Goddesses in the Dust: Calendars, Time, Memory and Mnemosyne
An archaeologist unearths the divine feminine, one archetype at a time...
The Greek goddess of memory is Mnemosyne, the daughter of Ouranos, or Heaven. But she is also known as the goddess of time, and symbolized the rote memorization necessary to preserve the ancient stories of mythology and sagas of history. The epic poems of The Iliad and The Odyssey were written by the bard Homer in the 8th century B.C., but these stories had been passed down over centuries through oral tradition before they were finally recorded and preserved as the Western world's first works of literature. For that we have Mnemosyne to thank.
At the end of every year, I remove the old calendars on my desk and on my kitchen wall and replace them with new ones...
...and turn the page to the New Year.
But before I do, I look back on the past year, the black squiggles representing birthdays, anniversaries, doctors' appointments, dinner dates with friends and travel plans with family.
Taking it down, I think of Mnemosyne and am reminded to be grateful for the fullness and beauty of all that life offers. I gather all the memories of the previous year to preserve them in my heart,
and, gazing into yet another year, blank and full of possibility,
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| Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Mnemosyne, 1881 |
At the end of every year, I remove the old calendars on my desk and on my kitchen wall and replace them with new ones...
...and turn the page to the New Year.
But before I do, I look back on the past year, the black squiggles representing birthdays, anniversaries, doctors' appointments, dinner dates with friends and travel plans with family.
Taking it down, I think of Mnemosyne and am reminded to be grateful for the fullness and beauty of all that life offers. I gather all the memories of the previous year to preserve them in my heart,
and, gazing into yet another year, blank and full of possibility,
look forward to the richness and possibility of creating many more.
