Creation Myth of ~*Rhi*~
The goddesses circled. “We’ve got to make one who will be more pleasing this time!” Said Arachne. She was the most forthright of the bunch. “I’m not getting scowled at for not following directions again.”
This human girl had to have all the qualities & frailties requested. She had a purpose – unfortunately, the goddesses were not privy to that purpose. Purpose was each creation’s vision quest.
So the four – the members of this creation team came together. Rhiannon – goddess of endurance, inspiration & dreams, her ally, Hera – goddess of commitment, caring, friendliness, loyalty & cooperation, Artemis – goddess of assertiveness, confidence, unconventionality, innovation & decisive action, & Demeter – goddess of resolve, determination, organization, nurturing, & deep caring discussed the plan & decided to call a few of their friends together for the ceremony.
“This one will be perfectly imperfect,” they announced. “Capable of great good & great harm; great discernment & compassion; passion & restraint; anger & forgiveness – She will be a warrior with the heart of a priestess & poet. Her life would be rich & full, but probably not comfortable most of the time.”
The four were both excited & anxious to begin. Excited to bring their new creation into the world; anxious about how she would handle the gifts they were to give. They had tried this particular model before, without success – each time, the human sunk into despair & despondence, unable to tolerate the dichotomies within her soul. This time, however they were sure they had summoned the correct goddesses for the job. Also, this time they would stay with the human girl throughout her life to assure she had the right strength at the right time. They would never interfere or protect her from herself, theirs was simply to whisper the right words into her ear & send just the right allies to her door so she would be the one.
First to arrive at the ceremonial pool was Freya – goddess of passion, sensuality & emotions. Freya was always first, ever chomping at the bit to pour her gifts into the pool. The colorless water turned a bright red almost immediately.
Next was Arachne – goddess of integrity & courage. Always out-spoken, Arachne joined her gifts with Freya. The pool began to churn with the passion & courage.
Afraid, the goddesses called upon Hestia – goddess of balance & self-containment. Hestia, however decided her gifts would muddy these waters, so she withdrew. Tera & Hecete were quickly summoned.
Tera poured in compassion, perceptive understanding, support, gentleness & understanding. Immediately the red, churning waters began to swirl into a whirlpool of love.
Hecate gently stirred in tolerance, intuition & acceptance. As she dashed a touch of calm tranquility at the end, the waters became peaceful, but also flat & without sparkle. More was required.
Artemis drew back her bow & shot an arrow dripping with assertiveness, followed by another she dipped in confidence. Once she shot the arrows of unconventionality & innovation they all watched as the swirling waters brightened to a crystal blue.
Hera joined the group. She stirred in a splash of commitment; a huge dose of caring; a sprinkle of friendliness & more loyalty than she had given many of their creations. The goddesses surrounded the pool & watched as the waters of their creation deepened to the most beautiful cobalt they had seen in many ages. Their excitement was building.
It was time for Rhiannon’s gifts. Charged with the success of this creation, she would watch over continuously & call upon the others as needed throughout the woman’s life. Rhiannon approached the pool with a bit of trepidation. She had many over which to watch, each one was close to her heart. She thought carefully about her gifts & watched closely as each one was poured into the pool.
Endurance, inspiration & dreams, what measures of these great gifts would she endow?
As she slowly poured endurance into the swirling pool, the color changed to purple. Unhappy with the hue, Rhiannon added a bit more until the waters were dark with endurance’s richness.
“Sad”, thought Rhiannon, “purple is too sad”. Had she spoken these words out loud? Hera accused her of being stingy – holding back. Rhiannon, always the dreamer, allowed herself to imagine what the woman’s life would be like at this point. Quickly, she made her decision. She poured out her full measure of dreams & inspiration. Immediately the color burst into a beautiful & brilliant blue.
A gasp arose from the group. “Blue is one of my favorite colors!” exclaimed Rhiannon. Almost all of my women are blue! Rhiannon was anxious to dip from the pool & pour the rich fluid into their charge’s soul. She reached for the torch & held it to the Great Fire. As she grasped for the handle of the Little Dipper, Rhiannon was startled.
“STOP!” shouted Demeter. “Rhiannon, the soul water is not ready. We have so many blues in our rainbow right now. Allow me to adjust the color a bit.”
The goddesses opened the circle for Demeter & she approached the pool. Slowly, resolve & determination were added. The color began to lighten.
“Too pale” lamented Freya. The others agreed. Demeter measured out what she determined to be the perfect portion of caring.
“Oooo!” sang the goddesses in unison. A beautiful green had appeared, it reflected all the light from Above. “But it is so bright now. And it’s beginning to churn again,” said Hecate. “We must calm the waters.”
Finally, Demeter added just a touch of organization to the pool.
All at once, the colors developed into the most brilliant emerald green any of the goddesses had witnessed. Swirling & settling with the synchronized movement of the circle of goddesses, the emerald soul waters were hypnotizing. As the Great Fire shone upon the waters, deep tones of blue & purple were seen in the sparkles. Occasionally, a flash of red appeared to everyone’s amazement.
“Beautiful!” they chanted in unison. “Beautiful!”
With the torch, lit from the Great Fire, in one hand the Little Dipper from the sky in another, Rhiannon stepped into the middle of the pool. The goddesses created a perfect circle of Love. Holding their intertwined hands in the air, they continued their chant. Rhiannon dipped a great measure of soul water from the pool. Into the creature, she poured.
A slight gasp was heard from the tiny infant as she appeared in the delivery room. Weak, brought into the world early, she tried her lungs.
“Not strong enough,” Rhiannon said, almost to herself, “more.” She dipped the ladle again & quickly poured the final drops of emerald waters into the tiny girl.
The child let out a cry. Still weak, but announcing herself to the world, she began to test her surroundings. The soft cry echoed into the Upper World as their creation began her journey.
All were now assured of the infant’s acceptance from the Earth. The chanting grew louder as Rhiannon touched the torch to her newest creation’s brow. Immediately, Kim’s eyes were open. Her voice bloomed at the heat & brightness. The cry was strong & powerful. All knew of her arrival. The tiny infant recognized the chant, “Beautiful!” she heard in the musical voices of the goddesses. “Hi, beautiful!” would be one of her hallmark greetings in the future, her method of spreading goddess love to others.
Around the now empty pool the spent goddesses laughed & cried. “Job well done,” they each thought. It was time to celebrate.
Their new creation would call to them time & time again, knowing each one by name. She would spend her life basking in their gifts & trying to make sense of the nature of each. This one would find others & lead them to the goddesses for strength & power. They had finally succeeded in their task – the creation of one who drew from them each of their powers. Hestia was right, her balance & self-containment were unnecessary this time, the goddesses had chosen & measured well. Balanced their gifts themselves; containment would only diminish the qualities.
The Great Fire smiled. Finally pleased.
. Slow time to germination seems to be the issue here. The seed is coated with a compound inhibiting germination. Sprouting the seeds (like you do edible sprouts) overcomes this issue. Or just purchase seedlings from the local organic nursery. Parsley prefers full sun or partial shade, you might be able to grow it in shade, but your plant will be less than satisfactory. As many herbs, she doesn’t enjoy wet feet, so keep parsley in well-drained, but moist soil. To get the best production, use an organic fertilizer. As a relative to celery, parsley is a biennial – returning to the garden year after year once established in some areas. Because she likes temperatures from abou5 50-70 degrees best, parsley doesn’t enjoy my hot summer weather here in Florida & is prone to die as the weather gets hot. I’m thinking of bringing her into the kitchen as a houseplant, because it’s reported she does well as one.
