Goddess of the Week: Antevorta

Image via WikipediaStar needs a goddess for "focusing on what lies ahead, rather than behind."  She needs the Roman goddess Antevorta.

Antevorta was the goddess of the future, and her sister, Postvorta, was the goddess of the past.  Their big job was to help women in childbirth.  If the baby was coming head first, you called Antevorta; if it was coming feet first you called Postvorta.

You would think Antevorta and Postvorta would see themselves as being on the same team.  After all, the past and the future are directly related.  But they were sisters and goddesses, which meant drama, drama, drama.

Antevorta was always saying she'd do things "tomorrow," but then, with her, there was always another tomorrow so she never did anything, which made Postvorta totally mad because she always ended up having to clean up after Antevorta.  And, of course, Postvorta could never let anything go because she was always living in the past.  It was a bad scene.  Their poor mother, Carmenta.  She was the goddess of prophesy, so not only did she have to endure their endless bickering, but she had to constantly foresee it!

Carmenta tried sending them to different boarding schools--which she finally understood the purpose of by the way--even though she totally knew it wouldn't work out.  Antevorta got kicked out for never turning in her homework, and Postvorta got kicked for always trying to turn in the same term paper.  But at least Carmenta had a semester of peace.

Finally, when they were like in their forties, the sisters worked it out.  They realized their lives only had meaning in relationship to their joint ability to torment their mother.  Plus, people seemed to want their help with the whole baby thing, and since most babies were born head first, Postvorta felt secretly vindicated because Antevorta always had way more work to do, which was cool with Antevorta because she never remembered helping all those other women anyway.

Antevorta reminds us that the future is a like a strong wind.  You need to lean into it headfirst.  Do that, and your feet (like the past) will follow.

Channel this goddess: when the past is holding you back.  Remember, you don't have to let go of the past--who can do that, anyway?  You just can't let it dominate you.  You need to lean into the wind and walk forward.  


Need a goddess?  I got goddesses!  Post a comment telling me what you need or want a goddess for.  I'm swamped with work, but I promise I'll get you one as soon as I can (probably a week or three).