©Selina Fenech
http://www.selinafenech.com

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Apollo
Greek and Roman

Apollo is Diana's twin, making him a natural pair for her. Apollo's popularity may also stem from the fact that he is bisexual. While Wicca welcomes people of all orientations, the God / Goddess polarity alienates some bisexual and homosexual practitioners. Bisexuality in a deity can address facets of life largely ignored or even repressed by the population at large.

God of the Sun - Just as Diana came to replace Selene as the moon, so to did Apollo replace Helios as the sun, driving the flaming chariot across the sky each day. Apollo is not just the Sun but light itself, "the pure, life-giving light that defies the darkness, an association of complex meanings."¹

Patron God of Music, Poetry, Education and other Arts - In this capacity he directs the nine Muses, the goddesses that inspire the artists and intellectuals. He is both teacher and performer, entertaining the gods through the playing of his lyre.

God of Prophesy - Apollo took over the goddess Themis's oracle at Delphi, whose seeress was the most renowned diviner in Greece.

God of Healing - Apollo is a healer and the father Asclepius, the god of medicine and physicians. He who gives, however, can also take away. Like his sister, Apollo is a superb hunter and bowman, but when he turns his arrows upon mortal men, it inflicts plague.

God of Athletics - Apollo is a perfectionist of not only mind but body. The first Olympic games were held in his honor.

Like his sister, Apollo has a vengeful streak. Together they slew Niobe's 12 children because of Niobe's slight against their mother, Leto. Likewise, they cut down all those who refused to aid Leto while she was pregnant.

Like his father, Zeus, Apollo was a woman chaser, leaving dozens of children in his wake.