O FEMININO NA MITOLOGIA: Reflexões de Lúcia Helena Galvão sobre Arquétipos Femininos

The Feminine in Mythology - Prof. Lúcia Helena Galvão, 2015. Good evening everyone! Welcome! This is a topic that I really like to talk about, and I hope I managed to turn it into something attractive for you. Imagine how other civilizations thought of the feminine ideal. This is strange for us today, because we conceive ideals for everything! When you go to buy a computer, don't you think about the ideal computer? The one that lasts longer! The one that is lighter, that is beautiful, that has more resources... We always look for the ideal! The car, you look

for the most durable... ...with a higher fuel economy ratio. Anyway! A series of elements that we consider to be close, at least, to the ideal. In everything we want the ideal! But when it comes to the human being... It's interesting, isn't it? That we don't think there is an ideal for us, nor that we need to approach it. As if we are the only being in the Universe that is not evolving. That is ready! Deep down , as I've told you on several occasions, what's behind this is selfishness! It's always selfishness! Because we think that

all things have to serve. That's why they need to have an ideal. Not the man! He came into the world to be served! And as he came to be served, he needs no improvement! No need to grow This is a very original invention of our materialistic civilization There has always been a conception in history, that everyone had also an ideal Because just as you conceive of perfect things, so should you conceive of the perfect man How would it be? In these traditions, they thought about the human being as a whole, and they also thought about

polarities, dualities. In male and female. This, throughout history, has become even more complicated. Because people started to think it was a prejudice. I'm not going to say that it didn't exist, it has always existed in history. Prejudice is as old as man! But... We, in our historical moment, in which we talk so much about them, may be the moment when we unconsciously have them the most. We don't assume them, but we do! Do you know why? Because the root of all prejudice... Have you ever stopped to think? All human prejudices: Racial, sexual, religious... The root

of all of them is personalistic prejudice! It's thinking that what concerns you is superior to what concerns the other. Regardless of what the other is! Another sex, another religion, another color... And personalistic prejudice is fundamentally based on selfishness. Look around us, and see if we ever had a historical time of such publicly assumed selfishness. With a life goal as fiercely defended as we have today. Selfishness is the watchword of the historical moment in which we live. So a number of prejudices, which are not publicly assumed, still exist very deeply within man. One of them is

to think that if you consider that women and men have a series of ideals that are not identical, they are complementary, that makes someone inferior. In fact, no human being has ideals identical to the other, in the sense of the particularities of the path. As a goal, yes. All human beings have as their goal: values, virtues, wisdom! But the means by which they will get there are very private to each one. If I'm not like you, why should a man be like a woman? The peculiarities don't inferiorize, they complement! Classically it was said that thanks

to peculiarities you produce beauty. A painting like this, in "The School of Athens", by Raphael, think about how the colors complement each other! If there was only one color, there would be no beauty. If there were only one note, there would be no melody, there would be no music. C is not the same as D. And the two notes complement each other, they produce beauty and a beautiful melody. Things don't have to be the same for all to have value. This principle of isonomy, in fact, impoverishes the peculiarities. Take the beauty out of the world.

So these societies considered that there was an ideal for humanity, and there were differences in that ideal when it comes to masculine and feminine. Complementary! Not inferior, not superior. We're going to talk a little bit about this vision. So, the metaphysical beauty of the woman.... I've put here for you a Greek image. And the Greeks, based on Platonic thought, considered that there is an ideal for all things on the plan of ideas. And that to evolve is to chase this ideal. We'll get to know a little bit of what they talked about, through their mythology.

Both the Goddesses and the heroines who were inspired by them. They are beautiful stories! It is as if to say: this is what the female profile can achieve. So, you will notice a curious thing. We won't go into too much detail about it here, because it would be complex to talk about. But, in general, if you take the great traditions of expressive civilizations of humanity, they associated the number three with the Sacred. Have you seen this? The triads, the trinities... ... Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva... ... Isis, Osiris and Horus... ...

Ormuz, Mars, Damitri... Anyway! The triad, the trinity, is a Sacred aspect! It is always associated with the Sacred, with the Divine. And it's interesting, because if you look at a triangle, it has a quirk. Up there he is one, and down here he is dual. They said that this aspect of the triangle is very important. Because everything in the Universe is like that! Up there, the root of the Universe on the plan of ideas, or on the spiritual plan, as you like, is one! But down here in the material world it is always dual! There

is nothing in the manifested universe that is not dual. In other words, everything has polarities. And the polarities did not exist to fight, nor to exclude each other, but to harmonize, to produce harmony by opposition. If you look at, for example, Japanese art, you will see that they consider both the void and the line important. Silence is as important as sound. In fact, in general, all art considers this. The combination of what is empty with what is full. The harmonious combination of this produces beauty. So neither emptiness nor fullness are opposites. They are not at

war! Because you wouldn't consider a picture as beautiful if that didn't have any emptiness. So, the harmony by opposition in the manifested world, and the unity above. Now, what is interesting, what we're going to see... This is a typically Greek representation, which is the civilization we're talking about today. They considered that if we were going to fight for anything, we should fight for what we are! And not for what we are temporarily. I would not create a movement, for example, to defend people who wear black. Just because I'm in black today. Because tomorrow I'll be

in white. The day after tomorrow I'll be in blue. That's not what I am! It's a transitory thing. And they said that the identity of man is something that is above that. Human identity does not belong to the dual world. So it's not dual! This is the expression we call mercury caduceus. Which are these two snakes intertwined. They said that man has, up there, an essence. There are three intertwined circles. An essence they called "Nous", which is what you really are. And this is on the plan of ideas, or on the spiritual plan, as you

prefer. In the middle of the way you have an intermediate ball. It would be, more or less, like this. I don't know if those behind will see it, but there's also nothing very important to see. There are three intertwined spheres. So you would have a higher one, which is "Nous". Which is what you really are. One in the middle, which is "Psyche". That's your psychological part. It is already part of a more external element. And finally, "Soma". Which comes from "somatic", from "body", which is this physical part. They told you to imagine that "Psyche", which

is this middle part, and "Soma", which is the densest part, is like an actor's mask in the theater. Greek theater was often used to illustrate this. Imagine you, a play that has twenty characters. A Greek tragedy by Sophocles. Three, four actors did it. Changing masks. There were few actors, they changed masks. So, they considered that life is like a stage in a theater. You go on stage, wear this mask. You get off the stage, at the backstage, you take off that mask. But you, when you're on stage, with that mask, you can't be confused, and

think that you're the mask. You have to know that you are the face behind the mask. To be able to handle it well! And it is said that this was the secret of Greek theater. That, in fact, the actor does not identify with the mask, he leads the mask. If you identify with the mask, you get confused with it. And it... ...speaking in a more modern language, it gets you promiscuous. It loses your identity. I always comment with my students, that this happens with the actors of "Globo". Those young ones, that they sometimes take photographic

models, to make a soap opera. And who has no experience with dramatic art. And whose identify with the character is mixed up to the point of... confusing it with the personal life. Ending relationships, starting others. We see this happen a lot. They called this mask the "persona". From where the "personality" comes from. Both our "psyche", that is, our tastes, our most daily banal and transcendent thoughts, as well as our physical body, are a mask. What will be exchanged. It's not what you really are. A good actor leads the mask. I usually exemplify, for example, with

a professional actor. You can't imagine Fernanda Montenegro identifying with one of her characters. Why? Because she's professional! She knows who she is! She knows who the character is! You won't see Fernanda Montenegro finishing a soap opera and marrying the person she played opposite. Because she's a professional! She drives the mask! When man identifies himself with the mask, he promiscuates it, he becomes confused, he loses his identity. So really, life would be this. Your essence above, and an appearance, a mask below. You have to understand that this mask is in the world, and it is subject

