The Truth in the Clouds: A Walk Through the Myth of Nephele

What wisdom comes from Zeus’s nubile creation

I recently came across the word Nefelibata, a curious word used in Portugal and Spain to describe someone with their head in the clouds, a tendency to daydream.

It led me down the rabbit hole of research and I found that it related to Greek mythology. The challenge with mythology is that the myths are not simply stories in a book of fables. They are intertwined in other myths, other versions of the same myth, and also in etymological roots and psychological themes. To try and dissect a myth without digging deeper is like trying to prescribe the same medicine for everyone, everywhere, as if one size fits all.

What I find most inspiring in the study of myths is that the intertwining stories show that the “characters” are multi-faceted, like humans are. They are not reduced to a mere “caricature” as if they were a role in a Hollywood movie. While the caricature can help us understand story context, we have to remember that people are never so simply understood.

Myth is from the Greek mythos which means “speech, thought, word, discourse, conversation; story, saga, tale, and perhaps most importantly “anything delivered by word of mouth.” Myths are fluid and are recompiled into text for modern readers, but much is missed when reduced to a few versions.

In Origins of the Sacred, Anne Bancroft describes myth as nonhistorical, but as expressions of “what has always been true, and what remains true today.”

“[Myths] transcend the limitations of formal religion for they are not bounded by historical events, personages, or scriptures; yet they enlighten because they reveal the timeless realisations going on within man always.” — Anne Bancroft, Origins of the Sacred

Like other myths, the connected stories of Nephele and Ixion, are ripe with layers begging for interpretation, like how far humans will go to cover their misdeeds, and how a wrong sense of entitlement leads to disaster after disaster.

There is also a sense of “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” or “like father, like son,” and a very clear motif of a desire to commune with the divine.

From the earliest days of human life on earth, humankind has had a feeling for the sacred, a desire for contact with the divine. Back Cover of Origins of the Sacred by Anne Bancroft

The Myth of Nephele

There isn’t a story called The Myth of Nephele any more than there is a Myth of Ixion, or The Myth of Zeus for that matter. But I’ll try and piece it together here, briefly, beginning with some backstory, Ixion’s marriage to Dia.

Ixion had taken Dia, the daughter of Deioneus, in marriage, but failed, intentionally it seems, to pay the bride price to his father-in-law. Deioneus then stole some of Ixion’s horses to make up for the breach of what was a socially approved contract. Ixion, feeling slighted, invited Deioneus to a feast, seemingly in a spirit of trust and hospitality.

One can imagine that the invitation might have been at the behest of his wife… “Just make peace, Ixion,” but he had other plans that would appease his need for revenge. Ixion ended up pushing Deioneus into a flaming pile of wood and coals, killing him.

The local princes, who we might surmise to be judge and jury, decided not to perform the rituals of atonement that would exonerate Ixion, and the murderer was shunned and banned. Ixion’s crime had violated xenia, a highly regarded Greek concept of hospitality.

Zeus took pity on Ixion for reasons that are unexplained and invited him to Mount Olympus to introduce him to the other gods, at the “table of the gods,” another show of hospitality. But Ixion, true to his nature, begins to lust after Hera, Zeus’s beautiful wife.

Zeus, it is told, decided to test Ixion’s loyalty, and fashioned a look-alike goddess, Nephele, out of the clouds, a goddess real enough to fool the god’s guest. Ixion, asleep in a field while Zeus was crafting clouds, seduced Nephele upon waking and a child was conceived that became the father of the centaurs.

Ixion was punished by Zeus for this infraction, because it was obvious that Ixion would have continued to pursue Hera, possibly to the same end. Ixion was eternally bound to a flying, burning, wheel that would rotate endlessly through the heavens.

Nephele became known as the goddess of hospitality perhaps in a nod to the infractions against xenia, but was also known as a goddess of generosity, loyalty, peace, and shyness.

