Once upon all the time, something challenging happens, followed by something amazing...




Thursday, April 22, 2010

The World As We Know It....



Happy Earth Day everybody!!!!!  Of course, I soooo love this day... especially lately since I've adopted the motto: "go green, or bust!!"  So now that we've had the day to celebrate this beautiful planet we live on by using our eco friendly bags, and posting love notes to mother earth on facebook; let's take a minute to get to know the birthday girl a little better, shall we....


 Earth: is the third planet from the Sun, and the fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the Solar System's densest planet, as well as the largest of its four terrestrial planets. It is sometimes referred to as the World, the Blue Planet, or by its Latin name, Terra.  Home to millions of species including humans, Earth is the only place in the universe where life is known to exist.



Pachamama: is usually translated as "Mother Earth" but a more literal translation would be "Mother world" (in Aymara and Quechua mama = mother / pacha = world or land; and later spread fairly modern as the cosmos or the universe) Pachamama and Inti are the most benevolent deities and are worshiped in parts of the Andean mountain ranges, also known as Tawantinsuyu (stretching from present day Ecuador to Chile and Argentina).  In Inca mythology, Mama Pacha or Pachamama is a fertility goddess who presides over planting and harvesting.  Since Pachamama is a "good mother", people usually toast to her honor before every meeting or festivity, in some regions by spilling a small amount of chicha on the floor, before drinking the rest. This toast is called "challa" and it's made almost everyday. Pachamama has a special worship day called "Martes de challa" (Challa's Tuesday) where people bury food, throw candies, burn incense. In some cases, celebrants assist traditional priests, known as "yatiris" in Aymara, in performing ancient rites to bring good luck or the good will of the goddess, such as sacrificing guinea pigs or burning llama fetuses (although these last two are no longer very common).



Gaia (pronounced /ˈɡeɪ.ə/ or /ˈɡaɪ.ə/) "land" or "earth", from the Ancient Greek Γαῖα; also Gaea or Gea, is the primal Greek goddess personifying the Earth, the Greek version of "Mother Nature".  Gaia is a primordial deity in the Ancient Greek pantheon and considered a Mother Goddess or Great Goddess.  Gaia is believed by some sources to be the original deity behind the Oracle at Delphi. She passed her powers on to, depending on the source, Poseidon, Apollo or Themis. Apollo is the best-known as the oracle power behind Delphi, long established by the time of Homer, having killed Gaia's child Python there and usurped the chthonic power. Hera punished Apollo for this by sending him to King Admetus as a shepherd for nine years.  Oaths sworn in the name of Gaia, in ancient Greece, were considered the most binding of all.  In classical art Gaia was represented in one of two ways. In Athenian vase painting she was shown as a matronly woman only half risen from the earth, often in the act of handing the baby Erichthonius (a future king of Athens) to Athena to foster.  Later in mosaic representations she appears as a woman reclining upon the earth surrounded by a host of Carpi, infant gods of the fruits of the earth .



Mat Zemlya: also Matka Ziemia (literally Mother Earth, various other names are in use as well) is the collective term applied to a number of Slavic deities devoted to plants, growth, birth, creation and patrons of field works.  In the early Middle Ages, the Mother Earth was one of the most important deities in the Slavic world. Oaths were made binding by touching the Earth and sins were confessed to the Earth before death. She was worshipped in her natural form and was not given a human personage or likeness. Since the adoption of Christianity in all Slavic lands, she has been identified with Mary, the mother of Jesus.






Nokomis: the Grandmother.  According to Algonquin legend "beneath the clouds lives the Earth-Mother from whom is derived the Water of Life, who at her bosom feeds plants."   
 
 




Prithvi: is one of several Sanskrit names for the Earth Mother, more commonly known as Mother Bhumi Devi. Prithvi is the personification of the Earth, and is therefore also known as Prithivi Tattwa, the essence of the element earth. Prithvi is also called Dhra, Dharti, or Dhrithri, meaning 'that which holds everything'.





