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Dionysus: Wine, Joy or Mirth, as well as Theater
-These are the theater people; they love a good laugh; they thrive in social situations, or at least love watching other people thrive. It seems as if these people are always in a show. The spotlight is a daily occurrence for them. They love being around interesting people, by which they mean people of their own sort. They make light of virtually everything, though at the same time they luxuriate in the whole gamut of emotions. Sadly, devotees of Dionysus are often prone to depression, and find themselves having to medicate themselves with social gathering after social gather, joke after joke, drink after drink. Most of all, people who worship Dionysus love a good time.
Aphrodite (G), Venus (R): Goddess of Love, Beauty, and Eternal Youth
-People who worship Aphrodite or Venus do so in perhaps the most varied amount of ways. First, there are those who worship beauty and hanker after eternal youth. Women spend inordinate amounts of money on skin creams and lotions, on heels and cute low-cut shirts. At the extreme they pay for face-lifts and tummy tucks, but at the more mild manifestations, it just looks like a strong discipline in their eating habits and getting regular exercise, constantly talking about and being aware of their appearance. Their god is in all their thoughts. For many bound by Aphrodite's ruthless demands, it no longer becomes possible for them to eat or enjoy food, and they are driven to anorexia or many other forms of eating disorders. But it's not just women, men become bound to the idol of the gym or some other way of being attractive or powerful. Maybe they run marathons or become great cyclists. But they are no less devoted to their form of eternal youth and beauty.
Second, there are those who worship her not to become beautiful, but to by satisfied by glancing those they regard as beautiful. In Greek myth Satyrs were Half-man, half-goat creatures and represented the embodiment of sensuality. Today, the spirit of the satyrs lives on in the porn addicts and restless fornicators. They are voyeurs and animalistic debasers of true beauty even if they think themselves devoted to it.
Lastly, people who worship romance see their only fulfillment in the right man or right woman who will come along and sweet them off their feet. They go from romantic high to romantic high, lover to lover, failed marriage to failed marriage, because the problem is always in their spouse not meeting their needs. They get lost in their fantasies about romance, and read the books to encourage them in their unrealistic game that is really a selfish preoccupation with their own feelings.
Athena: Wisdom and Skill
-People who worship Athena believe in the power of an education. Parents are more determined for their children to make grades than they are to lead them into a relationship of saving faith with the Lord. Their goals and logic are quite simple. Those who get a good education will get a good job and make lots of money, so that they can have a nice big house and be happy, so that their kids will grow up to get a good education, a good job and make lots of money. These parents often devote their children to the acquisition of lots of extracurricular skills; they bustle them from baseball, to football, to piano lessons, to gymnastics, etc etc. Sometimes they choose many, or sometimes offer them in full devotion to one. Some kids grow up to find their whole identity in their chosen area of expertise, whether academics or football or the arts, and they very often can relate to no one but those in their same field, or at the very least they have a certain snobbery about the superior value of their own field.
Ares or Mars: War,
-Perhaps, there are few who love the rage and carnage of battle, but only if we put our movies and or video games aside. The graphic violence in the film industry has only been getting worse. People are beginning to have blood-thirst that is similar to the Romans of old who loved to go to the Coliseum to see life ruthlessly taken for no good reason. But even if we set that aside, many still worship Mars because they delight in the Battle of Ideas. These people are always fighting something, they always have a cause, and if you cross them, they will argue with you till they're blue in the face. They are bitter fighters and trained to jump upon you at the slightest provocation; otherwise, they will be forcible to enlist you to their cause. "There's no sideline in wartime," they say, despite the fact that their pet ideologies are neither clear nor comprehensive enough to elicit true devotion.
Hera (G) or Juno (R): Marriage and Family, Matriarchy,
-Women who worship Hera are those women who are totally devoted to the service of their family. They give up everything to make sure the house is in order, their kids and husband are cleaned up after. They are the saviors of their household, they are modern-day martyrs in the making. They roll their eyes and look down on their silly little husbands, whom they pet on the back as they would a pet dog. Deep down they really love the fact that everybody is dependent on them because it gives them a chance to shine; they make sure that it will always stay that way, so that their pride always has that extra boost, and therefore they can never really serve husband or children, at least in the way that would allow them true independence and personhood. Their children either remain coddled as babies late into adulthood, or else drastically rebel and become estranged to her. Their husbands either become lazy lapdogs sated on fulfillment at work, perhaps, or they get tired of the game, and run off into their own idolatry.
2. Money, success, freedom, technology, trade and business, the theater mentality of joy and laughter, love, beauty, romance, wisdom or skill, the battle of ideas, marriage and family. Are these not your gods, O America? Are these not your gods?
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