Olympian Goddess Diana - Artemis. The Huntress on Hunting.
Contents: Artemis in Mythology | Arrival and Appearance | Diana's Work | Huntress | Limitations of Hunting | How to Soothe a Tiger in Burning Jungle | Diana's Blessings.
Festival Day - September 12
Diana \ Artemis in Mythology
Goddess Diana - Artemis - is often described as a moon goddess, patron deity of the crescent moon. At her famous sanctuary at Ephesus, in Turkey, she was honoured as the 'Great Mother of the World'.
Listed by poet Hesiod in Theogony 'Birth of the Gods' as daughter of Leto and Zeus, stories told of goddess Diana's’ ferocious temper. The tale of queen Niobe and her disparaging comparison with Leto’s two children - Artemis and Apollo - ends with the loss of all fourteen of Niobe’s offspring; and Niobe wailing at the cruel vengeance of “jealous Gods”.
Goddess Diana \ Artemis Mythological references
Goddesses, Gods and You
What kind of Heaven do you expect. Soft fluffy paradise of eternity, or oblivion of nothingness? Out-of-body survival expert Margo Williams discovered a surprisingly simple system of management and afterlife recycling.
There are many goddesses and gods in the community. Speaking their name aloud evidently sends a signal; creates a link to wherever they are at any given moment. If it works for you as it worked for Margo, and they respond, be respectful but be yourself. Honesty and thoughtfulness are appreciated.
Sacrifice nothing but your time. Most of them seemed approachable and appreciated being remembered.
The ancient temples that still can be found in some places, although mostly broken, are huge monumental structures; impressive sacred spaces, their scale designed to impress, to be worthy of divine visitation.
However, it is not the size and splendour of any sacred space but the sincerity of the person seeking contact.
Anywhere can be a temple.
"Is Diana a bad-tempered, jealous female?" Nick Hammond asked out-of-body survivalist Margo Williams.
Goddess Diana's Arrival and Appearance
"I have never known a god or goddess express jealousy of a mortal. Anger certainly, due to carelessness.
However, Artemis, or “Diana” as she was named by the ancient Roman communities, does target humans, but I leave it to others to decide whether, if she ever had Niobe’s innocent children in her sight, she would pull arrow from quiver and let fly.
We chose to use the name Diana rather than Artemis though there was no special reason for this, it just happened that way. In place of wine, the offering, so we were informed, was to be fruit. So, an apple was sliced and placed in a bowl, though other fruit was used too, on other occasions.
Her arrival opened with a burst of luxuriant forest green light.
She bounded into the room, a brown-eyed, dark haired female. Big, powerful physique, broad-shouldered, toned skin. She wore a pale green skirt and tunic, one shoulder bare as all goddesses seemed to wear. Rugged ankle boots on her feet.
She looked around our makeshift temple, then directly at me. "We shall get to know each other better. I thank you for inviting me. I accept your offerings," she said.
I noticed a garland in her hair, and a quiver full of arrows carried on shoulder but didn’t feel frightened, quite the opposite in fact. A sensation of happy excitement radiated in her presence. Awesome but friendly, my first impression.
"Today is difficult for you who sees and hears, therefore I appreciate you being here," she continued. "May the blessings of all gods and goddesses be upon you." Then she vanished.
Brief and gentle first encounter, surprisingly sensitive to the indisposition I suffered that day. However, the next meeting was not so friendly.
"In what way?"
"She carries a bow," Margo Williams answered.
Goddess Diana's Work
"Arrow by arrow, I learned to not flinch in Diana's target-practice game. It happened every time she responded to our invitation. She yanked me into forest and made me stand against a tree a hundred paces or so distant. Not flinching wasn’t easy to master, took months of very uncomfortable endurance.
Other times she set wolves to chase me through the forest. "Run!" she yelled.
I ran for my life. But doubtless you want to know the upside.
All that running through the forest, dodging arrows, hounds and wolves increased my endurance and ability. My footing became more certain, and after a few months or so, she expected me to accompany her while she worked.
We started in woodland; trees and fern, grassy clearings. Diana found a young rabbit caught in a snare; its tiny paw bloodied. I thought it dead but she gently opened the trap, picked up the animal and placed her hand over its crushed paw. Held it there for a few moments then passed the rabbit to me. "Soothe it," she said.
The paw looked whole and healthy again. I stroked the creature until she gestured to release it onto the ground. The rabbit scuttled away into the brambled undergrowth.
Such was her work, that day: searching for traps. She scoured the countryside, when found she opened them up, soothed and then released whatever animal was held inside. Same each time: release, heal and then pass to me for soothing. Next was a bird trapped in thin fencing wire; unhurt it flapped away.
Diana arrow-tip jabbed me, a gesture of approval. "You can soothe frightened animals but I wonder how good you will be with big ones."
She showed me how she works and told me her truth. "Most mortals think of me as the Goddess of Hunting. They are correct, yet they are wrong. I do not hunt animals, I help animals. But this is how I hunt."
