Mother Maven Haven is Now Life Dithyrambic

For the longest time, have been wearing the title Mother Maven, but did not really fit me and not so much the blog. This blog about religion, politics, global warming, eco-friendly stuff, natural beauty, culture, art, the religious right, creationism, evolution, birth control, motherhood, neo-puritanical ethos, feminism, pop culture, and wine deserved a more descriptive and evocative name.

So I became inspired by my Myspace persona Baccus Croakus, and the title of Life Dithyrambic. I am not sure what it says about me when I hide behind a persona of a 102 year old male frog who likes wine.

I was inspired by Aristophanes, The Frogs, my fascination with Dionysus (my name Denise is a variant of Dionysus and means "wine-goddess"), my interest in Ancient Greece, and my appreciation of frogs as symbolism. Dithyramb is an ancient Greek hymn to Dionysus, but it is also defined as, "wildly enthusiastic speech or piece of writing."

Dionysus is a curious Greco-Roman diety not only that he is a god of wine, fertility, frenzy, and theater but his birth story of being "twice born." Being adopted I can relate to the whole idea of being twice born.

If I have a spirit animal it would be a Frog. Frogs as totem spirits recognize the purifying effect of rain, water, and tears. I love rain, fog, and misty days and how the moisture turn things green and mossy.

Frog spirits are all about empathy as frogs are known easily take in things from their thin skins. Ever since I was a little girl I could imagine and feel the pain of others. My days doing theater called on those skills. One reason I left the 8 year gig at Voices of Adoption was that I was internalizing all the poingnant stories I dealt with over the years. Imagining lives of others and having such empathy makes me a flaming liberal.

Frogs live double lives in water and on land. I have always needed to live by water on coasts, and as an adopted person I am influenced by dual heritages -- living a double life in limbo. Frogs are all about thier fertility and creativity. Frog people are often artists.

Frogs are also about transformation or metamorphasis. I have always been open to change and reinvention.Frogs see many directions at once. Being open to change and being able to take in information from a wide spectrum of places is very frog-like.

Frogs are associated with the color green. My favorite color is green-- all shades of green. My house is green and our rooms are painted either green or blue.

The Chinese see the frog as symbolizing the Moon, good luck and healing - a lunar yin. The Early Christians saw Frogs as symbols of the Holy Trinity (due to their three stages of life) and that they symbolize ressurrection as it does each Spring. Frog totems are known to bring protection to children and bring pleasant dreams.

Welcome to this pond teaming with dynamic and delicious dithyrambic dharma talks and dionysian musings. Grab a lilly and stay awhile.