Athena ¸. * ● ¸. ° ° ☾ ¸. ● ¸. ★ °. . • °. *. . ¸. ● ¸ ★ ★ ☾ ° ★. ● ¸ ★ ★ ☾ ° ★.

ATHENA

In Greek Mythology, the Goddess Athena was Another quite Powerful Goddess, in the Days of the Greek Gods and Goddesses. The Goddess Athena also referred as Pallas was a Greek name. She was the Goddess of Wisdom, Courage, Inspiration, Civilization, Law and Justice, Mathematics, Strength, Strategy, The Arts, Warfare and Highly Skilled. In other-wards Athena was one of the most Powerful Goddesses of her day. She was given many different names that were attached to her because of her heroic endeavors. One of these is that of the Goddess Minerva who is related to the Owl and the moon. She is also one the only known virgins; that I can remember reading about-[but please don't quote me on that one!]there are so many different versions of the different Gods and Goddesses you never known!... She does seem to have a role as protector of the cities, in ancient times throughout Greece. And the people worshiped Goddess Athena, naming a city after her ' Athena of the City' or ' Athena Polias'. The city of Athens in Greece and the Goddess Athena essentially bear the same name; Example Athenai which means many Athenas. So they probably shorten it to Athens is my best guess.
Before I mentioned that Athena was given many names do to her many heroic endeavors and one was the Goddess Minerva of the sacred Owl. Well It seem that the Greek Goddess attended an owl for a time in her life, she was often accompanied by one during the victory of warfare. She was often seen waring goatskin breastplate called the Aegis which was given to by her by her father, Zeus. Interesting Eh! We will get to that a bit later. Athena is also shown wearing a helmeted and with a shield bearing the Gorgon of Medusa's Head, a gift from Perseus. It was so true to see, that Athena is the Goddess of Warfare with these items, but also in her Greek history too. She was a warrior besides being a Goddess of Warfare and a good one. Well her father was Zeus! Besides being a warrior and protector she also was a great helper too. Athena in the Greek Mythology appear as helpers to many hero's in the Greek Mythological world. Some of these Hero's were Hercules, Jason, and Odysseus. How if you don't know all of these hero's I do understand, the Greek mythology isn't to understand. I myself only know Hercules.
There are many stories to her Patroness, I will put the three different views that I have found and you the reader can make your own decision on what you think what happened those centuries ago.
Throughout Athena was always a goddess of warfare, strategy, but she always disliked fighting without a purpose and preferred to use wisdom, strategy, skills and inspiration to settle predicaments. The Great Greek Goddess would not only encourage fighting for a good reasonable cause or to resolve a conflict with another. Finally as an patron of Athens the Goddess fought in the Trojan War on the side of the Achaeans.
Now in Traditional Greek Mythology, Athena was never SEEN or HEARD of with a lover, nor did she ever MARRY! THIS IS HOW THE GODDESS ATHENA EARNED HER TITLE ATHENA PARTHENOS.
The third story to the Athena Parthenon's was that- The Goddess as a philosophy became part of a cult in the Classical Greece during the late 5^th century B.C. She was very good in such things as metal work for weapon's. Athena led many battles as either the disciplinary, strategy, strength -type of war In contrast to her brother Ares 'The Patron of Violence' 'bloodlust and slaughter' the raw force of war'.
Now you can choose which you think truly Athena the Goddess Was?





THE PARTHENON'S AT THE ATHENS IS HER MOST FAMOUS SHRIRE

Mythology

Birthplace of Athena, Daughter of Zeus

~Athena is 'Born' from Zeus forehead~



Athena was remade as the favorite daughter of Zeus, born fully armed from his forehead after he swallowed her mother, Metis. Now from doing this post on the Goddess Athena I have found that there are several versions to many parts of her life and it doesn't stop with her birth either. So I will try to get through most of them for you in a easy manner.

The first and most commonly told is; When Zeus lay with Metis, the goddess of crafty thought and wisdom, but immediately feared the consequences of his actions, as I'm sure has crossed his mind many time before- being the God Zeus. It had been prophesied that Metis would bear children more powerful than the sire, even Zeus himself. Well of course the powerful God of all Mount Olympus could not have this ~ So in order for the prophesy to not foretold and these dire consequences to come true after lying with Metis, Zeus, decided “To have her put away, inside his own belly”. He swallowed her down of of a sudden,but he was too late; Metis had already conceived a child. Well when the time came for the child to be born, Zeus was in great pain; There are many sources of what really happened, but the main part was that Athena leaped from Zeus' head fully grown and armed, 'shouting 'and pealed to the broad sky clarion cry of war.” They are other stories that Athena had weapons too, but that's all up to you the readers to decide. How there was a matter of Zeus's Wife Hera that we haven't talked about and she was very annoyed with Zeus as probably this wasn't the only time, anyway she was so annoyed with the great Zeus Supreme ruler of Mount Olympus for producing a child apparently on his own that she caused herself to conceive and bear Hephaestus by herself. Metis never bore any more children. I don't know about you all out there but these Greek Gods are a bit crazy on their thinking through things...

