Translated by Catherine Proppe   April 28, 2016​

9. Εἰς Σελήνην, θυμίαμα ἀρώματα.
To Selene
Divine connection: aromatics
 
Κλῦθι, θεὰ βασίλεια, φαεσφόρε, δῖα Σελήνη,
I call the light-bearing Goddess, Queen[1] Selene[2],
 
ταυρόκερως Μήνη, νυκτιδρόμε, ἠεροφοῖτι,
Bull-horned[3] Moon, roaming each night through the sky[4],
 
ἐννυχία, δαιδοῦχε, κόρη, εὐάστερε, Μήνη,
Night’s torchbearing daughter, beautiful, celestial Moon.
 
αὐξομένη καὶ λειπομένη, θῆλύς τε καὶ ἄρσην,
Growing and waning in power, female, and also male,
 
αὐγάστειρα, φίλιππε, χρόνου μῆτερ, φερέκαρπε,
Starry light, lover of horses, Mother of time, bringing fruition[5].
 
ἠλεκτρίς, βαρύθυμε, καταυγάστειρα, νυχία,
Electric amber[6] deep-seated power, pure starry light of night,
 
πανδερκής, φιλάγρυπνε, καλοῖς ἄστροισι βρύουσα,
All-seeing, fond of the sleepless, beautiful, astral, swollen,
 
ἡσυχίηι χαίρουσα καὶ εὐφρόνηι ὀλβιομοίρωι,
Silently charming and wise, bestow a whole life fate.
 
λαμπετίη, χαριδῶτι, τελεσφόρε, νυκτὸς ἄγαλμα,
Joy-giving lamplight, fulfilling night’s glory,
 
ἀστράρχη, τανύπεπλ', ἑλικοδρόμε, πάνσοφε κούρη,
Astral foundation, with a long-robed, twining course, all-wise Daughter,
 
ἐλθέ, μάκαιρ', εὔφρων, εὐάστερε, φέγγεϊ τρισσῶι
Come, blessed, wise, starry three-fold[7] light,
 
λαμπομένη, σῴζουσα νέους ἱκέτας σέο κούρη.
Lamplit power, Savior of these new suppliants, thou, Daughter.


[1] Basileia means ruler, Queen, the “basis.”
 
[2] Selene may be translated as “synchronized (Σ) + Hellenes (ελήνη)” because the new crescent moon (aka month) synchronized the calendar (aka kalends) of the Hellenic world.
 
[3] The moon is called bull-horned because it resembles horns in its waxing and waning phases.  

Moon can be literally translated as medium (Μ) + central (ή) + tipping-point (ν) + center (η).
 
The 27-day moon cycle and its powers are inextricably linked to the 27-day menstrual cycle of women (from which the name menstrual is taken) and the progression of pregnancy. (It is possible that there is also a link to the 27-letter Greek alphabet, comprised of letters that correspond to the numbers 1-9, 10-90, and 100-900.)
 
In “Eight Months Child,”Hippocrates tracks a pregnancy according to the number of moon phases. Hippocrates IX, Loeb Classical Library (ed. Henderson), p.77.
 
[4] The moon’s path and position vary considerably based on its phases and the seasons of the year. For a clear explanation of the moon’s varying path, see this webpage by Karen Masters:  http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/legal-information/46-our-solar-system/the-moon/observing-the-moon/128-how-does-the-position-of-moonrise-and-moonset-change-intermediate
 
[5] Cicero writes that: "Again the moon…emits many streams of influence, which supply animal creatures with nourishment and stimulate their growth and which cause plants to flourish and attain maturity.” 
Cicero, De Natura Deorum Vol. XIX, ps. 172-173 (trans. Rackham, Loeb Classical Library, 1933)
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cicero/de_Natura_Deorum/2A*.html
 
[6] Amber is a magnetically-charged fossil. The moon sometimes appears amber in color and has a demonstrable magnetic pull on the tides.

