​What do you think of when you hear the name Jezebel? 
Have you heard the name before? Does it conjure up images of sex workers in ancient times, of lewd paganism and scheming women? 

If you’re like me it’s the images above, or at least that’s what it was until I did more research on the woman from the book of Kings in the Bible. I knew there was more to her story, I had just never taken the time to look.Because Jezebel is, in my opinion, just one more example were the mythology has been changed over the years. 

Once you look at her story more closely you see another classic example of people blaming the woman for negative outcomes, when there’s very little proof she was the heart of the problem. When looking at stories like Jezebel’s, one wonders where were the other people in the story?  1 Kings 18:4 says she was killing prophets, but obviously she wasn’t the king, so where was her husband? What was he doing?   One also has to ask the questions of why was she doing this? Where they a threat to her life? No one takes the time to stop and ask. There are no answers to be found that are not given to us by men who want to paint her as the bad guy.  What are your answers to this question? Why do you think Jezebel does the things she does?

Jezebel has come to be synonyms with prostitutes, but again there’s no actual evidence that Jezebel cheated on her husband or was a sex worker.  So why have Biblical scholars ignored this and changed her character? Why do you think she’s so negatively portrayed? 

It is interesting to note that the Bible treats Jezebel much worse than any of the Jewish texts do. While in the bible she is carefully never called queen, Jewish texts do give her title and even mention some of the more positive work she did. Why is there this difference in the texts? How do you feel like her story should be written?

I hope one, or all of these questions inspires you all to submit to us today! 

As we draw closer to the submission's closing date, the editors and I wanted to put out another playlist. This issue's playlist is a bit shorter than usual, but hopefully it is still inspiring to you all. We hope you give it a listen and then consider submitting to us.   The current themes are: Kali, Cassandra and Jezebel.    We also welcome any suggestions for future playlists, be sure to follow us on twitter for more information on that.

I’m excited for our first (of many, hopefully) Hindu theme, Kali. So, who is Kali? She is a seer. She is the Goddess of death and destruction. She is the destroyer of time.

Kali–she who is death.

Kali is one of my favourite goddesses because she has so many different aspects to her mythos. She is layered in a way that many other goddesses aren’t. They are beauty, or love, or death. Kali is all of these things, and so many more, wrapped into one non-linear package.

Did I mention she’s totally badass? Because she is, totally badass.

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In Greek mythology, Cassandra is one of my favourite supporting characters. She’s struggling through a life of prophecy, watching things come true as they happen, and yet no-one believes her when she predicts something. All because she spurned a god’s affection.

Some would probably say that it wasn’t the wisest move to anger a god – in fact I would apply that as a general rule in the mythology, since Greek gods weren’t exactly well-known for being forgiving. And yet, she had the bravery to do something like follow her heart even if she knew she might be punished for it.

My main line of thought when I think of Cassandra tends to centre on the Trojan War. How much exactly did she see with the Sight? Did she know in advance that loved ones would die, or did she manage to blot out the visions? I like to pick this line of thinking apart, taking it very analytically. Was it something she could focus, or, like other literary seers, was she drawn against her control into a vision? Did she reject Apollo knowing he would punish her, and the way in which he would do so or did she just take the gamble?

When thinking of songs to put to the theme, I thought of Cassandra and I thought of Sacred Heart, by The Civil Wars. In French, the song talks about being at a place and waiting on someone to arrive. Waiting on them to show up, even thinking about reasons that the person might not come.

How long was it after she spurned a god that she started waiting for people to believe her? I like to think of her as not a subservient type, brazenly telling someone that misfortune would happen, damn the consequences.

Eventually though, it must’ve worn her down. Eventually, I can imagine her seeing something that’s about to happen and giving up on saying anything, aware that someone wouldn’t welcome the prophecy anyway.

That’s what I want to see in the poems for prophetesses. Show me despondent, unbelieved and ignored prophecies. Create your own with a warning. Tell me about a bold woman who tells people everything they don’t want to hear and add a bit of destiny – but maybe avoid fate. Show me someone bold who makes her own rules, creates her path in life. Depict someone who has foresight, and uses it.
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Or maybe she doesn’t.

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