part of a group by reminding them what the group did in the past.

Shadow

Women who embody Hera often marry doctors, lawyers, or other successful men. But they don't really love their husbands. They love being a successful wife. Hera women love children who behave properly. But when their children don't fit their ideals, Hera women disconnect or even abandon their children. E.g., look at Nancy Reagan and her non-relationships with daughter Patti and son Ronnie. Too much Hera energy makes an individual a caricature of whom she thinks she is. Too little makes an individual not take anything seriously. Some women today reject Hera. They remember their mothers in the 1950s or 1960s, dependent and self-sacrificing. But pushing Hera into the shadow can cause a woman to feel emptiness, or incompleteness. Such a woman should consciously bring Hera's rituals into her life, in ways that don't betray her ideals.

Sex

To Hera women, sex is just part of marriage.

Zeus-Hera Marriage

A Zeus-Hera marriage tempers power with tradition. A couple that successfully uses this energy increases their social status.

Zeus

Zeus men see women as either marriageable - beautiful daughters of wealthy, prominent families - or women for sex (as basically just another kind of status symbol). They use marriage in their rise to power, e.g., marrying the boss's daughter. Once in power, they go for the beautiful young nymphs.

Hera

Hera women subscribe to wedding magazines. A Hera woman's wedding is the most important day of her life. A Hera woman may mistakenly marry an Apollo man. Apollo men aren't leaders. She'll push him into a CEO position in which he'll fail, when he would've been a successful vice-president. She'll ruin his career and then divorce him.

Under Stress

Under stress, Zeus and Hera becomes Dionysus. When "the going gets tough," a Zeus man or Hera woman loses emotional coldness and distance. A wounded, human side comes out. At best, he becomes a hero - and becomes sexy to women. She becomes a "real person"-and sexy to men. At worst, a Zeus man or a Hera woman becomes hysterical, or turns to another side of Dionysus-alcohol.

When Safe

When safe, Zeus and Hera becomes Poseidon. They continue to be "alpha," but "lets their hair down" and show emotions.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Relationships/Zeus-Hera

Zeus in myth

From Wikipedia

The "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He is the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. Zeus was the child of Cronus and Rhea, and the youngest of his siblings. In most traditions he was married to Hera, although, at the oracle of Dodona, his consort was Dione: according to the Iliad, he is the father of Aphrodite by Dione. He is known for his sexual escapades. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, including Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Hermes, Persephone (by Demeter), Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen, Minos, and the Muses (by Mnemosyne); by Hera, he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus.

As Walter Burkert points out in his book, Greek Religion, "Even the gods who are not his natural children address him as Father, and all the gods rise in his presence." For the Greeks, he was the King of the Gods, who oversaw the universe. As Pausanias observed, "That Zeus is king in heaven is a saying common to all men". In Hesiod's Theogony Zeus assigns the various gods their roles. In the Homeric Hymns he is referred to as the chieftain of the gods.

His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the Ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses: standing, striding forward, with a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, or seated in majesty.

Birth

Cronus sired several children by Rhea: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon, but swallowed them all as soon as they were born, since he had learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overcome by his own son as he had overthrown his own father— an oracle that Zeus was to hear and avert. But when Zeus was about to be born, Rhea sought Gaia to devise a plan to save him, so that Cronus would get his retribution for his acts against Uranus and his own children. Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete, handing Cronus a rock wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he promptly swallowed.
Infancy

Rhea hid Zeus in a cave on Mount Ida in Crete. According to varying versions of the story:

   1. He was then raised by Gaia.
   2. He was raised by a goat named Amalthea, while a company of Kouretes— soldiers, or smaller gods— danced, shouted and clashed their spears against their shields so that Cronus would not hear the baby's cry (see cornucopia).
   3. He was raised by a nymph named Adamanthea. Since Cronus ruled over the Earth, the heavens and the sea, she hid him by dangling him on a rope from a tree so he was suspended between earth, sea and sky and thus, invisible to his father.
   4. He was raised by a nymph named Cynosura. In gratitude, Zeus placed her among the stars.
   5. He was raised by Melissa, who nursed him with goat's-milk and honey.
   6. He was raised by a shepherd family under the promise that their sheep would be saved from wolves.

