It's been a work in progress.

At Litha the women made vows to Athena or Artemis.  I was the lone woman making a vow to Aphrodite.

Aphrodite, goddess of love, lust, pleasure, art, the marketplace.  Mother of Eros, mother-in-law to Psyche.  Married to Hephastus, tarried with Ares (among others).

So.

She's not a silly plaything.  She's not a little fool.  I've made mistakes in equating her to the Holy Matchmaking Mama.

She lives in everything.  She lives in the women I serve, the women who range from hating their bodies to being mildly annoyed with them. 

She lives in us middle-aged farts.  She lives in my daughter.  She lives ini the fiction I'm attempting to write.

The heroes and heroines in my stories have scars on their bodies, and scars in their memories.  But they are made beautiful and sacred by Aphrodite's influence.