Gaia

Yes

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The present moment is a powerful goddess.
~ Goethe

Gaia

[quote=God Is Santa for Adults;109373]

__________________
The present moment is a powerful goddess.
~ Goethe

Gaia

that just cracked me right up!

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The present moment is a powerful goddess.
~ Goethe

Gaia

Now there you go! You got It!

__________________
The present moment is a powerful goddess.
~ Goethe

Environment Man

Well you admit to being Christians by indoctrination. You live as Christians it appears to me. Man and woman are to complement each other.

ImusWallower

yes, not one be ordered around by the other

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I like big butts and I can not lie
You other brothers can't deny
That when Chrisbb rolls in with an itty bitty waist
And a round thing in your face
You get sprung

mentor

A good man should also tell stories around the campfire.

On second thought, that's how we got into this mess in the first place

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Now the hard work begins...

Gaia

Everything You Wanted to Know About Valentine's Day

But Were Afraid to Ask

Valentine's Day: History and Origins

(Editor's Note: Valentine's Day and its origins, like most things in ancient history, is understood based largely on the fact that :

~1) the winner gets to write the history,

~2) there is what really happened, the history of what happened as told by the victors, the history retold by the "revisionists", and then the history critiqued & changed by the counter-revisionists, and finally

~3) the history as retold by somebody who just enjoys a good story. Consider what you read below to fall in Camp #3.

As a friend of mine says, "I try to judge any experience I have by its future anecdotal value." Good advice, I think, especially when what is happening isn't at all what you'd planned!

Enjoy the stories. . .



Why do we have a Valentine's Day?

And what does it have to do with the goddesses?

We owe our observance of Valentine's day to the ancient Festival of Lupercalia which celebrated erotic love in honor of the Roman goddess Juno. Some experts say that the name of the month February actually comes from the Latin word "febres", meaning feverish, as in the word "febrile".

Remember the legend of Romulus and Remus who were raised as infants by a pack of wolves and grew up to be the founders of Rome...well, supposedly all this childrearing occurred in a cave on the hillside which was called "Lupercallus" or "Wolf-Cave" in translation.

The feast days celebrated the founding of Rome, and a pagan priest led the festivities which included his "whipping" all the women to ensure their fertility.

Another part of the celebration involved a "lottery" in which the names of the unmarried females names were drawn from a hat (or other suitable container) by the available young males and they were "paired" for a period of time, some say a year. This pairing, of course, being done in honor of Juno, the goddess of love and marriage.

(Ed. note: Accounts vary considerably regarding the duration and nature of these pairings, but it definitely functioned as an early version of matchmaker.com.

Historians say the practice of the "lottery" continued into the 16th century, with people drawing anonymous valentine cards at valentine celebrations. I think they underestimate the time period--we were still "drawing" our valentines from a bowl in my grade school class, and I'm certainly not that old!)

Which brings us to the story of . . .



Who was Saint Valentine, and what did he have to do with romance and marriage?

Revisionist theory tells it this way: Turn the clock forward several hundreds of years to 270 A.D. Claudius II was the Emperor of Rome, which had seen its "glory days" and was now being threatened on its borders by the Goths and within its borders by the Christians.

Claudius definitely needed his army to be at full-strength, and for some reason felt that married men did not make good soldiers (perhaps they were going AWOL for conjugal visits). He used his authority as Emperor to "ban" the practice of marriage and the the Festival of Lupercalia as well (since it was contributing to the high incidence of marriage that was destroying his mililtia).

Interestingly the Emperor Claudius and the Christian (Catholic) Church found themselves on the same side on this argument for the Church was also opposed to the pagan festivities, but on grounds related to its lustfulness and especially the practice of the "lottery".

Obviously it was a dangerous time to be a Christian, not to mention a priest. Valentine was part of the Christian underground for he defied the Emperor's edict and continued to marry couples in secret. He was found out and imprisoned.

There must have been something very "special" about Valentine, because Claudius himself supposedly took the time to visit him in prison and try to convert him to the worship of the pagan deities. Valentine wasn't swayed by the Emperor's arguments, and instead tried to persuade Claudius (and all his jailers ) to convert to Christianity.

The Emperor was not amused and ordered that Valentine's execution (by beatings with clubs) proceed as scheduled. Such was the martyrdom of the priest, which eventually lead to his being canonized or "sainted".



Who invented the Valentine card?

None other than Saint Valentine himself! Legend has it that while he was in prison, preaching to the guards, one guard brought in his daughter who was blind and Valentine restored her sight. She became a regular visitor and friend. Just before his execution, Valentine wrote a letter to her and signed it "Your Valentine".

This letter, the first Valentine, is now on exhibit in the National Museum in Britain.

(St. Francis de Sales, fearing for the souls of his English parishioners during the 16th century, sermonized against the practice of sending Valentines. Apparently, the practice had already become quite common and commercialized.)




Who the heck is Cupid, the chubby little guy wearing diapers on all the Valentines.

Where did he come from?

Whether it was the Emperor, the Church, or some other Patriarchy that considered the pagan religions such a threat, they embarked on a highly successful campaign to dethrone the Olympians by "cutting them down to size" by rewriting their stories, deflating our image of them. Think of it as "spin control" or an early version of "shrinkydinks".

In this case it was the Greek god Eros, the son of Aphrodite, the goddess of romance and beauty, and Ares, the god of war.

Admittedly, Eros was once a bit of a "mamma's boy" . . . at least until he married Psyche, who managed to make him grow up. As a married man, he had to give up his silly habit of going around shooting everyone with arrows dipped in love potion that made them fall in love with the next person they saw, no matter how ridiculous or impossible the union would be.

Even so, he was a man, a god, and a power to be reckoned with. Today we mostly recognize him as Cupid, that little fat cherub with the bow and arrows, who was once a handsome and manly god.



Why is Valentine's Day on February 14?

It was based on the date of the death of Saint Valentine (Feb 14) and the Festival of Lupercalia (Feb 15). The Emperor hated the festival for military reasons. The Church disapproved of it too, but for other reasons...and the Church was a bit more "subtle" in their approach to trying to get rid of it. Having their celebration a day earlier than the festival was a clever idea!

Church policy in dealing with the ancient religions often included a strategy of incorporating, rather than just banning, the "old-time religions". And it proved to be an effective strategy. Many contemporary church rituals and holiday traditions have components based on ancient pagan celebrations. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" was the church's policy. And thereby the church essentially co-opted the old pagan Festival and turned it into to a religious holiday celebrating the Christian virtues of love and marriage.

Like so many other holidays, Valentine's Day was eventually co-opted again, this time by "commercial interests". And so it is today, when we buy and send valentines to all sorts of people for whom we haven't the slightest marital, romantic, or lustful feelings.

Whether we celebrate it as a Festival of Love, A Saints Day, an excuse to be romantic (or just to binge on chocolate), it's clear that Valentine's Day meets some deep need in our psyches, and is likely here to stay.

So . . . On that note, we gotta' say:

Love Ya!

Be good to your self.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day!

__________________
The present moment is a powerful goddess.
~ Goethe

Gaia

Women and Men DO complement eachother. Always have, always will. What you are talking about (subjugation) is a Powertrip.

No, we do not live as christians. Because we practice what we don't preach.

__________________
The present moment is a powerful goddess.
~ Goethe

Environment Man

I never said 'ordered around.' I said head of household.