THE COMPLEMENTARY GODS

Before considering the organisation of the complementary gods of Olympus, we can review the symbolism of the twelve elementary forces sustaining human evolution.

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Gods attending the birth of Athena - Louvre Museum

Gods attending the birth of Athena – Louvre Museum

At the base, three double forces (three gods and three goddesses) establish the goals and means of the current phase of evolution.

The tree goddesses (the goals):
– Hera: the adaptation to the movement of Becoming in accordance with the divine order, ensuring that nothing is left behind.
– Hestia: the progressive realisation of a perfect equality which guarantees the growth of the inner sacred fire, Agni.
– Demeter: the realisation of union, ultimately within the body.

The three gods (the means)
– Zeus: the indefinite expansion of consciousness.
– Poseidon: the abolition of the ego through the purification of the subconscious.
– Hades: the victory over death through the unity of spirit and matter. As this victory was formerly considered to belong to a distant future Hades was not placed amongst the gods of Olympus, for the seeker could not consciously adhere to the corresponding work.

As Zeus belonged to the supraconscient he needed a delegate within human consciousness, a role taken up by his daughter Athena, ‘the inner master’.
He stands above the opposition of contraries at the limit of duality, and thus integrates within himself the construction and destruction of the forms submitted to this duality, represented by his two sons Ares and Hephaestus.
The ultimate goal of his work is Love in evolution, symbolised by Aphrodite who was born of his union with the Oceanide Dione.
To reach this goal, he supports himself on two conditions which he generates:
In the true heart, the forces which work towards the construction of the psychic being through the true light and will, Apollo and Artemis. The necessary work of purification and liberation is developed in the genealogical branch of the Titan Oceanus.
Within the mind, the ascension of the planes till the gnosis of the overmind symbolised by Hermes, the last god to arrive on Olympus.

Each force is all the more efficient when it is faced with an opposing or complementary force. For instance, an emotional storm generated by the subconscious, Poseidon, calls for an integration of consciousness and a new unity, Demeter. The obstacles are then no longer considered to restrain evolution, but are understood as opportunities.
The organisation of the couples into pairs is confirmed by the fact that according to Pindar, there was in Olympus a place of worship with six altars, one of which was dedicated to Cronos and Rhea.

On Diagram 18 we can see that Ares has been placed before Aphrodite although they are only lovers and Athena before Hephaestus, the legitimate husband of Aphrodite. This arrangement is in agreement with what has been said about humankind in its current stage: the necessary evolution of love through the destruction of forms, and the rejection, within the frame of a sincere search, of intellectual forms as completely reliable.

As a couple Zeus and Hera represents the principle of the expansion of consciousness and of the complementary power of limitation which ensures a progressive integration. It could also be considered as the necessary in-between of self and non-self which is the motor force of evolution.

The lovers Aphrodite and Ares express a temporary union, present as long as the evolution of the form destined to be a manifestation of Love needs to be destroyed to avoid its crystallisation. When forms will become supple enough to adapt to the movement of becoming, Hephaestus will be again paired with his legitimate spouse Aphrodite, and with this couple a supple and evolutionary form will become an expression of Love.
This couple teaches us detachment in relation to forms, no matter what they may be, so that we may joyfully acce