May 9, 2021 • 10 mins
In this special Mother's Day episode, Boston tells the story of four generations of mother goddesses from Greek mythology. Gaia. Rhea. Hera. Maia.
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(00:03):
Welcome to a special Mother's Dayepisode of a Mythic, a podcast
where we explore meaningfulliving through the power of myth.
I'm your host, Boston Blake.
In Greek mythology, everythingstarts with Gaia, Mother Earth.
Before her, there wasonly the void of Chaos.
(00:26):
As the first deity, sheis the source of all life.
She is the spirit from whicheverything we see, taste, touch,
hear, and smell originates.
To the women who have birthed a babyor stepped in to raise a child through
adoption or as a step-mom, thank you.
You are wonder women.
(00:47):
And this episode is for you.
These are some stories ofmotherhood from Greek mythology.
Now, these are not tales of advice.
They are not how to manuals.
In fact, some of them have reallyterrible all ideas, but my hope is, is
(01:08):
that you will find in them, somethingthat relates to the experience of being
a mother, or having a mother, somethingthat points to something true for you.
And perhaps find a connection to thelineage of motherhood that stretches
back to the beginning of time.
(01:28):
Now, here we go.
As the first mother, Gaia facedunprecedented challenges, because
everything was unprecedentedat the beginning of time.
Her husband, the overbearingsky god, Ouranos, was completely
focused on her and wanted nothing,nothing to do with their kids.
This emotionally distantdad would get her pregnant.
(01:51):
She'd give birth that he'd shoved thekids back insider he'd take off and then
he'd returned to knock her up again.
Repeating this cycle.
Gaia was left a singlemother with a lot of kids.
Now she had the means to providefor her children physically,
but without the opportunity toexplore the world beyond her womb.
(02:13):
They were unable to developintellectual courage.
What they did develop was resentmentand hatred in an attempt to free
herself and her children, Gaiafanned that resentment and raised a
rebellion against her husband led byher son, Kronos, Kronos over through
his father, castrating him, causinghim to retreat and took his throne.
(02:37):
And finally liberated fromher smothering husband.
Gaya had a new lease on life andhooked up with the sea God Pontus.
And they had even more kids together.
Unfortunately, Kronos was nobetter than his father is a ruler.
He was cruel and selfish and too radical.
He was narcissistic and psychotic.
This brings us to the second mothergoddess Raya who became as his wife.
(03:02):
Whether she liked it or notKronos forced himself on her.
Each pregnancy produced a child,but after each child was born
Krone swallowed it, whole fearing.
One of them would do to him whathe had done to his own father.
So Kronos did exactlythe opposite of his dad.
Instead of leaving his children withtheir mother, he consumed them himself.
(03:24):
They were unable to rise andchallenge him and they would be
under his control, not hers andtherefore less dangerous to himself.
After losing five children toKronos is insane diet program.
Ray couldn't bear the thoughtof losing another one.
Her sixth child, shedetermined would live.
And so when the baby was born,she wrapped a stone in swaddling
(03:47):
clothes and presented it to Kronos.
Too stupid to tell the difference betweena baby and a rock Cronus, gulped it
down belts and walked away and Raya,grinned Raya named her baby boy Zeus.
Sadly, she knew that underher circumstances, she
could not raise him herself.
So she would give him the bestchance she could at a happy life.
(04:12):
Ray gave the baby to a group ofnymphs in Crete, where he would
nurse from the goat goddess.
Amalthea.
And he was raised freefrom his parents' drama.
The nymphs took pride in raising theson of the great goddess Raya, and they
really did their best under their care.
He became a jovial and phenomenallystrong young man, whenever she could
(04:37):
manage it, Ray would visit him insecret like her own mother before her.
She wanted Zeus to free hissiblings and overthrow his father.
But having learned from some of Gaia'smistakes, she was more concerned with
the development of Zeus's character.
There was no point in replacing onedesk spot with another zoos did indeed
(05:01):
free his siblings from cornices ballet,and together they overthrew the sky
God and Zeus, and his brothers andsisters became the Olympian gods.
Zoos, having known both love and freedombecame a different kind of ruler.
He married the goddess Hera.
And Hera is the next goddess mother.
(05:24):
We're going to talk about.
Hera was committed to queen shipand marriage, but not much of a mom.
When she saw that her son Hephaestushad been born with a club foot.
She was so repulsed at the sight, sheflung him from Olympus to the earth.
Now he eventually overcame his painfulchildhood and became the Olympian
(05:45):
engineer, craftsmen and Smith.
Hera was less cruel to her handsomeson Aries, but perhaps knowing she was
not the best suited to motherhood, shegave him to the fertility god Priapus.
And Priapus raised him andtrained him in the arts of war.
And then there was the beautiful nymph,Maia Maia, whose name means mother.
(06:12):
She was the granddaughterof the Titan Atlas who holds
the world on his shoulders.
And Zeus fell in love with her.
He was married to Hera of course,but the King of the gods was
not known for his fidelity.
When Maia conceived a child by Zeus,she feared for the baby's safety.
