Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. - Rumi
Athena was/is the Greek Olympian goddess of wisdom, war and crafts and the adored patroness of the city of Athens. She is patroness of weaving and spinning. She was quite stern, it is said. She has always been associated with the owl. Her story is quite interesting as myths go.
Zeus had a wife named Metis. A Seer told him that Metis was going to give birth to children wiser than he was. He found out Metis was pregnant and, in his fear of being dethroned, he swallowed her. But, you see, that did not help at all, because, when Goddesses are going to be born, they are born. A few months later he had a terrible headache. It was so bad that he asked that his head be split open with an axe. That was a really bad headache, for sure. As soon as his head split, out jumped Athena, dressed in armor and ready for battle. So, Athena had no mother and she became her father’s favorite child; his first born. She was created from his thoughts and knowledge. She was born compassionate and generous. Much poetry is written about her gray eyes and a temple was built in her honor. (The pantheon). Many drawings and sculptures were done of her, with an owl and an olive tree included. She remained a virgin but this was probably a good thing because she was warlike as well.
She was something else, I tell you. She turned a woman into a spider for insulting her and the gods. She adopted a son who was half-man and half-serpent. She put the baby in a cedar chest and forbid anyone to look in it, as her son developed. They did and she drove them mad as punishment. She invented the flute but never played it. She went in aide of a god trying to kill Medusa (who would turn anyone looking at her to stone) by giving him her highly phished shield that showed Medusa’s reflection and he was able to cut off her many-serpented head. She fought in the Trojan War because Paris, the leader, had given a golden apple to Aphrodite. There was a wooden statue that protected the Trojans at the Palladium. She helped Hercules complete a penance that he was given to drive away the Stymphalian birds by getting them to rise so he could shoot them. She was something, indeed.
Her sacred number is 7, and anyone who has the sacred number 7 carries some of her attributes. She is usually shown with seven auras, with a golden shield, a spear a spindle, a bowl and entwined snakes. She is said to be associated with the owl, the dove, the ram, eagle, and all manner of cats, each with their own symbology. She is associated with the geranium, the tiger lily, the oak, cypress, olive tree and roses and citrus trees. Her stones are onyx, ruby, sapphire, turquoise, gold and ivory. Her colors are gold orange, yellow, green and blue. She carries the scents of patchouli, musk, indigo, orange blossoms, cinnamon and cedarwood. If you are drawn to these, you, too, carry her characteristics. Know them and you know yourself.
She had great courage. She had great wisdom. She knew which battles to fight. She demanded justice. She was strong. She slayed monsters with kindness. I need her help to slay some of mine. I need to use my wit and humor more so that I do not walk away feeling shamed and guilty; neither do they. Let me be fair. Let fairness find me.
©Carol Desjarlais 10.23.21
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