to certain conditions in the world. Circumstantial. The historical time you were born... ...the country you were born in, vocational characteristics, and everything else and sexual characteristics. That is, you are born with a personality with a certain profile. And that's neither good nor bad! It gives you certain possibilities. You, instead of fighting against nature, you would have to try to open this little box that she gave you, and see what she offered you as a possibility now. Because it's a transitory experience. Let's see what she has to offer to me right now. Do you understand? In

other words, see what life proposes and walk with it. Do you realize that man has a conception that makes it very difficult to understand this here?! Which is the fact that we think we're smarter than nature. We don't think, for example, that old age has any meaning. Or that childhood, sometimes, has any meaning. We think youth is the only thing worth having. So what do we do? We pick up a child to mature earlier. It creates a lot of trouble with that! The old man keeps trying to force a youth he no longer has. It

creates a lot of trouble with that! Why?! Because nature is stupid, she was wrong! She only made one age that works, which is youth. The others are all wrong, so let's fix it! Nature's fool, it doesn't know that man would have to be eternally young. Do you realize that we fight against nature, and in fact the fools are us?! Nature is very exquisite in its details. And it has something to offer in every season of life. And it has something to offer in each of its polarities. If we believe that the world is cosmos, it

has intelligence, it has a meaning in life, we start to learn from it. If not, we think we are the smart ones. And that everything is wrong and must be corrected. And we have such a society. Predatory! That fights against nature! So... In the manifested world "Psyche" and "Soma" are dual. It complements by opposition. And this will happen in the universe with the light, with the dark, with the soft, with the resistant, with the rough and the smooth, with everything! With the hot, with the cold... And it will happen, within humanity, with the masculine and

the feminine. Which is complemented by opposition. And so it spins, it has movement. The psychological and physical characteristics complement each other in opposition. And the universe turns. And there's a detail, which is interesting! Which is this one: It is said that when each one finds his point of brilliance, they are like Yin and Yang. And then comes that myth that Plato likes to tell, about twin souls. They fit perfectly and the world goes round. I won't go into too much detail about this scheme, because it looks simple, but it actually has a lot of complexities.

He will speak of attributes that are heavenly and earthly in both sexes. So, if we take the Feminine, which is what interests us now, you can see that, in relation to the denser body, here we would have the physical, here we would have the energies, here we would have the emotional part, and up there the mental part, denser, more concrete. The physical body, down there, you can see that in the Feminine it has a negative sign, it is more celestial. Why? Naturally it tends to have a pulling force, a lesser physical force. So it's more

fragile from a raw energy point of view. Certainly! It is enough to conceive a model of the anatomical structure of the human being and we will see this. Now, when you move to the second step, which is the energetic one. Energy/life. You will find that the Feminine sign is a positive sign. What does it mean? More earth, an energy of resistance. So, the woman is able, for example, to endure painful situations for a longer time than the man. Today it is already proven by the medicine that she can withstand more pain. So it's an energy

of resistance. When the emotional comes, which is the third little step there, why is it negative?! Heavenly! It's more idealized. It is more, shall we say, given to dreams. It values ​​a subtle aspect much more than the concrete aspect. It tends to idealize, to romanticize... and if one is not careful, one might tend to fantasize too. But, the natural thing is that the emotional of the woman is more celestial. Like it or not. As much as our society wants to fight this head-on, it For a woman is more important that a man is courteous than

handsome. This is not debatable! They may not confess, but internally that's it. It is much more important that he be courteous, honest, kind, than it is handsome, attractive, and charming. Because internally our feelings are idealized. They look for the hero. They seek Lancelot from the lake on a white horse. They seek that image of the ideal being, and the celestial predominates over the terrestrial in emotions. And in the mind? The mind tends to be positive, practical, concrete. The woman tends to concretize the thought, that is, to seek a practical use in what she is thinking.

She is not very given to that split that sometimes happens in the male mind, of thinking and not objectifying thought. She tends to seek immediate applications for her thinking in life. And man, doing the opposite, the two would fit together. They would tend towards complementation, harmony by opposition. And then the Tao turns. It is logical that all these characteristics can be extrapolated, and instead of qualities, it would generate defects. If a woman takes advantage of her body's fragility, she starts to get weak. If she takes advantage of the energy of durability, she might become stubborn.

If she takes advantage of her heavenly feelings, she can become a fantasist. If she takes advantage of his very practical mind, she might become with difficulty, for example, for metaphysics, for philosophical thought. No excesses! Nothing in excess! At their midpoint, these characteristics would be ideal. And they would provide a lot of things! You will see that, with these characteristics typical of each sex, Greek mythology will build its Heaven, its Olympus. Which are the ideals, Masculine and Feminine, first in Gods, later in Heroes. This is very interesting, because ... ... Plato himself said that it's no

use having just a divine Pantheon, you need heroes! Because the hero is a human being, much like you. If I say to you: "be like Athena, be like Artemis!" It's a divine being, up ahead. It's too far away, it's unreachable! But when you talk about a heroine, an Antigone, a Penelope... It's a woman! And if she could, so can we. Plato used to say that heroes remember how great we can become. So they are indispensable within the psychological life of man. And the Greeks had that, they had the divine archetypes, and they had the heroes,

who were inspired by those divine archetypes. So, look, this is the third generation Olympics. There are twelve gods. Because the history of Greek mythology is so intricate, it's a crazy thing. If you stop to study Greek mythology and you want to, you do a hero's family tree in four generations. He's someone's cousin, he's a son, he's a grandson... He had a son, he had a grandson... his cousin who lived somewhere... They have a complexity in their mythology that is no joke! So I took, very simply, the Greek Pantheon, from the third Olympics generation. Which was

the most important thing for them, when they sedimented the main Gods. Realize that there were six male Gods, and six female Gods, let's see that right away. Plato even said in his book "The Laws", that if he had an ideal city, do you know what he would do?! He would divide this city into twelve neighborhoods. And I would place the Acropolis, the main temple, in the center, representing unity. Let's say you have difficulty living with any human characteristic... Prudence! You will live in the neighborhood of Athena! And you only move from this neighborhood when you

overcome this difficulty. Then, you can go to Aphrodite's neighborhood. Do you understand? Men would pass through these neighborhoods, according to their learning needs. Because, in fact, twelve, which is the zodiacal key, has always been represented as the experience zone of human consciousness. One plus two equals three, which represents the sacred in man. It's the center! So, he says that man will rotate in this circle of possibilities, until he dominates all points. And when you know all the points of a circle, you can ask the fundamental, which is where does it originate?! It originates in the

center, which is invisible to the eye, but it is where everything comes from. A circle is defined geometrically, as a set of points equidistant from the center. So, after you would have mastered all the human experiences, making a spiral... I went through here, I took 2% of the Athens experience... I passed it again, 5%, 10%... Until one day I complete 100 % of all human experience. That's wisdom! And there, I occupy the center. You will see that the Celts represented this as a cone, and, up there, a star. Which is our Christmas tree. A cone,

and up there a star. The man who occupied the center. I didn't have that representation. And we'll see that... these Gods... still have some exquisite details, which I won't go into details here.. Each one is a child of a different God, they have a history behind them. Is this by chance? It is not! Within the Greek mythology and the mythologies of these great peoples, the name of the Gods... of the heroes... the etymology of the names is not casual, it is already telling what he is going to do. "Olympus" itself comes from what emerged from

limbo. That which rose above the banal. Nothing is by chance! Names all have meaning. So, of these Gods, we have five that are sons of Chronos, seven that are sons of Zeus, one that is a daughter of Uranus.. And this 13th God. What do you mean by 13th? Wasn't it 12?! The 13th is the center... which is the mystery. It's Hades. It's the mystery, it's the underground. He is the God of what is hidden. But isn't this hidden place that was hell? No! It's not hell! So that Hades, when he passes into Roman mythology, becomes

