New day, new haiku!
I went from feeling better to feeling ****** again, just my luck!
I'm gonna book an appointment on Monday, I cant take this anymore.
Sorry for the late upload!

Still focusing on the younger Charites, children of Hephaestus and Aglaia [aka Kharis, one of the three Charites], this is Euthenia, goddess of abundance. Like her sisters, there isn't much on her.

Like nothing at all, so I wanted to give her some character, I picture her as a woman who has childlike qualities, like innocence and such.
I remember that I found sewing (cross stitching to be exact) so hard at first, but I enjoyed it when I went to the after school clubs and I was so proud when I was done. A fond memory of mine..,

For some reason, I dont know why, but I also see her with the endearing qualities to that of Marilyn Monroe.
Could be that I've been reading up on her alot these days, she's so renown yet so enigmatic at the same time.
She truly has dichotomous nature which I find so appealing. RIP to her.🙏

Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
Feeling better today, too, slowly but surely!
As promised, I'm moving onto the daughters of Hephaestus and Aglaia [aka Kharis, one of the three Charites] and the first woman of myth is Eukleia [aka Eucleia], who is a goddess of good repute and glory.

There isn't much on her per say, but she is linked with Artemis. Sometimes, people take Eukleia for Artemis. Well, that's what Plutarch did anyway.
Like her mother and aunts, she was known to be an attendant for Aphrodite as well as representing the good repute of a pure bride.

Baby's breath is known to symbolise innocence, which links in with a beautiful bride in white and I always like to think that Eukleia blesses the veils of every bride before they walk down the aisle.
I wanted to paint the image of a final blessing for a woman before she walks down the aisle to be one with her other half.

Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
Feeling better today, haha!
I'm onto the last of the three Charities, Thalia. (Not to confused with Thalia the Muse, haha!)

Again, there isn't much on her as she is depicted with her sisters dancing.
But she does have a connection to spring. Her name, Thalia, comes from the Ancient Greek word, 'θάλλειν.' The Greek word 'thállein' means"to flourish, to be verdant - hence the connection to spring.

I also found that her name is also an adjective used to describe festivities, banquets and such.
Now that the main three Charites are done, I will be moving onto the younger ones! ^-^

Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
Still working on feeling better too.
Now for the second woman of the Charites, Euphrosyne.
There isn't much on her per say.
No particular story that stands out, just that she is depicted dancing with her sisters. And that there is a mosaic depicting her with Akratus, servant of Dionysus and demi-God of unmixed wine.
Even so, she always struck me as lovely and joyous.
Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
I'm feeling alot better today, thankfully!
I'm going to be working on the Charites now.
The three goddesses of beauty, grace, joy, dance and song and I'm starting with Aglaia, who was also known as Kharis, and she was the wife of Hephaestus. She brought him much joy, splendor and glory (which is what her name translates to) and bore him children after the whole Ares-Aphrodite incident.

She gave birth to four more Charites with Hephaestus which I will write about about the main three are done. The Charites are depicted as beautiful naked women , I've seen alot of art and I remember seeing an ivory story of them in a museum with some friends. They truly were gorgeous to behold.

I truly believe Aglaia is good for Hephaestus, he deserves some love and warm, and I wanted to show that in the haiku.
Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
Still not 100% but slowly but surely I'm getting there.
This haiku is for Echidna, also known as the Mother of Monsters, and one of the deadliest mythical creatures around. She is the wife of Typhon, a Storm Giant, and (depending on the myth) is daughter of Tartatus and Gaea or Phorys and Ceto.

She is known to have the upper body of a beautiful woman and the tail of a reptile. She became known as the Mother of Monsters because she birthed some of the most legendary Greek creatures, such as the Gorgons, the Chimera, Scylla, the Sphinx, the Nemean Lion and many more.

As terrible and powerful as she is, I find there to be a certain level of charm also. I wanted to picture a woman who is fiery, terrible, powerful and yet seductive and I hope I did so in this haiku.

Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
Still not feeling 100%, but I'm getting there.
This one is for Gaia, Mother Earth, wife and mother of Ouranos (Father Sky to her Mother Earth) and mother to the Titans (which includes Kronos and Rhea).

History certainly has a way of repeating itself. Before Zeus rose against his father Kronos for the position of King of the Gods, Kronos did the same with Ouranous. Though he birthed children with Gaea, he reputedly hated them and sealed his Giant-children back in her womb. In an act of defiance, she rose against him and Kronos joined, for he loathed his father. When the battle was won, Kronos became King of the Gods...before the prophecy came to him that he too would be deposed by one of his offsprings. When this happened, Gaea sided with Zeus and helped him rise to Kingship.

