Translated by Catherine Proppe, December 23, 2016

9. Εἰς Σελήνην, θυμίαμα ἀρώματα.
To Selene, Goddess of the Moon
Divine medium: aromatics
 
Κλῦθι, θεὰ βασίλεια, φαεσφόρε, δῖα Σελήνη,
I call the light-bearing Goddess, Queen Selene,
 
ταυρόκερως Μήνη, νυκτιδρόμε, ἠεροφοῖτι,
Bull-horned Moon, roaming each night through the sky,
 
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.
 
ἠλεκτρίς, βαρύθυμε, καταυγάστειρα, νυχία,
Electric amber 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 light,
 
λαμπομένη, σῴζουσα νέους ἱκέτας σέο κούρη.
Lamplit power, Savior of these new suppliants, thou, Daughter.
 
NOTES
 
Selene (Σελήνη), Goddess of the moon, is also known as Mene (Μήνη)[1]. She is also known as Phoebe (Φοίβη), the sister of Phoebus, [G]od of the sun.[2] Selene is also associated with the Goddess Artemis, whose twin brother Apollo is associated with the sun.    
 
Basileia means ruler, Queen, the “basis.”
 
Selene may be translated as “synchronized (Σ) + Hellenes (ελήνη)” because the new crescent moon (month) synchronized the calendar (kalends) of the Hellenic world.
 
“The ancient Greek calendars are all constructed in the same way: the month is in principle a genuine moon, which lasts from the new moon through the full moon to the disappearance of the moon.”[3]
 
The moon is called bull-horned because it resembles horns in its waxing and waning phases. 
 
The 27-day moon cycle and its powers are inextricably linked to the 27-day menstrual cycle of women and the progression of pregnancy.[4] In “Eight Months Child,” Hippocrates tracks a pregnancy according to the number of moon phases.[5]
 
The moon’s path and position vary considerably based on its phases and the seasons of the year.[6]
 
Cicero wrote that: "…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.”[7] 
 
Amber is a magnetically-charged fossil. The moon sometimes appears amber in color and has a demonstrable magnetic pull on the tides.
 
The moon’s three-fold light is waxing, full, and waning.


[1] Schmitz, L. (1870). SELE′NE (Σελήνη). In W. Smith (Ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (Vol. 3, p. 768). Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.

[2] Schmitz, L. (1870). SELE′NE (Σελήνη). In W. Smith (Ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (Vol. 3, p. 768). Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.

[3] Burkert, p. 225.

[4] 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.

[5] Hippocrates IX, Loeb Classical Library (ed. Henderson), p.77.

[6] 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
 

[7] 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
​

Translated by Catherine Proppe,  December 22, 2016

48. Σαβαζίου, θυμίαμα ἀρώματα.
To Sabazios, God of Displacement
Divine medium: aromatics
 
Κλῦθι, πάτερ, Κρόνου υἱέ, Σαβάζιε, κύδιμε δαῖμον,
I call father Kronos’ offspring, Sabazios, glorious deity,
 
ὃς Βάκχον Διόνυσον, ἐρίβρομον, εἰραφιώτην,
Bacchian Dionysian, blasted forth, then with a needle
 
μηρῶι ἐγκατέραψας, ὅπως τετελεσμένος ἔλθηι
Thigh-insewn in order to fulfill your coming forth.
 
Τμῶλον ἐς ἠγάθεον παρὰ Ἵππαν καλλιπάρηιον.
Tmolian divine leader of the rites of fair Ipta,
 
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.
 
 
 
NOTES
 
Sabazios (Σαβάζιος) is a Phrygian God, also known as Zagreus (Ζαγρεύς). Zagreus means “very (Ζα) + old (γρεύς).”
 
Sabazios-Zagreus is associated with Dionysos and the Orphics.
 
The Orphics believe that the immortal soul exists before and after death; that the body is actually a tomb for the soul and the release (λύσις) of the soul from the cycle of birth and death is possible through a system of purifications (κᾰθαρμόι).[1] Sabazios is the God whose rites help effect this release of the soul.
 
The name Sabazios (Σαβάζιε) is similar to sabazo (σαβάζω), “to shatter, shake violently.”
 
