When I was visiting a friend's house last weekend, I couldn't resist rummaging through a box of stuff she was going to take to a charity shop. An old copy of The Concise Mythological Dictionary by Peerage Books caught my eye and I was delighted when she said I could have it.The book, which contains "over 1,100 definitions of gods and goddesses, supernatural beings, mythical heroes and legendary monsters" had given me an idea for my blog - God or Goddess of the Week. Each week I will randomly pick a deity from the dictionary and write something about them.
So here goes with the first Bad Witch's God of the Week: Oceanus.
According to The Concise Mythological Dictionary, Oceanus is the Greek deity of the great ocean encircling the earth. One of the Titans, he was the son of the sky god Ouranos and the earth goddess Gaia.
Going online to find out more, the fun but useful site www.godchecker.com/ added: "Married to AMPHITRITE, he's the Father of River Gods and also has the OCEANIDS to help out", while the slightly more highbrow www.pantheon.org/mythica.html defined Oceanus as: "The personification of the vast ocean. As geography became more precise, Oceanus began to refer to the water outside of the Pillars of Heracles, or the Atlantic Ocean."
Oceanus is also said to represent the waters from which all things originate, so perhaps he is a suitable deity to reign as the first Bad Witch's God of the Week.
He is also a suitable deity for me to think about while I write a guided visualisation on the element of water this month, following on from the meditations on earth, air and fire, which I have put on my blog over the past year.
Links:
The Concise Mythological Dictionary
http://www.pantheon.org/mythica.html
http://www.godchecker.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanus
2 comments:
I always like learning more about myths, legends, gods and goddesses. Sometimes they're even better than scandalous TV shows or tabloids! Thanks for posting and I look forward to future ones on the subject!
I agree. I think the old heroic epic tales must have been the soap opera entertainment of their day. An audience would much rather hear about fratricide, incest, affairs and marriage breakdowns than people being nice to each other and living peacefully!
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