[Opinion] Aphrodite Rant

[lumineth Realm Lord]

So, as said, I'm looking into the Greek pantheon for after Halloween. However, for the past few years, I've called on mostly Hermes and Hecate.

I'm actually excited to introduce myself to the rest of the pantheon. But among the pantheon, I have a grudge against Zeus and Aphrodite.

I've asked before if you guys can give me some personal experiences with them. Didn't get any. So, I go by the myths. Zeus is...Zeus. However, this is about Aphrodite.

When it comes to Aphrodite, my initial feeling is rather adversarial. In the myths, she can be selfish, manipulative, and fickle. Truth be told, having her around seems like a no win situation. Seek her out, she'll likely play with you like a toy. Don't even look for a girlfriend, she'll take that as an offense to her domain. And I'm not a fan of her involvement in the Trojan War.

However, even though I may not agree with what she does, I still admire her ability to influence others, and wonder what she'd actually know about human nature. I'd like to have that knowledge and ability for myself, for the sole purpose of dominating players like her, in the same way she'd do to me. Though I doubt she'd share her knowledge at all.

Then there's Ares. I'm not sure if he'd take what I've said above as a threat or not.

So, if anyone can give me an idea as to how Aphrodite has been towards you, that'd be great.

 

[FireBorn]

Why not find out for yourself? I don't mean that to sound rude, but the what if she isn't as the writings say she is? What if those writings are only the experiences of those individuals and your experience would be different?

Why pollute your lens with expectation?

Just offering a perspective that might be helpful. Good luck either way!

 

[Grayhoss]

The corpus of myths =/= temple religion. Myth was popular entertainment, colored by the expectations of the uninitiated, and based in worldly habits of thought which cast the immortal Gods in a deeply venial light.

 

[Xuchilbara]

Aphrodite evolved from Ishtar/Inanna. I love her. Most of my experiences have been positive.

As for veing afraid.... I wouldn't take those myths all too literally. There was a time the Greeks even said their gods in reality and the myths aren't 100% accurate.

I called on Juno, even though I hate marriage. And ended up bonding with her a lot. She isn't as jealous as those myths said she would be and was very laid back. Now she is one of my favorite goddesses.

 

[MorganBlack]

Yeah. "Lower" manifestations are tough, and help us us work through our shit. Whatever Aphrodite is, she has various manifestations. The Platonic and Neoplatonic distinctions might help here.

Aphrodite Urania - "Heavenly Aphrodite" is where she manifests divine, spiritual, and universal love, including the love of wisdom and beauty .

Aphrodite Pandemos - the "Common/Earthly Aphrodite" is her "lower" more daimonic manifestation, as the goddess who could be vain, jealous , and demanding of beauty and devotion. This reflects the unstable nature of physical passion and worldly desire.

A spirit who manifests this pattern usually will reach a point there they they will cry and be very unhappy , saying nothing you give them is good enough. I was just talking about her, but Ezili Freda in Vodou comes to mind. She is not Petwo, not Dantor or Ezili GeRouge (Red Eyed Ezili) , she has not flipped over the Pwen (the point into Petwo), but she has becomes more close to them.

Mars , the pattern manifested in Ogou Feray has his own point where these feelings turn inwards and go harsh, and the possessed person will turn the machete against their own stomach. They teach us to be mindful of the stellar Archetypal patterns and how we each embody them.

 

[AbammonTheGreat]

So Aphrodite exists in a category I like to term goddesses of womanhood and the worldly feminine. It is not a divine feminine godform but is downstream of it. It is where the concept of harmony and beauty manifest in the creation. All feminine godforms and principles exist as highly dual. When we access the divine feminine the duality of it is speaking on the Dyad and Being vs. Non-Being. But once we get closer to the personal relations of humanity and the material realm we hit these goddesses of the worldly feminine. This dual principle becomes present in them and often times we can see expressed in human womanhood. Aphrodite in her most universal principle speaks on harmony and because the feminine godforms are anthropomorphic representations of duality this harmony also comes with disharmony. This beauty also comes with ugly... etc etc. And this has to do with a process of dignification, it is a problem of who is looking in the mirror. These worldly feminine godforms are consistently known for having wrath packed into them, and this is when they are interfacing with something that is disharmonious. This is the discordancy of the dynamic.

In theurgy the magus is identifying themselves with the godform and so when we experience a goddess such as Aphrodite and see her wrath, vengeance, and jealousy it is because of where our soul is predisposed to. These experiences are absolutely necessary as a type of initiatory diagnostic to bring us into identification with the godform. It is purely on the part of the practitioner to accept that wrath, jealousy, and vengeance as a part of the dual nature, identify with it, and align the soul towards the harmony.

With all this being said, I personally limit my interfacing with the Greek pantheon specifically for the reasons you have stated. Their stories read like a daytime soap opera packed with narcissism, however this is just a manifestation of men and is not their reality. Ive always preferred the Egyptian pantheon as their mythology has always seemed a little more cosmic and magical but these are just personal preferences at the end of the day and really shouldn't impede on the work.

Good luck. As for Ares I absolutely love him, I work with him a lot and its been nothing but glowing and positive experiences for me personally. But to win his favor you must adopt a structured lifestyle or he will exacerbate chaos around you. 10/10 would recommend if youre willing to adopt the discipline required to dignify his ambition.