The story of Pandora
from Tracy Ann Oniya
 
  Long, long, long ago when the human form was a new thing on Earth, people were very different then they are now. The Gods, the children of Great Mother Universe, had made humans in their own mage, thinking that the "little godlets" could provide endless fascination as a reflection of themselves. At first they found them very entertaining. The Gods would order order the humans,  "Go that way" or "Go this way" and the humans would go. When this got dull, they begun to have the humans do silly things, or even dangerous things. "Jump!" they would say when one came to a cliff. The human would jump, and sometimes the Gods would save them and sometimes they wouldn't. The Gods laughed heartily at the silly humans. Eventually though, even this got boring. They had exhausted every possible command and tired of every silly game. The humans were simply too predictable to be entertaining.
  So all the Gods and Goddesses gathered together on Mount Olympus to decide what to do. They decided that since they had formed them from the mud of the Earth alone, the humans were missing the gifts of the Gods and so were incomplete reflections.
  The inhabitants of Olympus worked together, with Zeus acting as foreman , since he liked to be in charge anyway and they created a special woman from the clay of their own sacred well.
  They fashioned her to be able to dance, even without moving, and created every line of her to catch the radiance of the Earth and shine it out among the humans. They named her Pandora which means the 'the all Gifted One". Then each God and Goddess bestowed upon her a gift. Aphrodite gave her beauty. Artemis gave her stealth and courage and connection with the animals.
  Zeus gave her strength. Poseidon gave her pearls from the sea for her teeth and to grace her neck as jewels. Then Hermes gave her a bright golden box inlaid with silver and jewels and mother of pearl. The box was locked. Hermes hung the tiny key on a chain around Pandora's  neck and told her that she could do anything at all she wished with the box, but under no circumstances should she ever use the key.  She must never ever open the box. After Hermes It was Hera's turn to give Pandora a gift. Hera gave Pandora curiosity.
  When all the gifts had been bestowed, Zeus took Pandora to live with the humans. He chose Dometheus to be Pandora's husband. Zeus took Dometheus aside and told him that the one draw back to Pandora was that Hermes had given her a box that must never be opened. He told  Dometheus that it was his responsibility to make sure Pandora never opened that box!
  Pandora and Dometheus, their union blessed and ordained by the heavens, fell in love instantly. They happily began building a home for themselves at the edge of the village. When their cottage was complete,Pandora set the golden box from Hermes on the kitchen window sill, beside the herbs. There it caught the sunlight and sparkled so that Dometheus noticed it immediately. He asked Pandora what it was. She told him it was her gift from Hermes and, though she had a key she would never open it.
  Dometheus replied that Zeus himself had told him of this box. He told Pandora that she must always do as the gods proclaimed, without question! Dometheus suggested that she hide the golden box away.  Pandora felt that to hide away a gift from a God would be disrespectful, but she did move the box out of the sunlight to the mantle over the hearth. "Perhaps," she thought, the flames would distract her from the golden box. Of course, it didn't work. Wondering what could he in the box fascinated Pandora. She would find herself standing near it, lightly running her fingers over its jeweled surface, musing as to its contents. "Such a beautiful box must hold something even more wondrous!" she thought. Pandora tried to do other things, but nothing held any interest for her but the box from Hermes. She moved the box again. Telling herself she mustn't open it, she hid it under her bed. Her dreams turned to nightmares. With shaking hands, she locked the box in a trunk, but her nightmares continued. The color began to drain from her sight. She was consumed by Hera's gift of curiosity. Trying to be dutiful, she condemned her curiosity as evil.  Dometheus praised her each time she hid the box further away but nothing helped. She longed to open it. Finally she had her husband dig a deep hole. She put the whole trunk in the hole with the box chained inside it.  Together they buried it and with all their strength rolled o huge boulder over it. They were both quite sure that Pandora should now be safe from the lure of the wonderful box, but as the boulder settled into place the last scrap of color drained from Pandora's sight. All the birds' songs sounded flat now and the smells of the garden faded to only the faint rot of de-caying weeds. Pandora became an empty shell as she walked back to the house with Dometheus. His wife's pain and her haggard look saddened Dometheus, but remembering Zeus' words told her it must he for the best. That night Pandora lay as if dead, hollow and staring beside her sleeping husband. Just after midnight a full Moon rose. Its light fell upon her in the silver lines of the pattern on the box. Pandora sat up and looked up to see Hera's face smiling down upon her from the Moon. Pandora thought, "I am dead already What harm could opening the box do me now?" Silently she went to the garden and with wild strength that seemed to flow into her from the Moon, she rolled the boulder away in one mighty heave. She heard the sweet hoot of an owl
  and felt her strength grow wilder as she scooped and flung to the earth away She pulled the trunk from the ground and could see that it had turned crimson red from holding Hermes' box. She bit through the chains around the trunk with Poseidon's pearly teeth and flung back the lid. The golden box glittered and gleamed in the moonlight. Pandora put her hand to the key at her neck and trembled. For a moment her wild strength drained from her as she listened to the voice of doubt within. Then she looked up to see Hera in the Moon, smiling. Her strength and resolve returned. She took the key from her neck. Gently she put it into the lock upon the golden box. Pandora turned the key. The box flew open and all manner of dark slimy creatures flew out and into her heart. There was Envy, Greed, Pestilence, Deceit, Gossip, and everywhere there was Hatred and Rage! All the Furies attacked Pandora and tore at the gifts the Gods and Goddesses had given her! Pandora closed her eyes and rocked on the Earth and remembered each deity and their gifts. Each gift was filled with blessings. With the courage from Artemis, she faced each of the Furaging in her heart. She clasped Greed, who urged her to take all she could from everyone
  around her. She felt Greed's desperate hollowness. She said,"Greed, your pain is real, but only because you refuse to receive. I release you to Athena. Be transformed by her love." As Greed flew from her, Abundance flew with it, as the light with the dark. Next Pandora grasped Greed's sister, Envy She released Envy to Demeter, who exposed Gratitude as Envy's antidote. Pandora faced each of the Furies by clasping it to her claiming it and calling on her friends the Goddesses and Gods to transform it. Pestilence gained Healing, Deceit danced with Revelation, Hatred balanced into Compassion, Fear was salved with Acceptance, and Rage soothed with Joy. As each Fury received its lesson to carry it flew out over the whole Earth and into the hearts of every human. In this way the gifts of Free Will, Choice and Self-Determination were given to humans, for Pandora had earned it by following Hera's gift of Curiosity. Pandora now realized the light sides of the Furies had always been there. But while locked away for so long they had grown sour and foul and frightful. Thanks to Pandora, we have free will to this day. Because they loosed the power of Choice upon us, Great Mother Universe has given the Gods and Goddesses the task of watching over us, teaching and helping us with the Furies,whenever we sincerely ask and are willing to accept their help.  Pandora's box now exists in each of us. The open box is the birth of Hope. May you always choose to find the gifts of your own box and never cause them to be Furies!