Mythology of Uranus
What is the mythological origin of Uranus?
In mythology, Uranus (Ancient Greek Ouranos, meaning “sky” or “heaven”) was the primal Greek god personifying the sky. His equivalent in Roman mythology was Caelus. In Ancient Greek literature, Uranus or Father Sky was the son and husband of Gaia, Mother Earth.
Uranus Mythology Stories
From Chaos came Gaia, the Earth, alone in the universe, surrounded by darkness. From Gaia came Ouranus the sky, to be her incestuous consort. Their passion was so great that Ouranos, “eager for love, enveloped the earth in all directions” (Hesiod). Earth and sky were one in a smothering, eternal embrace.
In the Egyptian version of the Ouranos myth, the genders of the sky and earth gods are reversed. Here, Geb the earth god and Nut the sky goddess undertake the process of creation.
He is said to have hated his children, who included the Titans, the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires (the hundred-handed), and he is variously reported to have confined them within Gaia or cast them into Tartarus, the darkest deeps below the earth. Such obsessive passion was completely constrictive of Gaia, so she devised a way to rid herself of his embrace. She persuaded the Titans to revolt.
Kronos (Saturn), the youngest of the Titans, was already determined to overthrow his hated father, so when Gaia gave him a specially fashiond sickle he used it to cut off Ouranos’ phallus buried deep in the earth. The connection of Earth (matter) and Sky (spirit) was thus cut asunder by the lord of time, so that it has become the task of each of us since to reunite the two.
In Hesiod’s account, Kronos took the severed member and cast it into the sea, where it floated in a white foam. From this foam was born the Olympian goddess of love, Aphrodite.From the blood of Ouranos spilt on the Earth were born the Giants, the Nymphs and the Erinyes, goddesses of vengeance.
Uranus‘ influence on the world is about to come into its own, as the Age of Aquarius succeeds the fading Age of Pisces. The Christian fish is about to be replaced by the water-carrier, and an age of group consciousness has already begun to develop.
Image credit Christina Balit
Last updated on August 17, 2017 at 3:39 pm. Word Count: 381
