Aphrodite - Goddess of Love, Desire and Natural Beauty
Aphrodite is one of the true goddesses of naturally beautiful women. She reigns over all of our desires, our love, and our natural beauty. If we were to be able to choose one heroine, Aphrodite would be in the running (along with Wonder Woman and Xena, Warrior Princess – both of whom are fashioned after the goddess Aphrodite anyway – so she wins!).
Aphrodite’s birth has been ascribed to either her father being Zeus (king of the gods) and her mother being a mortal, Dione, or another goddess Hera. Other legends have Aphrodite rising from the foamy waves of the sea, enchanting everyone who sees her and inciting feelings of love and lust wherever she goes. Aphrodite was one cool lady – she was the lover of Adonis, as well as his surrogate mother. She had special powers (somewhat similar to wonderful Wonder Woman – see previous post W is for Wonder Woman – We are Wonderful, parts 1 and 2) – Aphrodite had a magic girdle that gave her the power to make all who saw it fall helplessly in love with the wearer (sometimes she loaned out the magic girdle to her friends). Lucky for her she had the magic girdle, because she never wore anything else at all (except for an elegant strand of pearls, of course!).
So, we have a lot to thank the goddess Aphrodite (also known as Venus) for – aphrodisiacs for increasing sexual pleasure (see A is for Aphrodisiacs – Amp up your Amour) and girdles (see G is for Girdles and Garters and Girls, Oh My!).
And a great big Alleluia and Aloha to Aphrodite!
