'Daughter of Gaia' - Archetype of the Greek Goddess of the Earth

'Daughter of Gaia' was inspired by several things. Easter Island, a painting and mythology.

Archetype Of the Greek Goddess of the Earth

Easter Island is the most beautiful place I have ever 'felt'. The energies there are incredible. It is silent yet full of ancient noise, stained thick full of memories and stories. It is a 6 hour flight straight into the Pacific Ocean, in the middle of nowhere.

Legends there tell of the Birdman ritual, and it was a story about this that conjured the image of a girl surrounded by birds. I wanted to drape her hair over her arms, to subtly represent intricate wings.

The painting

I love Victorian, Nouveau and Pre-Raphaelite paintings and was particularly inspired by this piece by Cadogan Cowper when I was deciding upon the composition.

I also love the way Mucha often uses circular shapes behind his figures, representing the sun or the moon.

The first Greek god was actually a goddess. She is Gaia, or Mother Earth, who created herself out of primordial chaos. From her fertile womb all life sprang, and unto Mother Earth all living things must return after their allotted span of life is over.

Gaia or Gaea, known as Earth or Mother Earth (the Greek common noun for "land" is ge or ga). It is written that Gaia was born from Chaos, the great void of emptiness within the universe.

Nowadays, some scientists use the term "Gaia" to mean the complete living planet itself, as a complex organism.

     Gaia, as Mother Nature, personifies the entire ecosystem of Planet Earth. Mother Nature is always working to achieve and maintain harmony, wholeness and balance within the environment. Mother Nature heals, nurtures and supports all life on this planet, and ultimately all life and health depend on Her. In time, Nature heals all ills.

     The way of Mother Gaia is the gentle, feminine, Yin way of healing. The Mother Nature is a healing goddess.

     

'In the 1960s, James Lovelock formulated the Gaia hypothesis. It states that all life, and all living things on this planet, are part of a single, all-encompassing global entity or consciousness which he named Gaia. It is this global consciousness, Mother Gaia, that makes our planet capable of supporting life.

     Through the global consciousness of Mother Gaia, all living things on this planet, from their most primordial instincts, are constantly interacting with their environment to ensure the harmony, balance and continuity of Life. Live in abalance with Mother Nature and health and healing are yours; violate Her laws and get out of balance, and you pay the price in suffering and disease. In this sense, all medicine and healing can be seen as a system of ecology'.

(www.greekmedicine.net/mythology)

Gaia had prophetic powers and was closely associated with a number of oracles. She was worshipped as a fertility goddess at shrines in many parts of Greece.

Incidentally, she gifted HERA with Golden Apples of Immortality as a wedding present.

    The Egg of Life

Sacred Geometry is older than we can ever know. I have read a lot about The Flower of Life and the Egg of Life is found within this symbol.

You can read a summary about it here: http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/sacred_geometry_the_flower_of_life.htm

I decided to name her 'Daughter of Gaia' rather than 'Gaia' because I don't believe that I could put a face to Mother Earth, I feel as though she is more of a force that is everything and everywhere.

(Some) Secrets from 'A Celtic Twilight'

This is one of the best-known collections of Yeats' prose; in it he explores the longstanding connection between the people of Ireland and the inhabitants of the land of Fairy. Yeats, who had profound mystic and visionary beliefs, writes with conviction of the reality of Fairies, both in his own experience, and in the everyday life of the Irish. This relatively short work serves as a way for readers to discover Yeats' powerful wordcraft and get an overview of celtic Fairy lore.

A little goblin holds the music for Pan and his comrades to read named 'The Night of Pan'. Within the system of Thelema, this is a mystical state that represents the stage of ego-death in the process of spiritual attainment.

The playful Pan is the Greek god of nature, lust, and the masculine generative power. The Greek word Pan also translates as All, and so he is “a symbol of the Universal, a personification of Nature. Pan is both the giver and the taker of life, and his Night is that time of symbolic death. In a more general sense, it is the state where one transcends all limitations and experiences oneness with the universe.

'The Order of the Golden Dawn'

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was an organization devoted to the study and practice of the occult, metaphysics, and paranormal activities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Known as a magical order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was active in Great Britain and focused its practices on theurgy and spiritual development. Many present-day concepts of ritual and magic that are at the centre of contemporary traditions, such as Wicca, were inspired by the Golden Dawn.

The Golden Dawn system was based on hierarchy and initiation like the Masonic Lodges; however women were admitted on an equal basis with men. W.B.Yeats was a member.

References to Harry Potter that I do so love, and the symbol of the 'Illuminati'.

Failte is Gaelic for 'Welcome'

I first saw 'This is Not Here' in the 'Imagine' video with John Lennon and Yoko Ono and it has fascinated me ever since. I want to get a sign made above my studio :)

I like to read philosophy, particularly with Buddhist roots and this sentiment is paramount.

Secrets from Rapunzel

This is the Flower of Life. It is the most significant of all the symbols in sacred geometry. Encoded within it is the blueprint for all creation. Sacred Geometry is a universal language which allows us to access ancient knowledge contained in our cellular memory. It enables us to understand wisdom from cultures that have left earth long ago. It is the key to understanding the nature and value of color and sound. It facilitates communication with beings from other worlds and dimensions. The Flower of Life symbol can be found in various locations around the planet. No one knows for sure how old this symbol really is.

The constellation shown represents Aquarius, because many believe we are entering the Age of Aquarius. Nobody really know when it will happen, some peoples believe it began in 2012. "The Age of Aquarius is the Age of Freedom, Technology (especially electricity), and the Water Bearer."

Scientists today confirmed the galactic alignment as the Maya predicted, "There's no question that one of the great cycles of the traditional ancient Mayan calendar comes to a completion of its count at that time in 2012,"says E.C. Krupp, Ph.D., director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California.

The word Peace,

Love,

Joy

The Feather represents Balance

The spiral. Ancient people could recognize that the stars overhead spun around a central point every night, and today we know we reside within a spiral galaxy. Thus, the spiral can be a symbol of the universe and our place within it and of the great cycles that constantly advance within this universe.