Pluto, which comes from Plutos, the rich. The generous... It is the mystery that is at the center of the human being. I don't know if you remember that there were 12 gentlemen at the Round Table, but who was the one who found the Grail? The 13th! Which is Parsifal. There is always the story, the myth of the 13th, which represents the center. It joins the potentialities of the 12 in one point. What will interest us, particularly... Here, just for you to have an idea, just that would be enough for us to do a course, because

the Gods balance each other by opposition. On one side, for example, you will have Mars, which is impulsive warfare, and on the other side you will have Athena, which is prudent warfare. They balance each other by opposition. They compensate. They do dualities. That alone would make a party. I won't go into that detail, it's just for you to have an idea that there was no chance there. Everything was very well thought out. What will interest us? Those six! Which are the six Goddesses, half of the Pantheon. Doesn't it seem like too much of a coincidence

to you, does it?! That is, it is the Yin and the Yang. Half male, half female. The balance! And the wheel turns. And those were the female archetypes. These six Goddesses. Each of one of them potentiating a virtue... That the feminine... so imagine, nature, when she gave you the feminine sex, or the masculine sex, she gave you a box of potentialities. Of latent powers. If you open it, inside there you will have the virtues of these six Goddesses. That you can bring up. At every moment of your life, depending on the need for experience, depending

on the maturity that you have, you will be able to use the archetypes of these six Goddesses. Which is a gift that nature has given you. You can never open that box. Simply survive. Not knowing who you are! Dying a stranger to yourself. You can simply survive, not live. You can die without knowing this mystery, which is you. Or you can enjoy it... Saying: nature didn't put me here by chance, let me see what it has to teach me. And then you will discover a Universe inside this little box. If you accept to flow according

to nature, not against it. Do you understand? Learning from what nature offers us. So, we're going to talk a little about them: Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, Demeter, Hera and Hestia. I took the six Goddesses, and I took six heroines. Greek. Because I was interested in how to show you how, in practice, the archetype of these six Goddesses is lived. So I took the six Greek heroines who were inspired by them. And the relationship is very clear. It clearly shows that, at that moment, it does not mean that a woman has to live only Athena all her

life. It means that heroine, in that situation where she became a heroine, which Goddess she took. What was the potential that you took out of the box? What was the tool you used? What was the divine element that came to light at the time of that test? So, come on, let's get to know the Goddesses a little! Athena. This image is so beautiful! Isn't it?! From the Court of Justice of Vienna, Austria. Athena is the Goddess of wisdom. Always interesting, for those who are interested in knowing a little more about mythology, we study a lot

within philosophy, nothing is by chance. She is the daughter of Metis and Zeus. Metis is prudence and Zeus is power. You combine prudence with power, what will you get? A power that is not destructive, that is measured. Which is wise! Who looks right where he's stepping. It's diplomatic. Walk without breaking anything. Exactly! It does what it has to do, but it doesn't bump into things, it doesn't destroy. So it is constructive, it is civilizing. Why do you think the city of Athens is called Athens? Because she was the inspirer of culture, of civilization. She is

the Goddess of that power that is channeled through prudence. That's why she opposes Mars, because Mars is impulsive. And she is measured, controlled. All things channeled through a lot of intelligence, a lot of sense. Everything in its time, everything in its place. She is a goddess of culture, of civilization par excellence. Hence wisdom, which is knowledge that knows how to reach the world. It knows how to generate facts. Dealing minimal damage. Causing the least damage, bumping into things as little as possible, which is also the concept of diplomacy. So she's diplomatic, she's wise, she's thoughtful.

And you will realize that this is a fundamental attribute of the lady. If you know, for example... we'll talk more about this when we talk about the heroines... It's interesting when we look at the history of a family clan. Sometimes when the mother dies, and only the father and grandfather are left, after a few generations, the family is unable to have cohesion. But if the mother, the grandmother, the great-grandmother, the matriarch stay, while she lives, she manages to maintain the cohesion of the group. Have you noticed this? The cohesive force, the energy of the center

that the feminine has. We'll see a lot of that in Vesta in a bit. She has this ability to gather things around her. And there's also a lot of Athena's prudence in it. Because she knows how to combine different things, in a way that it doesn't clash. Sometimes when the matriarch is lost, it dissipates, no one sees each other anymore, they lose contact. But as long as the matriarch is there, she is a point of union. The whole family is there at Christmas, on her birthday, at some point she is a point of cohesion. Typical

of the feminine. So this is our Athena. And Aphrodite. The Goddess of love and beauty, of course, we know this. She has a very interesting trait, Aphrodite. She is not the daughter of Zeus. And she is also not the daughter of Chronos. We will understand this shortly. This sequence of Gods of Olympus is very important. There was a certain time when you had Uranus. Which was the starry sky, it was a primordial universe. Neither space nor time had been born. That is, the universe was not divided. There was no heresy of separateness. Then Chronos is

born, which is time. Then comes the overcoming of Chronos, who is Zeus, who is the eternity. You will realize that each God is the son of one of these three. She is the daughter of the first, she is the only daughter of Uranus. There was no division in Aphrodite's father's world. It comes from "Afros", foam. She falls into the waters of the ocean, and floats like foam. She doesn't let herself be swallowed by the waters, which is also something interesting. Many times, those who have come to my lectures, I talk about this. That the waters,

the horizontality is associated with the matter. The fire... if you pick up a torch, whichever way you turn it, it's always vertical. It is associated with the spirit. And the waters, however you turn a container, always horizontal. Spirit/matter, the cross of the world. So, it's something that is very common in myths. When something falls into the water and doesn't sink, it floats... It's a sign that it didn't let itself be swallowed up by materialism. That is, it is a love that is not materialistic, it remains afloat, looking at the sky, looking at the stars. It

comes from sea foam. "Afros" is foam, and she is the daughter of Uranus. That alone would be a hint, that Aphrodite's love is not just anything. She is the daughter of unity, she is born to generate unity. In a time where everything is divided. Hence the concept of Greek love. It is a very interesting concept, which was expressed by a philosopher in the last century. Sri Ram. He says the following, that love is the recovery of unity, in multiplicity. Remember that biblical concept? What God unites, man will not separate. It's not a convention, it's something

real. When you can fuse two hearts, truly, when love fuses two hearts, there is nothing in the world that can separate them, even if they are physically separated, perhaps even by death. Love is the recovery of unity in multiplicity. He defeats this heresy of separateness that makes us feel... as if we had nothing to do with each other. He is able to unite the hearts of two human beings, as if they became one. Whether through friendship, or through a relationship of father and son... master and disciple, or friends. It generates a feeling so deep that

neither time nor space are able to separate. Aphrodite is a child of this world. A world where there was still no division. She comes to the world of division to promote unity. She is a daughter of unity Love works for the recovery of unity. If you really love, it's as if your heart and someone else's are inseparable. Even if there is a physical distance. This distance does not exist on the plane of feelings. This is true love, this is Aphrodite's kingdom. And only that would really be love. Artemis. This one is also very interesting. Artemis

is Apollo's twin sister, who are born of a Goddess, who is the Goddess Leto, or Latona, who was the Goddess of modesty. Of modesty, of coyness, of humility. With Zeus, that was the power. Do you realize that there are some curious combinations? When power passes through humility, through modesty... you realize that this channel... It doesn't contaminate power. Let the power pass to the world, clean. Let me try to explain this to you. I often give an example that I find very beautiful, an example from the Taoist tradition, which says that a man should be a

