Sunday, February 21, 2010

Athena Shrine Photos

These are from our old apartment. We have new-and-improved shrines at our new residence. I'll try to get some new photos up shortly.

The shrine features an iron Spartan Cyclic-influenced statue of Athena from Basil Street Galleries which I like because it displays Athena with wings, her owl and a crescent moon, all of which are older symbols of this Goddess. At her feet is a hand-sculpted Gorgon head that I made to honor her Aegis and her relationship to the dark serpentine energy of Medusa. To the right is a goblet filled with red roses, owl feathers and prayer scrolls filled with hymns to Athena. I hope to replace the roses with olive branches eventually. Also to the right is an owl's skull, which was a gift from a dear friend. Behind that is a large holed stone. At her feet is a bronze oil lamp embossed with owls that I picked up at the Nashville Parthenon gift shop. The lamp is lit with prayers to Hestia and is filled with olive oil. Beside it is a small skein of undyed wool -- as Athena is the weaver's Goddess -- and an ancient silver tetradrachm which depicts Athena's profile on one side and her little owl on the reverse, a gift from Laurelei. To the icon's is a black-feathered replica of an Athene Noctua owl, the owl depicted on her coins. I like the symbolism of the black feathers, as Athena has some very dark (almost chthonic) roots. Behind everything is a painting of Athena I did in acrylics.

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