The Wisdom

One thing that can be elusive when dissecting one myth in particular, is that we can miss details from other stories that can illuminate aspects we might otherwise overlook. I found a few things of note:

• In researching Dia, Ixion’s wife, I found that Zeus had also seduced her by turning himself into a Stallion. I was unable to see whether this happened before or after the Hera/Nephele incident. A child born of this union was called Pirithous, which means “run around,” which is how the stallion gained Dia’s attention. It is interesting that “run around” is now a euphemism for cheating on someone.
• Pirithous, the child of Zeus and Dia, and Centaurus, the child of Ixion and Nephele/fake-Hera later feud in a story of biblical proportions, like the stories of Cain and Abel or Jacob and Esau. I always take note of themes that echo across traditions, even if there are some differences.
• Zeus was guilty of the same “sin” that Ixion was. This is much like a parent who says to their child “Do as I say, not as I do.” Interestingly, many people develop an idea about the divine through their parents and, in our modern patriarchal society through the father. Who imitated who?
• In addition, the Zeus/Ixion dynamic illustrates how we are often attracted to people like ourselves, not realizing that what we have admired through projection can bite us in the rear. Zeus probably saw himself in Ixion — in this case, a bad boy who took matters into his own hands — which prompted him to rescue him. Later Zeus punishes Ixion for eternity, not realizing he has in essence judged his own sin unknowingly. The worst offense is always the one we are a victim of. How often do we see this in positions of influence, both religious and political?
• In another child-parent motif, Ixion could be considered the child/adolescent who wanted to have what the parent had, in this case, a beautiful woman. A good parent might not be trying to trick their child but instead might be trying to show the child a more appropriate alternative. Was Zeus simply saying, “You could do a lot with your imagination? Here’s a cloud goddess for you to play with.”
• In a material sense, we can probably recall a time when a child wanted to play with a “grown-up toy,” a cell phone, a computer, or a remote control. How many toys have been created to look like these things so that the child would have an age-appropriate version? These examples are not meant to demean women as playthings for men but to illustrate a mythological and psychological motif.

Dissecting the mythology through names.

Names in stories of all kinds are often a “tell” of character traits. I took the names in this myth and explored them for possible clues.

Zeus is the Greek equivalent of Spanish Dios, which refers to God with a capital G.

Deioneus is said by Wikipedia to mean “ravager” but there is little context for that. The etymology of Dei suggests that his name also means divine or god. A similar name — Dionysus — means god of Mt. Nysa. Today, if we were to look up baby names, we would find the name Deion means god.

Dia, the name of Deioneus’s daughter means heavenly, or divine. Wouldn’t Zeus have also demanded the “dowry” for his daughter’s hand? We find the same theme in Exodus 22:16. “If a man entices a virgin who isn’t pledged to be married, and lies with her, he shall surely pay a dowry for her to be his wife.”

Ixion means “strong native,” possibly referring to his tendency to act from his human nature.

Nephele means cloud or clouds. She is a goddess which could indicate a higher or altered consciousness.

If we dig into the etymology of all things clouds, we find that related words are not only nuptial but nubile, the latter referring to a young attractive woman of marrying age, although in ancient times this would have been a much younger age than we collectively agree on now. Diving down the word history rabbit hole on etymonline.com, we can go from nubile to nuptial to obnubere, the practice of covering the head or veil oneself as a bride does.

An old Latin word for marriage is conubium, where we find again the root for cloud.

Interestingly, Ixion and Zeus were both either wedded or bedded to Dia, but also to Nephele as she was Hera’s double. Here we can also see the links to nuptials and clouds or “cloud coverings/veils.”

Many themes echo in the stories that make up the myth of Nephele but the one that struck me the most was the one that could refer to the human desire to connect with something greater than ourselves. It can be a balm to our soul, or if handled without respect for the sacred, get us into very serious trouble.

Further study into xenia, the Greek idea of hospitality shows a correlation to the biblical idea of entertaining angels unaware.

There may be much more to be explored in this myth, but I hope you have enjoyed jumping down a few rabbit trails with me. Below are a few links from my references.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenia_(Greek) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dia_(mythology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deioneus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenia_(Greek) Origins of the Sacred, Anne Bancroft, © 1987, Routledge & Kegan Paul Inc. New York, NY.

Thank you for reading!

Here’s another look at the curious Portuguese and Spanish word that was inspired by the goddess Nephele.

Runa Heilung is the founder of Old Soul Alchemy. She uses imagery and imagination in meditative formats for healing, illumination, and transformation.