The Injustice of Medusa

**image credit from Canva

 In Greek mythology, there is no canon law that one can say which version is the correct one. You can see many different versions for some smaller details. 

You might have heard of this famous character, Medusa. What is behind her terrifying face and gaze?

Her name means sovereign female wisdom. She was once a beautiful maiden, and her chief glory was her hair, and with that, she was adored by countless men from all walks of life. She was one of Athena's priestesses. Medusa was borne out of the love of Phorcys and Ceto, her parents. Their other children were Graiae and Ladon and her other two sisters, Stheno and Euryale. They were the monsters with brass hands, sharp fangs, and the hair of living venomous snakes. The two are the real Gorgons and they are immortal.

What happened on that night before Medusa became like her sisters was when Poseidon, the god of the sea, disrespected and ravished Medusa, and her femininity was destroyed. It happened in Athena’s temple, probably to annoy Athena since the two of them are not on good terms with each other, Athena discovered what happened and changed her form to match that of her sister, the Gorgons as punishment.  According to some versions, Athena was just trying to protect her, and she made her face hideous and snake-haired, so she can defend herself from men. Though Poseidon and Athena were not on good terms, Athena cannot punish Poseidon since they are equal. So, Athena deprived Medusa of her charms and changed her beautiful ringlets into hissing repugnant serpents.

Now there was a king who wanted his stepson to be out of his sight, King Polydectes of Seriphos. He sent the son of her wife, Perseus to behead Medusa in her sleep. A duty said to require Perseus of maximum heroic-male courage and skill. Athena and Hermes guided him, he was even bestowed a magnificent curved sword by Hermes;  a bright shield by Athena; winged shoes, the helmet of invisibility, and the magic wallet given to him by the Nymphs. With all these, Perseus was able to go near her with Athena’s bright shield, decapitate her with the curved sword, and put her head into the magic wallet. Her sisters chased after Perseus, but they cannot get their hands on him because he was wearing the helmet of invisibility. When her head was cut off, there sprang from her trunk, giving birth to Pegasus (the winged horse) and her bleeding neck sprang Chrysaor (the bladed giant). The fruits of her unraveling life.

Medusa even after her death upheld her Gorgon powers to protect herself from enemies…

When Perseus arrived in Seriphos, he used Medusa’s head to turn his enemies into stone. The rest of Medusa’s blood – a vial containing two drops – one was a cure-all, and the other a deadly poison. Medusa’s hair lock could still cast terror into any enemy unfortunate enough to even accidentally behold it.

Until now, Medusa is still depicted as someone to be afraid of. Yet, her story is an example of our present social situation… the injustice as she was the one being punished instead of the culprit. In most Asian countries this is still happening, and there are still those people with that victim-blaming syndrome. If someone’s body is disrespected, some people tend to blame the victim for wearing this or that kind of dress, for going out with men. In the first place, a dirty mind can do all that even if a victim is all dressed up or covered. What can you say about a baby, a man, or a grandma being disrespected? Does it have something to do with the way they dress? Does it have something to do with their going out with men?

Though the story is just a myth, definitely it is one of the most famous characters in Greek mythology. As we can see what she had was a form of injustice and unequal treatment by the gods and the goddess. Like in our present situation, the powerful, those with connections or those in government positions, and those who have a lot of money can revert back the story in favor of them. Even in the end, Medusa did not find the justice she deserved, nor was she given a chance to prove what was done to her. Sounds familiar isn’t it?... much like today, there are still unsolved cases of rape and murder, and injustice has been found. Whatever happens to the case of the Vizconde massacre? The people involved in the case?- find it out; and the case of a missing girl in Robinson's Palawan? then again, the people involved in the case. The mysterious killing of suspected drug pushers/users until now just reminds us that there are people behind it as some of these cases involve policemen who acted in the line of their duty, take the case of Kian Lloyd delos Santos (17), Carl Arnaiz (19), and Reynaldo de Guzman (14). 

In other countries, there are numerous cases of rape and missing persons as well. Sometimes a lax in investigation of the police causes it to prolong the justice to be served. Pieces of evidence are being cleaned up or tampered with, due to not following the SOP, and there also goes a cover-up among the police, family, and higher people involved in the case. 

 

Do You Believe in Doppelganger?

image credit to firsttoknow.com

     

     Maybe one of us has seen one or many times a person close to us or has some connection with us in two different places at the same time. You might be thinking you are being fooled by that person or your own eyes. But how could be that possible? I have come to know some bizarre things about doppelgangers from a Philippine movie, The Healing. Bizarre as it was, the movie depicted the doppelganger as a sign that someone with that image is nearing death and that the real person and his doppelganger should not meet face to face or else that person will die. But where does the word doppelganger come from? It was a coined word by the German writer Johann Paul Richter, Doppel meaning double, and ganger meaning goer, which refers to specters or ghosts. Doppelganger is then a double of a living person which brings bad luck, or some call it, the apparition of a living person.

