Mythika 6: The Primordials - Earth, Sky, Water
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A small camo'd cache hidden along the Hogtown Creek Greenway between 8th Ave and 16th Ave in Loblolly Park This cache is easily accessed from the approved Park trails - no need to bush-wack or go on a wood's walk. Cache is large enough for a log and small trinkets or trackables.
This is one of two Mythika series caches placed along the Hogtown Creek Greenway between 8th Ave and 16th Ave in Loblolly Park (see also Mythika 4: Dryads). This cache is easily accessed from the approved Park trails - no need to bush-wack or go on a wood's walk. To access this cache, park at Westwood Park and walk along 8th to the entrance of the boardwalk. Follow the boardwalk to its end and you'll find several well-worn trails, one of which will lead you to the cache. As Gainesville Nature Operations has graciously given thier permission for the placement of this cache in the park, please respect the park rules and take care not to damage the sensitive eco-system in this area.
I replaced this cache on Jan 3, 2010 and had to move it approximately 25 ft from where it was originally. I will post new coordinates as soon as I can get back out there with my GPS. In the meantime, from groundzero turn and look downstream towards the dogleg in the creek. The cache should be clearly visible.
The primordial gods or "Protogenoi" (protos meaning "first," and genos "born") of Greek mythology emerged at the moment the universe was created. They were the first born of the immortals and it was they who formed the very fabric of the universe. They included Earth, Air, Sea, Sky, Fresh Water, Underworld, Darkness, Night, Light, Day, Procreation and Time. They were, for the most part, purely elemental beings - Uranus was literally the sky, Gaea the body of the earth, etc - and they were inseparable from their native element
.
The first of the Protogenoi to emerge at the creation of the universe was KHAOS. Khaos literally means the gap or space between heaven and earth; the lower atmosphere of invisible air and bright mists which surrounds the earth. Khaos became the mother or grandmother of the other substances of air: Nyx (Night), Erebos (Darkness), Aither (Light), Hemera (Day), and of all the birds that filled the void between heaven and earth.
GAIA (or Gaea) was the Protogenos of Earth. She was the great mother of all: the heavenly gods were descended from her union with Ouranos (the sky), the sea-gods from her union with Pontos (the sea), and all mortal creatures that roamed the earth were sprung or born from her earthy flesh.
OURANOS (or Uranus) was the Protogenos of the Sky. The Greeks imagined the sky as a solid dome of brass, decorated with stars, whose edges descended to rest upon the outermost limits of the flat earth. Ouranos was the literal sky, just as his consort Gaia was the earth.
OKEANOS (or Oceanus) was the Protogenos of the great earth-encircling river Okeanos, the font of all the earth's fresh-water: including rivers, wells, springs and rain-clouds. Okeanos was also the god who regulated the rising and setting of the heavenly bodies which were believed to emerge and descend into his watery realm at the ends of the earth.
From the union of Earth, Sky, and Water, the world as the Greeks knew it was born. All of nature was interconnected – one part could not exist without the others , one could not change without all being affected.
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