A very striking bookmark!
In Greek mythology, Medusa ("guardian, protectress") also called Gorgo, was one of the three Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Those who gazed into her eyes would turn to stone. Most sources describe her as the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto, although the author Hyginus makes her the daughter of Gorgon and Ceto.
Medusa was beheaded by the Greek hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head, which retained its ability to turn onlookers to stone, as a weapon until he gave it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield. In classical antiquity the image of the head of Medusa appeared in the evil-averting device known as the Gorgoneion.
According to Hesiod and Aeschylus, she lived and died on an island named Sarpedon, somewhere near Cisthene. The 2nd-century BC novelist Dionysios Skytobrachion puts her somewhere in Libya, where Herodotus had said the Berbers originated her myth, as part of their religion. She remained a priestess to Athena after her death and was risen with fresh hair.
Medusa has always been a heroine of mine, especially when later in my life I discovered an alternative story or explanation of her. After making a SoulCollage® card about her, I received this wisdom:
I am Medusa the Serpent-Goddess.
I am guardian and protectress.
I am sovereign female wisdom.
But beware! If you are my enemy, if you are evil, if you want to harm me
I am one who has the destructive power to turn you into stone.
I am not monster, I am Righteous Rage! I am Righteous Feminine Rage!
I give you righteous rage, righteous feminine rage. I give you wisdom and strength and power. I give you a sense of justice.
I want you to hear and respond to my call to arms! I want you to claim your feminine power. I want you to be a strong woman. I want you to speak out where and when you see the patriarchy at work. I want you to hiss!!!