Topic Research: Gods and Goddesses

I've decided to focus on Greek gods and goddesses specifically because I continue to find them so interesting and think there really are a lot of different stories that have yet to be told about them.

Orion, The Hunter

There are many different versions of the story of how the constellation of Orion came to be but my favorite is the one involving Artemis and Apollo. I originally read this story when I read the Percy Jackson series and just fell in love with it. While it is tragic, it is also super beautiful. Due to Artemis's own pride (even though she was tricked), she accidently killed her one true love, Orion. As a tribute to him and all he had done for her and the other gods, she put him in the night sky as a constellation so that he would always be there for her midnight hunts. She then also became one of the maiden goddesses in his honor. I don't know what I would do with this story, maybe I'll retell it in a new way kind of like a high school love story. I could never change the ending because that is the best part to me. Very rarely do the gods ever admit they messed up but Artemis does and it has a profound impact on her.
(Myth can be found at Star Lore of All Ages)

Judgement of Paris

I'm not a huge fan of Trojan War myths because I saw a play called the Women of Troy or something like that and it was just awful so it forever turned me off from the Trojan War. It is a really interesting subject especially from the god's point of view because they all had to choose a side. I stumbled upon this myth when looking for myths on Athena because she is one of my favorite goddesses and I can just imagine this giant cat fight between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite as they try and get this golden apple. I can see Hermes being a real pot-stirrer and playing the three of them against each other and creating alliances with the three of them. Honestly, just some really great reality TV.
(Myth can be found at theoi.com)

(Photo from TV Tropes)

Psyche

The tale of Psyche and Eros seems to be a pretty interesting one. I've never heard it before and I was very surprised to see it have a happy ending. I like that it's about a minor god, his mother, and a beautiful maiden. I think a story like this could easily be turned into a modern day love story or maybe some kind of fairytale. I would definitely do some more in-depth research on this topic.

(Myth can be found at theoli.com)

Topic Brainstorm

Greek Gods and Goddesses

Lets just start with the obvious here, I have mentioned multiple times that I really like Greek Mythology and I think so much can be done with the gods and goddesses. Most of my knowledge about Greek Mythology is from the Percy Jackson series but because of my love for it I managed to do some projects in high school about the subject. The only problem I see myself having while doing this project is coming up with a an original concept because there are already a lot of storybooks about them. I would like to learn more about some of the goddesses and maybe some about the lesser known gods and goddesses.

One of my favorite myths is about how the constellation Orion came to be and how that affected the goddess, Artemis. I would like to do something with that story because it is a really beautiful story and it shows a softer side of the gods. I know that a lot of the Olympians had lovers and I could turn those stories into gossip at a sleepover or into some kind of dating game show. Also there was this really good idea I found on Tumblr that I posted a picture of below that I think would be fun to try!
(Information found at Theoi.com)

(Photo from Tumblr)

Aesop's Fables

One of the storybooks I liked was about Aesop's Fables. I like that they end all nice and wrapped up with a message at the end giving you endless possibilities to tell them how you wish. I want to learn more about the messages of the fables and how certain elements of them were chosen. I want to know why a lion was chosen for so many stories and I guess just why animals, in general, are more prevalent. I like that they read like children's books and if I were artsy in anyway I would try to make a storybook that involved my own illustrations (feel free to steal that idea artsy people). I think a good way to tell these stories would be like a friend who only gives advice in fables, then the people he was giving the advice to would end up reliving the fable causing them to figure out the message of the advice. It could end up being really funny because you could have people actively avoid him when they need advice but he finds them anyways or some more genre savvy people would seek him out just to get things over with. 
(Information found at Aesop's Books)

Moon Stories

There is something very intriguing to me about the moon stories. I like that every culture has stories about the moon whether they be about how it came to be or their specific moon worship. A lot of cultures are on a lunar calendar rather than a calendar based on the sun. It also seems like most cultures have a female deity for the moon which I want to know more about. Is the moon just inherently more female? According to Wikipedia, the sun and moon deities are usually opposite genders, so if a culture has a male lunar god then they have a female sun goddess. Those could be interesting stories to tell, kind of a battle of the sexes type thing. Maybe the female solar and lunar deities hang out and talk about their male counter part and how each culture treats them. 
(Information found at Wikipedia)

(photo from imgur)

Weather Gods

Continuing with the common theme here of gods, I've taken an interest in the weather gods. Like the lunar deities, every culture seems to have their own weather deities and I would like to find out how they came to be. I think it would be fun to have a weather report done by the gods and they talk about old myths in passing. For example, if Greece was experiencing a big heat wave then the new caster could reference the last time Apollo did this and it happens to be a classic myth. Each story would be about a different culture and their weather gods.

(Information from Wikipedia)