King of the gods

After reaching manhood, Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge first the stone (which was set down at Pytho under the glens of Parnassus to be a sign to mortal men, the Omphalos) then his siblings in reverse order of swallowing. In some versions, Metis gave Cronus an emetic to force him to disgorge the babies, or Zeus cut Cronus' stomach open. Then Zeus released the brothers of Cronus, the Gigantes, the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, from their dungeon in Tartarus, killing their guard, Campe.

As a token of their appreciation, the Cyclopes gave him thunder and the thunderbolt, or lightning, which had previously been hidden by Gaia. Together, Zeus and his brothers and sisters, along with the Gigantes, Hecatonchires and Cyclopes overthrew Cronus and the other Titans, in the combat called the Titanomachy. The defeated Titans were then cast into a shadowy underworld region known as Tartarus. Atlas, one of the titans that fought against Zeus, was punished by having to hold up the sky.

After the battle with the Titans, Zeus shared the world with his elder brothers, Poseidon and Hades, by drawing lots: Zeus got the sky and air, Poseidon the waters, and Hades the world of the dead (the underworld). The ancient Earth, Gaia, could not be claimed; she was left to all three, each according to their capabilities, which explains why Poseidon was the "earth-shaker" (the god of earthquakes) and Hades claimed the humans that died (see also Penthus).

Gaia resented the way Zeus had treated the Titans, because they were her children. Soon after taking the throne as king of the gods, Zeus had to fight some of Gaia's other children, the monsters Typhon and Echidna. He vanquished Typhon and trapped him under Mount Etna, but left Echidna and her children alive.

Zeus and Hera

Zeus was brother and consort of Hera. By Hera, Zeus sired Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus, though some accounts say that Hera produced these offspring alone. Some also include Eileithyia and Eris as their daughters. The conquests of Zeus among nymphs and the mythic mortal progenitors of Hellenic dynasties are famous. Olympian mythography even credits him with unions with Leto, Demeter, Dione and Maia. Among mortals were Semele, Io, Europa and Leda (for more details, see below).

Many myths render Hera as jealous of his amorous conquests and a consistent enemy of Zeus' mistresses and their children by him. For a time, a nymph named Echo had the job of distracting Hera from his affairs by incessantly talking: when Hera discovered the deception, she cursed Echo to repeat the words of others.

Roles and epithets

Zeus played a dominant role, presiding over the Greek Olympian pantheon. He fathered many of the heroes and was featured in many of their local cults. Though the Homeric "cloud collector" was the god of the sky and thunder like his Near-Eastern counterparts, he was also the supreme cultural artifact; in some senses, he was the embodiment of Greek religious beliefs and the archetypal Greek deity.

Aside from local epithets that simply designated the deity to doing something random at some particular place, the epithets or titles applied to Zeus emphasized different aspects of his wide-ranging authority:

    * Zeus Olympios emphasized Zeus's kingship over both the gods in addition to his specific presence at the Panhellenic festival at Olympia.
    * Zeus Panhellenios ("Zeus of all the Hellenes"), to whom Aeacus' famous temple on Aegina was dedicated.
    * Zeus Xenios, Philoxenon or Hospites: Zeus was the patron of hospitality and guests, ready to avenge any wrong done to a stranger.
    * Zeus Horkios: Zeus he was the keeper of oaths. Exposed liars were made to dedicate a statue to Zeus, often at the sanctuary of Olympia.
    * Zeus Agoraeus: Zeus watched over business at the agora and punished dishonest traders.
    * Zeus Aegiduchos or Aegiochos: Zeus was the bearer of the Aegis with which he strikes terror into the impious and his enemies.[15][16][17] Others derive this epithet from αἴξ ("goat") and οχή and take it as an allusion to the legend of Zeus' suckling at the breast of Amalthea.[18][19]

Additional names and epithets for Zeus are also:

    * Zeus Meilichios ("easy-to-be-entreated"): Zeus subsumed an archaic chthonic daimon propitiated in Athens, Meilichios.
    * Zeus Tallaios ("solar Zeus"): the Zeus that was worshiped in Crete.
    * Zeus Labrandos: he was worshiped at Caria. His sacred site was Labranda and he was depicted holding a double-edged axe (labrys-labyrinth). He is connected with the Hurrian god of sky and storm Teshub.
    * Kasios: the Zeus of Mount Kasios in Syria
    * Ithomatas: the Zeus of Mount Ithomi in Messenia
    * Astrapios ("lightninger")
    * Brontios ("thunderer")


From Men, Myths & Minds

Zeus, Greek god of the sky was also the supreme ruler of Mount Olympus and all the other Greek gods and goddesses of the Olympian pantheon. Not an easy job for they were quite an unruly bunch! When the Olympians won the war against the ruling Titans, Zeus and his siblings wrested the throne from his father Cronos (Kronos) and the Olympic age began.

