Moonchild by Julia Fryer
from the Pete Sinfield book, Under the Sky
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On its slopes, there once stood an ancient temple that was called the Helicon.
Mount Helikon was the place where the first Greek Gods and Goddesses were born.
They inhabited it
during the matriarchy, before Greek religion was taken over by the patriarchy
and spread to Mount
Olympus. The Muses continued to live on Helikon after the others left for Mount
Olympus. In fact,
that temple called the Helicon; was their temple.
Helice was a night goddess, and was not only associated with the Moon, but also
with Ursa Major, the
circumpolar Great Bear, that never really sets, but instead runs round and
round the Earth's
celestial pole. Hence the word "helix." Thus Helice was also associated with
the turning of the
Earth. Some ancients even believed that the World had a Willow as its axis.
Witches used to cut
willow branches to make their wands. Those same willow wands could invoke the
Muses. Its even
said that a microcosmic version of the World spins round about a witch's willow
wand."
- The Greek Goddesses
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