Athena and Poseidon

Athena in the Greek mythology competed with Poseidon's to be the patron deity of Athens, which was yet unnamed... In on version myth. In another, the two agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift and that the Athenian's would choose the gift they preferred.
Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and salt water spring sprang up; this gave them a means of trading of water-
Athenas at its height was a significant sea power , defeating the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis, but the water was salty and not very good for drinking. So Athena offered them the first domesticated olive tree.
The Athenians accepted the olive tree and with it the patronage of Athena for the Olive tree brought wood, oil, and food.

Erichthonius

In the story of Hephaestus/Athena where Hephaestus attempts to rape Athena, but fails,because she eluded him – His semen falls to the earth and impregnates the the soil of the earth. This is how Erichthonius was born from the Earth, Gaia. Athena then raised the baby as a foster mother. Athena put the infant into a small box which she entrusts to the care of three sisters > Herse, Pandrosus and Aglaulus of Athens. The goddesses doesn't tell them what the box contains, but does warn them not to open it until she returns. My guess is at least one sister can't wait til Athena gets back Eh... Well the story continues ~ One or two sisters open the box to reveal Erichthonius, in the form of a serpent. The serpent, or insanity induced by the sight , drives the two sisters Herse and Aglaulus to throw themselves off the Acropolises. Harrison the last sister finds to be a simply cautionary tale directed at young girls carried to the Thesmophoria rituals, to discourage them from opening it the box. There are other versions to this myth which one could check-out about the story of Hephaestus but I choose this one...
Wendy..





 



Faceless Ghost!

The Faceless Ghost

The Noppera-bo- Faceless Ghost! Is a JAPANESE LEGENDARY CREATURE! It appears to be ordinary an human but, they are actually shape-shifters. They usually appear to the victim as someone they will know before erasing their facial features to scare them. They are also known as a 'No-face' & 'Faceless-ghost' that are known to be mischievous rather than malevolent. A favorite game of the Noppera-bo is to work in teams. What they do is one of them scares a victim who then flees and finds another person walking late at night.. The victim frantically relates their story to the stranger until they reveal that they too are a Noppera-bo. Yikess!!! Although theses Shape-shifter – Noppera-bo is also considered a yokai due to it's long history in Japanese culture, there are modern reports of sighting, including in Hawaii which has cultural links to Japan. They are sometimes mistakenly referred to as a mujina which is a Old Japanese world for a badger & or raccoon dog. Although the mujina can assume the form of the other, meaning the Noppera-bo's are usually humans! Such creatures were thought to sometimes transform themselves into Noppera-bo in order to frighten humans. Lafcadio Hearn used the animals name as the title of his story about faceless monsters- It was resulting in the misused the terminology and the legend. The Noppera-bo are known to scare humans, but overall are usually harmless. They appear at first as a ordinary human – sometimes impersonating someone familiar to the victim, before causing their features to disappear & leaving a smooth blank skin where their face once was!They are physically harmless but, they do delight in putting terror into their victims. They are a breed of faceless-ghosts – shape-shifters. Usually they are mistaken for a normal person when standing with their back toward the witness. Then when they turn around, it will reveal his ghostly faceless features. A flat sheet of skin on a face of hair Creepy Eh! The Noppera-bo and the Koi Pond   This Tale recounts a lazy fisherman who decided to fish in the imperial KOI Ponds near

the Heian-kyo Palace. Despite being warned by his wife about the pond being sacred and near a graveyard, the fisherman went anyway. On his way to the pond, he is warned by another fisherman not to go there, but he again ignores the warnings. Once at the spot, he is met by a most beautiful young woman who pleads with him to not fish in the sacred Koi pond. He again ignores her and , to his horror , she wipes her face off! Rushing home to hide, he is confronted by what seems to be his beloved wife, who chastises him for his wickedness before wiping off her facial features as well.
The Faceless-ghost is able to appear to other like any other normal person, it is just all an illusion to them. The Nopperabou really lacks eyes, a nose or a mouth. Instead of normal human features, these Nopperabou have only smooth skin on their face. People who encounter the Nopperabou usually don't immediately realize that they are talking to something that is otherworldly , as the creatures are able to create the illusion that they have a normal human face.

