Barbara Walker Tarot - Princess of Wands: Atargatis

[EmpyreanKnight]

 

 

Princess of Wands: Atargatis

 

Floating between sun and moon, the Sea-goddess represents both giving and taking, her traditional breast-offering pose countered by the dangerous, devouring vagina dentata. Like other forms of the middle-eastern Goddess, Atargatis/Astarte/Ishtar stood for both nurture and destruction. At Der in Babylon, she devoured the phallic god Oannes and gave him rebirth, a myth later repeated as the biblical story of Jonah. Her card means irresistible power, a perilous compulsion, symbolized by another of her totems, the spider. Though risky, her path might bring great rewards.

 

[Saturn Celeste]

I'm so sorry, Empyrean but I have got to say this!  I always wondered how mermaids 'do' it!  ::)

[EmpyreanKnight]

OMG lol SaturnCeleste. ;D I imagine that since they have piscine lower halves, they would reproduce the same way that fish do. Males and females would expel large quantities of their sperm and egg at the same time into the water, where they'll be fertilized. But some films and books feature mermaids who give uterine births, so they may also have sex like humans do.

 

An interesting fact: Atargatis in the card is shown with what looks like vagina dentata, or female parts with sharp teeth that can dismember members unfortunate enough to seek shelter in them. This is probably based on the fact that young male priests/devotees of Atargatis (considered the premier goddess of Syria during her time) would castrate themselves in order to prove their dedication to their goddess. It was only when the King Abgar decreed that anyone who lops off his own balls shall also have the offending party (i.e. his hand) chopped off that the practice effectively stopped.