Goddess of the Week: Nike

Image via Wikipedia

Heather needs a goddess of self confidence.  She needs the Greek goddess Nike.

Even Zeus needed Nike.  Once, Zeus and the Olympians had to battle the Titans.  The Titans released this crazy-scary monster named Typhon right on Mount Olympus.   The gods freaked out!  Almost all of them fled Mount Olympus in a panic and embarrassed themselves by showing up in Athens with really bad hair and slippers.

Only Zeus and Nike stayed to defend Mount Olympus and the power of the gods.  Zeus, of course, had his whole lightening bolt thing, but Typhon had been locked inside a mountain for, like, forever, and was really pissed.  And, as we all know, a pissed monster, is a psycho-dangerous monster.  It was bad.  One look from Typhon and Zeus's lightening bolts turned into My Little Pony plushies.  One terrifying roar from Typhon and Zeus fell backwards onto the ground.

Abandoned by his brothers and sisters, surrounded by strange pink and purple stuffed horses, Zeus lost confidence in himself and began to lose hope.  But Nike would not let him.  With the ferocity of a drill sargeant and the energy of a girl who believes enthusiasm alone can make one a pom pon girl, Nike cheered on Zeus.  "You are awesome!" She yelled.  "You are fricking Zeus-king-of-fricking-Mount-Olympus," she yelled.  She yelled so loudly that, finally, all Zeus could hear was Nike, and once that happened--once he'd drowned out Typhon and (in the words of Anne Lamott) the KFKD radio of his own mind--he was gold.  He destroyed Typhon, the gods came back, and no one ever again doubted that Zeus was where he belonged.

Nike reminds us that self confidence comes from within.  Turn off KFKD; listen to National Nike Radio instead.

Channel this goddess: when you've lost confidence in yourself, when obstacles seem insurmountable, when resisting the strange allure of My Little Pony.


Need a goddess: Post a comment explaining what you want one for and then check back in a week or two to see what I found.  It's fun!  It's free!  It's better than a poke in the eye!