[7] Waxing, full, waning.

Translated by Catherine Proppe, April 26, 2016

48. Σαβαζίου, θυμίαμα ἀρώματα.
To Sabazios
Divine connection: aromatics
 
Κλῦθι, πάτερ, Κρόνου υἱέ, Σαβάζιε, κύδιμε δαῖμον,
I call father Kronos’[1] sacred son, Sabazios[2], glorious divine power,
 
ὃς Βάκχον Διόνυσον, ἐρίβρομον, εἰραφιώτην,
Bacchian[3] Dionysian, blasted forth, then with a needle
 
μηρῶι ἐγκατέραψας, ὅπως τετελεσμένος ἔλθηι
Thigh-insewn[4]  in order to fulfill your coming forth.
 
Τμῶλον ἐς ἠγάθεον παρὰ Ἵππαν καλλιπάρηιον.
Tmolian[5] divine leader of the rites of fair Ipta[6],
 
ἀλλά, μάκαρ, Φρυγίης μεδέων, βασιλεύτατε πάντων,
Blessed Phrygian power, whose rule extends over all,
 
εὐμενέων ἐπαρωγὸς ἐπέλθοις μυστιπόλοισιν.
Graciously confer your aid for those who come to the mystic city.


[1] Kronos, Sabazios’ father, is the immortal God of time. Sabazios’ mother is Rhea, Goddess of flow.

[2] Sabazios is a Phrygian (modern Turkey) God, literally: “synchronized (Σα) + basis (βά) + spark (ζ) + divine power (ιε).” 
 
One might connect Sabazios’ name with the word “celebration” as his worship is associated with music and dancing and uproarious behavior akin to what someone might experience at a modern rock concert where the crowd is singing and dancing and shouting along with the music, creating a transcendant sense of oneness with the music and with the crowd.
 
The name Sabazios (Σαβάζιε) is similar to sabazo (σαβάζω): to shatter, shake violently, scatter, suggesting that shaking things up a bit is part of the function of the deity.
 
The uproarious rites of Sabazios are closely tied to the rites of Kybele/Rhea, the Phrygian Mother of the Goddesses and Gods. Sabazios is equated by many writers with the Greek Dionysos, God of wine and its effects.
 
"Sabazios: He is the same [God] as Dionysos. He acquired this form of address from the rite pertaining to him; for the barbarians call the bacchic cry sabazein. Hence some of the Greeks too follow suit and call the cry sabasmos; thereby Dionysos [becomes] Sabazios. They also used to call saboi those places that had been dedicated to him and his Bacchants." (Drawn from the Scholia to Aristophanes, Birds 873, Suda online s.v. Sabazios, trans. Alex Gottesman 
http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?search_method=QUERY&login=Catherine&enlogin=e069b45cc154d46ec045891d5ad7189c&page_num=1&user_list=LIST&searchstr=Sabazios&field=any&num_per_page=25&db=REAL
 
W. W. How, J. Wells in A Commentary on Herodotus says that Sabazios and Dionysos are one and the same: “The true home of Dionysus was in Southern Thrace between the Axius and the Hebrus, where he had many local names, e. g. Sabazius. His cult was closely related to the Cybele cult of the kindred Phrygians (Rohde, Psyche, ii. 1; Ramsay on Μήν, C. and B. i. 105; and in general, Farnell, G. C. v. 85 f.).”  http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0028:book=5:chapter=7&highlight=sabazius
 
Strabo in Geography 10.3.15 says that “Sabazius also belongs to the Phrygian group and in a way is the child of the Mother, since he too transmitted the rites of Dionysus.220” http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+10.3.15&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198
 
Many authors speak to the influence and connection of the Phrygian rites of the Mother of the Goddesses and Gods and the rites of Dionysos/Sabazios.
 
From Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) 
William Smith, LLD, Ed., “Phrygia”:
“The religious ideas of the Phrygians are of great interest and importance, and appear to have exercised a greater influence upon the mythology of the Greeks than is commonly supposed, for many a mysterious tradition or legend current among the Greeks must be traced to Phrygia, and can be explained only by a reference to that country. Truly Phrygian divinities were Cybele (Rhea or Agdistis), and Sabazius, the Phrygian name for Dionysus.”  http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=phrygia-geo&highlight=sabazius  
 
 
Strabo in Geography 10.3.13 says that Pindar “bears witness to the common relationship between the rites exhibited in the worship of Dionysus among the Greeks and those in the worship of the Mother of the [Goddesses and G]ods among the Phrygians, for he makes these rites closely akin to one another…
“Euripides does likewise, in his Bacchae (55-72) citing the Lydian usages at the same time with those of Phrygia, because of their similarity: ‘But ye who left Mt. Tmolus, fortress of Lydia, revel-band of mine, women whom I brought from the land of barbarians as my assistants and travelling companions, uplift the tambourines native to Phrygian cities, inventions of mine and mother Rhea.’

“And again, ‘happy he who, blest man (sic), initiated in the mystic rites, is pure in his (sic) life, . . . who, preserving the righteous orgies of the great mother Cybele, and brandishing the thyrsus on high, and wreathed with ivy, doth worship Dionysus. Come, ye Bacchae, come, ye Bacchae, bringing down205 Bromius,206[G]od, the child of [G]od, out of the Phrygian mountains into the broad highways of Greece.’

“And again, in the following verses he connects the Cretan usages also with the Phrygian: ‘O thou hiding-bower [where Zeus was hid] of the Curetes, and sacred haunts of Crete that gave birth to Zeus, where for me [the leader of the Chorus] the triple-crested [referring to their triple-rimmed helmets] Corybantes [the Phrygian priests of Cybele] in their caverns invented this hide-stretched circlet [the tambourine], and blent its Bacchic revelry with the high-pitched, sweet-sounding breath of Phrygian flutes, and in Rhea's hands placed its resounding noise, to accompany the shouts of the Bacchae, and from Mother Rhea frenzied Satyrs obtained it and joined it to the choral dances of the Trieterides [Triennial Festivals], in whom Dionysus takes delight.’”
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+10.3.13&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198
 
 
[3] Bacchos and Dionysos are names of the immortal God of wine and its effects. Bacchos literally means base (Β) + transcending (ά) + core (κ) + foundation (χ) + entity (ο) + ν.” Dionysos literally means “directing (Δ) + divine-power (ι) + entity (ό) + of tipping-points (ν) + purely (υ) + synchronized (σ) + ον.”

[4] Dionysos was expelled from the womb of his mortal mother, Semele, when she was consumed by the lightning of Zeus. Zeus then sewed the fetal Dionysos into his thigh to complete gestation.
In the Lexicon, the word Semele (σεμέλη) is associated with the word for toad (φρύνη) as “παρὰ Φρυνίχῳ,” or, like a toad (φρῡνοειδής). It is interesting to note that some toads lay their eggs in bunches like grapes and the male “common midwife toad” twines the eggs around his thighs until they are ready to hatch. 
Meer- (μηρ-), in addition to meaning “thigh” also means twine/cord and may refer to the practice of tying grape vines.
When lightning strikes a row of grape vines, re-growth will begin at the base of the vine. (p. 22 What is Killing my Vines? Plant Failure in New Vineyards, Bill Cline, Plant Pathology Department North Carolina State University Horticultural Crops Research Station Castle Hayne, NC
http://www.smallfruits.org/CoAgentTraining/Sept06Training/No6Part2_vine_death_14sep06.pdf This is a type of “natural” pruning. Pruning grape vines results in a better yield.
Semelos (Σέμελος) is Laconian for kochlias (κοχλίας), which means anything that twists spirally, such as a screw or snail shell or vine tendril. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibian#mediaviewer/File:Alytes_obstetricans_almogavarii_-_male_with_eggs_2.jpg )

[5] Mount Tmolos, south of Sardis and just west of ancient Philadelphia (in modern Turkey), was the location of an important ancient temple of Kybele, the immortal Mother of the Goddesses and Gods (Herodotus 5.100-101).

