Asherah II-"Divinity Compulsion"

 She may have changed on the outside, but she is every bit the goddess she always was.......

Side by side, along with El, she helped create the heavens and stars. She was now adorned and loved by all. She was the earth and the life within it. She kept a couple reminders of who she was, but that was a lifetime ago. People, worlds, and goddesses have a way of changing. It's the change that moves all of us to where we are meant to be....or so it has been said.

At this point, she was the divine earth goddess, and as far as she knew, everything was in balance, the sun, the trees, the light, and the life around here. People looked to her as mother and protector. 

They were obsessed with her divinity. They were compelled to honor her. For the time being, there was no imagining a world without her.

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"Divinity Compulsion" is the second entry into the Asherah series. With a new model, and new techniques applied, it depicts the goddess at the height of her reign.

"The inspiration she left behind"

Alectrona, also known as Electryo, was the Greek goddess of the sun. Sometimes she was referred to as “The Goddess of morning”. Though ultimately only one temple was built in honor of her, she was widely credited as a deity in helping other get up and get going in the morning. Example: “I’m only going to get three hours of sleep tonight. Tomorrow is a big day! Alectrona give me strength!”. Daughter and successor to Helios, the god of the Sun, and granddaughter to Hyperion, son of Gaia herself, Alectrona is known for her golden hair and welcoming radiance. As a goddess of morning, she is often depicted surrounded by flowers, and sunlight. Her time amongst the gods was tragically cut short, as she died on "The War of the Gods". At one what point, or how, is not known. She died a virgin goddess, extinguished before she could truly shine. However the people, her people, in the Greek Isle of Rhodes, continued to worship her, and believe she was still out there. She was ultimately honored as a hero, and in the hearts of her people she remained.

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"The Waking Moment" is a one off depiction of the minor Greek Goddess Alectrona, honoring her short time in the pantheon of the Gods.

"Birth of the Earth Mother"

Far before the first pages of the old testament were even written, several separate tribes held different ideals as to how the universe, it's gods, and goddesses were all aligned. These tribes would eventually unit under a monotheistic banner, what would eventually become Judaism, which laid the foundation for Christianity. The Canaanites believed that their god, EL, had a consort, a wife, named Asherah. Asherah was the Earth Mother, a goddess of fertility, and shared equal power, along side her male counterpart. 

As the religion evolved, Asherah would, for a time, be depicted as a consort to Yahweh, also known as Jehovah, never to be depicted in visual form. His real name was only known to the most select priests and to many people today, he is simply called "God". As religions tribes began to merge under a more concrete banner, Judaism became monotheistic, as well as more male centered , reducing Asherah's involvement to a footnote and her worship to heresy. 

This did not stop some from still following her, but eventually she was forgotten for a time, until archaeological digs of certain temples yielded evidence of her existence in the initial lore. 

This is the beginning of her story, as she rises from the Earth, in the traditional pose of the totems that were found in honor of her. In her right hand rests the owl, a symbol of fierce intelligence and paranormal wisdom. Her left hand holds the snake, which symbolizes fertility and a creative force. She is growing from a flower pot, which represents hardship, but the flower pot is breaking, as it can no longer contain her. Eventually, despite the vines that reach up her leg, it will lose it's hold on her, and she will be free. 

She is a woman in the midst of a change for the better.

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"Asherah Rising" is the first entry into the Goddess catalog, and begins the story of Asherah. This is where the entirety of all the Goddess drawings began. 

"Looking for a safe place to escape"  

Amphitrite, one of the 3000 daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, heard of her catching the eye of the great Poseidon. To protect her chastity, she fled to the waters in the Atlas Mountains, to hide from the Olympian on the Sea, in hopes that he would surrender his pursuit of her. 

In her peace, away from her beloved ocean, Poseidon sent many creatures across the land to find her. It was a dolphin who would eventually discover the nymphs hiding spot and ultimately convince her to be Poseidon's consort. For this the dolphin was granted the constellation Delphinus, and Amphitrite took her place as Queen of the Sea.

