Nymphs

NYMPHS are female spirits of nature. Nymphs often accompanied various gods and goddesses, and were the frequent target of lusty satyrs. The name "nymph" comes from the Greek word that means "young

woman", and so naturally these beings were considered to be female. Indeed, they were represented as lovely and eternally youthful creatures. although not all were considered immortal. In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of female nature spirits, sometimes bound to a particular location or landform.

The wood-nymphs, Pan's partners in the dance, were but one class of nymphs. There were besides them the Naiads, who presided over brooks and fountains, the Oreads, nymphs of mountains and grottos, and the Nereids, sea-nymphs. The three last named were immortal, but the wood-nymphs, called Dryads or Hamadryads, were believed to perish should the trees of the forest disappear.

The Naiad was intimately connected to her body of water and her very existence seems to have depended on it. If a stream dried up, its Naiad expired. The waters over which Naiads presided were thought to be endowed with inspirational, medicinal, or prophetic powers. Whoever drank of these magical waters would be inspired, thus the Naiads were themselves considered prophetic and were frequently worshipped by the ancient Greeks in association with divinities of fertility and growth. Hence all persons in a state of rupture, such as madmen, poets, seers and prophets, were said to be caught by the Nymphs. There were 5 types of Naiades:

Among the Roman literate class nymphs were as restricted almost exclusively as divinities of the watery element.

Organized Around the Idea of Beauty

We should not have to apologize for reveling in beauty. Beauty is an eternal human value. It was not a trick invented by nasty men in a room someplace on Madison Avenue. I say in Sexual Personae that it was invented in Egypt. For

3,000 years at the height of African civilization you had a culture based on beauty. We have two major cultures in the world today, France and Japan, organized around the idea of beauty.
~Camille Paglia speaking extemporaneous on
Crisis In The American Universities
September 19, 1991 at M.I.T. in Cambridge, Massachusetts

When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong. ~Buckminster Fuller:

Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. ~Kahlil Gibran:

Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty - they merely move it from their faces into their hearts. ~Martin Buxbaum