[6] Ipta (Ἵπτα) is the immortal Phrygian (modern Turkey) Goddess (associated with the Mother Goddess Rhea/Kybele) who, according to Orphic tradition, fostered Dionysos when he was born from the thigh of Zeus.

Strabo Geography 10.3.9 (trans. Jones) on religious festivals and rejoicing:
 
“…this is common both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, to perform their sacred rites in connection with the relaxation of a festival… And it is in accordance with the dictates of nature that this should be so, for,

- in the first place, the relaxation draws the mind away from human occupations and turns the real mind towards that which is divine; and,

- secondly, the religious frenzy seems to afford a kind of divine inspiration and to be very like that of the soothsayer; and,

- thirdly, the secrecy with which the sacred rites are concealed induces reverence for the divine, since it imitates the nature of the divine, which is to avoid being perceived by our human senses; and,

- fourthly, music, which includes dancing as well as rhythm and melody, at the same time, by the delight it affords and by its artistic beauty, brings us in touch with the divine, and this for the following reason;

for although it has been well said that human beings then act most like the [Goddesses and G]ods when they are doing good to others, yet one might better say, when they are happy; and such happiness consists of rejoicing, celebrating festivals, pursuing philosophy, and engaging in music…”  

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+10.3.9&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198
 
Strabo 10.3.10 on music and religion:

“…the Pythagoreans, called philosophy music;196 and they say that the universe is constituted in accordance with harmony,197 assuming that every form of music is the work of the [Goddesses and G]ods.

And in this sense, also, the Muses are [G]oddesses, and Apollo is leader of the Muses, and poetry as a whole is laudatory of the [Goddesses and G]ods.

And by the same course of reasoning they also attribute to music the upbuilding of morals, believing that everything which tends to correct the mind is close to the [Goddesses and G]ods.

Now most of the Greeks assigned to Dionysus, Apollo, Hecate, the Muses, and above all to Demeter, everything of an orgiastic or Bacchic or choral nature, as well as the mystic element in initiations;

and they give the name "Iacchus" not only to Dionysus but also to the leader-in-chief of the mysteries, who is the genius of Demeter.

And branch-bearing, choral dancing, and initiations are common elements in the worship of these [Goddesses and G]ods.

As for the Muses and Apollo, the Muses preside over the choruses, whereas Apollo presides both over these and the rites of divination.

But all educated men (sic), and especially the musicians, are ministers of the Muses;

and both these and those who have to do with divination are ministers of Apollo;

and the initiated and torch-bearers and hierophants, of Demeter;

and the Sileni and Satyri and Bacchae, and also the Lenae and Thyiae and Mimallones and Naïdes and Nymphae and the beings called Tityri, of Dionysus.”

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+10.3.10&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198
​

Translated by Catherine Proppe, April 4, 2016

14. Ῥέας, θυμίαμα ἀρώματα.
To Rea, Mother of the Goddesses and Gods
Divine medium: aromatics
 
Πότνα Ῥέα, θύγατερ πολυμόρφου Πρωτογόνοιο,
Queen[1] Rea[2], first-born[3] Daughter of many embodiments,
 
ἥτ’ ἐπὶ ταυροφόνων ἱερότροχον ἅρμα τιταίνεις,
Who drives the bull-slaying, holy, wheeling Titan[4] chariot,
 
τυμπανόδουπε, φιλοιστρομανές, χαλκόκροτε κούρη,
Tympanum[5]-drumming lover of inspired wisdom, brass-clanging daughter,
 
μῆτερ Ζηνὸς ἄνακτος Ὀλυμπίου, αἰγιόχοιο,
Mother of Zenos[6], ruler of Olympos[7], the Aegean[8] ox[9],
 