In Maia's case, it was not a wickedfather who threatened the baby,
(06:33):
but the God Kings jealous wife.
If Hera discovered it, neither wouldbe safe to protect her baby, Maia
hid herself away in a remote cavefor the duration of her pregnancy.
This self-sufficient nymphcreated a quiet rustic home there.
Telling no one, she carried the childand eventually gave birth all by
(06:54):
herself to a healthy baby boy, Hermes.
Hermes provided quite the contrastto the introverted Maia who had
spoken to no one for nine months.
Hermes was chatty from day one.
The polar opposite of his mother,he was precocious to the nth
degree on his first day alive.
(07:15):
He wandered off and stole hishalf-brother Apollo sacred cattle.
Fortunately Maia had taught Hermesproper worship of the gods and
Hermes sacrifice one of the cows tothem from a tortoise shell and some
cow gut Hermes invented the liar.
It was a busy first day when Apollo cameto confront the newborn Maia shushed, the
(07:37):
God insisting that her baby boy couldn'tpossibly be responsible for the theft.
Giving himself away, Hermes offered hisliar in exchange for Apollo's cattle.
Delighted Apollo then carried thechild off to Olympus where Hermes
immediately befriended all the gods.
Even Hera was taken with him.
Seemingly unconcerned with his parentage.
(08:01):
Hermes became their messengerand connected the world through
commerce and communication.
Boston (08:06):
Maia, who had raised such a miraculous child was revered.
Her name came to mean not only mother,but also midwife and was used as a
term of respect for women elders.
Now, as I said, I am notadvocating any particular approach
to motherhood for one thing.
(08:26):
I'm a man.
I have no business in that.
And I especially want to discouragetriangulation or collusion
and, you know, castration thatjust is always unnecessary.
And definitely don't throwyour children out of the house
just because they're ugly.
I'd also like to take a moment toacknowledge and thank my mother,
(08:47):
Susan, who gave me life and Suzannewho married my dad when I was a
teenager and became a second mom.
I am extremely lucky and grateful to havetwo such extraordinary women as parents.
Though every mother faces differentchallenges and possesses different
resources, beliefs, and values.
(09:07):
I believe that nearly everymother wants to give her
children the best life possible.
As a man, I cannot possibly imagine whatit is to feel a child growing inside me,
to give birth to it, and then watch itgrow up and make its way in the world.
(09:28):
What an amazing thing.
A heartfelt, thank you to all themoms who have done this and who
were in the process of doing this.
And thank you for listening.
If you enjoyed this episode and wantto hear more, visit mythic podcast.com
for more episodes, resources andinformation until next time -- Journey on
Welcome to a special Mother's Dayepisode of a Mythic, a podcast
where we explore meaningfulliving through the power of myth.
I'm your host, Boston Blake.
In Greek mythology, everythingstarts with Gaia, Mother Earth.
Before her, there wasonly the void of Chaos.
(00:26):
As the first deity, sheis the source of all life.
She is the spirit from whicheverything we see, taste, touch,
hear, and smell originates.
To the women who have birthed a babyor stepped in to raise a child through
adoption or as a step-mom, thank you.
You are wonder women.
(00:47):
And this episode is for you.
These are some stories ofmotherhood from Greek mythology.
Now, these are not tales of advice.
They are not how to manuals.
In fact, some of them have reallyterrible all ideas, but my hope is, is
(01:08):
that you will find in them, somethingthat relates to the experience of being
a mother, or having a mother, somethingthat points to something true for you.
And perhaps find a connection to thelineage of motherhood that stretches
back to the beginning of time.
(01:28):
Now, here we go.
As the first mother, Gaia facedunprecedented challenges, because
everything was unprecedentedat the beginning of time.
Her husband, the overbearingsky god, Ouranos, was completely
focused on her and wanted nothing,nothing to do with their kids.
This emotionally distantdad would get her pregnant.
(01:51):
She'd give birth that he'd shoved thekids back insider he'd take off and then
he'd returned to knock her up again.
Repeating this cycle.
Gaia was left a singlemother with a lot of kids.
Now she had the means to providefor her children physically,
but without the opportunity toexplore the world beyond her womb.
(02:13):
They were unable to developintellectual courage.
What they did develop was resentmentand hatred in an attempt to free
herself and her children, Gaiafanned that resentment and raised a
rebellion against her husband led byher son, Kronos, Kronos over through
his father, castrating him, causinghim to retreat and took his throne.
(02:37):
And finally liberated fromher smothering husband.
Gaya had a new lease on life andhooked up with the sea God Pontus.
And they had even more kids together.
Unfortunately, Kronos was nobetter than his father is a ruler.
He was cruel and selfish and too radical.
He was narcissistic and psychotic.
This brings us to the second mothergoddess Raya who became as his wife.
(03:02):
Whether she liked it or notKronos forced himself on her.
Each pregnancy produced a child,but after each child was born
Krone swallowed it, whole fearing.
One of them would do to him whathe had done to his own father.
So Kronos did exactlythe opposite of his dad.