Diana the Huntress
Diana worked in cities and towns as much as in the wild, soothing caged animals in zoos and circuses, or chained bears in tourist hubs. Sometimes we journeyed back along the supply line, into forests and jungles where she hunted the hunters.
Some were luckier than others; some survived with injuries but many didn’t.
We arrived in jungle, hot and humid lush green rainforest, to watch mother apes in the tree canopy, carrying their young. Diana pointed to a pair of riflemen crouched hidden in cover; they seemed pleased at the opportunity of finding so many apes together.
But they didn’t see the big goddess stood behind them. "Mortals target the mothers and take their young into captivity." One of the gunmen survived Diana that day. "Animals have feelings," she growled to the panicked survivor before he fled. Maybe he heard her words.
Mostly she didn’t bother wasting an arrow. She caused accidents; most people hunted were maimed rather than fatally wounded. Sometimes she caught them in their own traps and left them hanging. She tripped and trapped anyone unlucky enough to be in her path and setting a trap.
If an animal needed healing she stopped and helped. Human hunters, no.
Sometimes she let the hunted become hunter. An unaware gunman was still checking the trigger of his weapon she sabotaged when a charging elephant hit him. He didn’t look so handsome after that impact.
"Animals take life only to eat. So should humans. Not for sport." She stared down at the mess. His wallet lay open on the ground; a photo image showed a middle aged white male. "Those who hunt animals usually are mortals who have money and influence. Those who take life," she paused, thoughtful. "It is a sign of a cruel, unhappy soul. Money and power often bring unhappiness," she added.
Diana stroked the elephant as it inspected the damage. Satisfied the hunter wasn’t getting up again, it sauntered off into the bush. "Those who do this come to me when they die."
She showed me what that meant. How it can be for some people as an afterlife destination.
Limitations of Hunting
Diana shared with me what pleased and displeased her. Hunting animals for sport was the cause of most of her anger, but those smaller creatures we deem pests or irritants seemed no less important to her.
Like Demeter, Diana let me experience the burning agony of wasp-killing chemicals on my own skin, before she intervened.
Much of our time together was spent helping bird-life. It seemed to me she favours birds for we often roamed jungle and rainforest searching for nets with trapped parrots and parakeets.
"Help me free them," she encouraged me, though she easily lifted up the heavy nets setting them free. Or she just slashed the nets to shreds. "It grieves me when these wild creatures are caged, or when any animal is kept in a small enclosure for mortals to make money. This I will not allow."
Diana, so it seemed to me, faced the same problem as do ocean Gods: removing any single destructive individual from the community of life does not stop the momentum of cruelty and greed by our species. There is a need for communication, and perhaps that was a reason why they invested time in responding to our invitations.
"Now let me see how you can help with larger creatures."
How to Soothe a Tiger in a Burning Forest
And so I did my best to assist Diana as she cut snarling tigers out of net traps and shepherded animals in danger from forest fires. Even when the air roared and crackled with flames, they calmed to her touch but certainly would have taken off my hand and arm.
Blazing forests, always very dangerous. "This is some of the work I do, which you have to experience," she explained. "How many animals can you get out?"
She ran into a flaming forest. "Follow me and pick up anything that lives." She led out the tigers, other smaller animals gathered secure under her arm.
I too managed to pick up some small birds; followed a number of times, always close beside her. Eventually I collapsed, simply too exhausted. She carried on while I sat on the ground trying to soothe the multitude of blinking, bewildered but safe animals.
Occasionally after the bird flew free, or the tiger scampered safe away into the jungle, Diana turned to me with an expression of a remembered something feigned forgotten. "I must never let you get soft or complacent," she said. "Be aware at all times."
And I had to stand against a tree for target practice.
Diana's Blessings
"You see and hear of cruelty to animals, yet there is much goodness happening. Not only with my work but with the work of other gods and goddesses."
Big shoulders shrugged a disappointment. "Yet for some strange reason mortals appear to enjoy hearing bad news of others, rather than good. Why do they not show the good as well as the bad?"
I didn’t answer, didn’t think she expected me to answer.
She spoke of the work of other Gods, but Diana made time to visit and acknowledge the work of people in the human community who help in rescuing animals.
We visited homes whose gardens were converted into hospitals for injured wildlife. Mostly people who didn’t have much money. Generally small homes with backyards crammed with sheds and runs whose occupants were foxes or badgers, rabbits and birds.
Mostly small animals in need of tended wound or fix for broken limb. People who didn’t receive publicity but earned the unexpected attention from Diana, and something else. "These mortals I bless," she said.
"I was one of the first, because of the animals,’ she whispered. It was the one and only time she ever confided personal information.
Thank you for your company on this short introduction to goddess Diana. If you would like to know more about Margo Williams' experiences and suggestions for how to survive the hereafter, read this book. Now available from Amazon.
