Pandemonium

I’ve constructed a little wordplay to start 2022. It’s archaic.

As the New Year begins, let’s leave behind panic, pandemonium, chaos and fury. Lethargy, narcissism and phobias will be things of the past.

Instead, we will pack an atlas and head to Europe where we’ll listen to music while dining on nectar, ambrosia and cereal. For our mental hygiene, we can be mentored in psychology, succumb to hypnosis and entertain erotic fantasies. 

Good fortune will reign and the world will be brighter. Even the flora and fauna will be iridescent. How jovial it will be!

A New Year may be about to start, but the past lives on in the present. This story is brought to you by the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses and their entourage. Here’s the complete cast of characters and references.

• Panic and pandemonium – Pan was the god who stirred up confusion and fear.
• Chaos – Comes from the Greek myth of Khaos, the void from which all life sprang.
• Fury – The furies were the goddesses of vengeance.
• Lethargy – In Greek mythology, the River Lethe in the underworld was “the river of forgetfulness”.
• Narcissism – Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection.
• Phobia – The Greek god of fear.
• Atlas – Atlas was a Titan who carried the world on his shoulders.
• Europe – Europa was a beautiful princess who Zeus fell in love with.
• Music – Named for the Muses, the goddesses of art and science.
• Nectar and Ambrosia – The food and drink of the gods.
• Cereal – Ceres was the Roman goddess of agriculture.
• Hygiene – The Greek goddess of health and cleanliness was Hygieia.
• Mentor – Odysseus entrusted his son’s education to a man named Mentor.
• Psychology – Psyche was the Greek goddess of the soul.
• Hypnosis – Derived from Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep.
• Erotic – Eros was the Greek god of love and desire.
• Fortune – The Roman goddess of chance was Fortuna.
• Flora and Fauna – The Roman goddess of flowers was Flora. Fauna was a minor Roman goddess whose brother Faunus was the Roman equivalent of Pan.
• Iridescent – Comes from Iris, the Greek goddess of the rainbow.
• Jovial – From Jove, the chief Roman God also known as Jupiter.

May your New Year echo* with love and laughter.

*Echo, the Greek mountain nymph who was deprived of her speech, except to repeat the last words of another.

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