 Also known as Minerva, she
is the daughter of Zeus who generates
mental and
artistic creations
from her mind.
Sprung
from the head of her father, she represents the
principle of creative intelligence. In our birth chart
she symbolises one's ambitions and one's visible, socially
useful accomplishments.
"Familiar though her name is, the
origin and descent of this Roman goddess are vague. Some
scholars claim the figure of Minerva fused Etruscan and
Italian deities of handicrafts and war, respectively. Some
claim she was always the artisans' patron and that the
imposition of the Greek figure Athena on her meant the
addition of war to her domain. (The Latins already had
a proper war-goddess, Bellona.)
It is clear that the goddess' name
derives from the ancient root for "mind," and her
domain was- even more than Athena's- intellectual. She
was wisdom incarnate in female form, the goddess therefore
of the application of intellect to everyday work, thus
of commerce and crafts. She was also said to be the inventor
of music, that most mathematical of arts, as well as
the instruments on which it is played.
The Romans celebrated her worship
from March 19 to 23 during the Quinquatrus, the artisans'
holiday which was also a festival of purification. The "goddess of a thousand
works," as Ovid called her, was pleased to see scholars
and schoolmasters join in spring vacation with those who
labored with their hands.
Minerva Medica If her name seems
Roman, it is only because of the imperial legions' policy
of interpretatio Romano whereby Celtic goddesses were
assimilated to those from their homeland.
Many local
and tribal goddesses lost their identities this way;
many became Minervas, perhaps because they were originally
connected with household industry, war, or healing-all
of which fell under the dominion of the Italian original.
At least one "Minerva"-Sul of
Bath in England- was strong enough to resist renaming;
she became Sulis Minerva."
From 'Goddesses
and Heroines' by Patricia Monaghan (Used by permission.
This text is NOT included in the Goddess Oracle) www.patricia-monaghan.com
Illustration from The Goddess Oracle Copyright Hrana Janto, used by permission
of the artist.
www.goddessoracle.com www.hranajanto.com
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