Well, that was until he sealed her children in Tartaros after the war was won. When she tried to rise against Zeus, all her attempts failed.
I made referrence to Tartarus and the battles she fought with the first line
And Tartarus was seen as a pit that lies deep within the Earth (that was his body apparently and she gave birth to the Giants by mating with him).
Gaea too is a bit of a badass in my eyes for rising (and winning) against two Gods at least.

Nature always wins (reference to Poison Ivy hehe)
Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
Yesterday, I just suddenly felt so weak and exhausted so I couldnt post this. I'm feeling a little better though but still so weak...
This one is for the Titaness, Rhea, the Great Mother, Queen of Heaven and wife of Kronos.
The haiku is alluding to Zeus' birth story and his eventual take down of his father.
You see, Kronos too was told a prophecy that one of his offspring would replace him. So every time he and Rhea had a child, he swallowed them.
I've seen the paintings for this depictions and...all I can say is wow really.
Just wow.
Rhea, mortified and sick of this, wanted to at least enjoy the fruits of motherhood so when she gave birth to Zeus, she his him in a cave and put a rock in baby clothes. Kronos didnt notice at first and just swallowed it and in a variant myth, he was raised in the cave and another said he was sent to Crete.
This situation is much the borth of Perseus with Danaë, and yet again another case of meeting ones destiny in desperation to avoid it,
Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
This one is for Phaedra, a Cretan Princess and sister of Ariadnê.
Though I know of her, she is one woman of myth I do not like.
After her sister ran off with Theseus, Phaedra herself fell in love with his son, Hippolytus. When he rejected her, she decided to write a letter to Theseus, saying that he had violated her and Hippolytus was killed.

Now the matter of his death varies from myth to myth. In one variant, his father cursed him, using one of Poseidon's curses to do so - i.e. a sea creature dragged him to his watery death. In another variant, his own father ended his own life, and another said that Dionysus sent a bull to do the deed.

To make things worse, Phaedra was his STEP-MOTHER, the second wife to Theseus. *Lyn gaves herself a big facepalm*
Given all this, strangely, she was seen as a tragic character in mythology. Personally, I don’t understand why because I found her to be spiteful [and that honestly hasn’t changed when I read more on WHY she was so ‘tragic’].

In a small variant myth, Hippolytus rejected the Goddess of Love herself to stay faithful to Artemis, for his faith in her was unshakeable. [I still find that to be very admirable as hell.] As expected, Aphrodite was enraged by his ‘snub’ and to punish him, she cursed Phaedra to fall for him. So
I think what makes me dislike her is the whole ‘If I can’t have him, no one can’ attitude. Just because of his willingness to honour a goddess, to stay faithful to her, a woman [or women] sought to effectively destroy him for it! And what better way than with her words, right? Words may be light but they carry so much weight, this applies to us all. Everyone one regardless of gender.

They are the most powerful and dangerous thing in the world in my opinion. Ironically, the name Phaedra is derived from the word ‘phaidros’, meaning "bright" and well, I don’t see much that is bright about her because shes not being painted in a good light. [Pun intended!]

There is a variant myth of Theseus taking Hippolytus’ life after reading Phaedra’s letter and in her grief, she took her own as that is not what she wanted.

I suppose what makes me dislike her is how situations like this happen in day to day life, which is not only sad but also really scary too. Even with the myth of her doing what she did because she was cursed by Aphrodite, to me that is no justification. Words are like actions, they all have consequences. I know we are all human and all, but the lesson I took from this is to mind what I said because it may come back to haunt me. At some point in our lives, we have all said something that we regret. But we live and learn and grow. Especially in this day and age now.

Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
This one is for Ariadnê, the Cretan Princess who is heavily associated with Labyrinths. She is also seen as a goddess to some to!
This haiku alludes to Theseus and the Minotaur to which Ariadnê is included in. She supposedly fell for Theseus and helped him to slay the Minotaur and they eloped but he left her. There are many variants of why, her being in a relationship with Dionysus (lover and in some his wife also) or that he was bored of her.
Even so, this haiku does hint to the Minotaur with the first and last line (threads have also become her symbol also) and Dionysus with the second line. The second line also hints her natural seduction also which I imagine Theseus and Dionysus found her to be too!
Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
This one is for Atalanta, a courageous and fierce huntress (not be be confused with Atalanta, the Argonaut). Small wonder that she has been compared to Artemis, theyre similar indeed.
In fact, she swore an oath to Artemis, keeping to the two thing the goddess herself treasures other than hunting - her virginity.

She was more of a tomboy, other than hunting, she loved wrestling, riding horses and such. She gained a reputation for being so skilled and better than her male counterparts.

