Diana represents the call to embody a more primal connection to the wildness that exists within. The goddess Diana was worshipped in the ancient Roman religion that originated in Italy. She is the daughter of Jupiter and Latona born on the island of Delos with her twin brother Apollo, god of the sun. The temple of Diana in Rome dates back to the 6th Century BCE. She was the protectress and patroness of the lower class and slaves who could seek sanctuary and asylum in her temples.
The temple to Diana in Ephesus (later attributed to the Greek goddess Artemis) was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It took 220 years to build and the magnificent statue of Diana covered in breasts symbolizes her worship as a fertility goddess for women. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament mentions Diana’s temple since her following was extensive and seen as a threat to Christianity. The most famous place to worship Diana was in the sacred grove of oak trees on the shores of lake Nemi near Rome. Out in nature, connected to the earth, and to the wild animals that roam freely across it, here she is the huntress with her golden bow and
arrows. She is the independent, free-spirited, goddess who communes with the moon, the natural world, and all those who cannot speak for themselves.
When your soul selects her card:
Sometimes the answer is the simple, elemental need to just walk bare foot in the grass, or even better, the mud. Sometimes we get so caught up in what’s happening (or what isn’t happening) that we forget to just be. We forget that there is tremendous power surging up from the earth wanting to take whatever energy is no longer serving us. We forget that we can commune with the trees, those ancient protectors and elders whose language comes with the help of the wind and the slow soft caress that touches your cheek. Answers sometime need to come from the basic desire of the body to feel grounded here on Earth.
Diana is associated with fertility, the phases of the moon, and the ability to communicate with animals. Of course, not with any human language, but with the frequency of love and intention which animals perceive. If we open ourselves up to it, we can connect to the wisdom in the natural world even if we live far from it. Even if we’re deep in the heart of the busiest city, a sign on a bus, a logo on a t-shirt, or a card someone sends us may carry an image of the animal that wants to reach us. Or we may be visited by a possum on the fire escape or a hawk on a window ledge. We don’t have to be in the wilderness to access the wisdom of the natural world. The wilderness is within us; we are a part of it. There’s so much more we can receive from the wordless life all around us. We just have to develop the heart that can hear it.
_Excerpted from “The Divine feminine Oracle” by Meggan Watterson; Art by Lisbeth Cheever-Gessaman
“Diana (The Huntress)
Mixed Media
2016
Altar Art Prints available now of Diana, click here to purchase: https://etsy.me/3Ql1BOQ