It is this idea of a life with Poseidon, that she is eventually convinced of that will lead to a longer road and a greater purpose that will eventually be the altruistic protection of mankind itself from the sea.

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"Amphrite Slumbers" is a possible piece into a series that may or may not happen. It depicts the Goddess Amphtrite in a free, comfortable state, before she had to deal with being the wife of Poseidon.

"Making her return"  

We are in the 21st century....

For five or more days a week, many of you get up to go to the same job that pays you just enough to survive, so you can keep coming back more. You've become your occupation to satisfy your employers. The owners of such companies are the real beneficiaries. You've just become a cog in the machine. They started when you were young, and made it so you would dream about your perfect 9-5. But it never was a 9-5 was it? It was a 6-6 or more. You are here to pay bills and die, ultimately replaceable. 

There's no changing this at this point. They have you controlled and as far from nature as possible. You've been torn from your ancestral roots. You've evolved into a worker bee, with bad anxiety, and crippling fear of being thrown into plague infested streets. It has made you a meaningless spec, a small rock, circling an average star, around a typical galaxy.

It is at this point in civilization that she has decided to return. Unexpected, unannounced, and apathetic to the convenience of her arrival. Gaia is what Gaia always was, a force of nature and the ancestral mother of all life, despite one anyone else has told you. Their words are irrelevant. She was the mother of the titans, parents to the Olympian gods themselves. She even created her first mate, Uranus, out of boredom and charged him with the sky itself. But it was always the Earth she cared for the most, the plants, the trees, the animals. Everything she created a thousands of years ago was made to rule over this rock, and she has awoken displeased with what it has become. 

She arise from her spring, secluded, surrounded in vegetation, as she stairs in survey what is before her. As she emerges from her spring, she debates how she should begin to bring the earth and it's people back to where they belong, while also wondering if she even should. 

Maybe the Earth is a lost cause. She'll make that decision when she is ready. But when she is the people will know; they were put here for way more than to be servants to greedy masters who pollute her oceans and chop down her trees. Change is coming, and she will be the catalyst.

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"Gaia's Spring" is the first entry in a set of works that will depict an ancient goddess awakening in modern times.

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THIS PIECE IS UP FOR A SOFT REVISION IN LATE 2023

"Just wanting to be"

So many goddesses, so many purposes, and her initial purpose was as a Goddess of the Hunt. Her domain is over the countryside, and her spiritual totem is the wold. Though she knew one day she would need to be something more, tonight she is simply basking in the glow of the vibrant moon, with her wolf friend coming to her aid, and her "goddess in hiding friend" Heccate, remaining at her side, disguised as a 3 legged cat. Her bow and arrow hung on her back and her main goal this evening is to simply be. For on this night she is most in her element, and in that she is happy for now.

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"The Wolf, The Moon, and The Huntress" depicts the first iteration of a Goddess who would eventually become the inspiration for pop culture's "Wonder Woman".

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THIS PIECE IS UP FOR A SOFT REVISION IN LATE 2023

"Preparing for what comes next"

She is daughter of Saturn, queen of the gods. Her destiny as a goddess to be worshiped by the people of Rome is unquestionable. Though finding that in all her power, she is simply a patron goddess of one type of people, is in fact too non inclusive. Not that it matters but so much. They can come at her sideways if they like. She is unmovable. Soon she will most likely need to address the issues of Pompeii, putting her on a road that will lead her to Venus herself. 

Ah Venus..if only she knew. For now Juno rests in the cosmos, with her favorite peacock at her side, far away in the shadows of the planet named after her father, Saturn. She was first and foremost the daughter of Saturn, a situation in and of itself that had complications. But Saturn is dormant now. She is in charge her.

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"Daughter of Saturn" is the first entry into a series about  a goddess who has become indifferent to the universe around her.

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THIS PIECE IS UP FOR A SOFT REVISION IN LATE 2023