Hello, pornies! I've been sick af these days, one problem after the other, but am finally feeling better. It's been one hell of a nightmare and still need to take care of a few things regarding my health, but all good things take time. Hopefully, this one will not.
These days I've been reading Venus and Aphrodite: A Biography of Desire, by Bettany Hughes, and came to a curious association: that beauty and desire also have a dark side, even dangerous, making deities with these attributions could be warfare deities.
Desire-for control, blood, fear, dominance, rapture, justice, adrenaline, ecstasy-can lead to both to making war and to making love, to churn and change of all kinds.
It makes a lot of sense, honestly.
A few months ago I came across the Wikipedia page for Aphrodite Areia. It was interesting, a curious aspect of a Goddess with a rather pacifist image, maybe even inoffensive (until you remember she took part in the legend of the Trojan War). I didn't give this aspect of beauty and desire much thought until recently.
It makes me think of all the times we do intrepid, fearless acts in the name of love, on how strong we can be when something or someone we hold dear is in danger, or when obsessive, unhealth love leads many to commit horrible acts, either for someone or for some cause.
It was my case in my most recent relationship, a toxic af one, mind you. I stood up for that relationship, for what I thought was the love of my life, I faced my family, many friends, and did all I could for it to survive, until I was dead inside. All in the name of love.
In a bigger scale, the love many had for Britney Spears finally set her free of an abusive conservatorship that has ruined her life and health for almost 14 years. So many have been screaming for her, shouting to the skies and demanding justice for an icon that has inspired a generation and part of the next one, a legend that has made a career being one of the most beautiful and fierce women in the world. That love sparked a war that finally came to an end.
For a long time I saw Aphrodite as a simple Goddess. I never dismissed the possibility of beauty being a powerful force in the world, much less love, but I happened to think about this Goddess as dangerous either. It's even ironic, considering I used to do something I called "Aphrodite's Bath" when I was at my lowest point, a simple ritual to reclaim my own beauty and accept again I could be desired. Needless to say I would feel stronger after that, and the feeling would last longer every time I did it. With so much going on in my life these days, maybe I'll do it again.
From now on, I won't make that mistake again, and if I'm being honest, beauty has been one of my passive weapons and and important element in my craft. I always try for my altars to be beautiful, appealing, and I feel more confident and stronger when I dress my favorite clothes, when listening to my favorite music. I've even made some changes in my appearance a few of you know that have helped me feel more confident, but I wish I had used that power more consciously these years and not only ages, but it's never to late to change.
Kinky regards, K!
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