Hestia
Goddess of the Hearth and Home
"According to Greek
legend, Hestia was the firstborn of the Olympian
goddesses.
Her antiquity is attested by the Greek proverb "Start
with Hestia," meaning "Begin things at
the beginning." *
Whenever a house was built
Hestia would be invited in. She presides over the
hearth, the flame and makes a house a home. A
new home was not considered
established until a woman brought fire from her
mother's hearth to light her own. The eldest sister
of Zeus and the oldest daughter of Rhea and Cronus
she resigned her place on Olympia to give way to
Dionysus the god of wine.
She was a virgin-goddess, and when wooed by Poseidon
and Apollo, swore by the head of Zeus to remain a
virgin. She had no throne, but tended the sacred
fire in the hall on the Olympus and every hearth
on Earth was her altar. She is the gentlest of all
the Olympians.
The Romans called
her Vesta, and build a temple for her in the Forum.
She is seen in the astrology birth chart as the asteroid
Vesta. (The others are Pallas Athena- the creative
mind, Juno - goddess of marriage, Ceres -goddess
of harvest.)
*From
Goddesses and Heroines Excerpt from Goddess & Heroines
by Patricia Monaghan (Used by permission. This
text is NOT included in the Goddess Oracle)
To find out
more email Pam@truelovesight.co.uk for
a goddess report. |
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Hestia from The
Goddess Oracle Copyright Hrana Janto, used
by permission of the artist. http://hranajanto.com
Hestia is the
Goddess to invoke at the Equinox, the beginning
of the
Year, of Spring.
Go
inside for a moment. See your inner fire, the
flame within. And in your
imagination ask "What is my perfect home?
Where is it?" See it in detail in your mind.
Where is it located? By a forest, by the ocean,
on a cliff? How is it furnished? Walk around
in it. The more 'real' it becomes the more you
can return to it whenever you need to feel 'at
home' with yourself. |
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