It seems that these creatures will wait for the right moment before causing their features to disappear, then will scare the pants of people right when they are even talking in front of them, suddenly change their face. Creepy.. These creatures usually live I rural area's in lonely night spots or anywhere as long as its deserted.
The Mujina of the Akasaka Road
On the Akasaka Rock, in Tokyo, there is a slope called Kii-no-kuni-zaka, which

means the slope of the Province of Kii. I do not know why it is called the slope of the Province of Kii. On one side of this slope you see an ancient moat, deep and very wide, with high green banks rising up to some place of gardens; and on the other side of the road it extended the long and lofty walls of an imperial palace. Before the era of the street-lamps and Jinrikishas – rickshaws, this neighborhood was very lonesome after dark; and belated pedestrians would go miles out of their way rather that mount the Kii-no-kuni-zaka, alone, after sunset. All because of a Mujina that used to walk around there. The last known man who saw the Mujina was an old merchant of the Kyobashi quarter, who died about thirty years ago. This is the story, as he told it...

One night, at a late hour, he was hurrying up the Kii-no-kuni-zaka, when he perceived a woman crouching by the moat, all alone, and weeping bitterly. Fearing that she intended to drown herself, he stopped to ofter her any assistance or consolation in his power. She appeared to be a slight and graceful person, handsomely dressed; and her hair was arranged like that of a young girl of a good family.
“O-jochu [young girl],” he exclaimed, approaching her, “O-jochu, do not cry like that!...Tell me what the trouble is;and if there be any way to help you, I shall be glad to help you.” (He really meant what he said; for he was a very kind man.)

But she continued to weep, hiding her face from him with one of her long sleeves. “O-jochu,” he said again, as gently as he could, “please, please listen to me!... This is no place for a young lady at night! Do not cry, I implore you! - only tell me how I may be of some help to you!” Slowly she rose up, but turned her back to him, and continued to moan and sob behind her sleeve. He laid his hand lightly upon her shoulder, and pleaded: “O-jochu! O-jochu! O-jochu!..Listen to me, just for one little moment!... O-jochu! O-jochu!” Then that O-jochu turned around, and dropped her sleeve, and stroked her face with her hand; - and the man saw that she had no eyes or nose or mouth, - and he screamed and ran away. Up Kii-no-kuni-zaka he ran and ran; and all was black and empty before him. On and on he ran, never daring to look back; and at last he saw a lantern, so far away that it looked like the gleam of a firefly ; and he made for it. It proved to be only the lantern of an itinerant soba-seller who had set down his stand by the road-side; but any light and any human companionship was good after that experience; and he flung himself down at the feet of the soba-seller, crying out, “Ah! - aa!! - aa!!!”... “Kore! Kore! [Here, here]” roughly exclaimed the soba-man. “Here! What is the matter with you? Anybody hurt you?” “No - nobody hurt me,” panted the other, “only ...Ah! - aa!” “Only scared you?” queried the peddler, unsympathetically. “Robbers?” “Not robbers, not robbers,” gasped the terrified man... “I saw... I saw a woman – by the moat; - ans she showed me ...Ah! I cannot tell you what she showed me!” “Ha! Was it anything like THIS that she showed you?” cried the soba-man, stroking his own face – which there with became like unto an EGG! ….AND , simultaneously, the light went out. 

So what did you all think of that story? Creepy!!!!
Happy Halloween...



 



