History

Used as a timeless idiom to describe the depths of one's feelings and emotions, the Heart Cockle draws its meaning of “love and Romance” from the birth of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love.  Unlike her Roman counterpart, Venus, with whom she is often identified, Aphrodite was not only a deity of sexual love but also the embodiment of affection and all the impulses and desires that underpin social vitality.  According to Greek Mythology the Heart Cockle played a specific role in the birth of Aphrodite.

 

Aphrodite was born of sea foam that gathered about the severed genitals of the god Uranus after he was castrated by his son, Cronus.  The Greek poet Hesiod describes in his literature how the genitals "were carried over the sea a long time, and white foam arose from the immortal flesh; with it a girl grew to become, Aphrodite."  It was believed that the love goddess had not had a childhood and came into existence within the Heart Cockle Shell.  Because of this she was revered as the fertility goddess whose domain embraced all nature: vegetable, animal, and human. It's interesting to note that the Heart Cockel shell is a Hermaphrodite, having both male and female reproductive organs.

 

Aphrodite was considered the goddess of love, beauty, fertility and sexual desire.  She represented the rebellious and unreliable nature of love and feminine thought.  She could be called the first feminist.  She was adored by the ancient Greeks and played many roles as the protectress of young lovers, patron protectress of sailors, the granter of fertility, the goddess of pleasure, the goddess of marriage, and the goddess of procreation.

 

Aphrodite, nestled within the Heart Cockle, was the Olympian goddess to whom young maidens prayed to find true love, youthful brides prayed for fertility and widows prayed to be given offers of marriage.  Alluring to both men and women, young men would pray to Aphrodite before embarking on the courtship of a new love while mothers prayed to her when their daughters entered into matrimony to give them a loving and fruitful marriage.

 

Her symbol has always been the cockle shell, and to Aphrodite the Heart Cockle was sacred.  Throughout Greek mythology the Heart Cockle has been the symbol of pleasure, joy, beauty, procreation and love.