Gaia (Terra)
Profile
Gaia is the ancient goddess of the earth itself. (You might know her better as Mother Earth.) Yeah, she's a pretty big deal. Actually, Gaia is thought of as one of the oldest divine beings of them all, since she was one of the first to spring from Chaos, the empty void that existed before anything else. Yeah, anything else. She is often depicted as a full-bodied woman, emerging from the ground. Oh, and when you're important, you get a bunch of names, and that's definitely the case for our lady: she was also known as Gaea or Ge by the Greeks, and she was worshiped by the Romans as Tullus or Terra Matter.
Basic Information
Name Gaia (or Gaea, depending on who's spellchecking)
Nickname Mother Earth, Mama, Terra, Mother, Mommy, G-Force
Sex Female
Current city I'm the earth. You live on me.
Work & Education
Occupation Goddess of the Earth, Being a Mother
Education The universe taught me everything I know. But I also like to freshen up my knowledge at the Geographical Association's annual conference. The wine and cheese events are to die for.
Beliefs
Political views "Politics" is the invention of lesser beings, most of whom are terrified of me.
Family & Friends (& Enemies)
Parents Chaos (pretty sweet parent, eh?)
Siblings Tartarus, Aither, and Eros (Well, we came into being at the same time anyway)
Children All of humanity (yeah, that means you)
Ouranos, Ourea, Pontus, Okeanos, Koios, Krios, Hyperion, Iapetos, Kronos, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Tethys, Phoibe, The Kyklopes, the Hekatonkheires, Erinyes, Gigantes, Meliai, Python, Kouretes
And, indirectly, everybody else on earthFriends I don't need "friends" – I'm the goddess of the earth
Enemies Yeah, right. (Well, maybe Orion, but come on – no hard feelings.)
Relationships
Relationship status I was married to my son, Ouranos, the sky, but then I had him castrated. Do. Not. Mess. With. Me.
Interested in Nobody, thanks. I can't seem to stop giving birth, whether I'm with anyone or not.
Favorites
TV Shows Ancient Aliens
Parenthood
Up All Night
SurvivorQuotations "In a sense, each of us is an island. In another sense, however, we are all one. For though islands appear separate, and may even be situated at great distances from one another, they are only extrusions of the same planet, Earth."
– J. Donald Walters
"We are on a spaceship; a beautiful one. It took billions of years to develop. We're not going to get another. Now, how do we make this spaceship work?"
– Buckminster Fuller
"Being a mother is like trying to hold a wolf by the ears."
– Gram in Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech
"What, sir, would the people of the earth be without woman? They would be scarce, sir, almighty scarce."
– Mark Twain
"I wouldn't mind at all coming back to earth after my death."
– Edith Piaf
"This is earth. Isn't it hot?"
– Paris HiltonBooks Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
"The Apple Trees at Olema" by Robert Hass
Basho: The Complete Haiku
"Night on the Great River" by Meng Hao-jan
"Burning Island" by Gary Snyder
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
The Living by Annie Dillard
Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas
National Geographic
Lonely Planet Travel GuidesMusic Orinco Flow by Enya
Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell
This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie
Tibetan Singing Bowl (for my meditation practice)
Echoes of Nature: The Natural Sounds of the Wilderness (even though I do it better)
Mother Nature's Son by The Beatles
The sound of the wind
Celtic Woman
Platinum Collection by EnigmaMovies Babies
March of the Penguins
Fern Gully
Avatar
Steel Magnolias
Planet Earth
Dances with Wolves
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Chocolat (I love strong women)Activities & Interests
Likes Crocs
Earth Day
Planetariums
The California Academy of Sciences
American Museum of Natural History
Carbon Footprint
The Monterey Bay Aquarium
Tofurkey
Juicers
My sleep machine with earth sound therapyInterests Midwifery
String theory
Existentialism
Naturalism
Transcendentalism
Buddhism
EcotourismGroups Discovery Channel's Planet Earth
Earthjustice
The Planet Earth
Earth Day
Google Earth
Save the Earth it's the Only Planet with ChocolateSpotter's Guide
Ha! You're looking for Gaia? Well, you don't have to look very far. She's the earth itself. So, just look down – or up or over for that matter – and there she is. Sometimes she pops out of the ground in the form of a full-bodied woman, but she never totally leaves the dirt she's made of. Make sure you're respectful if you do manage to get Gaia to strike up a conversation with you. Don't go thinking she's a total softy because she's Mother Earth and all that. She's responsible for knocking not one but two supreme rulers of the universe off of their thrones. So, yeah she may be the mother of us all, but she is definitely not to be trifled with.
Sex: Female, duh
Age: Middle-aged
Build: Curvaceous
Complexion: Sun-kissed
Hair Color: Darkish (Dirt-Like, you might say)
Facial Hair: None
Scars/marks/tattoos: None
Jewelry and accessories: She sometimes wears a veil or headdress, but mostly she just lets her gorgeous locks flow down over her shoulders.
Clothing: Barely
Armor: Planet Earth
Type of Weapon: NoneTypical Companions:
- Pontus (the sea)
- Ourea (the mountains)
- Ouranus (the sky)
Known Hangouts:
- Um, all of earth?
- White sandy beaches
- Mountain chalets
- Rustic farmhouses
Sightings
Jan 1, 1970
The Birds
In The Birds by Aristophanes, we learn a little bit about Gaia's own creation story. If she's the mother of everyone, how was she born?
Dec 20, 2019
The Metamorphoses
The Roman poet Ovid collected all kinds of wild stories about the gods in The Metamorphoses. In Book 1, Gaia is pretty much the bomb dot com.
Dec 20, 2019
Anthem
In Anthem by Ayn Rand, one of the characters reclaims her identity by changing her name to Gaea. You go, girl.
Dec 20, 1969
"Africa"
Although she doesn't mention her by name, Maya Angelou's "Africa" is definitely about our lady, Mother Earth.
Dec 20, 1975
Marvel Comics
Check her out as a comic strip character in Doctor Strange # 6 (Marvel Comics).
Dec 20, 1990
Captain Planet
Gaia made a few appearances in this awesome animated series, Captain Planet and the Planeteers.