Our raku pottery vase today, ‘Tiresias’ Prophecy’ tells the tale of blind creation, an ancient oracle, an instant gender reassignment, a spat between gods, and a lesson all men should be sure to take heed of – the woman is always right.
Tiresias was a blind prophet and oracle and has a very interesting story of what it is like to be at the whim of the gods.
Our story starts with Tiresias on a mountain journey travelling through Mount Cyllene in the Peloponnese. He came upon a pair of mating snakes and hit them with his staff. Hera, was not impressed with this. Perhaps she had a special fondness for snakes since she sent two of them to kill Hercules in his crib.
Hera decided to express her displeasure by turning Tiresias into a woman. Our story could have ended here. Tiresias was quite good natured about their circumstances and soon settled down, married a man, had children and even became a priestess for Hera.
But the gods are a fickle lot. Tiresias would happen upon another pair of mating snakes seven years later and this time would leave them alone. As a result he was transformed back into a man. There is no record what his husband thought of this.
You can see more of our raku pottery vases here.
These unique circumstances would place Tiresias in yet another predicament. At the time Tiresias was one of the few people who understood what it was like to live as both genders.
What he did not understand was to stay out of disagreements between two powerful and married gods. Sometime after his second gender change, Tiresias was drawn into an argument between Hera and Zeus.
For the godly couple it was a regular day on Olympus. They were arguing, as they often did, but at least it was not about one of Zeus’ numerous affairs or offspring from other mothers. This time the topic was who experienced more pleasure in sex – the man or the woman.
Of course Tiresias was uniquely positioned to render an opinion on this matter. Was it the man as Hera suggested, or the woman as Zeus asserted? Tiresias had an answer and it did not sit very well with Hera. His thought on this matter – ‘Of the ten parts (of sex), men enjoy but only one’.
Hera was less than impressed that he should take Zeus’ side in the argument, and given his history with Hera you think he would have known better than to take any other side than hers. Given his thoughts on the question at hand, maybe he was hoping Hera would turn him into a woman again.
His sexual enjoyment would remain a one out of ten. Hera would blind him and there was nothing Zeus could do to stop her. Zeus could however give him the gift of prophecy, and a much extended lifespan.
What did you think of today’s story and of our raku pottery vase ‘Tiresias’ Prophecy’? This vase is available as part of our crowdfunding campaign in support of our book by clicking here. It is a special one off perk for $60 USD, which includes story. This story and pottery piece will be included in our book.
This pottery piece also has an interesting back story, though not quite as interesting is our protagonist Tiresias. This particular piece was thrown by me blindfolded.
Great post 😊
Thank you!
Great colours!!
Thank you so much! Hope your week is off to a great start!
Thanks! And yours too 😉
I love both 🙂
I always love the crackaleur effect with turquoise hues. 🤗
Thanks so much MJ! That effect on this piece really stands out. I hope your week is off to a great start!
Your pottery is beautiful and combining it with mythology gives it even more depth. I love things with depth.
Thank you so much for your kind comment and words. Depth can be tricky to find sometimes and I agree with you, it is something I very much love too! I hope your week is off to a great start!
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I’m impressed that you threw the pot blindfolded, although really it’s much about being centered and feeling the Clay rather than seeing.
The pot is gorgeous, and the story is inspiring and fun
You are so right that throwing on the wheel is very much about being centred yourself. We saw someone do this on TV and one of my friends didn’t believe I could do it, so I had to try it out. It was actually a pretty liberating experience in many ways.
Thank you so much for your kind words and I hope your week is off to a great start.
I can imagine it being liberating… It’s been a long time but I have made pots on the wheel back in college and I can close my eyes and remember that feeling.
Also I went to look at your indiegogo account and now I’m looking forward to seeing your book and getting my little Buddha necklace.
It was kind of a rough start but I’m working on making it better thank you. I can feel that darn winter depression setting in already.