bamboo pipe. Clean! Where the breath of the spirit entered on one side and fresh air came out on the other. If the man is all contaminated with dirt, with dust, the breath of the spirit enters and leaves dust on the other side. The light of the spirit should come in and go out on the other side as light. If the man is all contaminated, shadow comes out. There, they say, shadows were born in the world because man became opaque, became impure. So, you realize that modesty is a characteristic of the human being, when he manages

to be so pure, so clean, that the laws of the universe pass through him and reach the world without being contaminated. This is Artemis' attribute! She cares for purity. She is so pure that the laws of the spirit world pass through her. I usually comment on this, because I think it's very beautiful, a Kantian concept by Emmanuel Kant. He said the following, that there is no feeling superior to respect. Respect comes from "respicere", knowing how to see. You don't respect someone's personality. You do respect the humility that the person has to subordinate your personality so

that through it the laws of the universe reach the world. Do you understand this? I recognize that something high is shining through you. And that you had the humility to subordinate what is personal so as not to get in the way. You didn't leave your personality on the halfway, for the light to come into the world through you. You were a bridge! That purity is Artemis. She is the daughter of humility with power. That is, power, because of humility, arrives in the world uncontaminated. If this one were vain, he would obstruct power. He would contaminate,

he would want the power for himself. Do you understand? This is the characteristic of Artemis. The pure! It is the characteristic of the heroines that she inspires. Respect comes from "respicere", to look once more, to know how to see. We respect the beings for what they are able to channel, and not because of a personal characteristic of him. For being pure, actually. This is the characteristic of respect. Demeter. It's very interesting too, because Demeter is already the daughter of Kronos. That God I told you about, which is time. She is the daughter of time and

she is the daughter of Rhea. The name Rhea means to flow. Demeter who is the mother Goddess, of the harvest, of agriculture, of generosity. Of what gives life. She is the daughter of the flow through time. Isn't that interesting? Flowing through the time of Kronos, which is another characteristic that is important for you to understand. I also explain it a lot in my classes, I know some already know... You meet a person today on the street, and draw a brief psychological profile of her. It has such defects, such characteristics, such limitations. Find that person again

ten years from now. She is physically older, but how is she psychologically? Such defects, such characteristics, such limitations. Just the same! Was there real time for this person? What do you think? There was only clock time. And, according to these traditions, this is an illusion. Biology fulfills its role, that is, the body ages, but what would be your merit, which is the human growth, has not moved. Kronos is not clock time, Kronos is real time. It is measured by one thing, displacements towards the human ideal. Displacements towards Olympus, to the world of Zeus. For those

who take the philosophy course, this is one of the things we talk about when explaining ethics. If you went to a Greek and asked what "eticos" was, they would tell you: it is the path that leads to Olympus. I have no doubt! The more ethical you are, the closer you are to Olympus. In other words, it was a concrete assessment. It wasn't an artificial time, it was a time measured by growth. So you realize that flowing through real time, it means to grow. And Demeter represents that generosity that helps beings to grow. "Generare", to give

life. No wonder her name means "dea mater", the mother goddess. The one that helps beings to fulfill their cycle in life. We're going to see that there are three Goddesses who have these same parents. Each of them with a characteristic. She, then, helps life take its course. Going through time growing inside. She does not only give birth to physical bodies, She is the mother of the human soul, in the sense of helping it to mature. Plato has a phrase that I think is beautiful, in which he says, that the best we can do for those

we love is to grow up! Because only then will we give them some reference, of what they can become. Go ahead! Show how big they can be. It is an attitude of generosity too. We will see that the heroines inspired by Demeter have this concern. To go ahead, to lead. Ok?! Who else? Hera. You may have heard, perhaps, that the name of Hercules in Greece was Heracles. Hera's Glory. Exactly because Hera tested those who had potential to be big. Giving them proofs so that, overcome, they could become divine, to reach Olympus. Hercules became a God.

So, Hera is the lady of pacts. Of the commitment. Hera has the same parentage as Demeter. She is the daughter of flow and real time, which is Kronos. Flow through time! But now she gives another tool. It's not just generosity, she's giving the ability to commit to higher things. Do you understand this? We have all our frailties inside us, but we have a compromise. I am committed to justice. In this situation, for me, it would be easier for me to do that... But my commitment to something that's up there, doesn't let me be tempted by

circumstances. It pulls me up. So I'm committed to honesty. There are lots of situations where corruption is easy. But my allegiance to honesty will get me out of this circumstance, it will pull me up, vertically. It's like if you imagine a ladder... And the pact, the commitment to principles, to values... It's like you threw a rope here. It will take you to the next level. It won't let you be overwhelmed by the circumstances of this level. A man who does not commit himself to values, to virtues, he becomes a product of the environment. Because... what

will it be about you? The pressures of what everyone is. Everyone is dishonest. Why would I be honest? Everyone is selfish. Why would I be brotherly? No! Because I obey to principles, which are up there. Because the principles, it's as if they lifted you, pulled you to another floor. I don't obey to what everyone else is doing, I obey what I've committed to. The pact with the protocols of life, what the Greeks called the sacred canons. The protocols of life, pull people up. They do not allow them to be massacred by the environment, by the

collective unconscious. Do you understand this? So, she is the lady of the pact. Everyone who wants to grow, has to resort to those pacts, those sacred canons of Hera. And she is the one who builds the heroes. In a way, all heroes are children of Hera. You will see this both in the Greek tradition and in the Roman tradition, in the form of Juno. She who formed Aeneas. She who pulls the heroes up. She is represented by the peacock. Those eyes in the peacock's tail, they signify the entire manifested universe. That is, in the material

world there are laws, there are pacts, there are protocols. Divine laws. That, for you to grow, you have to go through them. And Hera is the one who watches over these laws. The commitment lady. So Demeter gives you the generosity and Hera gives you the commitment. An important latent power. Hestia. Look how beautiful! Hestia, who to the Romans was Vesta, of a series of priestesses, who were the vestals, who watched over the fire. In the center of Rome there was the Temple of the Vestals, where they watched over the fire, which was the identity of

Rome. Inside the houses there was a fire, which was also cultivated by the women. Because they considered fire to be the basis of identity. Is was the center. Where do you think "fireplace", for example, comes from? Of the Home Gods, who were kept in the centers of the houses. Everything revolved around this sacralization of space. Once again, there is a phrase from our friend Kant, that he puts a moral attribute that I find very interesting, very reminiscent of the Greek thought. He says the following. Imagine something that for you is very high, very noble, very

sacred. Every time you go to do something, think: I'm going to do this act I'm doing now, in the name of it! If you say, "no, this act can't be done in the name of that!" It's not worthy. This is a sign that you shouldn't be doing it. He says this is a clear moral attribute, to see if your action is within a protocol of life. If it is sacralizable. What I can't do in the name of the sacred is a sign that I shouldn't be doing it. It's a clear moral boundary! All that is

necessary, all that is sober, everything that contributes to life could be made sacred. Why not? Even the simplest attitudes in life. Sweeping the floor can be sacralized. Stealing no! Isn't that? So you have a very clear threshold in every situation. of what is or is not, worthy of a human being. Of what is, or is not moral. Vesta or Hestia was the guardian of that fire, of the center. Of the sacralization that prevents life from becoming trivial, that life be lived in the name of anything. Everything has to be done in the name of something

vertical, luminous. In the name of the spirit, which is the representation of fire. It is the guardian of the sacred aspect of life. Every time we resort to the sacralization of life, as a tool to acquire strength, so that we don't get carried away by trivialization, vulgarization, we are using the resources of Vesta, of Hestia. In the name of! Are you going to do something, so think: do I do it in the name of? You'll realize that you won't do it the same way. You value it. It's like if it was a small offering. It

