Pinktober 2024: Week 5
Urania
This week wraps up Pinktober 2024, my first Inktober. What a great way to kick start my drawing habit after far too long away. Huge thanks to my podcast partner, Alison Price, at Starzology, for inspiring me to challenge myself.
I’ve already started working on a 2025 calendar of my favorite 12 drawings from last month. I’ll be cutting it close to the end of the year, but it will be another challenge. I’ll let you all know as soon as they’re available to order. Without further ado, here are the last week’s badass goddesses…
Day 26. Medusa
Medusa was born one of three monstrous Gorgon sisters, but originally she was beautiful, until she was seduced by the sea god Poseidon in a temple of Athena, incurring the wrath of the goddess. Athena punished the sacrilege by turning Medusa's long hair into writhing snakes, the sight of which turned men to stone.
The hero Perseus was tasked with slaying Medusa, and in order to accomplish it, he entered her lair carrying a reflective shield. Able to approach without directly meeting her petrifying gaze, he beheaded her while she slept.
Perseus gave the Gorgon's head to Athena, who emblazoned the image on her shield and breastplate, perhaps out of divine regret for her hand in Medusa’s death. Or perhaps because even in death, Medusa’s head is pretty badass.
Divine inspiration
The inspiration for this drawing was from one of my burlesque performances last spring. As soon as I saw this photo, I knew I was going to have to turn it into a goddess drawing at some point.
Day 27. Yemaya
Yemaya is an ocean spirit in the Yoruba religion of Western Africa, and one of the most powerful of all the Orishas or nature spirits. Often depicted as a mermaid, she is the patroness of rivers and protector of fresh waters.
Yemaya is a goddess of love, fertility, motherhood, childbirth and healing. She is considered the mother of humanity, having provided the water that helped forged the first humans out of clay on the banks of the river.
In some traditions, she created all the rivers of the world when her water broke, giving life to all the creatures on land.
Day 28. Mamba, or Mami Wata
Mami Wata, known as Mamba Muntu in Swahili, meaning water mother, is a water deity of Western, Central and Southern Africa. She is sometimes depicted as a mermaid, or half-serpent, and often accompanied by a large snake wrapped around her torso.
An ancient goddess with a varied history, Mami Wata is associated with fertility, prosperity, luck, healing, music and divination. Carried across the Atlantic by enslaved Africans, she appears in different forms across the west, including in the Haitian and Louisiana Vodou traditions.
I’ve never been one for drawing animals (or anything besides heroically proportioned women really), but this month I’ve found that snakes are pretty fun to draw, as long as I have reference material, which the internet and AI provide in abundance… maybe I’ll try drawing some badass gods one of these days. Heh.
Day 29. Nephthys
Nephthys is the Egyptian goddess of the dead, and the sister of the goddess Isis. In one of the most famous myths, she helped Isis resurrect her husband Osiris when he was killed and dismembered by their brother Set, the desert god of disorder and violence.
Nephthys is associated with funeral rites, temples, mourning, childbirth, protection, magic, health, embalming, and beer of all things.
Some of these divine associations strike us in modern times as incongruous, but if you think about life in the ancient world, it makes perfect sense that childbirth was linked to death and mourning.
Here for a good time, not a long time
The connection to beer is a little more abstract, but it seems that her involvement was strictly about intoxication. No hidden meanings about the fermentation process or distillation rituals, just a good time had by all.
Of course, you can never underestimate the role of intoxicants and psychoactive substances in the ancient world.
For more on that hidden history, I highly (pun intended) recommend Brian C. Muraresku’s book The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name, in which he investigates the ancient uses of psychedelics in Greek and early Christian rituals. He did a couple of excellent interviews with Joe Rogan about his discoveries as well.
Day 30. Oshun
Oshun is another Orisha in the Yoruba religion, and one of the most ancient and powerful of all the nature spirits. The story goes, in the very beginning, all the male spirits got together and tried to create the world but they ignored Oshun, and without female influence, the world failed.
Oshun’s consort Shango was the most powerful of all the Orishas, and he forced the other spirits to respect her as they respected him. With her help, the world flourished.
Oshun is associated with love, sexuality, fertility, femininity, water, destiny, divination, purity and beauty.
Day 31. Urania
Urania is one of the nine Muses in Greek mythology, who presided over various domains of the arts and sciences, including epic poetry, history, comedy, tragedy, dance and music.
Urania is associated with astronomy and celestial navigation, inspiring seekers of knowledge to study the movements of the stars and planets, and to understand the broader workings of the universe.
While the other Muses were primarily associated with the arts, Urania highlights the intersection of science and innovation, encouraging the pursuit of scientific wisdom and the exploration of the cosmos.
Her influence extends beyond mythology. To this day, astronomical observatories in numerous countries across the world bear her name. Since astronomy and astrology were one and the same for hundreds of years, Urania is also the patron goddess of astrology.
Wrapping up Pinktober 2024
Well, I have to say this month has been like a rebirth for me. I wasn’t even cautiously optimistic when I started, to be honest. I had no idea how easily I would slide back into the creative process.
My next challenge is definitely going to be getting a 2025 calendar out before the end of November. After that, who knows… Is Drawcember a thing?? You’ll be among the first to know!
Follow me on Instagram and check out the previous weeks of Pinktober 2024:
Pinktober 2024: Week 1
Pinktober 2024: Week 2
Pinktober 2024: Week 3
Pinktober 2024: Week 4