Zeus, Greek God of the Sky:

    As ruler of the sky, the Greek god Zeus was responsible for bringing (or not, if he so chose) rain, drought, and thunderstorms. No one dared challenge the authority of the mighty Zeus since he was prone to release his fearsome thunderbolts to express his displeasure . . . an awesome way to keep the peace and maintain order, but it worked for several centuries!

    The birth of Zeus was to be a fateful event . . . and it certainly was an unusual one! Sixth child of the ruling Titan god Cronos and the goddess Rhea, Zeus was the first to escape the fate of being swallowed by his father. Cronus, made fearful by a prophecy that one of his children would overthrow him, had eaten each of his children shortly after their births to prevent this from happening.



    Rhea, understandably, was not happy about this, and after the birth of Zeus, tricked Zeus into swallowing a rock that she had wrapped in a blanket, leading him to believe it was his newborn son. With the help of Gaia (the great Titan goddess we call Mother Earth, Rhea placed the care of her infant Zeus in the hands of the ash nymphs who hid him in their cave. Sometimes they hid him in the boughs of an ash tree where he could not be found on earth, in the sea or in the sky. The nymphs were helped by the divine goat Amalthei who allowed Zeus to nurse on her milk. Later when she died Zeus turned the goat's skin into his royal shield, Aegis, to honor her.

    Zeus grew nicely under the nymphs' care, and, as a young boy, came to be an attendant to his father. Cronus had no reason to suspect that his new cup-bearer was actually his son.

    His mother and the goddess Metis (a Titan goddess of wisdom) prepared a special potion for Zeus to slip into his father's cup. When Cronus drank from the cup he grew nauseous and vomited u[ Zeus' five siblings that he had swallowed -- Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon.



    Understandably outraged at having been imprisoned all these years, the siblings decided to wrest the throne away from Cronus. The wise Zeus realized that they would need both weaponry and powerful allies to accomplish this feat so, with his brothers; he freed the Cyclopes (one-eyed giants) from their imprisonment in Tartarus (the unpleasant part of the Underworld that we would describe as Hell).

    Grateful for their release and willing to help battle Cronus, the Cyclopes presented the brothers with gifts to show their appreciation. To Zeus they gave his thunderbolts, to Poseidon his trident, and to Hades a helmet that, when worn, made the wearer invisible.

    Now well armored, the siblings began the battle against their father and his troops. The war was long and bloody, but eventually won when the invisible Hades crept up behind Cronus, Poseidon immobilized him with his trident, and Zeus knocked him unconscious with his thunderbolts. The reign of the Olympians had just begun!



    Since he was a god and couldn't die, Cronus was imprisoned in Tartarus. Later he managed to escape, changed his name to Saturn, and made his way to Italy where he lived quietly among the mortals.

    Meanwhile the three brothers drew lots to divide up their new kingdom. Zeus drew the heavens (which made him the supreme ruler), Poseidon got the sea, and Hades won the Underworld. They agreed to share the rulership of the earth, with all having power over the mortals and the earth's other creatures.

    Unfortunately Zeus let his newly acquired power go to his head. Consequently his first few years of rule were marred by his tendency to abuse his powers.

    He built an enormous palace that sat far above the clouds on the top of Mount Olympus and, ensconced there, used his thunderbolts rather liberally, hurling them at anyone who had the misfortune to displease him.



    Zeus decided he needed a queen and picked Metis, the goddess who had helped him trick Cronos into disgorging his brothers and sisters. Only one problem . . . Metis declined and changed forms to hide herself from the persistent Zeus. But Zeus wasn't about to take no for an answer and pursued her relentlessly until she finally fell from exhaustion and consented.

    When Metis became pregnant, the great goddess Gaia, irritated with his high-handed ways issued a prophecy that any son of Zeus and Metis would grow to eventually usurp the throne of his father. So, in a variation of his father's routine, Zeus swallowed the pregnant Metis to prevent her from giving birth to a son.

