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Nymphs

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Rorie LaFay
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« on: March 09, 2007, 03:07:26 am »




In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of female nature entities, either bound to a particular location or landform or joining the retinue of a god, such as Dionysus, Hermes, or Pan, or a goddess, generally Artemis.[1] Nymphs were the frequent target of lusty satyrs.

Nymphs live in mountains and groves, by springs and rivers, and in valleys and cool grottoes. They are frequently associated with the superior divinities: the huntress Artemis; the prophetic Apollo; the reveller and god of wine, Dionysus; and rustic gods such as Pan and Hermes.

The symbolic marriage of a nymph and a patriarch, often the eponym of a people, is repeated endlessly in Greek origin myths; their union lent authority to the archaic king and his line
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Rorie LaFay
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« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2007, 03:14:13 am »



Meaning of Nymph

"The idea that rivers are gods and springs divine nymphs," Walter Burkert remarks (Burkert III.3.3) "is deeply rooted not only in poetry but in belief and ritual; the worship of these deities is limited only by the fact that they are inseparably identified with a specific locality." Nymphs are personifications of the creative and fostering activities of nature, most often identified with the life-giving outflow of springs.[citation needed] The Greek word νύμφη has "bride" and "veiled" among its meanings: hence a marriagable young woman. Other readers refer the word (and also Latin nubere and German Knospe) to a root expressing the idea of "swelling" (according to Hesychius, one of the meanings of νύμφη is "rose-bud").
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Rorie LaFay
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« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2007, 03:17:41 am »



A Hamadryad, by John William Waterhouse
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Rorie LaFay
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« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2007, 03:22:34 am »

Nymph classifications
 
 

A fourth-century Roman depiction of Hylas and the Nymphs
 
 
The different species of nymph are sometimes distinguished according to the sphere of nature they inhabit and personify. Many of these distinctions however are perhaps late inventions. As Rose (1959, p. 173) states, "all these names are simply feminine adjectives, agreeing with the substantive nympha, and there was no orthodox and exhaustive classification of these shadowy beings." He mentions[2] dryads and hamadryads as nymphs of trees generally, meliai as nymphs of ash trees, and naiads as nymphs of water, but no others specifically.
The following is not the Greek classification, but is intended simply as a guide:
•   Land Nymphs
o   Alseids (glens, groves)
o   Napaeae (mountain valleys, glens)
o   Auloniads (pastures)
o   Leimakids (meadows)
o   Oreads (mountains, grottoes)
o   Minthe (mint)
o   Hesperides (garden)
   Aegle ("dazzling light")
   Arethusa
   Erytheia (or Eratheis)
   Hesperia (or Hispereia)
   Hespera (or Hespere)
o   Hamadryads (trees)
   Dryads (oak tree)
   Meliae (manna-ash tree)
   Leuce (white poplar tree)
   Epimeliad (apple tree)
•   Water Nymphs
o   Helead (fen)
o   Oceanids (daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, any water, usually salty)
o   Nereids (daughters of Nereus, the Mediterranean Sea)
o   Naiads (usually fresh water)
   Crinaeae (fountains)
   Limnades or Limnatides (lakes)
   Pegaeae (springs)
   Potameides (rivers)
   Eleionomae (marshes)
•   Wood Nymphs
o   "Corycian Nymphs" (Classical Muses)
o   Lampades (underworld)
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Rorie LaFay
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« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2007, 03:28:07 am »



Nymphs in Modern Greek Folklore

Hylas and the Nymphs (1896)
John William Waterhouse


The ancient Greek belief in nymphs survived in many parts of the country into the early years of the twentieth century, when they were usually known as "nereids". At that time John Cuthbert Lawson wrote: "...there is probably no nook or hamlet in all Greece where the womenfolk at least do not scrupulously take precautions against the thefts and malice of the nereids, while many a man may still be found to recount in all good faith stories of their beauty, passion and caprice. Nor is it a matter of faith only; more than once I have been in villages where certain Nereids were known by sight to several persons (so at least they averred); and there was a wonderful agreement among the witnesses in the description of their appearance and dress." Lawson (1910, p. 131)

Usually female, they were dressed in white, decked with garlands of flowers, but they frequently had unnatural legs, like those of a goat, donkey or cow. They were so beautiful that the highest compliment was to compare some feature of a woman (eyes, hair, etc.) with that of nereid. They could move swiftly and invisibly, ride through the air and slip through small holes. Although not immortal, their lives exeeded man's tenfold, and they retained their beauty until death.

