Study Guide

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 earth
Friends	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 Survivor
Quotations	"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 Hilton
Books	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 Guides
Music	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 Enigma
Movies	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 therapy
Interests	Midwifery String theory Existentialism Naturalism Transcendentalism Buddhism Ecotourism
Groups	Discovery Channel's Planet Earth Earthjustice The Planet Earth Earth Day Google Earth Save the Earth it's the Only Planet with Chocolate

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