Transformations. Mentha aquatica, Oude Molsedijk, Kleine Nete, Kastelree, Belgium
Wounded inadvertently as she was playing with Cupid's arrows, Venus fell in love with Adonis. But she feared for his life because he was an avid hunter, and hunting and gods or demigods don't go well together. Recall only stories like those of terribly ill-fated Actaeon. Sure enough, soon Adonis was mortally wounded by a wild boar...
Venus, hurrying back from Cyprus, was distraught. In her amorous distress she - so sings Ovid - evokes Persephone who had long ago changed the nymph Mintha into the fragrant Mint Plant. Soon Adonis becomes the fleeting, ephemeral Anemone as an everlasting memento for Venus. A sadly beautiful story of transformation ...
There's another transformation as well, a literary or historical one. Listening to Ovid, it might be imagined that the story of Persephone and Mintha is a 'lovely' one. But tradition tells differently. Mintha was the beloved of Hades, but he helped himself to Persephone. Mintha's jealousy was so great and dangerous that Persephone changed her into the Mint Plant "for being in the way". No love lost between those two... So a double transformation here: of heroes and nymphs into beautiful plants, and of stories as they make their way through history.
I saw this pretty Water Mint on the banks of the Kleine Nete near Kastelree, Belgium. If you look closely you can understand why it's sometimes called Mentha hirsuta, Hairy Mint.
Transformations. Mentha aquatica, Oude Molsedijk, Kleine Nete, Kastelree, Belgium
Wounded inadvertently as she was playing with Cupid's arrows, Venus fell in love with Adonis. But she feared for his life because he was an avid hunter, and hunting and gods or demigods don't go well together. Recall only stories like those of terribly ill-fated Actaeon. Sure enough, soon Adonis was mortally wounded by a wild boar...
Venus, hurrying back from Cyprus, was distraught. In her amorous distress she - so sings Ovid - evokes Persephone who had long ago changed the nymph Mintha into the fragrant Mint Plant. Soon Adonis becomes the fleeting, ephemeral Anemone as an everlasting memento for Venus. A sadly beautiful story of transformation ...
There's another transformation as well, a literary or historical one. Listening to Ovid, it might be imagined that the story of Persephone and Mintha is a 'lovely' one. But tradition tells differently. Mintha was the beloved of Hades, but he helped himself to Persephone. Mintha's jealousy was so great and dangerous that Persephone changed her into the Mint Plant "for being in the way". No love lost between those two... So a double transformation here: of heroes and nymphs into beautiful plants, and of stories as they make their way through history.
I saw this pretty Water Mint on the banks of the Kleine Nete near Kastelree, Belgium. If you look closely you can understand why it's sometimes called Mentha hirsuta, Hairy Mint.