Artemis on my table March 30 2020

While the media is full of warnings the suburb is quiet. Two widely separated people jogged down the empty road and cloudy winds blew over the forests of the escarpment. Today I heard whip birds and saw a Lewin honeyeater. A dear artist gave me the figurine of Artemis with a deer after she had been artist-in-residence in Athens, as Artemis was called Diana in Roman times. She was a deity whose cult went back to the civilisations of Babylon and Sumeria. Artemis was associated with mountains and forests, wild animals, nymphs of the wild, and childbirth, as well as the moon. Her image as Potnia Theron, mistress of wild animals, appears in Homer.  If you wanted to placate her you might dedicate a garment dyed with yellow crocus to her sanctuary.

Diana Wood Conroy, "Artemis on my table" watercolour on Arches paper, 15 x 21 cm, 30 March 2020