Okiku Japanese Haunted Doll

Okiku

Ghost Story of the Japanese Haunted Doll

The Haunted Japanese Doll Okiku is being told to be possessed by the Spirit of a 10 year old girl who took refuge inside the doll.  Sometime after the hair of the doll began to grow.  Although the doll's hair is regularly cut,  the hair will grow again! Again! Again!.  A mysterious by the spirit of the child has captured the curiosity of the people of Japan of decades.  The legend of the Okiku Doll , named after the girl who used to play with it.  The doll is a 16 inch tall kimono-clad figure with beady black eyes ~ and hair that grow creepy eh!. The Okiku Doll has resided at the Mannenji Temple, in the town of Iwamizawa since 1938. It is said according to the temple,  the traditional doll had short-cropped hair, but,over time it has grown about  10 inches long, down to the dolls knee's.  Although the hair of the Okiku Doll is trimmed regularly, it keeps growing back. It is said the doll was bought 1918 by a 17 year old by boy.  His name was Eikichi Suzuki, while visiting Sapporo for a marine exhibition.  He bought the doll on Tanuki-koji ~ Sapporo's famous shopping streets in 1918,  as a souvenir for his 2year old sister Okiku. Are you Cheeped out Yet! The young girl loved the doll that her brother had gotten for her and  she played with it everyday, but the following year the little girl suddenly  died of a simple cold. The family place the doll in the household altar and prayed  to it everyday in memory of their daughter Okiku. Sometime later.... The family notice the hair started to grow.  This was seen as a sign that the child's restless spirit had taken refuge in the doll. The doll was originally was purchased 1918 a Young man named Eikichi Suzuki  while visiting Sapporo at a marine exhibition shopping in the  famous shopping streets. He saw his beautiful Japanese Doll that he thought  is little sister would love named Okiku. So he bought the souvenir for his 2year old  sister and she did indeed love the doll and played with it every day. Till dread came to their family a year later.  The young girl just one year later at age 3years died of just a simply cold and fever.  At the funeral of the child they wanted to put the doll in the coffin, but somehow they forgot. So the girls family decided to put the doll  in the household altar and pray to the doll in memory of the child Okiku.  Then sometime later... the dolls hair started to grow! According to what they say in the story the child spirit took refuge in the doll. In 1938 the family moved Shakalin, Suzuki doll Okiku Mannenji finally in a temple  in Hokkaido According to the priest of the Temple, a traditional Japanese doll  is always short-crop hair... He also confirmed that the dolls hair  continues to grow on Okiku – although it is cut and hold on a regular basis,  but the hair still grows.  According to the temple in grows about 10 inches at a time which  is to the dolls knees. And it then is always cut again. This is just one Verizon of the haunted legend of the Japanese doll Okiku.  There are others but thought this was interesting... Happy Halloween.  Wendy  While  the Okiku within the doll legend, was purportedly given the doll in the  early 1900 's and then died of a simple cold,  The name Okiku  is seen in Japanese Ghost tales going much farther back in time.  Perhaps it is just a coincidence or perhaps it is just a woven tale using the famous  name Okiku' from the past tales to gain more attention? The ghost story of  Okiku, an unfortunate servant maid, is one of the best know  and was transformed into Kabuki play and numerous  novels. BANCHO SARAYASHIKI- In the Kabuki play, Bancho Sarayashiki,  Okiku is a maid at the mansion of the Japanese Samurai Tessan Aoyama.  The Samurai wants to seduce the cute girl but she rejects his advances.  Aoyama uses a trick. He hides one of ten valuable Dutch plates and  threatens OKIKU  to make public that she had stolen the plate unless she agrees  to become his mistress. The Samuri  wanted to sebecome his mistress.  In her desperation, OKIKU  throws herself into the well and drowns.  OKIKU'S GHOST comes out every night counting from one to nine and  then breaks out into a terrible howling and  sobbing . Finally Aoyama goes insane by the daily appartions at night.  The Himeji Castle One other version is that of the Himeji Castle- In this tale of the  Okiku, OKIKU WAS A SERVANT OF AOYAMA, A RETAINER WHO PLANNED A PLOT AGAINST HIS LORD. OKIKU OVERHEARD THE PLOT AND  REPORTED IT HER LOVER, A LOYAL WARRIOR. THE PLOT WAS AVERTED,  WHEN AOYAMA FOUND OUT THAT OKIKU HAD BEEN THE  CAUSE FOR HIS FAILURE, HE DECIDED TO KILL HER.  SO HE ACCUSED HER OF STOLEN ONE OF TEN VALUABLE DISHES. SHE WAS INNOCENCE BUT WAS TORTURED TO DEATH AND THROWN  INTO  THE WELL.  OKIKU'S WELL ON HIMEJI CASTLE IS IN COMPETITION WITH ANOTHER  LOCATION OF THE WELL, THE GARDEN OF THE CANADIAN EMBASSY  IN TOKYO- THIS ESTABLISHED ON LAND WHICH HELPED THE  AOYAMA FAMILY ESTABLISHED ON THE LAND  BOUGHT FROM THE FAMILY.  From reading this story its seems that are many different versions and locations  of  this haunting tale and after going thru a few of them it has come clear to me!  that many of the ghost stories of Okiku have been extremely  wrongful and cruel to the true one little girl named Okiku  who loved her  doll that her older brother gave to her as a gift .  And it was a tragedy  that the 2year old died  just year later. But you the readers I now give this  question to you. What do you think about the Okiku Doll?