has a special value. This invokes the feeling of modesty. I can't do it anyway. Hestia represented this idea of ​​the sacred. And she is also a daughter of the flow of time. Do you realize that it's another resource for you to get through time? The sacralization of life. When we make life sacred, we get closer to overcoming time. At the meeting of eternity. In fact, sacred is exactly the function of giving meaning. It makes things find their place in time, and transcend time. I won't go into too much detail about this etymology, otherwise we won't

stop. So this is a resource that Hestia brings. And now let's get into the heroines. To imagine how a human being can be inspired by these forces, these potencies, to react to critical situations in his life. I spoke to you. Plato will say that you have here a human being, within any tradition of humanity, here a divine being. If you say, "be inspired by Athena!" It's very natural for us to get and say: "but it's too far". She has potentials that I don't. It's another being. Now, if I say: "get inspired by Penelope". She is

a woman. And as a woman she had a body, with the difficulties of that body. She had emotions, with the needs that the emotions cause. So if she can, so can I. It is humanly plausible. The hero, for Plato, reminds us of how great we can become. It restores to man the hope of greatness. Returns faith in the human being itself. So he says that the hero is psychologically indispensable in society. When you consider that nowadays we have more idols than heroes... Stop and think about it for a moment. The average man is here. A

family man. Fulfilling its obligations. A man, I don't know, who follows a basic protocol of life. Our idols, sometimes, are down here. They are below this average. Unbalanced people, full of vices, unstable, vain, superficial. It's not that? The idols made by the media. If idols are below the average man, they are pulling the average man down. A reference that pulls downwards. And that is psychologically very convincing. Very persuasive. Although it is often unconscious. Plato spoke of the opposite, of the need to cultivate the memory of heroes. So we're going to talk about some typical Greek

heroines, that represent that spirit of those Goddesses that we saw. Antigone. Anyone here from the law field? Law people usually study Antigone. Because it is an example of the discussion between natural law and positive law. The right of God, and the right of men. A very beautiful story. Antigone. She is the daughter of Oedipus, that one from the sphinx. When her father goes blind, she is the only daughter who accompanies her father to death. Oedipus is buried in the walls of Athens. She accompanies him, and then she returns to Thebes, which is her hometown. Where

her two brothers lived: Eteocles and Polyneices. The two brothers had agreed to take turns on the throne of Thebes. They were heirs of Oedipus, and therefore worthy of the throne both of them. So, one would stay for two years, and the other would stay for two years. Until the time came when Polyneices had to take over, and Eteocles did not want to give up the throne. Then there is a war between the brothers, and both die... in this combat. Their uncle then takes over the throne, Creontes. Cleontes totally takes the side of Eteocles and says:

Eteocles' body will be buried with the honors of a king. And Polyneices... I forbid him to be buried. His body will be left out in the open, to be devoured by wild beasts. No one will bury Polyneices. Whoever does so will be sentenced to death. And this was of tremendous value to the Greeks, which was to give a decent burial to man. To honor the ancestors. This had enormous value, from the point of view of Greek values. And then, Antigone... She sets up a whole discussion about of what is divine right, and what is human

right. She decides... She leaves in the dead of night, goes there and buries her brother. She considered it a brotherly duty that she could not break. 'Cause she couldn't go on living if she lacked her conscience what it ordered her to do. And that the law of the Gods is superior to the law of men. The prologue to Antigone is interesting, which is an argument between her and her sister. I only took a little piece, for you to have an idea. Because the sister refuses to help her. And she says, "No, I will fulfill my

sacred right. I do not give up this aspect of the sacralization of life. Of the respect to the laws of life!" It's not too hard for you to imagine who is the Goddess who inspires... Antigone at this time. Who will it be? ... How? No. Hestia, the Goddess of the sacred. The divine laws. Obedience to divine laws. Ismenia says: "Do you really want to bury him? Even if the Decree and Creon are extended to the whole city?" She will say, "Neither (i.e. the Decree and Creon) is stronger than respect for a sacred custom. No one

can accuse me of not fulfilling a pious duty..." This question of Antigone is very beautiful. Plato even has a dialogue in which he will deal with exactly this subject, which is the "Gorgias". When they come to Socrates and say: are you not afraid of dedicating yourself only to the life of a philosopher, if you are accused in a court, which is what ended up happening anyway... You don't know the language of men, the interests of men to defend yourself. Then he says: I worry more in another Court, where I will be stripped of this body

and I will place myself before the sacred. And, before this Court, I am absolutely safe. The men's one I'll never be able to know if I'm safe or not. Because men are unstable and changeable. It's no use chasing after the interests of men. I worry when, one day, I stand before the Court of the Sacred. If I can, with complete serenity and conscience, say: I respected your laws. In other words, is a heroine who believed that there are divine laws. And she felt like a citizen of those laws Divine (laws), which must be fulfilled above

the will of men. In other words, the sacralization of life above anything else. Oftentimes... How can a woman follow this? Often above the criticism of others, above the interests of the environment... she is able to dedicate herself to what she considers to be fair. That son everyone says she should have abandoned by now... That situation, that person who should have given up by now. The duty of your heart speaks louder than the convention of men. Able to follow... You will notice that all six Goddesses, they have a very strong characteristic. Which is the characteristic of

the feminine par excellence. The Love. Everything revolves around Love. The way they bring that love into the world is the female channel. So, the divine law makes her feel committed to her heart, regardless of what the conventions of her time say. This is a latent power. Recognize what is sacred in each moment. Recognize the divine law. The story of Antigone is very beautiful. Who knows, it's a play by Sophlocles, so that you can meet at some point. Hipermnestra. Strange name, isn't it?! Hyperminestra is one of the Danaides. You must have seen such a painting before.

That it was about some women who kept filling a vase, but the vase was never filled. It's her sisters, who were doomed to do so. When they descended to Ades. Hyperminestra means one who is very prudent. One that measures even too much. With that description alone, you can already imagine who inspires her. She is basically a daughter of Athena. At least in this episode of the story. His father, who was Danau, was the king of Lydia. And his twin brother, who was Egypt, evidently was the king of Egypt. She had forty-nine sisters, fifty princesses who

were the Danaides. And her uncle had fifty children, what a coincidence, isn't it?! And evidently he wanted them to marry so that he might acquire the kingdom of Lydia. Along with that of Egypt. His father runs away, he goes to the island of Argos, takes all his daughters. But his brother keeps pushing. So he says: you know what, I will let my fifty daughters marry the fifty sons of Egypt. "But you"... he gathered all the daughters, and said: "On your wedding night, kill your husbands." So, I'm going to end the sons once and for all,

I solve my problem. On your wedding night, kill your husbands. We'll resolve this soon. And so it was, married the fifty princesses of Argos with the fifty princes of Egypt. They all did their father's will, except Hyperminestra. She decides, she considers other elements beyond the opinion, or the anger, or the revolt of the father. She says: if he is a righteous man who has married me, if he is a man of integrity, I cannot kill him. Because it's like I'm killing an attribute of God himself. I can not do this! So I have to know

who he is first. She marries Lynceus. Lynceus comes from lynx eyes, a deep vision. She comes to him and says: as our marriage was a thing decided by our parents, There is no love between us, I ask that you don't touch me tonight, that you respect me. And he looks at her, and he sees that she is worth respecting. She had value, she deserved it. So he respects her chastity, he doesn't touch her... on the wedding night. And she doesn't kill him. This respect of him, this posture of him before her, she says: He doesn't

deserve it, I won't do it. Her father savagely condemns her, but the Gods condemn her forty-nine sisters and say she is right. That prudence, that good sense of looking... Reflect for herself. To perceive what is appropriate in each moment. Knowing how to judge each situation, not by the collective or by what others think, for what others decide for passion, but out of profound prudence. Do you remember the practical mind of the woman? Capable of seeking what is most suitable to the heart, because the law of the heart is the law of the feminine. That is,

if it is a noble being, I will not kill it. I will give him a chance to prove to me that he is noble. And Lynceus proves. And she spares her husband. He is the only one of the princes of Egypt who survives. Hypermnestra is condemned by her father, and cleared by the Gods. And her sisters are doomed... in Ades, to remain eternally filling a vessel that leaked. That is, it never finished being filled. It was their doom. Then you see some paintings that have these young women filling a vase. It's pretty common. The Danaides.

