The three contemporary icons that I have
selected are: Shamanka Blessing (The Goddess Freya), Mary Magdalene and The
Goddess Liberty.
The Goddess Freyja:
According to Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, she was the
goddess of love and beauty and she is also well known as the
main goddess of the Vanir (fertility gods). Apart from Old Norse Freyja, modern forms of her name
include Freya, Freja, Freyia etc. The history also tells that Freyja is the one who
rides a chariot driven by two cats, owns the boar Hildisvíni, possesses a cloak
of falcon feathers and is the owner of necklace Brísingamen. Freyja is famous
in different poems, storys, and art works.
She is believed to have ruled heavenly field Fólkvangr after her death
and there she used to receive half of those that die in battle. Freyja's
husband, the god Óðr, is not frequently found in the history and it is also
found that in his search she cries tears of red gold.
I chose The Goddess Freyja as one of my
contemporary icons because I used to hear a lot about her as the goddess of
love and beauty. I used to see her images and portraits and go through the
history to unveil her mystery I used to have. I used to and I still admire her
for being a female warrior.
She, obviously, means the goddess of
love, beauty and fertility to me but apart from that I also take her as an icon
of all those abstract things which represent good and are meant for humanity,
meant for love and peace. I feel she had gone through a lot during wars and so
she must have known what are the consequences of war or say anger and hate. So
I take her as an energy to eliminate hate and anger from us.
Mary Magdalene:
Mary Magdalene,
also known as Mary of Magdala,
was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and she was also the most
important female disciple involved in the movement of Jesus. The history also
says that Jesus made her pure from "seven demons". She is also described as Jesus’ close friend and most
prominent during last days of Jesus, being present at the cross after the male
disciples. She was also the first person to see Jesus after his Resurrection.
She has also been described as simply “Mary” but to describe as different from
other Mary she was called Mary Magdalene and it is also believed that
Magdala, a town near the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, is from where she
came.
I chose Mary Magdalene as one of my
contemporary icon because I had heard about her when I had once visited to
church and she is less famous despite all hard works she did by being with
Jesus. She, being a lady, dared to stand by Jesus side at that time where women
were not given any importance. And I also chose her as my icon because she was
chosen by Jesus so she must have been special.
She means a pure soul to me. Hadn’t she
been a pure soul Jesus wouldn’t free her from “seven demons” or also referred
as seven illnesses. Since she was the one to be the first to notice Jesus after his Resurrection, it clearly indicates that she
was of pure soul and the chosen one to be the first to see god. History also
describes her as prostitute, but a man like Jesus only knew that it was not a
sin. I think she must be the icon of all women representing purity that a woman
carries.
The
Goddess Liberty:
She is the goddess of liberty who have
existed in many cultures dating from dating from the Roman Empire to the
British "Britannia" or the Irish "Kathleen Ni Houlihan".
The history has described the ancient Roman goddess Libertas,now known as goddess liberty, was honored during the
second Punic War by erection of a temple
on the Aventine Hill in Rome by the father of Tiberius Gracchus.
Similarly a statue was also raised by Clodius to honour her at Marcus Tullius
Cicero's house after it had been razed. She is also believed to resemble the
Roman god of sun. Embodiments of Liberty include Britannia in the UK, "Liberty Enlightening the World,"
commonly known as the Statue of Liberty in the USA, Marianne in France and 200 statues of Lady Liberty donated by the Boy Scouts of America located on Michigan’s Mackinac Island.
I chose “The Goddess Liberty” as my
third contemporary icon because she is world famous and through the film
“Titanic” and the history, of course, I came to know about her and her
importance. I used to think why must have people made such a statue and of
lady. I always used to think of her I was asked about any icons.
She means different things to me. I take
her as the symbol of liberty. I think she represents the courage one needs to
have to be free and live their own life. The fire that she holds in her hand
makes me feel that just by being a statue or just by being in our history she
is being able to enlighten us.
