DawnPapuga.com — Reality 101

My thoughts have made a significant shift toward research over the past week.  Sometimes I have a specific direction and know exactly what problem I am trying to solve or what theory I am trying to support.  Most other times I have an idea buzzing around in my head that started by fragments of various different things accidentally connecting in my mind.  I know there’s something waiting to find me while I’m researching a topic, but I might not know what it is exactly.  It’s like being given a puzzle without the box.  I can see bits, but only once I put all the pieces together can I see the big picture.  That’s the best way I can describe it. 

While working on one of the novels I’ve started and keep returning to, some of those pieces began fitting together.  My research for the novel started with the Moirae, or the Fates, and the Erinyes, or the Furies.  Greek mythology is a passion of mine, and naturally this research led to more questions.  Currently I’m interested in groups of Greek gods/goddesses/demigods, and most specifically in triads.  There are quite a lot more than I originally remembered:

• The Moirae (Fates):  The wierd sisters govern over your fate–when you’re born, how long you live, and when you die.
• The Erinyes (Furies):  The embodiment of female vengence (avenging murder, grudging, and “unceasing”). 
• The Horae: There are actually a number of “generations” of the Horae.  They represent three seasons (Spring, summer, and autumn), Agricultural concepts (prosperity, substance, and abundance), Law and Order (moral justice, peace, and the adherance to “good” laws), and eventually there were 10 to represent each hour.
• The Gratiae (Graces):  Beauty, mirth, and good cheer.
• The Gorgons:  Female monsters often depicted with various animal body parts.  Medusa was the most famous of the three.
• The Harpies:  Typically three female winged monsters who kidnapped men (usually) and punished them on their way to Tartarus (the really bad part of the underworld).  They were vicious and cruel.
• The Graeae: These ancient women were the “grey ladies” or “grey witches” who shared one tooth and one eye between them.  They’re ominious (Alarm, horror, and dread, respectively) but didn’t physically do anything.  They’re often conflated with the Furies and the Fates.
• The Oneiroi: Ominous, black-winged daemons who were the personification of dreams.  Two worked on specific parts of dreams, one worked on the over all dream structure.  Each had their specialty: crafting humans, animals, and objects.  Oh yeah, and they were male. 

I’m certain I missed some of the groups, but these are the most recognizable.  Here’s what’s fascinating me… Only one of those groups are “male.” Most of the triads are female representations of concepts, and most of them aren’t positive.  Of course, you have the triple goddess as well, usually represented in Greek Mythology as Hecate (Maiden, mother, and crone).  What bothers me is that if Hecate represents “all” the aspects of humanity, then why the need for the others?  Why in groups of three?  Why are they almost all female, and nearly all deformed in some way?  The research took my writing to a different place, and that’s just fine, but now I have more questions.  Figures.

Write well,

Dawn

As you see, there was no Friday post.  There’s a very good reason for it, and now that I’m no longer convinced that I’m going to die, I’m posting this “make up” post.  Don’t worry, we don’t have to cuddle afterword.

Yesterday might have been the most miserable day I’ve had for a very long time.  The headache previously reported on Thursday bloomed into a full blown pain-with-each-step, vision altering, sound sensitivity, every-small-move-incites-nausea, migraine.  I should have stayed at home.  I thought I could “tough it out.”  Piece of advice:  If you have a migraine, going anywhere but a dark room with earplugs will only make it worse.  Have you ever played a video game for 10+ hours straight?  You know how your eyes start to shake and things get a little wonky?  Yeah, that was what it was like driving to work.  In Pittsburgh morning traffic, that was not smart.  I should have turned around and went back home.

It took me a good part of the day to finish things it usually just takes me an hour or two to do, and then I couldn’t take it anymore.  Dizziness set in and just moving my eyes from the computer screen to the papers in front of me made me sick.  It took me a while to drive home, and I actually had to stop in a gas station lot to close my eyes for a few minutes so I could make it the rest of the way back to my apartment.  I got home eventually, but the universe was against me.  I’m sure I was being punished for something.  I spent a good deal of the rest of the day and night in pain induced, fight against futility tears.  Here’s why:

• I live in a very old duplex that was converted into 4 apartments.  Usually I don’t hear anyone else.  On Friday, someone was hammering.  A lot.  For 2 hours.  Earplugs didn’t help, and neither did putting a pillow over my head.
• My next door neighbor had her grandkids over.  All of them.  They ran the lenth of the apartment, tumbled, screamed, chased her cats, laughed, banged, and yelled until 9:30 at night. 
• My neighbor downstairs decided to watch TV at a ridiculous volume to combat the ragamuffin crew, and then started a fight with his “babymama” who was coming to pick up his daughter.  There was fighting until at least 11 pm.
• The other neighbor downstairs has a puppy who is very excitable and who responds to loud noises by barking.  A lot.
• Every time it was quiet for 15 or 20 minutes and I thought I could sleep, another ruckus started.  It was torture.

I finally got to sleep with a cold compress over my eyes, and managed to wake up alive.  The headache isn’t fully gone, but it’s much better than yesterday.  I was supposed to go get a new phone today, but we’ll see if that happens.  After grading, there might be another nap in my future.

Write Well,

Dawn