     But what made me write this topic at once? I don't really know if I have to believe this. I have researched and read stories about doppelganger encounters. The reason? Some people close to me have seen maybe my doppelganger, and my daughter has seen her brother. In my first instance, when I was asked by an ex if I had been to a mall, he followed it but seems lost in the elevator. At that time the mall is too far from where I am staying and never went out that time because of chronic migraine. In the second instance, I called the school I'm teaching so that I cannot report for work, even crying due to a severe headache. Then, the next day one of my co-teacher swear she saw me and met me near the school's gate but our guidance counselor refutes that I was really absent that day. The third instance, was when my daughter saw her brother, (my eldest) standing near the kitchen. But at that time, my son was in Bulacan for a swimming getaway. Then later that afternoon, he texted me and told me he was nearly drowned and someone had just got his hand to help him.

     We have passed on it as mere doppelganger jokes, relating it to what we have watched in a movie but then found myself reading stories about it. I found out that most people who have someone's doppelganger mean that the real one is undergoing sickness or depression or extreme sadness, But I also found out that it's a myth as depicted in Ancient Egypt, Norse, and Breton mythology.

        So believing in it or not is up to you, on how you perceive things, how you understand what's beneath, and how your faith can take you into its realm.

Articles I have read:

http://paranormal.about.com/od/Doppelgangers/a/doppelgangers.htm

http://listverse.com/2013/08/30/10-disturbing-tales-of-doppelgangers/

http://www.thecontroversialfiles.net/2015/04/true-stories-of-doppelgangers.html

Try this quiz for fun about your doppelganger:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/hattiesoykan/where-does-your-doppelganger-live?utm_term=.qj698ZyWj#.bxJ2WD0pj

#doppelganger #ghost #double #mythology #bizarre #paranormal #encounter

The ALDUB Magic

      It has been a year since the ALDUB is a byword not only in the entertainment world and our homes but even as well in the cyber world through social media. The ALDUB phenomenal love team is Alden Richard and Maine Mendoza, the power couple that spans the world, and created noise through different social media, especially Twitter. Celebrities even outside the Philippines began to ask curious what is ALDUB.

     The power couple has so far received ten (10) awards, aside from the solo awards they
each has received since last year. They are also the most sought brand endorser, as a couple and solo garnering thirty (30) commercial ads from different companies in just one year. Bigger companies such as Mcdonald's, Coca-Cola, Bear Brand Adult Plus, Mitsubishi, and Cadbury are among those whom they have endorsed. Successful as it is, they have been on the cover of various magazines from local to international such as Reader's Digest and Forbes magazines. Just recently, in time for its 1st anniversary, the power couple ALDUB, also known as MaiDen or MaiChard leads the YES! Magazine 100 Most Beautiful Artists of the Year. ALDUB is also recognized by Guinness World Records as the Most Used HashTag in 24 hours on Twitter, for its #AlDubEBTamangPanahon (AlDub at the right time) with 40,706,392 tweets in October last year.

     The ALDUB Magic continues .. the power couple celebrated its 1st anniversary, (July 16) on its home tv station and program, GMA Channel 7 & Eat! Bulaga is the number 1 noontime variety show in the Philippines. For the record, Twitter created customized social media emoji for ALDUB for every tweet with its hashtag #ALDUB1stAnniversary, the 1st in Asia. Twitter only does this for NBA FInals, Game of Thrones, and Marvel Movies. And weeks before the anniversary, ALDUB shoots their first solo movie in Como, Italy for their anniversary offering to their fans, the ALDUB Nation. "Imagine You & Me" garnered Php 21 million (almost $ 500,000) on its 1st day of opening.

* The hashtag #ALDUB1stAnniversary garnered 6.6 million tweets in 24 hours on July 16. Real magic!


WATCH: ALDUB 1st Anniversary

Unto us a Son is given, Unto us a Child was born

Who has heard the real Christmas story? It isn't the fat man in a red suit that we always know giving kids gifts on Christmas eve, it isn't some guys who are singing carol songs and handling you a small, white envelope, it isn't the shopping spree that we do during the 'ber' months making us tired and cash strapped after it...Christmas story is about a young virgin who was engaged to a carpenter and yet even though she conceived a child by the power of the Holy Spirit, the carpenter took her as his wife. It is about a couple who were told by God to go even if the woman is heavy on her pregnancy, asking for a room to stay in and to give birth. Christmas story was about a baby named Jesus, born in a manger, visited and praised by shepherds and wise men from the East. Christmas is Jesus Christ who saves His people from sin. The only begotten Son who was given to us for us to have eternal life

We don't know the exact date of His birth, but one thing is sure... once in this world a Father has given His Son to save us, a child was born in a lowly stable though he is great to give us hope in the face of uncertainty...

#Christmas #Son #God #JesusChrist