I am looking out over the Atlantic from Key Largo, with the morning sun playing brilliantly over the waves, glittering like a sea of soft jewels, and the experience is profound. I am keenly aware that the sea is Poseidon’s realm, and that he has power over and a presence in all places where the waves roll over the shore, but for the first tome I have really made the connection that Aphrodite–Aphrodite Pontia–is also a sea-goddess. Aphrodite was born from the sea-foam and rules over islands, and she also has a presence here, particularly when the sun sparkles golden over the waves, it reminds me of her golden girdle, and I can easily understand why it makes her completely irresistable.
Beaches and islands are liminal places, border zones between land, sea, and sky. Places like that can be thinner than other places; thus world gives way to the next a little easier. The gods can be closer. They are auspicious places–if a little on the dangerous side–for prayer and ritual. The kind of place where you just might bump into a god–or a goddess–probably when you least expect it.
There’s a neat little hidden beach here where we are staying, almost like a sandy cave of mangroves and ocean, and I plan on making an offering to Aphrodite and to Poseidon today or tomorrow.
Sailing to Byzantium 