They tended to frequent areas distant from man, but could be encountered by lone travellers outside the village, where their music might be heard, and the traveller could spy on their dancing or bathing in a stream or pool, either during the noon heat or in the middle of the night. They might appear in a whirlwind. Such encounters could be dangerous, bringing dumbness, besotted infatuation, madness or stroke to the unfortunate human. When parents believed their child to be nereid-struck they would pray to Saint Artemidos, the Christian manifestation of Artemis. Tomkinson (2004, chapter 3)

Stock stories about nereids include the girl who fell ill and died and was seen after death dancing with the nereids; the nereid changeling; and the man who won a nereid as his wife by stealing a piece of her clothing. The latter would become an ideal wife until she recovered her clothing and returned to her own people. [Nereids]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymphs
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rockessence
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« Reply #5 on: March 09, 2007, 04:20:09 am »

More nymphs:


In the Cave of the Storm Nymphs:


Listening to the Singer

« Last Edit: March 09, 2007, 04:22:16 am by rockessence » Report Spam   Logged

ILLIGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM

Thus ye may find in thy mental and spiritual self, ye can make thyself just as happy or just as miserable as ye like. How miserable do ye want to be?......For you GROW to heaven, you don't GO to heaven. It is within thine own conscience that ye grow there.

Edgar Cayce
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« Reply #6 on: March 09, 2007, 04:49:04 am »

Hi rocky

I love that top picture.

« Last Edit: March 09, 2007, 04:51:30 am by unknown » Report Spam   Logged

"There exists an agent, which is natural and divine, material and spiritual, a universal plastic mediator, a common receptical of the fluid vibrations of motion and the images of forms, a fluid, and a force, which can be called the Imagination of Nature..."
Elphias Levi
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« Reply #7 on: March 09, 2007, 08:25:16 am »

we need even MORE erotic Nymph pictures here.

Smiley
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"melody has power a whole world to transform."
Forever, music will remain the universal language of men, angels, and spirits.
Harmony is the speech of Havona.

http://mercy.urantia.org/papers/paper44.html
unknown
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« Reply #8 on: March 09, 2007, 08:53:24 am »

Sir Walter Ralegh


[The nymph's reply to the shepherd]


IFall the world and love were young,
  And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
  These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee and be thy love.

Time drives the flocks from field to fold,
When rivers rage and rocks grow cold;
And Philomel becometh dumb;
The rest complains of cares to come.

The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward winter reckoning yields:
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.

The gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,—
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.

Thy belt of straw and ivy buds,
Thy coral clasps and amber studs,
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy love.

But could youth last and love still breed,
Had joys no date nor age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee and be thy love.
 
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"There exists an agent, which is natural and divine, material and spiritual, a universal plastic mediator, a common receptical of the fluid vibrations of motion and the images of forms, a fluid, and a force, which can be called the Imagination of Nature..."
Elphias Levi
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« Reply #9 on: March 18, 2007, 04:28:04 am »

Now that we have got nymphs all covered, I think it's time we moved onto nymphomaniacs, which I'm sure everyon will agree are much more interesting!
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unknown
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« Reply #10 on: March 18, 2007, 08:07:49 am »

Pagan

I think that thread is tailor made for you sweetheart... Kiss
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"There exists an agent, which is natural and divine, material and spiritual, a universal plastic mediator, a common receptical of the fluid vibrations of motion and the images of forms, a fluid, and a force, which can be called the Imagination of Nature..."
Elphias Levi
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