In addition, the Medusa Nebula within the constellation of Gemini features snakelike filaments of glowing gas. Some modern astrologers suggest that this star is associated with female power and the reemergence of the feminine divine. Moon (many, including Orpheus’ disciples, have seen Medusa’s face in the moon) STAR:Īlgol, usually considered a star of ill-fortune, is traditionally perceived as representing Medusa’s eye. Her hair forms long curls that, according to Mattel, foretell the serpents that will become her hair. She wears snake jewellery and a chiffon fishtail skirt. In 2008, the Mattel company produced the “Barbie Doll as Medusa”, a collector’s doll that portrays a beautiful, sexy pre-transformation Medusa. Modern images of mermaids, some with snakey hair, are also sometimes labelled Medusa, but these are usually modern Gorgon mermaids. Her face is a Gorgon’s mask, but her body is that of a woman dressed and girded for battle. Sometimes, however, she is portrayed as a living woman. Most frequently, only her severed head is depicted. Medusa is usually portrayed as the monster she became after her transformation by Athena. Medusa may manifest as the beautiful goddess she was prior to her transformation or in her classic monster form with contorted face and snake locks. The technical term for the image of Medusa’s severed head is gorgoneion. ![]() She may also be accessed as a living goddess by those seeking menstrual, serpentine mysteries. The image of her severed head remains a powerful protective amulet. Her image was used in Byzantine Greece to protect pregnant women and newborns. Statues of Medusa were used to guard Pagan Greek temples. Medusa embodies menstruation’s protective powers. Medusa heads were traditionally carved as coral cameos for an extremely powerful protective amulet. In southern Asia, there’s an ancient belief that menstruation indicates possession by snake spirits.Ĭoral is allegedly Medusa’s blood, which spilled into the sea and was petrified. A German folk belief, documented as late as the eighteenth century, suggests that if a menstruating woman’s hair is buried in Earth, it will become a snake. Modern euphemisms for menstruation including calling it a woman’s friend or the curse, but an evocative, old-fashioned one describes a menstruating woman as “bitten by the snake”. Snakes are traditionally associated with menstruation. It can be used to destroy or overwhelm any other power. There is an ancient metaphysical belief that menstrual blood is the single most spiritually and magically powerful substance on Earth. She is a goddess of menstrual power and hence female power. Another myth suggests that Athena possessed more than Medusa’s head: she flayed Medusa and wore her skin. Athena wore Medusa’s head on her aegis and shield. ![]() Alternatively she desired Medusa’s power. Athena’s participation in the destruction of Medusa may be interpreted as the goddess destroying her own past. She may be Athena’s mother, a closely related spirit, or possibly even the identity Athena left behind when she moved from North Africa to Greece. Other legends suggest that Medusa is a Libyan snake goddess. Pegasus, the winged horse, emerged from Medusa’s severed head, apparently conceived during her tryst with Poseidon, who often manifests as a stallion. Perseus used it as a weapon before surrendering it to Athena. Perseus beheaded Medusa while she slept, but her severed head retained its power to paralyze and turn viewers to stone. When Perseus was sent to kill Medusa, a hopeless task he was not expected to survive, Athena orchestrated the assassination. She transformed Medusa into a terrifying creature with snakes for hair and a face that literally turned those who gazed at her to stone. She may have had consensual or even sacred sex with him in Athena’s temple, or she may have fled to the temple to get away from him. Medusa, the most beautiful and only mortal Gorgon sister, is a sea spirit.
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