Domina Tempora

Historians often write them off as mad women. The name Maenad evenliterally translates as the “raving ones”. But these women are much more than that. They are sacred worshippers and holy priestesses to the god of wine, madness and frenzy – Dionysus.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://martinifisher.com/2021/06/14/divinity-beneath-the-madness/

Historians often write them off as mad women. The name Maenad evenliterally translates as the “raving ones”. But these women are much more than that. They are sacred worshippers and holy priestesses to the god of wine, madness and frenzy – Dionysus.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://martinifisher.com/2021/06/14/divinity-beneath-the-madness/

Sortition by lot was a form of selecting public officials in some ancient Greek city-states. It has been used particularly in the democracy of ancient Athens from which most information on the practice is derived. This procedure overturned the electoral races and allowed for the daily succession of the office holders. Therefore, the government’s activities were not in the hands of experts, but through the sorting system which at least gives the people some practical political education.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://martinifisher.com/2020/10/14/very-short-story-about-voting-in-ancient-greek-and-rome/

By the middle of the legendary eighteen-day bloodbath that was the Kurukshetra war in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, the war had been inconclusive. However, the power of Bhisma, the leader of the Kauravas’ massive army, was undeniable until Lord Krishna saw a ray of hope through Shikhandi, a young male soldier who was born a woman.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://martinifisher.com/2021/06/07/the-ancient-price-of-speaking-truth-to-power/

By the middle of the legendary eighteen-day bloodbath that was the Kurukshetra war in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, the war had been inconclusive. However, the power of Bhisma, the leader of the Kauravas’ massive army, was undeniable until Lord Krishna saw a ray of hope through Shikhandi, a young male soldier who was born a woman.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://martinifisher.com/2021/06/07/the-ancient-price-of-speaking-truth-to-power/

The general appearances of ancient Chinese deities lead us to think of them as sober imperial bureaucrats. Mostly, they look like middle aged men dressed in official-looking robes, spending their time reading formal petitions and responding by giving stern orders to their underlings – rather like the more artistic version of our modern politicians. Although several of the most popular deities are female, gender immediately raises problems for the bureaucratic image of some important deities as governing elites tend to favor a religious practice that reflected themselves (male, old, humourless etc). Women, as well as men who are viewed to be rebels or misfits, tends to be excluded from the sites and definitions of power.  But a group of  joyful misfits changed all that.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://martinifisher.com/2021/05/31/divinity-in-diversity/

The general appearances of ancient Chinese deities lead us to think of them as sober imperial bureaucrats. Mostly, they look like middle aged men dressed in official-looking robes, spending their time reading formal petitions and responding by giving stern orders to their underlings – rather like the more artistic version of our modern politicians. Although several of the most popular deities are female, gender immediately raises problems for the bureaucratic image of some important deities as governing elites tend to favor a religious practice that reflected themselves (male, old, humourless etc). Women, as well as men who are viewed to be rebels or misfits, tends to be excluded from the sites and definitions of power.  But a group of  joyful misfits changed all that.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://martinifisher.com/2021/05/31/divinity-in-diversity/

In Maori mythology, Ranginui and Papatūānuku are the sky father and the earth mother. They lie locked together in a tight embrace. Their many children, the gods, are therefore forced to live in the cramped darkness between them. These children always dreamed of living in the light. When they grew up, Tumatauenga, the god of war and fiercest of the children, proposes that the best solution to their predicament is to kill their parents.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://martinifisher.com/2020/02/01/the-beginning-of-the-world-the-pain-and-separation-of-the-divine-family/

At the very beginning there was nothing. Then a vast and empty gulf opened in space. The  length and breadth of this gulf was immesurable and its depth was beyond any of our comprehension. That gulf contained the beginning of everything.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://martinifisher.com/2019/01/11/from-the-body-of-a-giant-ancient-norse-story-of-creation/

At the very beginning there was nothing. Then a vast and empty gulf opened in space. The  length and breadth of this gulf was immesurable and its depth was beyond any of our comprehension. That gulf contained the beginning of everything.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://martinifisher.com/2019/01/11/from-the-body-of-a-giant-ancient-norse-story-of-creation/