ATANA POTNIA

Mistress of the labyrinth

Whose winding pathways

Are sinuous, like the snakes

You hold in your hands

The chief deity of ancient Crete was a goddess who ruled supreme. Her name seems to have been Potnia, which means "lady" or "mistress". Sometimes the name is qualified as Potnia of Grain, Potnia of Horses, or Potnia of the Labyrinth, but these names all refer to a single goddess with many attributes, including bees, lions, doves, double axes, and griffins. Atana potnia means 'Immortal Mistress' and the name is usually applied to her snake goddess aspect.

In 1903 Sir Arthur Evans [1851-1941], an English archaeologist, unearthed a faience figure in his excavations at Knossos on Crete.[1] He identified it as a snake goddess, and it was only part of a cache of objects unearthed at the same spot, including a figure he called 'the votary'. Evans believed that most of the objects formed part of a cult shrine, hidden when the palace was destroyed [by an earthquake he thought] circa 1600 BCE.

The figure shows a bare breasted woman holding two snakes. Her skirt, the colour of menstrual blood, has seven overlapping flounces. The skirt flares out from a tight girdle. Over the hips and waist is a kind of apron inscribed with a net pattern. Her head-dress is surmounted by a domestic spotted cat.

Several figurines of the snake goddess were found in domestic houses and small shrines suggesting that she was a protective household deity. Both snakes and cats are known to kill vermin, and both were domestic pets in previous ages. In some societies the snake is seen as the guardian spirit of the home, and encouraged accordingly. The snake is a symbol of moving energy, waves, steams and spirals. Because it sheds its skin and emerges renewed, the snake is as a symbol of life, death and rebirth into a new consciousness. This motif is sometimes related to the menstrual cycle of women, with the monthly shedding of blood and sloughing of uterine tissue, after which the womb is renewed and made receptive once more. The emblem of opposing snakes symbolises emergence and becoming.

The so-called 'Palace' of Knossos is a mysterious labyrinth of rooms, corridors and chambers. Evans thought that it was the home of the king, but others have suggested that it may have been a temple, initiation ground, or even a necropolis. The Minotaur that later mythographers claimed lived at its heart may have been abstracted from the bull symbolism that is found everywhere about the palace, from horned altars of dedication, to frescoes of that show young men and women engaged in the dangerous sport of bull leaping. This seems to have involved vaulting over the horns of bulls with the aim of landing on their feet. In the Labyrinth, the goddess was called Laburinthos Potnia or 'Lady of the Labyrinth'.

Minoan society seems to have been matrifocal, if not matrilineal. Women played a major part in every aspect of society and a dominant role in Minoan religion. It has been suggested that Crete was Homer's Island of the Phaiakans on which Odysseus was shipwrecked and where he had to petition Queen Arete, rather than the king, for permission to marry. The name Crete is derived from the Greek word crateia, which means 'ruling goddess'.

After the invasions of the patriarchal Indo-Europeans, the place of Potnia disappeared. Her role and her divine attributes were probably spread out between many goddesses, [2] possibly including Artemis, Athena, Rhea and Hera.

Atana Potnia is primarily a goddess of protection, appealed to defend the home, and to preserve those who are going through life changing experiences. Atana Potnia is the goddess of the labyrinth, which symbolises the life journey, each person walking along its winding paths, but always travelling inwards towards the centre, where death and rebirth takes place in the fullness of time. Atana Potnia is the protector of all those who tread the labyrinth, and knows all its twists and turns. She offers protection during the transition stages of life, such as birth, the onset of menstruation, marriage, menopause, divorce and death.

NB: This short article is not from my more comprehensive Goddess Encyclopaedia