LEDA

Her name means “The Lady,” and she is the embodiment of pure feminine receptivity. In classical mythology, Leda was the wife of Tyndareus, the king of Sparta. Her voluptuous beauty lured Zeus to take the form of a great swan, and in this disguise, he seduced her. The same night, Leda also lay with her husband. Consequently, Leda gave birth to an egg and from this egg sprang quadruplets. Clytemnestra and Castor were the mortal children of the King, while Helen and Pollux were the immortal offspring of Zeus. Clytemnestra became the wife of Agamemnon, King of Mycenae and the leader of the Greek forces against Troy. Castor and Pollux were as famous for their strength and valor as for their inseparable brotherly devotion. They bravely fought and rescued their sister Helen whose incomparable beauty caused the Trojan War. At Castor’s mortal death, Pollux was unconsolable, but Zeus granted that they share their immortality, living one day in Hades and the next on Mount Olympus. They were eventually placed in the sky as the eternal constellation Gemini, the heavenly twins.

Leda represents the link between passionate emotion and the state of motherhood, the basis of all life. She is the accessible conductor of the pulse of existence, felt as sensual pleasure and resulting in the primal evolution of new creation. This vital feminine archetype of absolute feeling is unbridled by thought, and her sensory awareness celebrates the joy of being.