~ ☽ 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘰𝘯/𝘓𝘶𝘯𝘢 ☽

🏹ARTEMIS🌑

Artemis represents strength, beauty, and passion

Artemis is the Olympian goddess of the hunt, the moon, and chastity; in time, she also became associated with childbirth and nature.
Artemis ruled over the Hunting, the Wild animals and the Children.
She has a twin brother Apollo.
Artemis was very protective of her and her priestesses’ innocence.

Artemis is almost universally depicted as a young, beautiful and vigorous huntress carrying a quiver with arrows and holding a bow, typically wearing a short knee-high tunic and often accompanied by some animal (stag, doe, or hunting dogs). As a moon goddess, she is sometimes represented wearing a long robe and a crescent moon crown
Homer calls Artemis either “The Mistress of Animals” or “She of the Wild.” As a huntress, she is also often referred to as “arrow-pouring” or “deer-shooting.” Just like her brother, she may be occasionally called “bright” or, even more, illustrative of her function as a moon goddess, “torch-bringer

When Artemis was still a little maid, she asked from her father Zeus to keep her maidenhood forever. So – just like Athena and Hestia – she remained chaste for eternity. And she guarded this vow even more vigorously than them.
For example, when the hunter Actaeon saw her bathing naked, she transformed him into a stag and set his hounds against him. Needless to add, Actaeon was ripped apart to pieces.
Others tried to rape Artemis; none of them lived to tell.

Artemis' symbols were the Bow and arrows, the Stags, the Hunting Dog and the Moon

Orion and Artemis and forbidden love
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According to legend, Orion lived on a remote island and loved the life of a hermit. He hunted by night and slept by day. He was quite alone, but not unnoticed.
High in the heavens, Orion had a secret admirer — Artemis, goddess of the moon and the daughter of Zeus, king of the gods. It was her job to guide a team of flying horses hitched to a cart that carried the moon.

Night after night, the winged horses pulled the moon and Artemis from east to west across the sky. When clouds weren’t blocking her view, Artemis gazed down on Orion as he roamed around his deserted island, and she fell in love with him. But there was a problem: The gods could not mingle with the mortals. Artemis knew this but couldn’t resist.
One night as she was guiding the moon, she gave into temptation. She halted her horses, sprouted divine wings and soared down to Orion’s side. It was love at first sight for the hunter.

From then on, Artemis made a habit of stalling her cart over Orion’s island and flying down to hunt and play with her mere mortal. Life was great for the happy couple until Apollo, god of the sun and Artemis’ brother, discovered the pair and reported what he had seen to Zeus.

The king of the gods was enraged and acted immediately to squelch the unlawful love affair. He ordered Apollo to take a giant scorpion to the island. Apollo delivered the deadly beast during the day, when Orion was sleeping, knowing one bite would kill the hunter.

But it didn’t quite work out that way. Orion awoke in time to fight the scorpion. The battle lasted for hours, but the scorpion finally managed a deadly bite, and the mighty hunter perished.

Artemis discovered her slain lover and was filled with grief and anger. The giant scorpion, wounded after the battle, was crawling away from his prey. Artemis instantly knew what had happened. She grabbed the scorpion and flung it into the sky, where it was transformed into the constellation Scorpius. Then, Artemis lovingly placed the body of Orion in the opposite side of the sky, where it, too, became a constellation.

Artemis made sure the scorpion and the hunter were as far apart as possible. That’s why when we see Orion rising in the east in the winter, we see Scorpius beating a retreat in the west.

🏹🌙🏹🌙🏹🌙