NAME: Ariadne (purity) The Lady of the Labyrinth.

SYMBOLS: Seven circuit labyrinth, ball of yarn or thread called a clew,
from which english gets the word clue, the Corona Borealis or Northern
Crown.

USUAL IMAGE: Woman of Crete holding the clew.

HOLY DAYS: Unknown

RELATIVES: Minos, King of Crete and later minor god,who along with two
other gods serves as a judge of the dead. (father), Pasiphae (mother),
Androgeos (brother), Asterius, "The Minotaur" (half brother), Zeus &
Europa (paternal grandparents) , Helius, the Sun God & Perseis, an ocean
nymph (maternal grandparents. )

FORM OF WORSHIP: Walking or dancing the labyrinth, while walking them
the style now, it seem that at one time dancing may have been the proper
way to do it. The gift of a pot of honey, taken from a Cretan
inscription "a honey-pot for all the gods, a honey-pot for the lady of
the labyrinth" written over 3,400 years ago, for the "lady of the
labyrinth" to get a pot of honey by herself, while the gods have to
share one has to say something for Ariadne!

SYNODEITIES: The Aeons (Gnostic) Goddess of power and manifested
thought, sometime associated with the labyrinth. / Arachne (Greek)
Spider Goddess, who also has a thread, and web is a synonym for
labyrinth. / Ratis (British) Goddess of fortresses and outer walls. / as
well as Goddesses of dance as the labyrinth may also been, not walked as
is done today, but danced.

DETAILS:

We all pretty much know the myth of Minos, the Minotaur, Daedalus,
Theseus, Ariadne, the labyrinth and her thread, or at least we think we
do. Minos demands a yearly sacrifice of 14 Athenian youths. 7 male, and
7 female, who are sent into the inescapable labyrinth built by Daedalus
to house, at it's center, the horrible Minotaur. Until Ariadne, the
daughter of Minos, falls in love with Theseus, one of the yearly
sacrifices, and gives him a thread, or ball of yarn, so he can find his
way out of the labyrinth after killing the man-bull, they then go
sailing off.... hurra!

except.....

While there are almost always different versions of the same myth,
depending of the location where it's told, the time it's told, or the
compiler of that myth, however the tale of the Minotaur, the labyrinth &
Ariadne seems to abuse that privilege.

This in part, I think at least, comes from the important part the
labyrinth plays in the myth, first of all we we don't even know for sure
where the word came from, or what it's original mean was.

The labyrinth itself is one of those images that was invented by humans
to express something that can't be expressed in words, perhaps the first
thing, outside of nature, to be imagined, drawn or carved, the 7 circuit
labyrinth is found the world over.

Called Tapu' at, mother & child, by the Hopi, caerdroia, city of
turnings, by the Welsh, & kota, or fort, in HIndi. We call them
labyrinths, thought for a long time to come from a root word that meant
"double ax" this has recently be shown not to be true, what's left is a
design that seems to come when the human mind matures. What I'm saying
is, it's an enigma, wrapped in a mystery perhaps from the time when we
became humans.

But I digress, as I said the myth seems to go all over the place, in
some tellings it's 7 boys, and 7 girls, in others it's 5 girls, and 9
boys, two of whom are dressed like girls.

In all the tales Theseus kills the Minotaur, though how he's able to do
this while all others are killed is never explained, him just being the
hero does it we are to assume, though in one story he's able to weaken
it by throwing a magic ball at the Minotaur given to him by Ariadne.
Whatever the case, even in tellings without the ball, he then uses the
thread that Ariadne gave him so he can find his way out, and they can
elope.

And yet, that should be pointless in a labyrinth, being as they are,
structures with only one winding path, yet in the myth, what is
described, is a dark, and confusing maze, though maze would not come
about until centuries after the tale is set.

Oh.... and later, when Daedalus and his son are blamed for the whole
mess and tossed into this dark underground place, they escape by making
wings and flying out of it, seeming to say that if not roofless, the
labyrinth at least at one point has a sunning roof!

But.... Theseus kills the Minotaur, and away he and Ariadne run to live
happily ever after, until just a few days later when he dumps her on the
island of Naxos where she hangs herself.....

SCRATCH THAT!

Where she marries King Onarus and becomes his queen...

Too dull

Where Dionysus, the God of Wine, takes a shine to our lonely half
goddess, and takes her to Heaven, where he makes her his consort in his
revels and dances across the cosmos, while he, or Aphrodite, gives her
as a gift of a crown of seven stars that eventually becomes the Corona
Borealis.

And these are only some of the permutations of this myth, at times it
just seems to twist and turn like oh...... I don't know, a twisty,
turning thing, a.... mmmmm? You think of a word for it.

Terry McCombs

For images, links & quotes about the labyrinth go to,

Ariadne:

http://community- 2.webtv.net/ TheObsidianMask/ Ariadne/

or find Ariadne's link at:

The God/dess Of The Month Club:

http://community- 2.webtv.net/ magentashadow/ GOMC/