As she walks, the green of the leaves
follows her, leeching away so the oranges and reds beneath show
through. She knows not to run or she might cause a bad harvest, she’s
done so too many times.
Instead she channels the flutters in
her heart into letting new growth spring up in her wake, plants that
begin with Spring but are only truly alive in Autumn.
Just like her.
She nears the place and cannot help the
quickening of her steps, for she knows what lies beyond the clearing,
inside the hole that gapes like a mouth shouting in delight.
Her mother compared the doorway to a
mouth screaming in fear, which says more about her mother than the
goddess probably realizes.
She knows this place well, knows the
dirt as she climbs back up to bring Spring and greenness back to the
world of humanity. She knows the weeds and grass that rings it as
well as she knows the surface of her own skin.
She stands and takes a deep breath,
letting the world turn to Autumn behind her. She leaps, red leaves
and green grass blades following her and the petals of the white
flower in her hair mixed in among them.
It’s a long way down but her body is
relaxed and unworried. Her eyes are still open as she watches herself
descend to fall into two strong arms.
“Hello, Persephone,” Hades smiles
at her, the foreboding face softening.
“Hello, my darling husband,” she
responds, as the last detritus from the world above falls around
them. “How has our realm been since I was last here? Is my garden
still growing? Are the souls behaving? Where is Cerberus?”
Hades laughs, the sound a little rusty
from six months of disuse. “Our realm is all the better for the
return of its queen.” He sets her down but presses her body close,
kissing her hair, “As am I.”
Athena blessed her with the ability to protect herself and men beheaded her for it.
That’s actually a really intetesting intpretation of it I hadn’t thought of. Most people seem to think Athena turned Medusa into a gorgon as punishment for defiling her temple, but thinking that she did so to protect her from being abused again is interesting and I like it!
Athena’s hands were tied. Yes, she was a powerful Goddess, but she was very much a woman in a “boys club”, and the true offending party (don’t think for a moment that Athena blamed Medusa for being raped in the temple, Athena knows better) held all the cards. There was nothing that Athena could do to punish the true criminal, and she was expected to punish Medusa by everyone else. What’s a Goddess to do when she cannot punish those who need to be punished and is expected to punish not only the truly innocent party, but her most beloved follower? Use that incredible brain power she had to protect Medusa at all costs, and of course the men would see it as punishment, to be have her beauty stripped from her and sent to live in the shadows. Medusa should have been KILLED for supposedly defiling the temple, whether she truly did or not, but she was given the gift of life, and the ability to protect herself and her daughters (who she bore thanks to Poseidon). This is why Medusa’s image was used to signify woman’s shelters and safe houses.
Medusa means “guardian; protectress”, and she was.
Aries * Taurus * Gemini Cancer * Leo * Virgo Libra * Scorpio * Sagittarius Capricorn * Aquarius * Pisces
wrow this series was really challenging i’m glad it’s done!! please click on the image if it looks blurry 😦 oh and the final one for the greek mythology series will be the nine muses mmm