    He need not have bothered for Metis was carrying a daughter, not a son. As the unborn daughter grew for years inside his head, Zeus developed the headache to end all headaches! Hephaestus, the god of the forge, could see how miserable Zeus felt, and fashioning a golden axe especially for the occasion, split Zeus' head open to relieve the pain. When he did, out stepped Athena, full-grown daughter of Zeus who was fully-clothed and ready to assume her divine responsibilities as the goddess of war. She was to become her father's most trusted ally and advisor.



    Now with Metis out of the way, Zeus went on to have several other consorts (and children by them) before actually marrying. Eventually Zeus decided that it was time for him to marry, and he picked the goddess Hera.
    But Hera was not at all interested in this arrogant young god and wouldn't let him near her. Realizing what it was that was "putting her off", Zeus transformed himself into a cuckoo and created a thunderstorm that drenched him thoroughly. Finding the little bird wet, bedraggled, and shivering, the kindly Hera picked him up and cradled him next to her heart. Changing back into his usual form, Zeus convinced her that she should take pity on him too, that, like the bird, he was also vulnerable and madly in love with her.     greek gods Quiz

    Hera realized she loved him too and agreed to marry him and become the Queen of Heaven (she wasn't about to settle for just being another of his consorts!) Everyone was jubilant for Hera was greatly loved, and they thought that she would manage to settle Zeus down a bit. Their marriage got off to a good start, with the honeymoon lasting over 300 years!



    But Zeus, married or not, wasn't quite ready to become the mature and benevolent ruler that he would later be. He was soon to resume his philandering ways, pursuing and capturing goddesses, nymphs, and mortals when they caught his wandering eye. Many of the myths of Zeus involve these seductions, with Zeus changing into various forms to seduce his unwilling prey, turning himself into a swan to rape Ledo, a golden rain to impregnate Danae.

    And it is no wonder that they were all unwilling, for the jealous Hera, unable to vent her rage on her powerful husband, turned her ire on the women he had seduced and their children.

    To his credit, Zeus was always a wonderful father, empowering all his children . . . acknowledging them all as his, protecting them from Hera if need be, giving them positions of power and responsibility.

    Zeus could be quite vengeful himself, especially in response to any affront to his power. Take his punishment of Prometheus, for example -- he had the poor Prometheus chained to a rock for eternity and sent his eagle daily to pick out and feast on pieces of his liver, punishment for stealing some fire from Mount Olympus to give to the mortals. Many years later the hero Heracles (Hercules) would kill the eagle and free the suffering Prometheus.

    At any rate, the other Olympians were growing tired of Zeus' antics and his arrogance; they decided to revolt. A conspiracy was organized by Poseidon (resentful of having gotten less power than Zeus) and went so far that the conspirators had disarmed and trapped Zeus. But while the brothers and sisters argued among themselves about how their new power would be divided, Zeus escaped and the plot was foiled.



    But apparently Zeus had gotten the message that it was time to grow up, and so he resolved to do better. And he did. (Well, maybe not totally, for the amorous escapades continued.)

    Superbly rational, Zeus became an outstanding administrator and a respected leader. He set high standards and was a very strict disciplinarian, even-handedly meting out punishments to those who broke the rules and settling all their disputes with great wisdom and impartiality.

    Seldom acting out of anger, the Greek god Zeus rarely held a grudge and was usually willing to let "bygones be bygones" once you'd served your time.

    He even let the conspirators off lightly, banishing the ringleaders, the bright Apollo and his brother Poseidon, to earth to work as manual laborers, but only for one year. And he forgave Athena for her role, saying that she'd been "duped" by the others.

    Hermes later became Zeus' messenger and trusted aide and extricated Zeus from many tricky situations. Athena, in addition to her responsibilities as the goddess of war, was made the goddess of wisdom and given the responsibility of serving as a judge.



    Zeus had two other special attendants . . . Nike (Winged Victory) and a cup-bearer named Hebe. When Hebe left to marry Heracles (Hercules), a beautiful boy named Ganymedes caught the eye of Zeus. Captivated by the youth, Zeus turned himself into an eagle and swept down from the sky to capture the boy. Returning with him to Mount Olympus, he installed him as his personal cup-bearer, a position of great trust.

    Zeus had reserved the greatest punishment for his wife Hera and had her strung from the stars with silver thread, heavy anvils tied to her ankles as punishment for her part in the conspiracy to unseat him.

