Medusa was one of the three Gorgons ("the Terrible Ones"),
the daughters of Ceto ("Whale", daughter of Gaea
and Pontus, the outer Sea) and her brother Phorcys (also a sea
deity). She was said to have once been a beautiful maiden, famous
for Her lovely hair, who was turned to a hideous monster by the
goddess Athene.
Snakes then replaced Her beautiful tresses, and Her gaze was so
terrible it would turn men to stone. The hero Perseus killed Her
on a dare, decapitating Her and making off with Her head, which
he gave to Athene. Thereafter She wore it on Her aegis,
or breastplate that symbolized the storm clouds.
There are many different representations of Medusa, some ugly,
some not, and not all showing Her with Her famous snaky hair. Often
She has wings, either large bronze ones sprouting from Her back,
or a small pair on Her forehead. Sometimes She is shown as an ugly
woman, burly and muscular, with large fangs.
Medusa's legends are very tangled with those of Athene, and Medusa
may originally have been Her sexual and destructive aspect. Some
legends say Medusa was given Her fearsome aspect by Athene as punishment
for winning a beauty contest against Her; or that the punishment
was given because the Sea-god Poseidon had sex with Medusa in Athene's
temple. Poseidon was sometimes said to have been Athene's father,
from whom She got Her blue eyes, and They were long rivals, as
can be seen in Their competition for patronage of Athens.
It is said that Perseus was guided by Athene's hand as he killed
Medusa, or even that Athene Herself slew Medusa as She slept. When
Medusa's blood fell to the earth, the hero Chrysaor and the winged
horse Pegasus were born, for Medusa had been pregnant from Her
encounter with Poseidon. Her blood was then taken by Athene who
gave it to Asclepius, or in some stories, Erichthonius (half-serpent,
half-human who was claimed as ancestor by the early Athenians;
the Erechtheum, a temple shared by Athene and Poseidon on the Akropolis,
is named for Erechtheus, his adopted grandson), who used it to
kill or cure.
In these legends, Medusa shares many symbols with Athene and
with Poseidon. Athene, as a sky-goddess, is associated with birds,
especially the wise owl; and She also is linked to the chthonic
serpent, as seen in links to Erechtheus and Erichthonius (who were
often confused) and in the snakes that fringe Her aegis. An epithet
of Athena, Sthenia, meaning "strong", shares its root
meaning with the name of one of Medusa's Gorgon sisters, Stheno.
Likewise Poseidon was said to have seduced Medusa in the guise
of either a bird or a horse, and Medusa's parents were both Sea-deities.
Drawing this card in a reading indicates old tales, and intuiting
out the truth behind them. Paying attention to dreams, and exploring
the deep meanings behind them will help to shed light on a current
situation that has its roots in the past.
Alternate spellings: Medousa
