Indian Epics

Kali Many goddesses before Kali shared her name or attributes associated with her Associated with unbridled sexuality and female power represented in art as naked, with an outstretched tongue, and unbound hair, often sitting or standing on the dominated Shiva Proto-Kali (origins of modern Kali) Dirgha-Jihvi see as a threat by Indra sends a young man named Sumitra to overpower her she rejects him because he only has one manhood and she has "many vulvas seeking satisfaction" Indra, in turn, gives the young multiple manhoods this satisfies Dirgha-Jihvi the two "make love" while Dirgha Jihvi is pinned down during sex Sumitra uses the opportunity to kill her identified as a proto-kali because of representations depicting an outstretched tongue and unbridled sexuality "male anxiety before female sexual and reproductive prowess" by 1000 BCE Kali emerges out of the collective starts being seen as an independent goddess "the ...

This video caught my eye because I had heard the story of Esther many times in church but I liked the way they told the story in this video. The song was clever and the video was humorous. Also, I didn't know what the festival of Purim was or that it celebrated the story of Esther, pretty cool stuff.  ( Image Source ) I loved this image because it is an important thing to remember when writing. As a writer, I am always hypercritical of my own work. That's, why it took me so long to conclude that I should: a) be an English Writing major and b) actually let people read my writing. There have been several posts this week about remembering that a fear of being wrong or striving to be perfect will only hold you back.

Gaia I chose to start with Gaia because I have been watching the  Seven Secrets of the Goddess  by Devdutt Pattanaik (2016) videos on YouTube for my weekly readings and the first two videos deal with Gaia and female deities. "In Greek mythology, Gaia is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother of all life: the primal Mother Earth goddess. She is the immediate parent of Uranus (the sky), from whose sexual union she bore the Titans (themselves parents of many of the Olympian gods) and the Giants, and of Pontus (the sea), from whose union she bore the primordial sea gods. Her equivalent in the Roman pantheon was Terra." Source: Gaia Wiki Hesiod "Hesiod was a Greek poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded as the first written poet in the Western tradition to regard himself as an individual persona with an active ...

I really enjoyed keeping a "happiness jar." Although I used the whiteboard on my fridge instead of stuffing pieces of paper into a jar. I might actually attempt to keep an actual happiness jar for a year. I liked the exercise because it reminded me to find happy moments even on bad days. Day 1: Romeo & O'Malley getting along (well sorta) I adopted a rare male calico cat for my mom last week and fostered him until she could come get him - she lives in Kentucky. The cat's name is Romeo and he is super sweet but my two cats weren't thrilled with sharing me or their house with a new cat. Finally, a few days into him being here, which just happened to be the day I started writing down happy moments, Romeo (my mom's cat) and O'Malley (my cat) sniffed each other's noses without hissing. It's the little things.  Day 2: Dinner with an old friend I had some great German food with an old friend and it made me pretty happy.  Day 3: Reaction to ...

( Source ) What did the graphic confirm? That observation is a key part of creativity. As a writer, I am very in tune with the world around me because noticing details others don't helps me craft my stories. Something New The website that this graphic comes from is awesome. Its full of inspiration and I am glad I stumbled across it.  Something I want to try Mindfulness. The idea of thinking about how to think is interesting and I really want to delve deeper into that idea. I think the only real way to "act" on this is to sit and ponder, as silly as that sounds.

This feature is awesome! I had no idea Google did this. I knew Google had a million functions but I never even thought of something as useful and simple as a timer being one of them. I actually used the timer to steep my tea for the correct amount of time as I typed this post. I usually set a timer on my phone when I need one but sometimes when I am doing homework and need to focus I put my phone in another room as to avoid getting distracted with Snapchat or whatever. So being able to use Google as a timer instead of getting my phone is super convenient.  (Aging Doctor Who GIF created byFeliks Tomasz Konczakowski on GIPHY )

Rural cultures v. urban cultures rural valued fertility - associated with women urban valued obedience - associated with men, making women subservient  indicated control and discipline urbanization led to more rules and the idea of evil - one who does not submit to the rules Chinese myth Yin & Yang work in harmony to create life Yin - male dragon in the sky yang- the earth like a phoenix that recreates itself from ashes  Confucian traditions favor culture over nature favoring hierarchy, making the man more important  patriarchal societies link women with nature and men with culture culture domesticates nature --> men are asked to domesticate women Mesopotamian myth Marduk (male god-king) defeats Tiamat the primal female monster and brings order to the world stories like this abound across cultures Adam & Eve Eve tempts Adam to eat the forbidden fruit before Eve, God created Lilith who refused to be subservient to Adam a...