Goddess Selene by Shiro Shine

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Selene - The Radiant - Goddess of the Moon

Greek name: Selene

Roman name: Luna

Goddess of mysteries..

Selene is a Moon Goddess and therefore related to the Chinese atsrological signs of Goat, Dog, and Cat.
Planet: Moon
Day of the week: Monday (Moon-day)
Festival: 7th February
Oils: white poppy, white rose, wallflower
Wood: willow
Color: silver, grey-white
Influences: agriculture, domestic, long life, medicine, travels, visions, theft (new moon)
Candle: silver and white
Incense: Myrtle
Herb: Selenetrope

Strengths:
Passionate, lights the night, controls time

Weaknesses:
Changeable like the moon

Areas of Influence:
Agriculture, anything domestic, travel, long life, medicine, and visions


According to the poet Hesiod, Selene was the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, sister of Helios, the Sun and Eos the Dawn. Other sources claim she was the child of Pallas and Euryphaessa. Selene, the eternally beautiful goddess of the Moon, was usually represented as a woman with the moon, often in crescent form on her head and driving a chariot pulled by two white horses. At night, she rose from the ocean and with her chariot and rode through the sky.

Selene is one of the Greek triple Goddess of the Moon, Artemis - Waxing Moon, Selene - the Full Moon and Hecate - the Waning Moon. In the maiden, mother, crone aspects of the Goddess, Selene is the mother Goddess, Artemis the maiden and Hecate the Crone.

 
The mother aspect of the triple Goddess represents womanhood, she is represented by the full moon, were she is at the height of her reproductive potential. The Earth as Gaia, the mother, in whom life can be reborn, where seeds germinate and produce new crops, so the Mother Goddess was also able to bring forth new life. Selene, is the fruitful mother, the Star Goddess, the Sky Goddess, the keeper of the silver wheel of stars, is honoured at the Full Moon and the days of the full and new moon were set aside for her worship.

According to mythology, Selene saw Endymion, a shepherd, asleep in a cave on Mt. Latmus as she drove he chariot across the sky, as she gazed upon Endymion she fell madly in love with him and began an affair with Endymion, from whom she gave birth to fifty daughters. But Endymion, being, mortal, was susceptable to aging and death, Selene could not bear the thought of this cruel fate, she asked Zeus to grant Endymion eternal sleep.

 
Selene is usually depicted with a pale face and a crescent-shaped crown on her head. She wears a cloak in the traditional color of red for the Mother Goddess while raising a torch to light the night sky. A silver chariot pulled by winged white horses race in the night as Selene lifts up her power and fills the heavenly realms.

Selene is known for her various love affairs. She had an affair with the Sky-God Zeus, and out of that union produced Pandia, the Goddess of Brightness, Ersa, the Goddess of Dew, and Nemea, the Mountain Goddess. One day she was seduced by the God Pan. He disguised his hairy black goatishness with a white fleece, and unaware of the disguise, Selene allowed herself to be coaxed into riding him. Pan proceeded to ravish her, and then gave her the gift of a herd of white oxen. By Endymion, she is the mother of fifty daughters, who are said to represent the fifty lunar months that elapse between each Olympiad.

Hymn to Selene
Muses, sweet-speaking daughters of Zeus Kronides
and mistresses of song, sing next of long-winged Moon!
From her immortal head a heaven-sent glow
envelops the earth and great beauty arises
under its radiance. From her golden crown the dim air
is made to glitter as her rays turn night to noon,
whenever bright Selene, having bathed her beautiful skin
in the Ocean, put on her shining rainment
and harnessed her proud-necked and glittering steeds,
swiftly drives them on as their manes play
with the evening, dividing the months. Her great orbit is full
and as she waxes a most brilliant light appears
in the sky. Thus to mortals she is a sign and a token.