Instead of leaving his children withtheir mother, he consumed them himself.
(03:24):
They were unable to rise andchallenge him and they would be
under his control, not hers andtherefore less dangerous to himself.
After losing five children toKronos is insane diet program.
Ray couldn't bear the thoughtof losing another one.
Her sixth child, shedetermined would live.
And so when the baby was born,she wrapped a stone in swaddling
(03:47):
clothes and presented it to Kronos.
Too stupid to tell the difference betweena baby and a rock Cronus, gulped it
down belts and walked away and Raya,grinned Raya named her baby boy Zeus.
Sadly, she knew that underher circumstances, she
could not raise him herself.
So she would give him the bestchance she could at a happy life.
(04:12):
Ray gave the baby to a group ofnymphs in Crete, where he would
nurse from the goat goddess.
Amalthea.
And he was raised freefrom his parents' drama.
The nymphs took pride in raising theson of the great goddess Raya, and they
really did their best under their care.
He became a jovial and phenomenallystrong young man, whenever she could
(04:37):
manage it, Ray would visit him insecret like her own mother before her.
She wanted Zeus to free hissiblings and overthrow his father.
But having learned from some of Gaia'smistakes, she was more concerned with
the development of Zeus's character.
There was no point in replacing onedesk spot with another zoos did indeed
(05:01):
free his siblings from cornices ballet,and together they overthrew the sky
God and Zeus, and his brothers andsisters became the Olympian gods.
Zoos, having known both love and freedombecame a different kind of ruler.
He married the goddess Hera.
And Hera is the next goddess mother.
(05:24):
We're going to talk about.
Hera was committed to queen shipand marriage, but not much of a mom.
When she saw that her son Hephaestushad been born with a club foot.
She was so repulsed at the sight, sheflung him from Olympus to the earth.
Now he eventually overcame his painfulchildhood and became the Olympian
(05:45):
engineer, craftsmen and Smith.
Hera was less cruel to her handsomeson Aries, but perhaps knowing she was
not the best suited to motherhood, shegave him to the fertility god Priapus.
And Priapus raised him andtrained him in the arts of war.
And then there was the beautiful nymph,Maia Maia, whose name means mother.
(06:12):
She was the granddaughterof the Titan Atlas who holds
the world on his shoulders.
And Zeus fell in love with her.
He was married to Hera of course,but the King of the gods was
not known for his fidelity.
When Maia conceived a child by Zeus,she feared for the baby's safety.
In Maia's case, it was not a wickedfather who threatened the baby,
(06:33):
but the God Kings jealous wife.
If Hera discovered it, neither wouldbe safe to protect her baby, Maia
hid herself away in a remote cavefor the duration of her pregnancy.
This self-sufficient nymphcreated a quiet rustic home there.
Telling no one, she carried the childand eventually gave birth all by
(06:54):
herself to a healthy baby boy, Hermes.
Hermes provided quite the contrastto the introverted Maia who had
spoken to no one for nine months.
Hermes was chatty from day one.
The polar opposite of his mother,he was precocious to the nth
degree on his first day alive.
(07:15):
He wandered off and stole hishalf-brother Apollo sacred cattle.
Fortunately Maia had taught Hermesproper worship of the gods and
Hermes sacrifice one of the cows tothem from a tortoise shell and some
cow gut Hermes invented the liar.
It was a busy first day when Apollo cameto confront the newborn Maia shushed, the
(07:37):
God insisting that her baby boy couldn'tpossibly be responsible for the theft.
Giving himself away, Hermes offered hisliar in exchange for Apollo's cattle.
Delighted Apollo then carried thechild off to Olympus where Hermes
immediately befriended all the gods.
Even Hera was taken with him.
Seemingly unconcerned with his parentage.
(08:01):
Hermes became their messengerand connected the world through
commerce and communication.
Boston (08:06):
Maia, who had raised such a miraculous child was revered.
Her name came to mean not only mother,but also midwife and was used as a
term of respect for women elders.
Now, as I said, I am notadvocating any particular approach
to motherhood for one thing.
(08:26):
I'm a man.
I have no business in that.
And I especially want to discouragetriangulation or collusion
and, you know, castration thatjust is always unnecessary.
And definitely don't throwyour children out of the house
just because they're ugly.
I'd also like to take a moment toacknowledge and thank my mother,
(08:47):
Susan, who gave me life and Suzannewho married my dad when I was a
teenager and became a second mom.
I am extremely lucky and grateful to havetwo such extraordinary women as parents.
Though every mother faces differentchallenges and possesses different
resources, beliefs, and values.
(09:07):
I believe that nearly everymother wants to give her
children the best life possible.
As a man, I cannot possibly imagine whatit is to feel a child growing inside me,
to give birth to it, and then watch itgrow up and make its way in the world.
(09:28):
What an amazing thing.
A heartfelt, thank you to all themoms who have done this and who
were in the process of doing this.
And thank you for listening.
If you enjoyed this episode and wantto hear more, visit mythic podcast.com
for more episodes, resources andinformation until next time -- Journey on
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