That is beautiful that you can close your eyes and remember the feeling of throwing a pot. There is nothing like it!
Was there a particular colour of Buddha necklace you wanted? I am going to be doing another firing later in the week so I could glaze one specific to what you would most like 😉 I can also change it out for one of the Yin Yang necklaces too if your prefer.
My week had a rocky start too, and I hear you about the winter depression. Usually that does not start till after the holidays for me though. I hope your efforts to make the week better are paying off 😉
Really enjoyed the lore. I ❤ lore! The piece is really beautiful and the colors remind me of a coral in crystal clear water.
Thank you so much for commenting and sharing your thoughts. I had never really thought about coral in relation to this piece, but I totally see it. This is on of the pieces and stories I am going to be including in my book 😉
I hope your week is off to a wonderful start!
Pretty piece! And I like the humor of the post. Unfortunately, it is part of being a man to not fully understand that the woman is always right until after he’s endured her wrath.
Thank you so much for your kind words! I think you are on to something with that sentiment. Hope you are well and your week is off to a great start!
I love your backstories. They add so much charm to your masterpieces.
Thank you so much! I really enjoy writing them, they help the pieces come to life for me 😉 I hope your week is going well so far!
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Yet another interesting story , loved reading it 🙂
Thank you so very much Nilesh! I appreciate your kind comment and hope your week is off to a wonderful start!
Same goes for you 🙂
the depth of color in that glaze is unreal! beautiful
Thank you so very much for your very kind comment! I hope you are having a nice week so far!
Informative
Thanks. What did you find informative?
It was a new piece of information for me.
Wonderful! Have a great day!
Love this story… AND the backstory! And the gorgeous vase. And yes: always agree with Hera 😉
Thank you so much for your wonderful comment. Your last sentence made me laugh and I appreciate that immensely! I hope you are having a wonderful day!
It’s a beautiful vase and an interesting story which nicely highlights stereotypes, at least from my angle, because you can’t just say that someone enjoys something more or less based on their gender alone. And, if that were something you might believe in, where do people fit in who see themselves as not really belonging to any gender at all?
By the way, the link to your crowdfunding campaign and the link to more images of your vase ‘Tiresias’ Prophecy’ don’t work. Only the link to your other raku pottery vases does.
You raise some very good points. Personally I do not have any opinion on who enjoys what! That is for everyone to figure out on their own journey. I can only speak to my own experience, which I am not doing in this post.
This is based on Tiresias’ story, reflecting stereotypes of their time and those of the original author. Thankfully we live in a world that has more room for nuance (perhaps not enough though). I know and appreciate that there is great diversity in gender, gender identity and sexuality including asexuality. There should be nothing but love, respect and acceptance of where ALL people are at and how they identify with their own journey in this life.
Thanks for letting me know about the links. My crowdfunding link is:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-potter-s-dream-myths-and-legends–2/
I hope you have a wonderful day and I thank you for your comment and helping to create a more robust discussion around these issues and this particular story! It is great to see that unlike in Tiresias’ time people are thinking beyond stereotypes!
Thank you for providing a space on your blog for such a kind of discussion!
What I have found, and this is just coming from my own experience, is that the more you open yourself up to love, the more love you receive in return from people and the universe. The ‘key’ to that (if you could call it such) is to love yourself for who you naturally are.
Thank you for the link and I hope you have a wonderful day too!!
I think these are important discussions to have and it is important to come from a space of love when doing so. Self love is the key to so many things in living an authentic and more actualizing life, and I believe if there is anyway that I can help others do that, however small, the ripples reach my life too.
I really appreciate your comments, insights and sharing.
Loved your story! And love the crazing in the glaze. I did some raku, enjoyed the immediacy of it!
Thank you so very much for your very kind words! Raku is such an intriguing process. Do you think you will ever do any raku again?
Yes, I will! At the moment have so many projects, in at and music and writing!
I know that feeling 😉
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