    Painful as it was, Hera moaned and groaned night and day. Zeus couldn't get any rest, so after a few sleepless nights he agreed to let her down if she would promise to honor and respect him forever more. She gladly did.

    It should be noted that, in spite of all his infidelities and her repeatedly taking her revenge out on his lovers, the two really loved each other. Eventually, by using her strong sense of humor, Hera convinced him that he didn't really need to keep "fooling around" and he quit. They lived happily ever after, of course.



    The great Titan goddess Gaia, furious that the Olympians had imprisoned her children the Titans, once decided to take Zeus to task for it. She sent an army of giants (who could not be killed by a god, only by a mortal) to lay siege to Mount Olympus.

    Gigantic as they were, they were about to scale the walls of the fortress when Heracles (Zeus' mortal son, also known as Hercules) came to Zeus' assistance and killed the giants.

    Gaia was furious! She created a gigantic monster by the name of Typhoon who had a human shape but, instead of legs had thousands of snakes measuring a hundred miles long when uncoiled. When stretched out to his full length, Typhon's head touched the stars.

    When the monster reared his ugly head over the walls of Mount Olympus, the gods and goddesses shivered in fear. Then changing themselves into various animals to escape unnoticed and ran away to escape. All but one did, that is . . .

    Athena remained behind. Disgusted with their departure, she began to taunt Zeus, asking him what kind of a king he was, "A coward king, I'd say!" Zeus was embarrassed and summoned his courage, turned around and fought Typhon. The earth shook for days from their mighty blows.

    Finally the beast turned to pick up a tall mountain to hurl at Zeus, and just when he was distracted Zeus unleashed a hundred perfectly aimed thunderbolts at the monster, blasting the mountain to bits and burying the Typhon beneath it. The Typhon didn't die, but still lays buried beneath Mount Aetna where it periodically shakes and hisses with volcanic fury!

    As powerful as he was, there were two powers that Zeus could not have -- the power over the Fates and destiny, for they alone could determine the paths that gods and mortals would have to take.


    Ambitious, intelligent, persistent, and always keenly focused on his goals, the mighty  Zeus looms large in  the myths of the Greek gods. Whether defending the peace and political order, seducing a goddess or nymph, punishing an errant son, or doting on one of his many daughters, the Greek god Zeus was always up to something interesting.

Copyright©2002-2003 The Goddess Path   
http://www.men-myths-minds.com/Zeus-greek-god.html

Exploring the archetypes: Zeus

This series of posts is going to be both collections of all information about a particular archetype in one place as well as an ongoing exploration of the archetype, it's mythological history, relations with other archetypes, whatever comes up.


Zeus in myth: a synopsis

ZEUS was the king of the gods, the god of sky and weather, law, order and fate. He was depicted as a regal man, mature with sturdy figure and dark beard. His usual attributes were a lightning bolt, royal sceptre and eagle.

Some of the more famous myths featuring the god include:

■His birth and upbringing in the Diktaion cave, where he was nursed by Amaltheia and guarded by the shield-clashing Kouretes;

■The Titan War in which he overthrew the Titanes and imprisoned them in Tartaros;

■His battle with Typhoeus, a hundred headed, monstrous giant who attempted to capture heaven;

■The War of the Giants who attempted to storm Olympos but were slain by Zeus and the gods;

■The Great Deluge in which he flooded the earth to destroy mankind and begin the world anew;

■His conflict with Prometheus over the theft of benefactions for mankind;

■The punishment of Salmoneus, Tantalos and Ixion, men who offended the god with their impiety;

■The birth and life of Herakles, his favoured son, who he had transferred to Olympos at death;

■His extramarital affairs with women such as Leda, seduced in the form of a swan; Europa, as a bull; Danae, as a golden shower; Kallisto, as Artemis; and Antiope as a satyr;

■The Trojan War which he orchestrated from start to end, including the casting of the golden apple of discord.

http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Zeus.html


From the Library of Halexandria

As chief of the gods, Zeus was required to lose touch with the earth in order to gain an overview; to see the forest but not the trees.  The sky was also consciousness, “a perspective that exalts control, reason, and will.”  He was King, “a man’s home is his castle”, husband, father (children as extensions of himself), expected his wife to run the household and parenting (while he was minimally involved), protective, generous, and trusting toward many of his sons and daughters (although his generosity was motivated by his desire to control them and was tied to his expectations of them), sought authority and power, risk taker, entrepreneur, focused and single minded (the eagle), alliance maker, philanderer, ambitious, pragmatist (not an idealist), accepted the world as it was and wanted his piece of it, never an intellectual nor introspective, didn’t waste time on other’s feelings or dwelling on the past, “Power is an aphrodisiac”, everyone was expendable to him, but there is no profit in making enemies, the “alpha male” who had his pick of females, women were a “perk”, not a good lover, not passionate and didn’t bother to try to please women. 