πάντιμ', ἀγλαόμορφε, Κρόνου σύλλεκτρε μάκαιρα,
All-honored, gloriously-embodied, Kronos’[10] blessed bed companion,
 
οὔρεσιν ἣ χαίρεις θνητῶν τ' ὀλολύγμασι φρικτοῖς,
Mountain-dwelling, rejoicing with mortals in loud, hair-raising cries,
 
παμβασίλεια Ῥέα, πολεμόκλονε, ὀμβριμόθυμε,
All-Basileia[11], Rea, war-raging, powerfully-impassioned,
 
ψευδομένη σώτειρα, λυτηριάς, ἀρχιγένεθλε·
Deceptively steadfast savior, releasing the foundation of birth[12],
 
μήτηρ μέν τε θεῶν ἠδὲ θνητῶν ἀνθρώπων·
Steadfast Mother to immortals and mortal humans.
 
ἐκ σοῦ γὰρ καὶ γαῖα καὶ οὐρανὸς εὐρὺς ὕπερθεν
Out of thou came Gaia[13] and o’er-arching Ouranos[14],
 
καὶ πόντος πνοαί τε φιλόδρομε, ἀερόμορφε·
And Pontos’[15], and each breath’s loving course forms air[16].
 
ἐλθέ, μάκαιρα θεά, σωτήριος, εὔφρονι βουλῆι,
Come, blessed Goddess, savior, wise counselor,
 
εἰρήνην κατάγουσα σὺν εὐόλβοις κτεάτεσσιν,
Bestow the peace of Eirene[17] together with a good whole life attainment,
 
λύματα καὶ κῆρας πέμπουσ' ἐπὶ τέρματα γαίης.
Send defilement and destruction to the ends of the earth.
 
 
[1] Potna is a title of honor addressed to women and Goddesses, i.e. Queen, revered.

[2] Rea means “flow.” Rea (usually spelled “Rhea”), the “Great Goddess,” the “Great Mother (Magna Mater),” is the immortal Titan Mother (by Kronos, God of Time) of the Olympian Goddesses and Gods. Rea is also identified with Kybele (Κύβέλη), the Phrygian (modern Turkey) Mother of the Goddesses and Gods; literally: pregnancy (Κύ) + base (βέ) + loosen (λη). Rea is depicted as riding on a lion or in a chariot drawn by lions or accompanied by lions as pets. This is consistent with the constellation Virgo (the Independent Lady) following the constellation Leo (the Lion) in its progression across the night sky. Virgo appears in September at the time when fruit comes to fruition.

[3] Protogonoio means first born, or first to give birth to.

[4] Titain (τιταίν) means stretch.

[5] A tympanum is a frame drum, tambourine, used especially in the worship of the Rhea/Cybele, the Great Mother (Magna Mater).

[6] Zenos is another name for Zeus, the immortal God of lightning storms and the spark of fire/spark of life.

[7] Olympos is considered the home of the Olympian deities.

[8] The Aegean Sea connects Greece and Anatolia/Turkey. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegean_Sea#mediaviewer/File:Aegean_Sea_map.png

[9] The ox is the male stud animal of the herd kept for breeding.

[10] Kronos is the immortal God of time.

[11] Basileia means ruler.

[12] “Loosening the foundation of birth” is likely a reference to menstruation and parturition.

[13] Gaia is the immortal Goddess of generative earth.

[14] Ouranos is the immortal God of the sky.

[15] Pontos is the immortal God of the sea.

[16] This hymn reverses the conventionally-accepted parentage of Rhea, with Rhea being the mother of Gaia and Ouranos (and Pontos and air) rather than the daughter of Gaia and Ouranos (Hesiod Theogony 116, Apollodorus 1.1, Diodorus Siculus 5.65.1)

[17] Eirene is the immortal Goddess of peace.