So, another Goddess clearly inspired by Athena. Prudence, which contains the impulse. Which contains the passions. Which is capable of inspiring balanced action. Imagine, people, this inside that box which was given to every woman. A latent power of yours. Do you understand? The perception of what is fair, with Antigone. What is divine law, what is Dharma, as the Orientals say. The prudence to act, not on impulse. We'll see what else comes next. Remember that all of them, in a certain way, are daughters of Hera. Because they are heroines. All passed tests. And they overcame these trials

in a humane way, in a wise way. That's why they became heroines. Alcest. Do you know this one? Alcest, the name means the valuable. Very interesting, because her husband, Admeto, he was king of a city called Beasts. And he was a beast indeed! Her father had asked her to for any suitor who would try her hand, her father Iolco, king of Pelias, said: anyone who wants Alcest's hand has to come here, in a car driven by lions and wild boars. And Admetus was so fierce, he can really tame lions and wild boars and goes there

and gets Alceste's hand. And she marries him, and loves him, knowing he was an impetuous spirit. And she tries, somehow, to tame him, to teach him. There comes a certain time that they will make the sacrifices that were necessary for the wedding ceremony. And he makes sacrifices to all the Gods. Homage, he makes offerings to all the Gods. Except for Artemis, he forgets about Artemis. He forgets about purity, because he wasn't pure. He was choleric, he was very impetuous. He was not pure. Then, unconsciously he forgets about Artemis. And Artemis casts a curse on him.

That he would die. Unless someone gave their life for him. He remains very, very calm.. I am a king, I have many subjects who owe me many things, I have my parents who love me, this will be easy. It's just explaining this to the city, and there will be a lot of people willing to give their lives for me. Yeah right! Uhm. He gathers the whole town, the whole family, and tells the story. Who will give their life for me? Who? Nobody! No subjects. None of his ministers. Not even his parents. Nobody wanted to give

their life for Admetus. And then there's Alceste. His young wife. Virtuous, valiant, and she says: I die for him. Realize how interesting. A deep love. That ability to sacrifice for those you love. Which is the Goddess of deep and true love? Aphrodite! Alcest is the daughter of Aphrodite. And she sacrifices herself and gives her life for her husband. But then ... Lucky for her, I don't know... She makes this sacrifice, Admetus is touched, because he expected that from everyone but her. That's where Hercules passed. And Hercules, on his way to one of his tests, in

one of his works, he says: what? What an insult to death to come and get a virtuous woman like that, I won't let her! He places himself at Alcest's bedside and fights with death. Can't you see it's a little dark? He puts death out. He says: you won't enter here, a virtuous woman like this, in front of me, you don't take. Hercules puts death itself to run. And he saves Alcest. This capacity for deep sacrifice, for love. How does a woman have this ability... Well, she's not that attached... we'll see this soon in another heroine

who has a lot of that. She is not so attached to things, but if you want something that is a fundamental element for a woman, is the ones she loves. And she is capable of great efforts, of great sacrifices there. Her heart is the most sacred aspect for a woman. The strongest point and the weakest point too. Because that's where the lack comes, which is where it weakens her. Her weakness. So, Alcest is the valiant for love. Her love was worth a lot. She is able to give her own life for those she loves. The

sacred office, proper to those who love. She is the daughter of Aphrodite. One more element into your little box. Iphigenia. It's also so obvious whose daughter this is... She is the daughter of Agamemnon And from Cliterminestra. That queen that's back there was Helen of Troy's sister. And Agamemnon, you probably have heard about the Greek gossip, that he was not a king of the most It wasn't a big deal, Agamemnon, just between us. He was a kind of king... A bit tyrannical. And he wanted so hard to overthrow Troy. When the Trojans stole Helena, he said:

now it's my turn, now I have a reason for it. He uses this as a pretext, and he unites all Greece to attack Troy. Everyone goes to the port. Because at that time the city was Mycenae. Mycenae was the center of the world. So Mycenae was the most powerful king they had. Which was Agamemnon. They gather the ships of the Greeks all there. Everyone prepared to sail against Troy. Do you know what happens? No wind! The ships are all sailing. No wind! But not even a whiff. No wind at all. And there they were, standing

there, that bunch of warriors. Everyone impatient. "But let's go, won't we?!" No wind! He decides to seek for an Oracle, and find out what is happening. The Oracle says that he would have to sacrifice his purest daughter, that was this one, Iphigenia, Artemis. That when he sacrificed Iphigenia, it would blow. And the ships could leave for Troy. And then what does he do? Of course, he wasn't going to send this word to his wife. Bring the girl, I'll kill her. Because his wife wouldn't agree. The girl was very virtuous. And she was a priestess of

Artemis. And then he says... This citizen who is here, is Achilles. The great hero, Achilles. He sends the word to the mother that he would marry Iphigenia to Achilles. May she bring her. He was a great hero, it was an honor! Bring Iphigenia and I'll marry her to Achilles. When she gets there he says that the girl was going to be sacrificed. Achilles... tries to take her defense. This is a picture that paints a passage from the Iliad. He wants to kill Agamemnon. He doesn't accept. And Iphigenia herself says: no! Let it be done. If

this is necessary for the events to take their course, my life, I surrender to this. She calms down her mother, she calms Achilles and she says: I will go to the sacrifice. I sacrifice myself for something greater, so that history can be made. What is to be done in Troy is necessary. So if that's what my life is all about, it's better than no use at all. I give my life for this. She prevents Achilles from defending her. And she goes.. to the point of sacrifice. But, as it is very common in several myths, at

the time Artemis takes her off, and puts a deer in her place. And what is sacrificed is the deer. And Iphigenia ends up at Aulis. And she will become a high priestess of Artemis. That element of purity, of sacrificing. Because, in fact, what was sacrificed was an animal. The animal self. You remember that Artemis is exactly that, it is purity. Who sacrifices everything gross, for the divine spirit to reach the world. She sacrifices her animal self. For her to be pure enough for history to be made, and she would be a tool of history. And

an absolute confidence. Whatever happened, it would be fair. Much of what we saw in Antigone as well. An absolute trust. There is a story, which I will not tell you now, but it is a very beautiful story. of the Celts, just to make you want to attend this lecture one day, that they say this is the characteristic of a true king. Trust in divine law. So she knew that whatever happened would be fair. And what is dead? Her animal self. And she purifies herself, she becomes a high-ranking priestess. Purer, closer to Artemis. This purity of

knowing how to sacrifice passions, interests, selfishness, for something greater to be done. If you realize how many times a woman, in her life, she is called to do so. When she is a child, for example. Sleep is sacrificed. Rest is sacrificed. Sometimes our hearts are sacrificed to be fair to that child, when in fact we want to give everything to her, but we know we have to only what is good for her growth. isn't it? To be fair, sometimes to be tough, even when your heart hurts. That is, (being) capable of sacrificing personal interests, so

that good is done through you. This ability to subordinate the personal, to sacrifice the personal. that the divine law may be fulfilled, that the ships may sail, for Troy to be dominated. To make history as fair as possible. So, the purity of Artemis, is Iphigenia. Iphigenia is exactly the pure one, her name represents that. Clearly a daughter of Artemis. You go on, putting everything inside your little box. These are the tools that we have in the feminine. It's us! It is not a distant mythology, from another people. It's us. They are our latent powers. Ariadne.

How beautiful, Ariadne! I don't know if any of you... does anyone here like opera? Richard Strauss has an opera called "Ariadne auf Naxos" The second act of this play is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. It is very beautiful! Ariadne. Her name comes from Aria, noble. ... She represents the human soul in the myth. You would have heard of Minos and the Minotaur. This one is very popular. Minos was a king who ruled the island of Crete. And on that island one day he makes an offering to Poseidon. And Poseidon to prove

his divine power, makes it come out of the waters.. Come out of the waters a white bull, beautiful, wonderful! And the intention was for that bull to be sacrificed to Poseidon himself. But Minos finds the bull so beautiful that he decides not to sacrifice it. And Poseidon considers it as an offense, as a disrespect for the sacred. And so, he asks for Aphrodite's help so that Minos' wife, Pasiphae, to fall in love with the bull. May she unite with the bull and bear a monster. Who has the head of a bull and the body of

a man, who is the Minotaur. So the architect Daedalus builds the labyrinth, holding him in the middle... But constantly seven gentlemen and seven maidens are taken from Athens to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. Until a hero comes along, which is Theseus. Prince of Athens. Son of Aegeus. And says: I'll go along. Now I'm going to end this. I will kill this monster. But when he gets there, the problem isn't just killing the monster. The monster lived in the center of the labyrinth. How do you get in and out of the maze? It was very complicated!

Exactly so the monster doesn't get out of there. If he went in and killed the monster, he wouldn't go out. So Ariadne, who is Minos' daughter, princess, perceives his nobility, his worth, and gives him a silver thread. And she says: you go unrolling this skein, you kill the monster and then roll up again and come over here. And he does just that. And when he leaves, he flees the island of Crete taking Ariadne with him. But... halfway there, you imagine... I am a prince, from a city like Athens, powerful, I will arrive covered with glories.

There will be women running after me, I'm taking a princess, I'm going to get married. That's not going to be a good deal. He decides to stop on an island, Naxos. He leaves Ariadne there and leaves. From there, you will realize, that he just does nonsense. His story goes like this. He fights the Amazons, steals Hippolyta. Hippolyta ends up committing suicide. He goes to Sparta and steals Helena. Her brothers go there, steal her mother. It makes a mess. He descends to hell to steal Persephone. He is imprisoned by Hades, only to be freed by Hercules

much later. He only got into trouble after he abandoned Ariadne. Because Ariadne represents the human soul. Exactly that silver thread that makes you enter the labyrinth of life, and don't get lost. She leads you, she is the daughter of Demeter, she is the daughter of generosity Demeter is the great educator, she is the one who leads. You know that "paidós" and "agogos", which is the root of the word pedagogues, it's exactly to drive children. Knowing how to lead through the labyrinths of life. She gives her silver thread so he can enter the labyrinth of life

and come out safely. She leads him, she is his soul. But, Theseus, he killed a Minotaur. Which is the Minotaur of physical instincts. But he was devoured by another. The Minotaur of pride and vanity. When he leaves, he lets himself be puffed up and he is not worthy of his soul. He still doesn't have enough nobility. Because Ariadne is exactly Aria, the noble. Her name comes from Aria, the noble. He is not worthy to unite with the soul. Rumors from the good or from the bad, as you prefer, that in the middle of the way,

in his ship, the god Dionysus himself appears to him and says: you are not worthy of this woman. In fact, you don't even like her. Back there, on the island of Cretes he had already fallen in love with her sister, who was Phaedra. Which looked prettier to him. Phaedra means bright. The one that flaunts, the one that shines. And he needed shine, he was vain. Then he's going to marry Phaedra, later. Then Dionysius says to him: this woman is not for you! Leave her in Naxos. Naxos means to be born. Leave her there! And he

abandons Ariadne there. When she awakens, she is alone on the island of Naxos. Abandoned by the man she'd given everything for him. At this moment, Dionysus, the God of enthusiasm, appears. From "in theos", God within himself. And our soul re-unites with the sacred. Do you remember the three worlds I told you about? Our soul re-unites with the sacred and it lets the body living a little bit more of adventures, which is Theseus. Dionysus is a very curious God, because if you see any god in greek mythology he has countless partners. Dionysus had only one wife

in his life, and that was Ariadne. He is the only monogamous God I know of on Olympus. He only had Ariadne. Only she was noble enough for him. He goes to the island of Naxos and snatches her. And the two come together. They unite on Olympus and hope, perhaps, that one day Theseus will be worthy. To form, again, the three worlds. The caduceus. Which is the same structure as the Grail, in the King Arthur myth. The union of the three worlds. So Ariadne represents this generosity, the educator, the one who gives the thread, who marks

the way, the silver thread for them to enter the labyrinths of life and be able to get out. She represents the one who gives life. The greatest generosity, which is the one that leads beings to have life not only on the physical plane, but also on the spiritual plane. She leads Theseus so that he can overcome the trials of life. She's the educator. Which is also a very characteristic of the feminine. Skill for being able to bring out, because that's what educating is, bringing out the best in human beings. And there is no better tool

for that than love. Love overcomes barriers. The great educator has to know how to work with this attribute of love. Ariadne represents this ability. To break down barriers, to penetrate the hearts of beings and lead them out of the labyrinth. Which is the greatest generosity. (audience question) That's right! (God of the party, wine...) That's not quite right, is it?! This story, I'll have to spend a lot of time to clear Dionisios' name. Because it`s a... the "in theos", which is enthusiasm, meant that, at a certain moment, the man had realized God within himself. And he

devalued external things. And he conquered a state of theophany. Of union with the divine. And that seemed crazy to common men. In the decadence of this, it was said that the rites of Dionysus they were crazy things, it was the bacchanals. But it's a long story for us to explain here. Dionysus is actually educated by Cybele, in Thrace. And she teaches him her mysteries. The mystery of curettes. A long story, where he will learn this secret of taming lions, because Cybele rode in a chariot driven by lions, and finding the divine within, the "in theos",

the enthusiasm. And that meeting generated a state of ecstasy. It was like a mystical union, a theophany. It is interesting because all the priests of Dionysus, when they went on stage, in the Greek theater, in the Dionysian, they all wore the mask of the God. In other words, it was as if everyone, at that moment, found unity in the divine. There are many details, this story is long, we really can't tell it now. I have to tell you about the symbolism of wine, of the symbolism of his birth, because he was born twice. He was

born first as Zagreus, and then as Dionysos. I know he is one of the purest and holiest gods on Olympus. If it wasn't for him... The Gods would not have defeated the Titans. He is the one who makes the victory over the titans. And this luminous God rescues, then, Ariadne abandoned in Naxos. So this is another element of your toolbox. The nurturer, the generous one, the daughter of Demeter. And finally ... Our friend Penelope. This one is well known too, isn't it?! Odysseus ... Odysseus is a rather controversial figure. We also need to carry out

a campaign to claim the image of Ulysses. Because he's also complicated. Ulysses clearly represents, within the framework of Greek mythology, reason. Do you realize that they only won the war against Trojan because of his snares, his wiles. The Trojan horse. He was very... He begins to develop mental acuity. No wonder he is protected by Athena all the time, for that rational aspect he had. However, the name of Odysseus in Greece is Odysseus. Odysseus comes from the angry, from the wrathful. Again, the aspect of anger. Before he was worthy to join his soul, Ithaca, which is

the island where he lived, he had to go out purifying a lot of things along the way, which is the Odyssey. It comes out crossing with a bunch of monsters that were inside it. He has to learn to master himself before he can unite this reason with the spiritual. So he goes out fighting Poseidon... He spends ten years fighting in Troy The heroes all return home after the Greeks conquer Troy. And he spends ten years traveling home. It was hell what the Odyssey was. He crossed paths with all the monsters in the world along the

way. He was always very cunning, but he needed to overcome the fundamental element, that was his petulance. His selfishness. Meanwhile, he could not return home. It's very interesting, because you realize that he loses everything along the way. He loses most of his men, then he loses all his ships, only his own. Then he loses the sailors, he loses the ship, he falls into the water... The Goddess Ino comes to him and says: I will give you a veil. You take off all these clothes. Cover your heart with this veil. And come to light only with

this veil, because then you will find your way home. He really only gets to Ithaca that way. When he undresses everything! From his selfishness, from his vanities, and only protects his heart. Protects his heart with the divine. He comes to the surface, finds the island of the Phaeacians that takes him home. Meanwhile, who was in Ithaca? Penelope. Twenty years! You imagine it's an island, the king, the empty throne, and she maintains the myth of Odysseus, the greatness of Odysseus, the structure, the laws. Nothing stops working and everything stays there, waiting for Ulisses to return. His

mother gives up! Kills herself. And she doesn't give up. And she stays. Penelope comes from pene, thread. Pene and ops, that's the eye It is the eye that knows how to keep the thread intact. That element, which is typical of her, she is the daughter of Hera, of the laws. Of divine laws. And she keeps the way back for Odysseus to come home. It wouldn't do any good for Ulysses to win all the tests if he arrived in Ithaca Penelope had married someone else, the island had been ruined, the throne had been destroyed. Do you

realize she keeps Ithaca alive so he can come home?! There is a passage in which Homer says something that I think is beautiful! Which he says: Mycenae was the greatest city in the world and Ithaca was a stony island. But Mycenae fell, e Ithaca persevered. Ithaca has been preserved. Do you know why? Because Mycenae had Cliterminestra, and Ithaca had Penelope. It was a woman who made this kingdom great. Cliterminestra did not deserve Mycenae, Penelope deserved better than Ithaca. She kept the island intact, as if Odysseus were there. She was his wife. And it starts to

happen, after twenty years By the way, halfway there... Of course, whoever married her would become king. And besides, she was a very beautiful woman. The suitors begin to appear. And she had no way out of it, because even the laws of Ithaca itself demanded that the island could have another king. And she, creating the whole memory, the whole mythology of Odysseus, believing he would come back. Do not doubt at any time. She said the following: I'm going to weave a rug. When it's ready, will be a shroud for my father-in-law, Laertes, when it is ready

I choose a suitor. Do you know what she used to do? She went there at night and unraveled everything. And the next day she weaved. But she kept the thread intact. And through that thread, Ulysses one day returns home, regains his throne. He finds Ithaca as he left. You see this characteristic of patience, of perseverance of not giving up on those you love? Of being able to maintain the order of the house, the protocols of life. She is a daughter of Hera. Nothing in Ithaca stops working. In fact, I think she must have been a

better queen than Ulysses was king. Perfect! He finds Ithaca intact. The throne waiting for him. And a whole mythology around his name. She preserves the laws of life. She is very much that matron, who keeps the whole family around her. She obeys life's protocols, and keeps the thread intact so that everyone she loves can come back. And never doubting. She never ceases to have hope in those she loves. Does not give up! She is a symbol of patience, perseverance and obedience to the protocols of life. Symbol of the faithful woman. But not true to her

husband, true to herself. Don't think she did it just because of Ulysses, she does it for herself. For the dignity she had. For what she was, she was a queen. It is the symbol of the worthy woman, who obeys the protocols of life, who respects herself and who doesn't give up on those she loves. It is one of the characteristics that have been linked, immortalized. But people, as we trivialize everything, we say: it is the symbol of the faithful wife. It's not just to Ulysses that she was faithful. She was true to herself, she was

a queen. She ruled over all the weak elements of her personality. A daughter of Hera. She mastered the laws of the manifested world, which is the peacock's tail, causing a kingdom to proceed intact. So, she is this center. This sacred aspect that organizes all life. Another tool for our toolbox. And now it's over. But do you see the potential?! It is logical that if I were to give you a lecture, and who knows, maybe we will do one day, if not funny, "the masculine ideal". We take the six gods. It's the same thing, we're not

saying that one is superior to anyone. If you take the six Greek gods, you'll find fantastic potential as well. The union, the marriage of the two is perfect, because it is the human archetype, it is the human ideal. Here, this is how great they imagined a lady could be. And they imagined that a gentleman could be great too, because they believed in man. And they leave that represented in their symbols. If you take all of that, that's what they expected. Gather these six heroines! It's everything they said is dormant inside every woman's heart, as potential.

This was the feminine ideal for Greek mythology. To be a child of the goddesses. It says that whether we like it or not, they live inside our soul. As a potential given to us by nature. May or may not be awakened. It depends on us. In closing, I brought you a phrase that I think is very beautiful. From our international director, Professor Délia Steinberg Guzmán. In which she says the following: "Ever since always and forever, every woman is related to the first shining star that brought light to the deep blue of the sky..." That is,

that bright light that shines in the night. Exactly because the night is associated with this material world, where things are sometimes lacking. Where children need a lap. And she is the star. That leads, that gives reference, that gives hope, that gives shine. This bright star in the night has always been associated with the feminine. Since forever and forevermore. What Greek mythology offers are the attributes of this female star. That's it, a brief extract. Because, as I told you, if I were to develop it, it would be possible to give you a lecture only on such

a heroine. Stilly. It would be possible to make a lecture on such a goddess, an entire lecture. Stilly. What we did was a little catch. Just for you to realize the treasure that exists in these traditions of our past. How much we could use this to get to know ourselves. It's not a thing of the past. It's present! We are still the same. In essence. We haven't changed that much. And that potential, these six goddesses, lie dormant within every lady. Open for questions, if there's anything I can clarify, anything useful for you guys... And as

far as I know, too. In fact, in terms of literature... of Greek mythology, we even have an advantage in Brazil. We have a very good author, Junito de Souza Brandão. He's good, he's very appropriate, the things he says are very sensible. We don't have that same happiness sometimes, regarding Egyptian mythology, Celtic mythology.. a good bibliography is rare. Within the philosophy course, we will study these mythologies, in a specific booklet. But it is a teaching material of our course. But books, like that, to the public, Julito is very good. Julito de Souza Brandão. Both his Greek

mythology and the mythical-etymological dictionary he has. He takes the names and makes a dictionary and deciphers what the names mean. It's so interesting! If you know what the name of a Theseus means, the name of an Oedipus, you already know what he's going to do, more or less. You have a notion. Because it's in the etymology of the name. The essence of what he's going to do. What is his role in the world. The story is very beautiful. If you are going to see, for example, why Plato created the academy. Because he put that name

academy. Who was the hero Academus. There in Julito's book he explains who Academus is, what the name means. Each name. What is the origin, etymology, what it meant. It is a very useful book. Then, for you to put all this information together, to make sense of it, you need philosophy. He will give you the raw material. Then how are you going to combine these pieces and put together a coherent interpretation, you need philosophy. Anything else, guys? I remind you that our lectures, this one, for example, is being recorded, we have many interesting DVDs on this

subject. Of the feminine ideal, of love... From Khalil Gibran and Love, which is also a very interesting talk, dealing with related elements. So, if you're interested... By the way, all our lectures are on Youtube as well. Interesting for us, on a weekend that sometimes we don't have any option, the cinema only has bad titles, to do a philosophical reflection, attending a good lecture. They are all free on Youtube, and each DVD costs R$ 10.00. It is a good option, a good request.