http://www.halexandria.org/dward373.htm


Tarot Correspondences

Each archetype has two corresponding Tarot cards: one from the Minor Arcana, which shows the archetype at it's healthiest - it's the way we can manifest their power and energy. The corresponding card from the Major Arcana, on the other hand, is the divine gift of the spiritual realm that they're seeking to manifest through us.

King of Wands

The King of Wands is pure fire energy, but strangely enough, he has the least to do with actual creation and creativity. His forte is not in dreaming up ideas and implementing them himself, but in taking an idea and changing the world to match his vision. As such he is a natural leader and commander of all kinds of people. They flock to him to hear what he has to say and leave just as eagerly when he gives them something to do for him. The King of Wands is the ultimate leader, who looks forward to challenges because he enjoys the rush of adrenalin that solving a difficult problem can induce. He not only dispels his own fear but that of others, by ensuring them that they shall succeed. He is not all talk, though; when the going gets tough no one hangs in there longer than he does. The King of Wands has a deep and innate respect for other people, and his compassion extends farther than most people would expect. For a King, he has a remarkably good relationship with the common people. When he is unable to assist by himself, he will empower and enable others to help in his place. As with all of us, the King's faults emerge from his strengths. Most of the time he does not show enough restraint to know when assistance is not needed or wanted. He can sometimes make things even worse by doing what he thinks is the right thing - and he always thinks that what he is doing is the right thing. Most of the time his high sense of ethics proves him right, but in those few times where he is on the wrong side of the argument, he can do more harm than good. But one thing that can never be said of him is that he walks away from problems, whatever they are. He will defend another man just as vigilantly, if not more so, than he would protect himself.

The King of Wands invites us to act as he would to solve our problems. His vision is one of ideal reality, and his vision is that humanity might always be better than it is. He is the warrior of light who stands up for something that matters, and his appearance is an invitation for you to do so as well. If there is a cause you wish to support, but you are unsure of your position, you may proceed with the knowledge that your base of power is strong. Take your responsibilities seriously, think of new ways to do things, and never stop believing in yourself.

The Sun (XIX)

The sunflowers in the garden are not turned towards the Sun, as they normally are, but to the child on the horse. He is the one who now holds power over the material world. The great ordeal of the Moon has passed, and you have emerged into the light, stronger and wiser. War has ended and made way for peace; hatred is replaced by love; fear is overcome by courage. Good triumphing so powerfully over evil is not an everyday occurrence in this world, and when it does happen you should be glad that a little more light has entered your life. The rising of the Sun is akin to the completion of the tasks and trials of the night, and the warmth it provides is the reward for not cowering in fear at the darkness, not running away given the chance, and not trying to hide from the wisdom that is rightfully yours.

Success and completion; success comes if you are confident and bold in the use of your creative energy. Glow with the vitality of the Sun whose light is unmatched and whose power is absolute. Such power and clarity are within everyone's grasp, including yours, if you let the light of the Sun illuminate you. If there are areas of darkness lurking inside you, the Sun's rays will expose them so you can integrate them into yourself. Fogs of confusion are burned away with the Sun's fiery sword, and its flames drive away fear and all the terrors of the night. A seemingly hopeless situation will be hopeless no more once the Sun shines down upon the true path, the correct solution. When the Sun appears, let its power amaze and overwhelm you. But do not simply watch - reach up to grasp it, draw its power into yourself. The power of the Sun is true power indeed.

http://www.ata-tarot.com/resource/cards/index.html


Zeus Posts

The Zeus archetype: a deeper look
Zeus in myth
Archetypal relationships: Zeus and Hera
Musings on Zeus

Again, much of the above descriptions comes from The American Tarot Association, Goddess Power, The Library of Halexandria and from Wikipedia pages on the various tarot cards. All credit goes to them for their brilliant explorations of the archetypes and tarot cards. Make sure you check them out yourself and get their wisdom first hand (links are over there to the right.)