Science Forums 2

[cooloola]

Turtle - not only does Gaia rest on the back of the Great Turtle its turtles all the way down!

What a great thread. There's a wonderful book by Clarissa Pinkola Estes (Jungian analyst and cantadora storyteller) its called 'Women who run with the wolves' - stories she has found from various cultures which are of particular benefit to women.

and doesn't Ishtar sound like a fun girl!

I'm rather fond of Ganesh. Created by Pavarti (consort of Shiva) while she was in the bath and Shiva was away she made a 'boy' out of sandlewood and breathed life into him. She set him at the door to her bath chamber and instructed him not to let anyone pass. Shiva returns from war and gets angry that he is denied entry to his woman's chamber and cuts off Ganesh's head. Parvati is wild that her 'son' has been decapitated and in her anger turns into Kali and threatens to destroy heaven and earth and more. To placate her, Shiva instructs his hordes to go out and find a child with its mother's back turned and to cut off its head and return with the head. Instead they bring back the head of an elephant which is duly placed onto Ganesh and Parvati breathes life back into her 'son'. To further placate Shiva says whoever worships Ganesh before all other gods will be recompensed. Ganesh is always worshipped first in the temples of all gods in India.
Ganesh is the supreme god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune.