Ancient moon priestesses were called virgins. ‘Virgin’ meant not married, not belonging to a man - a woman who was ‘one-in-herself’. The very word derives from a Latin root meaning strength, force, skill; and was later applied to men: virle. Ishtar, Diana, Astarte, Isis were all all called virgin, which did not refer to sexual chastity, but sexual independence. And all great culture heroes of the past, mythic or historic, were said to be born of virgin mothers: Marduk, Gilgamesh, Buddha, Osiris, Dionysus, Genghis Khan, Jesus - they were all affirmed as sons of the Great Mother, of the Original One, their worldly power deriving from her. When the Hebrews used the word, and in the original Aramaic, it meant ‘maiden’ or ‘young woman’, with no connotations to sexual chastity. But later Christian translators could not conceive of the ‘Virgin Mary’ as a woman of independent sexuality, needless to say; they distorted the meaning into sexually pure, chaste, never touched. —Monica Sjoo
Scientists have developed genetically engineered seeds that, when planted into sand, bloom into pugs. This scientific breakthrough in horticulture has attracted the interest of dog owners all around the world.
Apparently there’s an episode in the Bible where Jesus asks Peter “Do you love me?” using a form of the verb ἀγαπάω, which means ‘love’ but in like the cosmic, religious sense of the word. And Peter says yes but he uses the word φιλέω, which is also ‘love’ but in a much more general casual way, so basically Jesus Christ Son of God asks Peter if he loves him and Peter says, “Yeah, as a friend.”
