Spring                                       Mountain Spring Moon

Medea. The more closely I follow her story in Ovid, the better I understand why she inspired so many works of literature and painting. In a time when women worked the looms and managed households (Penelope, for example) Medea was a strong woman in every phase of her life. She seduced Jason and literally brought new life to Aeson, his father.

She is a magician, a sorceress, a witch, one who walks alone in the night. She banishes the clouds and calls for the clouds to return. She shatters living rock with a word and calls the winds, then bids them go. She is the female equivalent of the heroes of the age of heroes.

I’ve not yet gotten to the portion of Ovid’s account where she kills her children, so I won’t comment on it.

More to come.