Theres so much story around this extraordinary woman of myth. Her father left her for death from the moment she was born and she was raised by a she bear, and eventually raised by hunters. She played a role in the hunt for the Calydonian boar was gifted the boars head and hide by Meleager, a fellow hunter and slayer of the beast who happened to be in love with her and was tragically killed by his mother. The reason being because he killed his uncles who were jealous that such a prize was given to her and not them.

Even from birth, this woman was badass.
Now for the main and popular myth!
Not only was Atalanta a skilled huntress, she was beautiful, grabbing the attention of men (who were intrigued and some probably wanted to put her in her proverbial place, so to speak).

So she said that she will offer her hand to the man who could outrun her in a race, but the losers will lose their life by her hand.

One man caught her eye, Hippomenes (aka Milanion or Melanion). He knew well enough to know he couldnt beat her in a race so he turned to Aphrodite to help. The Goddess of Love was outraged by Atalantas lack of interest in love, so she granted him three golden apples of the Hesperides before the race commenced.

As expected, Atalanta was beating him and he would drop a golden apple to make her stop and admire it. Some myths say she deliberately did so to give him a chance to win, haha! And win he did!

She did swear off marriage (oath to Artemis) but happily married him and gave birth to their son, Parthenopaeus.

But their marriage was shortlived and they were turned into lions...
The reason being because they were so consumed by their passion, that they actually made love in one of Zeus' sacred temples. Another myth states that her husband didnt honor his dues to Aphrodite and so she cursed them to make love in the temple.

Honestly, this is one of my favourite myths. I find her so inspiring as a character (and the fact that they apparently made love in one of Zeus' temples makes me laugh hard! The irony! The last line of the haiku is a reference to their...excited *******, haha! 😂😂😂)

Men didnt like that she was so strong and skilled as a huntress yet she stuck to her guns and proved herself, though she didnt really have to. Thats something we can all learn from as a whole to be honest. Even her name is rooted from 'atalantos' which means, "equal in weight"- a testament to her achievements and victories with men.

Man or woman, we are all true equals. None exceeds another. We all have our strengths and weakness in life but if we stay true to our resolve to be the best we can be, we'll be much better for it! ^^

Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

BONUS HAIKU!
This one is in link with Clymenestra's story. [Link: https://hellopoetry.com/poem/3980318/clytemnestra/]
Somewhat of another layer of tragedy in the story. Kassandra (or Cassandra) was a Trojan Princess who became the lover of Agamemnon. But before he brought her to his kingdom, before their subsequent deaths, she was a Priestess of Apollo.

Apollo was said to be so enamoured by her. In exchange for the gift of seeing the future, she promised him favours. In one variant, she broke her word after he granted her the gift (something he couldnt revoke to his chargin) and he cursed her further, no one would ever believe her prophecies. Another variant is that he gave her the power to tempt her into his bed and that didnt work, and he cursed her.

Either way, much like Clytemnestra, she too is a tragic figure. She had told Agamemnon repeatedly of the danger to come but he never believed her. And she too was resigned to her fate, she fully accepted it. But at least she was accepted in Elysian despite it all.

The first line does allude to Apollo and it's very much a euphemism.
The rest, highlights her power and tragedy to come.
Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
This one is for Queen Clytemnestra, mother of Iphigenia [link to her poem: https://hellopoetry.com/poem/3921056/iphigenia/]
Now let me not lie, at first when I first read about her I didnt like her but after I did more research, I couldnt help but feel bad for her as she wasnt one dimensional. I found that in one variant before she was Agamemnon's wife, she was married to King Tantalus of Pisa and has a son whom Agamemnon slew before her eyes before taking her to bride.

Bear in mind Agamemnon was known to be a skilled warrior but arrogant and selfish as a ruler. He angered Artemis by boasting he was a superior hunter and killed one of her sacred stags. Artemis made the winds weak so he could not participate in the Trojan War. And so he lured his daughter Iphigenia and her mother under the pretense of marriage to Achilles...only for her mother to watch another child die before her eyes.

I cant imagine what Clytemnestra was subjected to being married to Agamemnon but to see two children die before her eyes...I can see her already having resentment towards her Warrior husband and with the death of her daughter, she snapped and wanted vengeance. I'm sure the cogs were turning in her head as she had an affair with his cousin,
Aegisthus. Depending on the myth variant, she was either seduced by him or chose to enter into it. Both were planning the death of Agamemnon. I believe Aegisthus's own father was betrayed by Agamemnon's. (Hence the cogs of vengeance turning).

And when her husband returned from Troy, he was slain, he and his lover, Cassandra. Some myths say she slew him, some myths said the angry loves did the deed together.
But it's hard not to feel some sympathy for her.
Vengeance is a never ending cycle that can cause great harm in the long run. That's one thing I've learned from her myth.
That, and hell hath no fury like that of a woman scorned...

Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