ABSTRACT
Ground of our being, matrix of all known life, Earth has been seen as a nurturing mother in many folk cultures around the world for thousands of years. The most familiar record of this ancient idea for Europeans and Americans is Greek mythology, which begins with Gaia, or Earth, emerging from formless, undifferentiated Chaos. This female deity is described as the "ever-sure foundation of all the deathless ones" and in the "Homeric Hymn to Earth" is called "Panmhteiran" and "HyUemeUlon" ("mother of all" and "most ancient of beings" (Evelyn-White, 1977: 86-87, 466). This Greek concept of Mother Earth descends from much older traditions all over the world, emerging out of prehistoric ways of understanding the absolute dependence of all creatures on the living landscape.
