A story in Greek mythology came to mind while I was creating with Sandra Evertson's Camafeo & Cameos sets. Gazing upon the Greek Goddesses on Sandra's cameos, I remembered a mythological tale I had once read about as a child. In this story, Zeus had decided Ares the Goddess of discord should be excluded from attending a wedding he was hosting, as she always created chaos everywhere she went. Ares became so hurt, angry & jealous when she found out everyone had been invited to the wedding but her. She was absolutely furious & enraged. Ares did not realize the revenge she was seeking against Zeus would not hurt him at all. It would however cause many other problems & disagreements with the other Goddesses & eventually lead to the Trojan Wars, countless deaths & destruction.

Ares decided to show up at the wedding she'd been excluded from anyway. She even brought an evil gift along with her. A golden apple of discord that had "FOR THE FAIREST" inscribed on it. Ares hurled the golden apple into the crowded wedding feast & watched the goddesses fight each other for it. Her gift was designed to hurt Zeus & those he loved as bad as he had hurt her. Zeus was asked to choose from the three Goddesses that remained after the fight. "Who IS the fairest Zeus? HERA , APHRODITE or ATHENA?" The three Goddesses were standing with the apple admiring it's golden beauty & desiring it, not knowing it was an apple of discord.

Zeus suspected Ares was up to something & wanted no part of the drama his choosing "THE FAIREST" would cause. He could tell this was all Ares design to cause trouble for him with his wife, daughter & all of the Goddesses. Zeus said "Let Paris of Troy decide! I believe him to be a very fair judge of beauty & a loyal man of his word." Zeus sent the Goddesses off to see Paris. Paris knew he could not refuse a command from Zeus so he agreed.

Each Goddess had an irresistible offer to bribe Paris with. Hoping Paris would choose them as the fairest of all so they could win the prize of the beautiful golden apple that would forever deem them as THE FAIREST. Hera, Zeus's wife told Paris she would make him one of the most powerful Kings on Earth! Athena, promised Paris great wisdom & that she would make him the finest warrior who ever lived! Aphrodite, however had the most enticing bribe. She offered Paris the love of of the most beautiful woman in all the world. Helen of Sparta. Helen of Sparta had many suitors. Everyone desired her hand in marriage. Helen was not allowed to choose the man she wanted. Helen's father had chosen & arranged King Menelaus as a husband for Helen. Helen was very unhappy in her marriage & did not love or even like King Menelaus.

Knowing this, Helen's Father made all of her former suitors vow to protect this marriage between his daughter Helen & King Menelaus of Sparta. Paris of Troy was not troubled by this vow Helen's many suitors had made or the fact that Helen was married & a Queen. He stole Helen away to Troy with him anyway & made her HIS wife. HELEN OF TROY. Aphrodite received the golden apple of discord from Paris as her reward. Deeming her THE FAIREST. The prophecy soon came true that Paris, the banished at birth, Prince of Troy would be the downfall of his Father's Kingdom. All of Helen's past suitors fulfilling their vows launched a thousand ships full of their armies to the shores of Troy to begin the Trojan wars. Paris was killed in battle & Helen was taken back to Sparta. The Beautiful Kingdom of Troy was burnt & destroyed. All because Zeus hurt Ares feelings & Ares wanted revenge.

An apple of discord, while small in it's beginnings can lead to even bigger disputes. Destroy love, trust, marriages, friendships, families, innocent lives, businesses, leaders, countries, civilizations & even life as we know it on Earth. Choose to be a good apple not a bad one. HUGS! YOU ARE LOVED! - Jenn White