Rhea was ready. In her heart of hearts, she knew that her lifelong dream of bearing children for Her Lord was about to come to fruition. Cronus had been busy preparing Her a place for Them & now at last, that work was done. Though the preparations had been made, Cronus knew that His work was not finished. As any parent can attest to, the preparations are only the beginning; once the children emerge, blinking, into the Sunlight, the Work begins in earnest!
Rhea bore 3 male children & 4 female to Her Lord, 7 offspring in all. The first male child seemed to enjoy being immersed in water most of all, particularly in the largest bodies of water He could find. In fact, 'Siedon, as He came to be called, liked being in the water so much that it was hard for His Mother to keep Him out of it! 'Siedon became so good at holding His breath that He stayed underwater for longer & longer periods of time, till it was almost like He was born to it. Posiedon learned to actually breathe underwater, like the fish & finally He took up permanent Residence in the Sea. The second male child was a bit darker, though pleasant enough. Hades enjoyed being alone. He was not the social, active person that His older Brother was; in fact, He spent so much time in His room in the basement that His skin was almost a sickly shade of pale. His Mother & Father knew that this One was special, that He was meant for greater things, but what those greater things were could only be guessed at. When Zeus came along, being next to the last of the seven ( the number of perfection, by the way ), He emerged rather smaller than usual. For such a small Baby, He sure ate more than His share ( He REALLY liked to suckle ) & so, before too long, the baby Boy surpassed both His older Brothers in stature & was soon whipping them regularly, just as they had been used to doing to Him. In fact, you might say, it got to the point that He ruled over them!
Demeter, or 'Demi', as She was more affectionately known, was more like Her oldest Brother than anybody. The only difference was that, while He enjoyed the Water, She enjoyed working with Earth. The original 'Green Thumb', Demi loved living, growing things. The fact that She could take a dried up old seed & bring Life from it imbued Her with a sense of Power that would never die! Hestia took after Her Mother. Like her older Sister, She too enjoyed the Earth & growing things, but rather than the feeling of Power it gave, She perceived these living, growing thing as Her children. Being the motherly type, Hessie was more apt to spend time just sitting with Her Children, watching over them as they grew. Being the fifth in line, Hera was the motherly type as well, though not quite to the extent of Her next older Sister. Though She was ready to do what needed to be done, even if it meant getting Her hands dirty in the good Earth, Hera was more of a Home-bound Spirit; She would rather cook & clean than spend time with Her Sister, tending the huge Garden. She also had Her repositories of Knowledge, Books. Finally, we come to the youngest Child, Persephone, or Perse for short. Perse always had a mind of Her own, which is not unusual for a youngest Child, a daughter no less. One might note that, to whatever extent, She embodied certain aspects of all of Her Sisters, as well as certain of Her Brothers. As the youngest Child ( also not unusual ), Persephone grew up with what some might call a sense of entitlement. So, as Fate would have it, Perse often found Herself the butt of Her older Sibling's cruel jokes. On one such occasion, for instance, Hades locked Her in His dungeon-like room in the basement, not allowing Her to leave until She agreed to be His personal slave.
Such were the offspring of Rhea & Cronus. As the Parents of such diverse Children, both Cronus & Rhea had their hands full & though Cronus may have spent more time working with Earth, bringing it under His subjugation, if you will; Rhea, in the greatest sense, spent more time with Her Mother, communing with Her, feeding Her, loving Her. Rhea, for example, though She loved to care for Her living, growing things, would just as soon just sit next to them while They silently grew, in silence Herself, simply allowing Them to Be, rather than impatiently trying to hurry them along as Cronus was wont to do.
Cronus, or Kronos, as He is more familiarly called, knew, or at least thought He knew, that He had an allotted Time on Earth. One could almost understand, therefore, His impatience in wanting to 'get the job done'. Rhea, on the other hand, being more of an emotional, motherly Creature, knew that, no matter what She did, Her Children would grow as Fate had decreed. Fate was not some cruel Master Who decreed beforehand how everything would work; rather, Fate was a personal Choice, through which each of Her Children decreed Their own Fate!
The above might be called a parable based on a myth. At that, a myth however loosely based on a greater Myth. As a parable, the Story above points to a greater spiritual truth. What that greater spiritual truth is, I leave to the discernment of my readers. May the Fates be with you!
Sage Charles
