SHORT STORIES

ABOUT APHRODITE'S DEEDS

It is said that Aphrodite was born from chaos among the rough surf of the sea. And they say that the beauty of the goddess arose naked among the waves.
    Some tellers say that she sailed riding over the back of a giant squid. This octopus was eager offering its body for the divine carriage. Many among the faithful have felt some envy of the cuttlefish for the sake of feeling the divine heat of the goddess upon their mortal flesh.

Other stories tell us that the goddess was sailing on a giant scallop shell propelled by the wind. The lovely breeze swelled the beautiful gown showing thus the lovely thighs of the Golden Divinity. It said that the fishes and all kind of sea creatures take their heads out of the water so as to watch the naked beauty of the Sweet Aphrodite.
    The sea breeze carried the goddess to the island of Cythera in the south coast of Laconia. But the goddess found the island too small for her taste and went back to sail arriving to the shore of Cyprus, a much bigger and richer island. It is here, in Paphos, on the seashore, where the Golden Goddess has her most riche and famous shrine.

Some people believe that the goddess is a sea deity because in her celebrations the faithful eat shellfishes and squids. These fruits from the sea, like shrimps, crabs, barnacles, lobsters, sepias, oysters, mussels and others, are blessed by the goddess. They have the virtue of excite in us the sweet longing. But this is so well known that there is not any need of farther comments.

The goddess arrived one day to the golden beach near Paphos while they were strolling nearby the three Nymphs of the seasons. They watched the goddess walking gracefully on the sand and were aware that she swayed her hips sideways with divine charm. When the goddess was near they saw that her skin and her eyes were shining with sweet cravings.
    Without doubting a minute the nymphs invited the goddess to shelter from the sun in their palace. Once there they started to rub softly the skin of the goddess with their lovely hands and got drunk in a moment with the scents of her divine presence. Then they spread the divine skin with Egyptian oil full with exotic fragrances.
    As they were feeling the strength flowing from the goddess, the nymphs wanted to take hold of the moment and deify themselves. To achieve that they went rubbing the golden youth of their bodies with the divine skin of the sweet Aphrodite. And the fire of the goddess was passing through to the bodies of the nymphs. She let them to do it with sweetness, as Aphrodite is a goddess of great kindness that accepts the love from all the faithful.
    In this way the nymphs were playing in this lovely task with slowness and persistence. And so they spend thirty days and thirty nights, without out taking any food or drink but they were inhaling the divine scents that were outpouring from the Golden Goddess. In this way the nymphs were impregnated with the virtue of an endless crave.
    After that they started to garnish the glorious body of the goddess with very fine cloths that are brought from the farthest eastern lands. And they bathed her with a cascade of rose petals. And the scents wafting in the air was so strong that could have risen and make hard to the more flaccid and forlorn fleshes of this earth.

Other stories say with utmost faith that Aphrodite was born among the surf of the sea that surrounded Uranus' genitals that were floating on the waves. Hesiod tells us about this in the story of Cronus. This, incited by his mother Gea, rebelled against his father Uranus. Cronus and his brothers are known as he seven Titans. Each one governs the travel of a heavenly body. The sun, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, are each one under the control of a Titan. Cronus, the youngest of the brothers, was induced to conspire against his father. And with the help of his brothers caught their father sleeping and withheld him with all their might. Then, Cronus took the genitals of his father with his left hand and holding in his right the holy sickle he castrated his father. Then he threw the genitals to the sea from the high cliffs of Cape Drepanus. This holy sickle is not of bronze, nor of iron, but it is of fired clay with flint teeth. From this time onward the left hand is known as the sinister one. This is the reason why we never use this hand for sacred duties. We also feel shiver when we watch a left-hander and we shunned his glance with care and looked at the other way. We want not to offend him by staring openly at his eyes as this could be a very bad omen. People do that without knowing the cause of their actions. But all this is made because any left hander could be the carrier a dreadful designs.

Excerpt from Aphrodisia
    Author: Leopoldo Perdomo