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Aphrodite
In case anyone thinks that I’m a devotee of the deity Aphrodite, with pictures or statues of her around my house–uh uh. Although I chose aphrodite as my website email name, dedicated my book Monster/Beauty to that loving and lovely goddess, and collaborated with Russell Dudley on photos of myself after Greek sculptures of her, she is a symbol for me, not anything to which I pray. A figure of beauty, love, creativity, sensuality, and laughter–as she was for the ancient Greek culture which gave birth to her in literature and art.
As such, Aphrodite inspires me, and I celebrate myself by taking her name, as a bride might take the name of her beloved.
I appreciate the distinction you make between Aphrodite as object of worship vs. a functional symbol. It is an important difference. It can be tempting to choose iconic manifestations and their various physical representations and collect/honor them in a superficial way rather than to internalize and embrace their fundamental characteristics. This tendency might be explained by the relative ease of object collection and token reverence, but it is ultimately an unsatisfying distraction rather than a deeply felt reality.
Also, I need to say I love how conversational you are at time in your posts, i.e. “-uh uh…”
Makes me giggle. Another way of being real.