So no matter how you see it.....









One thing is clear...She sure is well rounded!!!  (yes I did! : )




So don't forget to say thank you to your earth today and everyday for putting up with our crazy shenanigans, and for always being such a giving, loving support system!  Yay, for Earth for being the best planet to live on ever!!  Here's to many more Happy Earth-days, and beyond!!!

 

Today's Silver Linings... A playlist tribute to Mama Earth:

"Now the trees are almost green.  But will they still be seen?  When time and tide have been.  Fall into your passing hands.  Please don’t destroy these lands.  Don’t make them desert sands."  Shapes of Things- by The Yardbirds


"Oh, oh mercy, mercy me, Oh, things ain't what they used to be, No, no.  Where did all the blue skies go?Poison is the wind that blows from the north, west, south and east, Oh, oh mercy, mercy me, Oh, things ain't what they used to be, No, no.  Oil wasted on the oceans and our seas, Fish full of mercury, Oh, oh mercy, mercy me, Oh, things ain't what they used to be, No, no." Mercy Me- by Marvin Gaye

"Heal The World, Make It A Better Place, For You And For Me, And The Entire Human Race, There Are People Dying, If You Care Enough, For The Living, Make A Better Place, For You And For Me, If You Want To Know Why, There's A Love That Cannot Lie, Love Is Strong, It Only Cares For Joyful Giving, If We Try, We Shall See, In This Bliss We Cannot Feel, Fear Or Dread, We Stop Existing And Start Living."  Heal the World- by Michael Jacson

"When I walk beside her, I am the better man, When I look to leave her, I always stagger back again, Once I built an ivory tower, So I could worship from above, When I climb down to be set free, She took me in again. There's a big, A big hard sun, Beating on the big people, In a big hard world." Hard Sun- by Eddie Vedder

"lokah samasta suhkino bhavantu" 

 


"Cause the whole world loves it when you don't get down, And the whole world loves it when you make that sound, And the whole world loves it when you're in the news, And the whole world loves it when you sing the blues."  The Whole World- by Outkast

"I'm thinking about a-this whole world, Late at night I think about the love of this whole world, Lots of different people everywhere, And when I go anywhere I see love I see love I see love."  This Whole World- by The Beach Boys

"I see trees of green, red roses too, I see them bloom for me and you, And I think to myself, what a wonderful world. I see skies of blue and clouds of white, The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night, And I think to myself, what a wonderful world" What a Wonderful World- by Louis Armstrong

"It's a world of laughter, a world or tears, its a world of hopes, its a world of fear, there's so much that we share, that its time we're aware, its a small world after all."  It's a Small  World- Disney

"I keep on waiting to find myself, I keep on running towards the sun, I guess I want everything under the blue sky, and I wanna laugh 'til I cry again, I want to feel all the pain and all the joy for the first time again, 'cause I'm alive and I'm not waiting, I love it here but I'm not staying, Because it hurts too much to watch it all slip away, I'm standing here in your eyes all the things I can't say, I don't want to lose myself so I've just got to start again, it's such a big world out there that I'm not waiting."  I'm Not Waiting- by the beautiful and talented Lelia Broussard  http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/leliabroussardmusic?ref=ts


"When a man of faith, loses hope, when a man of faith has no one to hold, who's gonna show him the way, who's gonna show him the way?  When a man of faith, is as far from the sun as he is his goals, when a man of faith loses love in his heart, the light in his soul, who's gonna show him the way, who's gonna show him the way?The miracle, is not walking on the water, the miracle, is not walking on the water, the miracle, is not walking on the water... the miracle, is walking on the earth, the miracle, is walking on the earth."  Walking On the Earth- by Chris Pierce





"Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! Heart! GO PLANET! With your powers combined I am Captain Planet! Captain Planet, he's our hero, Gonna take pollution down to zero, He's our powers magnified, And he's fighting on the planet side." Captain Planet Theme- by Phil Collins



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