Posts

A Hellenist's review of Natalie Haynes' Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths (Pandora the first woman ever)

 Hello everyone The first chapter is the eponymous Pandora, she is famous for giving us the idiom "Pandora's Box" but as Haynes pointed out, it was not a box, but a jar or vase. The story of Pandora comes from Hesiod's works appearing both in Theogony and more detailed in Works and Days . The famous Pandora's box is indeed a πίθος (píthos) and it is like a barrel since it typically held liquid and was part of freight. Pandora is known as the first woman of Ancient Greek mythology, and Haynes herself makes a comparison to mythic story of Eve in the Hebrew Bible, which is already an often used comparison. Remember kids, the Bible is Christian Mythology too, as most religions have mythologies. The way this story is told is that Pandora opened her jar, either for curiosity or malice, and had released something evil and hardships, and Hesiod sets this after Prometheus steals Fire itself from the Gods, in particular Zeus. The story ends with her only finding hope in it

Hellenism in Popular Culture: My Little Pony (Part One) Overview and introduction

 Hello everypony, I mean everyone Today I'm writing something that is a culmination of many things I hold dear to me both culturally and spiritually This series explores how the values of Hellenism and similar religions and spiritual paths still teach us today and how they show up in different parts of cultural media, from stories directly based on the classical mythological canon, to stories derived from it in some way, and others especially fantasy series that take many elements from it but ultimately share a value system or morality rooted in what all Hellenic Polytheists share generally, that is virtues like Xenia, Charis, Eusebia, and Ariste. My Little Pony Friendship is Magic overview and franchise history This was a show that ran in the 2010s and was the fourth generation of the popular and established toy and media franchise My Little Pony that started in the 1980s, that much is clear, Friendship is Magic the show and anything related to that directly will be called G4 in t

Confessions of Isolation

Hello My name is Diana, and I am a loner, or I am lonely, it really makes no difference, maybe there is, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Are we not also lonely here? The past two years caused by many things, we don't need to talk about the details, we already pretend everything is back to normal again. Though what is normal? Normal, as the cliche goes, is just a setting on a washing machine.  I think of myself as just plain crazy in a normal way, like I know I am mentally unwell with verified labels and others I can just speculate and think I might have, but that is beyond the scope of this blog.  Being a freelance writer is kinda of a lonely job especially when prior mental and physical health issues seem to get in your way. I try my best to network, build community, make friends, meet with loved ones and so forth– anything or anyone can help though specific details will make or break the level of comfort and intimacy we may go with, not to overshare too much of course.  Life

A Neoplatonic Pagan Philosophical introduction on The Problem of Evil

 Hello everyone, Salvete Omnes The famous problem of Evil often attributed by Ancient Greek Philosopher Epicurus follows as this "God, he says, either wishes to take away evils, and is unable; or He is able, and is unwilling; or He is neither willing nor able, or He is both willing and able. If He is willing and is unable, He is feeble, which is not in accordance with the character of God; if He is able and unwilling, He is envious, which is equally at variance with God; if He is neither willing nor able, He is both envious and feeble, and therefore not God; if He is both willing and able, which alone is suitable to God, from what source then are evils? Or why does He not remove them" This exact formulation is actually from De ira Dei , a treatise by the Early Christian writer Lactantius, who definitely heard of Epicurus being from the Eastern Roman Empire who sought to make a philosophical tradition contrast with what he (presumably) saw as pagan hogwash and he was

As an Autistic Adult: The Introduction to a Conversation

 Hello everyone! This is Diana of BDUnicorn  I started this in the end of autism month, which was April,  so yet again I want to make a quick little rambling conversational blog for that and also to release myself from a hiatus driven by insecurities and perfectionism, which like autism is a big part of my own mental health. What is the deal with autism? I know right? Why is autism almost always portrayed as a children's thing? Where are the autistic adults like me? It's not uncommon for many autistic adults to find out that they're autistic when they are 20+ or 30+ and so on, I however always knew that I was autistic because I had an early diagnosis at the behest of my parents carefully scrutinizing my own development as a toddler and child.   Last year I had discussed why many autistic people were disproportionately trans and queer, also some musings about fashion and sensory stimulation. But this year I want people to talk about us, the adult autistics who used to be chi

Personal Car Reviews: 1999 Mercedes Benz C280 Sport

 OLD originally written in 2016   Hello everyone this was an old draft that I am showing for the first time! Enjoy- Diana. Trying hard to look like BMW, the 190E Electric Boogaloo?  This was my first car. I enjoyed driving it as a daily and fun car. It did both well. Daimler wants you to call it a “Compact Executive Car” and it was Mercedes Benz’s smallest car until they made the A-Class in 1997. I owned it for over  4 years. However, there are some flaws like the rust. I underestimated the rust. Apparently, Mercedes skimped on the rust proofing, perhaps as cost cutting measures due some struggles with sales, especially because MB’s deadliest rival, BMW spanked them in sales, oh and BMW spanked Mercedes like they were a mommy domme punishing a bratty little girl and the nouveau riche Lexus upstart also became a sales rival, and got into Mercedes’ BUSINESS by undercutting, going right for the taint. The late nineties were so bad for Daimler that they had to spoon with

As a trans woman I think that...: A Short Essay on Transmisogyny

But but why would you wanna be a woman?! Why not, being a woman absolutely rules! Especially a trans woman, yet not everyone agrees especially those are absolutely against us. We debate, argue, and just ask the hard hitting questions. Are trans women women? Of course they are. Trans women are women!  This is what qualifies as ally-ship on twitter these days.  I get the intent though, and it is true– 100% and no falsehoods, however, it comes of as a meaningless platitude because it is backed up with no deeper thought or action. I have been reading Whipping Girl by Julia Serano and also TransGressive by Rachel Anne Williams, two books by trans women. The former is a foundational text for transfeminism and Serano's thesis is laying out transmisogyny as part of a core analytical theme of transmisogyny. It is a good read, provided you think like an academic, otherwise it is pretty dry. Think of my essay as the ketchup on a hamburger. So in this essay, I will provide a quick simple