Artemis: Virgin Goddess of the Sun & Moon--A Comprehensive Guide to the Greek Goddess of the Hunt, Her Myths, Powers & Mysteries
By telling the stories of Artemis and presenting information from writers who cover a period of well over a thousand years, Artemis emerges in a wide range of roles.  She is a goddess of childbirth, and a goddess of song and dance.  Her attributes encompass many solar qualities, as well as showing her association with water and a wide range of animals and plants.Although the modern view of Artemis is often simplistic, in fact she is a complex and powerful goddess who has drawn together a multitude of strands and spread her influence far and wide.  Thus in Artemis we see combined the fruition of the early Minoan Lady of the Beasts with the fertile power of the early goddesses of Ephesus.  Artemis brought together the powers of life and death, aiding childbirth and hunting wild animals, the joy of song and dance with the wildness of nature untamed.  Worshipped by young girls and warriors alike, Artemis spread her net of beauty and might through every level of Greek society.Today her golden arrows still pierce the hearts of many, enflaming us with her "fiery winged rays" and making us look for the joy and beauty in everything, accepting that like Artemis, we can draw strength from how we act, and from the bonds of family and friends.  The untameable huntress still roams the wild places, but now she also draws her worship from the cities she once ignored, where we hear her song and follow her path of freedom and self-determination.