Wild wisdom soul story of Minerva to go with the Tuesday Tree Teaching In The Night – Pain Birds and Trees
The Goddess Minerva
Leaping out of Jupiter, her father’s head, Minerva was born fully formed. Commonly thought of as a Roman goddess she is much older having originated with the Etruscans prior inhabitants to the Romans in Italy.
She is known for wisdom and creativity. Snakes and owls are associated with her. Minerva also was one of three “virgin goddesses” in Roman tradition. These three goddesses vowed to never marry, but rather dedicate themselves to their works. Vesta and DIANA were the other two in the trio.
Her origin story according to the Romans, was that she was born from the head of Jupiter, patriarch of the Roman pantheon. Jupiter was told a prophecy that his child would become more powerful than him, and so upon finding out that he had impregnated the Titan Metis, he swallowed her whole. Still alive, Metis made armour and weapons for her daughter. Jupiter gained a terrible headache and had the god Vulcan, a blacksmith, split his head open with a hammer, and out jumped Minerva, fully-grown and decked out in armour. Minerva became the goddess of wisdom and is famously one of the virgin goddesses who fiercely protects her chastity.
Minerva had many titles because of her many roles. Some of these titles were:
Minerva Medica – patron of doctors
Minerva Castitis – patron of olive trees
Minerva Luscinia – a name that means ‘nightingale’, because she is said to have invented the flute
Minerva Armipotens – powerful in arms and the patron of strategy
About these wild wisdom soul stories.
You take this as you wish as a mythic exploration, spiritual gift, positive psychological programming whatever … but I offer it to you in the hope that it will serve you some good purpose.
The tree teachings, #forestbathing #meditations and wild wisdom soul stories are not pre-planned, I don’t have the year ahead mapped out with neat little diagrams and to do lists and pre-prepared old last years’ materials. No ... these are the fresh green shoots of inspirations sent forth from the trees. I don’t care what your belief system is … in times of mass extinction, and #climatechange , my conviction is that if we connect personally with trees and nature this can only serve both us and the #earth well … I hope you agree.
Each being and story featured each week is of course a brief glimpse. I am passionate about our native cultures across the earth, those wisdoms which remind us of our place within the 'Real World' that of nature.
If you feel drawn to a particular one you could study it in greater depth and pay homage to the culture within which it arose. 
Minerva In The Night Time
She seems to tell a tale of chastity, of non-attachment to earthly desires as medicine to pain. The owl speaks of night time and the snakes perhaps of the energy that winds its way through the body. Her nightingale song comes to us when we let go. She is power in self realisation.
Leaping out of her fathers’ head, she claims her own domain outside of the body, his body. Though he sought to defeat she nevertheless was triumphant in the end. Minerva was clever and beat all who came into competition with her.
Beyond the body what else is there? Minerva is there to ask that question of us. Beyond our own small world concerns where we seek dominion over all, just as Jupiter did, we are reminded of the wider world, the natural world. In seeking to repress, contain and control we risk immense pain just like Jupiter. It is the fire of inspiration, like Vulcan perhaps, that sets us free. Minerva is goddess of creativity and nature is naturally creative. In reconnecting with this wild within we relinquish our human controlling ways and reconnect with something much more fundamental and natural.
Here is another story about Minerva. The gods had a contest to see who could create the most useful item for humans. Neptune made a horse but Minerva created and planted the olive tree. Olive oil was, and of course still is, very important to Mediterranean cultures. Could there be more to this story, a deeper wisdom perhaps? Trees are of course are a fundamental building block in ecology. They bring fertility, rain, oxygen, food and so much more. In this story Minerva takes us back to the very building blocks of existence. She reminds us where true value for mankind lies.
I lay in the dark listening to the rain and the birds in the trees. Beyond thought what else is there?
Before I go here is a poem I found that I feel fits in well with this tree teaching and wild wisdom story.
Through the great pain of stretching beyond all that pain has taught me, the soft well at the base has opened, and life touching me there has turned me into a flower that prays for rain. Now I understand: to blossom is to pray, to wilt and shed is to pray, to turn to mulch is to pray, to stretch in the dark is to pray, to break the surface after great months of ice is to pray, and to squeeze love up the stalky center toward the sky with only dreams of colour is to pray, and finally to unfold again as if never before is to be the prayer. --Mark Nepo, "God's Wounds"
Mental health and well being are very important to me. Nature connection and eco therapy are passions of mine so if you are new to this blog then check out my other articles. If you have struggled as I have then I hope this weeks' tree teaching and story have helped.
Blessings Amanda Claire x
Now you too, like Minerva, can plant trees as we fund tree planting across the world. In doing so you support rewilding and communities and help give nature a louder voice which is always singing, waiting for us to hear it.