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Gaia (Mythology): Earth Mother
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Etymologically Gaia is a compound word of two elements. Ge, meaning "Earth", is found in many neologisms, such as Geography (Ge/graphos = writing about Earth) and Geology (Ge/logos = words about the Earth). *Ge is a pre-Greek substrate word that some relate to the Sumerian Ki... meaning Earth. Aia is a derivative of an Indo-European stem meaning "Grandmother". The full etymology of Gaia would, therefore, appear to have been "Grandmother Earth" [1]. Some sources, such as anthropologists James Mellaart, Marija Gimbutas and Barbara Walker, claim that Gaia as the Mother Earth is a later form of a pre-Indo-European Great Mother who had been venerated in Neolithic times, but this point is controversial in the academic community.
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Gaia ("land" or "earth"... spelled Ge or Gaea) in Greek mythology embodies the fertility of the Earth. Behind particular aspects of the three-fold goddess, stands the pre-Indo-European Great Mother, a nurturing goddess of death and birth, who was venerated from Neolithic times in the ancient Near East and the Aegean cultural sphere, as far as Malta and the Etruscan lands. Some anthropologists and members of certain religions believe the same divine spirit appeared under many names. These names are said to include Demeter (Roman Ceres) the "mother", Persephone the "daughter" or Hecate the "crone." She could be identified as Rhea. In Anatolia (modern Turkey) she was Cybele.
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Hesiod's separation of Rhea from Gaia was not rigorously followed, even by the Greek mythographers themselves. Modern mythographers like Karl Kerenyi or Carl A. P. Ruck and Danny Staples, as well as an earlier generation influenced by Frazer's The Golden Bough, interpret the goddesses Demeter the "mother," Persephone the "daughter" and Hecate the "crone," as understood by the Greeks, to be three aspects of a former Great Goddess, who could be identified as Rhea or as Gaia herself. Such tripartite goddesses are ... a part of Celtic mythology and may stem from the Proto-Indo-Europeans. In Anatolia (modern Turkey), Rhea was known as Cybele, a goddess derived from Mesopotamian Kubau, Hurrian
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Some who worship Gaia attempt to get closer to Mother Earth by becoming unconcerned with material things and more in tune with nature. Others who worship Gaia recognize Gaia as a great goddess and practice rituals commonly associated with other forms of worship. Many sects worship Gaia, even more than worship Themis, Artemis, and Hera.
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Gaea (variant spelling Gaia) is a Greek goddess personifying the Earth. Etymologically, Gaea is a compound word of "Ge," meaning "Earth" and "Aia" meaning "grandmother" (In modern English, the root "Ge" still relates to terms such as geography (Ge/graphos = writing about Earth) and geology (Ge/logos = words about the Earth) displaying an ancient connection to the term Gaea). Though not as popular as the Olympian gods of Greek mythology, Gaea was still revered for her role as "Mother Nature."
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The name Delphoi is connected with δελφ delph "hollow" or δελφός delphus "womb" and may indicate archaic veneration of Gaia, Grandmother Earth, and the Earth Goddess at the site. Apollo is connected with the site by his epithet Δελφίνιος Delphinios, "the Delphinian", i.e. either "the one of Delphi", or "the one of the womb". The epithet is connected with dolphins (the "womb-fish") in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo (line 400), recounting the legend of how Apollo first came to Delphi in the shape of a dolphin, carrying Cretan priests on his back. The Homeric name of the oracle is Pytho (Πυθώ). Odyssey, VIII, 80
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