GAIA
"Thou art the dark blue bird, and the green parrot with red eyes. Thou hast the lightning as they child. Thou art the season and the seas. Having no beginning, thou dost abide with immanence, whereof all things are born." From the Upanishads (India)
Gaia was the name given to Mother Earth by the Greeks. (Variations are Gaea and Ge). The Phoenicians called her Ghe. Other names include Mogog, Sin, Nyombe, Ethmaka, Mama-Pacha, Nokomis, Pakamamo, Sedna, and Northus. All mean "Earth." Gaia is the primeval earth Goddess, second only after Chaos in creation. In turn, Gaia spawned the universe, the earliest Gods, and mankind.
According to Greek myths, Gaia was the fist to emerge from Chaos. She gave birth to the sky, Pontus (the sea), and Uranus who then became her mate. She gave birth to the Titans, Cyclops, and three other monsters. Horrified, Uranus shut them deep in the earth. Seeking revenge, Gaia persuaded Cronus, the youngest male Titan, to castrate Uranus as he slept beside Gaia. Uranus' blood gave birth to the Erinyes and Aphrodite.
But in actuality, Gaea is much older than the Greeks; too powerful to be subordinated. Before the rise of Apollo, The Oracle of Delphi was Gaia's domain. She presiding over prophetesses, marriages and oaths.
As our view of the Earth has expanded and we have seen Gaia's beauty from space, our understanding of Gaia has grown with our understanding. She has become universal, more than just a Greek Goddess. She is seen as the life blood, the material condition of life. She is the seas and the mountains, the plains and the biosphere. In our consciousness, Gaia IS the Earth. She is not passive in the face of threats to her and her universe. The earth (as Gaia) is aware of both herself and of all within her sphere and universe, she is resilient and unconquerable.
In 1975, scientists Dr. James Lovelock and Dr. Signey Epton presented their "Gaia Hypothesis." They felt they had evidence that not only Earth just happen to have the right conditions for life to exist, but that this life determined it's own conditions for survival and ensured that those conditions existed. In their words, the Earth "seemed to exhibit the behavior of a single organism, even a living creature." The earth is Gaia's bones, the oceans and rivers her blood, the molten core her heart, and man is her central nervous system. Her being entwines all creatures from the amoebae to the giant blue whale.
Gaia is best worshipped by caring for her, by helping protect the ecosystems, reduce and eliminate pollution. Plant a tree or make sure your car's fuel emissions don't add to the air pollution. Make a donation in her name to an environmental group of your choice. Call on her in your Rites whenever your relationship with nature is out of key or to recharge a part of your environment which has been harmed.
Offerings: Wines, Fruit Juices; any fruit and grain, especially from your own harvest.
This article was first published in the Blackberry Moon, 1996 edition of "Pagan Personal Pages."
by Jeannette K. Waldie
© 9/20/96
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