myths

                               When the goddess Hera, the wife of Zeus found out that Zeus had fathered a
                          child by Leto she was outraged and furious. Seeking revenge Hera forced Leto
                          to walk the earth to search for a place to give birth. Since Hera had forbidden
                          Leto to stay anywhere on the earth, terra-firma or an island at sea, the only
                          place to seek shelter was Delos, being in the center of the Aegean and also
                          difficult to reach as there were strong undercurrents because it is said to be a
                          floating island, therefore not in Hera's domain. There Leto was able to give
                          birth to the divine twins of Apollo and Artemis. Before Leto gave birth to
                         Apollo the island was surrounded by swans, which is why these beautiful birds
                         are sacred to Apollo.

                 Apollo could also be ruthless when angered. The mortal Niobe boasted to
                          Apollo's mother Leto, that she had 14 children and must be far superior to Leto
                          who only had 2. Apollo greatly angered by this killed all of her sons and
                          Artemis killed Niobe's daughters. So saddened by this, Niobe wept so much she
                          turned into a pillar of stone.

                                     After Aphrodite was born, Zeus was so afraid that the gods would fight over
                          her that he married her off to the smith god Hephaestus, the steadiest of the
                          gods. He could hardly believe his good luck and used all his skills to make the
                          most lavish jewels for her. He made her a girdle of finely wrought gold and
                          wove magick into the filigree work. That was not very wise of him for when she
                          wore the girdle no man could resist her, and she was already to irresistible as
                          it was! Aphrodite on the other hand was not the least bit happy with the sooty
                          Hephaestus, she liked gaiety and glamour.

                          Aphrodite took many lovers both god and mortal alike. Her favorite was the
                          mortal Adonis. Her attributes are the dolphin, swan and pomegranate and
                          lime trees.

This is my guardian of mythology Circe! If you would like a guardian for
your pages click on the picture and go to Amanda's Guardians.

                                          She was a demon of bad luck death and destruction. She was the child of
                            Typhon and Echidna. She is sometimes depicted as a winged lion with a
                            feminine head, sometimes as a female with the breast, claws and paws of a
                            lion, a snake tail and bird wings. She sat on a high rock near Thebes and
                            posed a riddle to all that passed. The riddle was:

                            Those that could not solve this riddle were strangled by her. Finally Oedipus
                            came along and he was the only one who could answer her riddle. Oedipus
                            said" The answer is Man, who first crawls on all fours, then walks on his two
                            legs, and then when old uses a cane to help him walk!" After hearing the
                            correct answer the Sphinx threw herself headlong into the rocks.

                                            In Hindu myths Naga's are an ancient race of serpent-people that play an
                             important part of their religion. They are half human and half snake and
                             are still worshipped as the bringers of fertility especially in southern India.
                             They are considered the protector of springs, wells and rivers. They bring
                             rain, thus fertility. They are said to also bring floods and drought. Naga's
                             are sometimes pictured showing they have a large pearl imbedded in their
                             foreheads.

                                             Callisto was a nymph, associated with the goddess of the hunt Artemis.
                              Young women who were devoted to the goddess hunted with her regularly
                              and remained virgins like Artemis herself. Callisto upheld these beliefs
                              faithfull and soon became the favorite to Artemis.
                              While Callisto spent her days and nights with Artemis"s other followers
                              she soon caught the eye of Zeus. Knowing that the maiden had taken the
                              vows of chastity, Zeus resorted to deception to get at Callisto. He came to her
                              disguised as Artemis, the young girl let her guard down, then Zeus raped her.

                              Callisto became pregnant, and desperatly tried to hide her condiditon. One
                              day during a ritual bath, Callisto had to bathe with the others and she had
                              already begun to show. Artemis was furious and banished the young wo man
                             from her fold. Callisto was forced to have her child alone.

                             Hera decided it was time to exact her revenge, she grabbed Callisto by the
                            hair and threw her onto the ground and she was transformed into a bear.
                             Zeus was able to hide Callistos new born son, he gave him to Hermes to be
                             raised by his mother Maia, he was named Arcas meaning "bear"

                             One day when Arcas was out hunting he came across a bear. The "bear" was
                             Callisto, she recognized her son and wanted to get closer to him, but he of
                             course could not recognize her and prepared to kill her. Zeus took pity on his
                             former victim and placed Callisto in the sky as the constellation known now
                             as Ursa Major or the "Great Bear" then Zeus also placed Arcas in the
                             heavens with his mother as the constellation Ursa Minor, "Little Bear" where
                             the two would be together forever.

http://www.occultopedia.com/occult.htm

Wild Boy of Aveyron

A wild boy captured in the woods near the village of Lacaune, France,
in 1797. The boy was taken by his captors (local peasants), kicking
and struggling, to be displayed in the village square. The wild boy
managed to escape, but a year later (1798) he was caught again in the
vicinity of Lacaune by three hunters as he was climbing a tree. He
was then taken to a local widow's house, who fed and clothed him for
a week. At the first change, the boy again ran away to the forest.
But the wild boy was now less wary of human company, and stared
showing up hungry at farmhouse doors.

Eventually, in 1800 with winter at its worst, the hungry wild boy
wandered near another village, Saint Sernin, and was captured again,
this time by a a local leather tanner named Vidal. After that,
Victor, as the boy came to be known, never returned to the wild.

The boy was dirty and inarticulate, and he moved on all fours and
grunted like a beast. Brought to Paris — Napoleon's brother himself,
Lucien Bonaparte, the Minister for the Interior, demanded that the
boy had to be examined by members of the society — and exhibited in a
cage, Victor would rock back and forth and appear completely
apathetic. Pioneer psychologist Philippe Pinel examined the boy and
diagnosed him an incurable idiot, doubting the story of his wild
origins.

Despite the grim prognosis, a young physician and teacher of deaf-
mute and retarded children named Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard took charge
of the boy's education. Victor learned how to read, say a few words
and to obey simple commands, but he never properly learned to speak.
He died in 1828.