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Gaia The Living

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GAIA mother nature was the Protogenos of earth, one of the primal elements who first emerged at the dawn of creation, along with air, sea and sky.

Peter Paul Rubens - The Union of Earth and Water

Location: Earth
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Ophelia and He Will Not Come

Gaia was the Protogenos of earth, one of the primal elements who first emerged at the dawn of creation, along with air, sea and sky. She was the great mother of all: the heavenly gods were descended from her union with Ouranos, the sea-gods from her union with Pontos, the Gigantes from her mating with Tartaros and mortal creatures were sprung or born from her earthy flesh.

As Gaia was the source from which arose the vapours producing divine inspiration, she herself also was regarded as an oracular divinity, and it is well known that the oracle of Delphi was believed to have at first been in her possession, and at Olympia, too, she had an oracle in early times. That Ge belonged to the theoi chthinioi, requires no explanation, and hence she is frequently mentioned where they are invoked. The surnames and epithets given to Ge have more or less reference to her character as the all-producing and all-nourishing mother (mater omniparens et alma), and hence Servius classes her together with the divinities presiding over marriage. Her worship appears to have been universal among the Greeks, and she had temples or altars at Athens, Sparta, Delphi, Olympia, Bura, Tegea, Phlyus, and other places.

In myth Gaia appears as the prime opponent of the heavenly gods. First she rebelled against her husband Ouranos who had imprisoned her sons in her womb. Then later, when her son Kronos defied her by imprisoning these same sons, she assisted Zeus in his overthrow of the Titan. Finally she came into conflict with Zeus, angered with him for the binding of her Titan-sons in the pit of Tartaros. In her opposition she first produced the tribe of Gigantes and later the monster Typhoeus to dethrone him, but both failed in both attempts. In the ancient Greek cosmology earth was conceived as a flat disk encirced by the river Okeanos, and topped above by the solid dome of heaven and below by the great pit of Tartaros. She herself supported the sea and moutains upon her breast.

Gaia was depicted as a buxom, matronly woman, half risen from the earth in Greek vase painting. She was portrayed as inseperable from her native element. In mosaic art, Gaia appears as a full-figured, reclining woman, often clothed in green, and sometimes accompanied by grain spirits —the Karpoi.

Discussion Forum

Valley of the Rocks - A unique Natural Treasure

Started by Rosmarie Heusser Aug 18, 2024. 0 Replies 2 Likes

Payote (Lophophora Williamsii)

Started by Rosmarie Heusser. Last reply by Eva Libre Aug 11, 2024. 2 Replies 2 Likes

A Global Water Prayer

Started by Rosmarie Heusser. Last reply by bridget orman May 26, 2024. 2 Replies 1 Like

We Learn It Too Late - 103 Year Old Doctor Dr. Gladys McGarey on Life's Secrets

Started by bridget orman. Last reply by Carmen Elsa Irarragorri-Wyland Mar 14, 2024. 2 Replies 3 Likes

Speaking to the Water

Started by Rosmarie Heusser. Last reply by Rosmarie Heusser Dec 26, 2023. 3 Replies 3 Likes

WHY OUR FORESTS ARE IMPORTANT

Started by bridget orman. Last reply by Carmen Elsa Irarragorri-Wyland Mar 14, 2023. 1 Reply 0 Likes

A couple of pretty, fixed bicycle-views along the road

Started by Rosmarie Heusser. Last reply by Rosmarie Heusser May 26, 2022. 2 Replies 2 Likes

Wonderful mansions in the bird world

Started by Luna Arjuna. Last reply by Rosmarie Heusser May 12, 2022. 3 Replies 3 Likes

Big Bertha

Started by Eva Libre. Last reply by bridget orman Apr 25, 2022. 3 Replies 1 Like

Daffodil

Started by Eva Libre. Last reply by Carmen Elsa Irarragorri-Wyland Apr 3, 2022. 1 Reply 3 Likes

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Comment by Carmen Elsa Irarragorri-Wyland on September 17, 2019 at 9:39pm: So true...

Comment by Eva Libre on September 17, 2019 at 9:31pm: “For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche. In their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfill themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree."

- Hermann Hesse

Comment by Carmen Elsa Irarragorri-Wyland on August 29, 2019 at 11:32pm: We need to cry as much for the death of trees as we do for the death of anything else, and now we need to pray for their rebirth...