The Gift
According to Anatolian mythology, Cybele is a goddess who is believed to be the creator of all other gods, goddesses, and all life forms including plants, animals, and humans. Ironically, she had no creator like a mother or father, she was present till the beginning of time. As a result of that, she gave herself the role of being a “mother” to all of her creations. Cybele is nothing like a human being she is not playing by rules, she is creating rules herself. Because she has very different kinds of abilities than humans, with her powerful gifts she is able to transfer through different dimensions and even create life forms out of nothing. This majestic mother goddess symbolizes the power of fertility and the reproductive system. Throughout history, Cybele is portrayed as a plump lady giving birth to a baby on a lion-shaped throne. Other than a nurturing mother her cult also used to refer to her like wild animals like lions and hawks which attracts attention to her wildly protective side and highlights how powerful she is.
Hundreds of centuries ago when The Earth was just a hot piece of rock, Cybele landed on today’s Anatolia to create her own civilization that she could be a “mother” to. Out of nowhere, she created “Gobekli Tepe” which is known to be the place for the starting point of humanity. Here she planned to spawn humankind and construct the world’s first temple to worship her. She entombed her temple under tons of earth in order to create artificial hills which is actually where this place got its name from. After crafting this special place, Cybele created all life forms and agreed with them to protect and bless the cult as long as they worship her. At that time period, the key to a strong and rapidly developing community was a successful process of reproduction and fertility. With this decision that she made with humans, Cybele agreed to be in charge of fertility and casting out demonic energies in order to create a safe environment to breed. As the cult grew, all members sheltered in caves that Cybele created all around the temple. Here community members met with art and even made sculptures of their goddess which handed down to this century. Also, their ruling system was nothing like ours, they used to obey their goddess and do whatever she commands. The only authority was Cybele. Today, “Gobekli Tepe” still remains a huge mystery. Archeologists still wonder how mankind had managed to construct this kind of complex structure underneath hills with non-existed tools. With mysterious drawings, pottery, and sculptures, some people believe that this place was a magical portal where humankind was created by something enchanted and powerful.
Everything was working out smoothly till the day Cybele met with the love of her life. Even though she was nothing like a human, she was still able to have feelings like love and hatred. Several years after creating this ancient cult she fell in love with one of her creations, a god named Attis. Little that she knows this will be her first and sadly the last interaction with love. One day Cybele caught her lover, Attis and his bride to be in a post meridiem wedding ceremony. She became so furious that she wickedly cursed and forced Attis to castrate himself by cutting his genitals off. He eventually died by bleeding to death. Cybele felt beyond betrayed and decided to leave Earth to travel to another dimension. But as the ruler of her cult, she had way many responsibilities to vanish from sight. She searched for another being that is as majestic as she is, something can be bold as she, someone who she can trust to hand down her incredible powers. The answer was womankind.
Before leaving, she gathered all women to her temple and gave them an enchanted mask called “Hamsa”. Cybele sculpted these masks with stones from the mountains that she created and blessed them with her tears. She commanded that, whenever a woman gets pregnant, she must wear this mask in order to keep herself and her baby safe during this hard process. Hamsa’s powers are limitless but the main abilities that it has are protection against the evil eye and venereal diseases, strengthening the weak, and boosting fertility, lactation. This mask can immediately boost up your vital energy and create a spiritual barrier to protect you from bad vibes that may hurt you medically. Hamsa also symbolizes fertility, good luck, and most importantly empowerment among women. From a more artistic point of view, this mask can be depicted as the palm of an open right hand. The right hand symbolizes good fortune in several other cultures too. The thumb and pinky fingers are identical, so it is nearly impossible to figure out which hand it is. Each finger symbolizes different elements; thumb is for the fire element, forefinger is for the air element, middle finger is for ethereal elements, ring finger is for the earth element and pinky finger is for the water element. Hamsa’s original color is teal which is pigmented by the magical tear of Cybele. Inside the palm, it also has a 3D illustration of an eye that is believed to be suspended against black magic and the devils’ eye.
After receiving the mask, the womankind assumed the role of protecting, expending the community and being in charge of the reproductive system and fertility. Subsequently, during their pregnancies womankind used this mask in order to protect themselves against demonic entities. Due to a safe breeding environment womankind managed to amplify their cult with success. Over centuries, with developed technologies “Hamsa” converted into more of a belief rather than an object that women put on. Today, in Anatolia women still use this icon to protect themselves from unholy powers by hanging the symbol at the entrance of their houses. In addition, it is common in Anatolia to draw the “Hamsa” on pregnant women’s bellies with henna to boost up their fertility.
To sum up, with the mask “Hamsa” Cybele highlighted how magical womankind actually is. Popping out something alive from your genitals is an act of goddesses that every woman truly is. It’s safe to say that Cybele is the first feminist that has ever existed.
