This week we celebrate the second goddess recovered during excavations of a 5,000 year old town on the island of Crete. The partial, life-sized marble statue of Hera (together with a complete statue of Athene) are thought to have been toppled by an earthquake at about A.D. 367. Hera was also chosen this week because October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

art and text by Thalia Took:
used with her gracious permisson

"Faith sustains and destroys."

Hera is the Greek Goddess of the Sky and Queen of the Gods, and one of the twelve Olympians. Her name is said to derive from a root meaning "sky". She was originally a powerful goddess in Her own right, and was only joined with Zeus when invaders brought His worship into Greece.

She is a goddess of Women, and of marriage and childbirth. She is decribed as very beautiful and queenly, virtuous and faithful to Her husband. Her worship was widespread, with many temples and festivals dedicated to Her.

I guess I ought to be a manly, uh- woman. Er. Womanly man? Screw it, I'll be brave. I'll tell you my faults. Or, one of them, at least.

I am quite capable of holding a grudge. I've given most of the grudges I've ever held up, largely out of self-interest: I found that falling asleep musing over how much fun it would be to perform as much bodily damage to certain people as they have performed emotional damage to me tends to bring bloody dreams my way. As I don't enjoy ugly, bloody dreams much, I learned to forgive. Sort of.

I also have a "better than thou" approach to some people on some subjects. That being said, I am the kind of horrible, evil person who looks at an article like this one, and immediately drafts a short list of people I'd like to duct tape into a chair with their eyelids stapled open and scroll the artlcle past them. Just so that I know they've seen it. If I could think of an evil genius way to ensure that they think about it, too, I would.