Sabazios’ association with Dionysos may derive from the bacchic cry sabazein and the designation of places dedicated to Dionysos–Bacchos as saboi.[2]
 
In this hymn, Sabazios is said to be the son of Rhea-Kybele by Kronos. In others traditions he a son of Persephone by Zeus in the form of a snake. Serpents, which were sacred to Sabazios, acted a prominent part at the Sabazia and in the processions.[3]  
 
Nonnos says that Zagreus is the son of Persephone by Zeus in the form of a serpent:
 
“By this marriage with the heavenly dragon, the womb of Persephone swelled with living fruit, and she bore Zagreus the horned baby, who by himself climbed upon the heavenly throne of Zeus and brandished lightning in his little hand, and newly born, lifted and carried thunderbolts in his tender fingers."[4]
 
Diodorus says that Sabazios was a child of Persephone by Zeus and that his rites are celebrated in secret at night. He says Sabazios is represented with horns because he was the first to yoke oxen for plowing:
 
“ … there was born of Zeus and Persephonê a Dionysus who is called by some Sabazius and whose birth and sacrifices and honours are celebrated at night and in secret, because of the disgrace resulting from the intercourse of the sexes. They state also that he excelled in sagacity and was the fist to attempt the yoking of oxen and by their aid to effect the sowing of the seed, this being the reason why they also represent him as wearing a horn.”[5]

Several sources say that Sabazios was torn into seven pieces by the Titans.[6] Similarly, Hyginus says that Zeus placed Zagreus on his heavenly throne, but the child was attacked and dismembered by the Titans. His heart was given to Semele in a drink and he was reborn as Dionysos.[7]
 
The uproarious rites of Sabazios are closely tied to the rites of Rhea-Kybele, the Phrygian Mother of the Goddesses and Gods.   
 
William Smith emphasizes the important role that Phrygian religion had in influencing ancient Greek religion:
 
“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), and Sabazius, the Phrygian name for Dionysus.”[8]
 
In Euripides Bacchae 66-67 Dionysos tells his followers to play their pipes and drums to honor him and Rhea, the Great Mother of the Goddesses and Gods.
 
Strabo in Geography 10.3.13 and Euripides in Bacchae (55-72) speak to the close relationship between the rites of Dionysos and the rites of Rhea-Kybele, celebrated with tambourines, flutes, shouts, and dances.
 
Mount Tmolos, south of Sardis and just west of ancient Philadelphia (in modern Turkey), was the location of an important ancient temple of Kybele.[9]
 
Ipta (Ἵπτα) is the immortal Phrygian Goddess associated with the Mother Goddess Rhea-Kybele. According to Orphic tradition, she fostered Dionysos when he was born from the thigh of Zeus.
 
After imbibing the heart of Sabazios-Zagreus in a drink, Semele became pregnant. Dionysos was expelled from the womb of his mortal mother when she was consumed by the lightning of Zeus. Zeus then sewed the fetal Dionysos into his thigh to complete gestation.

Semelos (Σέμελος) is Laconian for kochlias (κοχλίας), which means anything that twists spirally, such as a screw or snail shell or vine tendril.[10] This suggests that Semele may be a metaphor for the grapevine.
 
Meer- (μηρ-), in addition to meaning “thigh” also means "twine/cord." The reference to Zeus’ thigh in the legend of Dionysos may refer to the practice of tying grape vines to upright supports.
 
Zeus is the God of lightning. When lightning strikes a row of grape vines, re-growth will begin at the base of the vine.[11] This is a type of “natural” pruning. Pruning grape vines results in a better yield.
 

[1] Greek Philosophy. Part I, Thales to Plato by John Burnet, London, Macmillan anc Co., 1914 p. 31   https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b000925979;view=1up;seq=47
[2] Drawn from the Scholia to Aristophanes, Birds 87, 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
 
[3] Clemens Alex. Protrept. p. 6; Theophrast. Char. 16.

[4] Nonnos, Dionysiaca 5. 562 - 6. 168 (trans. Rouse).

[5] Diodorus of Sicily, 4.4.1, trans. Oldfather

[6] Joan. Lydus, De Mens. p. 82; Orph. Fragm. viii. 46, p. 469, ed. Herm., Hymn. 47; Cic. de Nat. Deor. iii. 23.

[7] Hyginus, Fabulae 167.

[8] Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) 
William Smith, LLD, Ed., “Phrygia”:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=phrygia-geo&highlight=sabazius

[9] Herodotus 5.100-101.

[10](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibian#mediaviewer/File:Alytes_obstetricans_almogavarii_-_male_with_eggs_2.jpg

[11]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

Translated by Catherine Proppe,  December 21, 2016

14. Ῥέας, θυμίαμα ἀρώματα.
To Rhea, the Great Goddess
Divine medium: aromatics
 
Πότνα Ῥέα, θύγατερ πολυμόρφου Πρωτογόνοιο,
Queen Rhea, first-born Daughter of many embodiments,
 
ἥτ’ ἐπὶ ταυροφόνων ἱερότροχον ἅρμα τιταίνεις,
Who drives the bull-slaying, holy, wheeling Titan chariot,
 
τυμπανόδουπε, φιλοιστρομανές, χαλκόκροτε κούρη,
Tympanum-drumming lover of inspired wisdom, brass-clanging daughter,
 
μῆτερ Ζηνὸς ἄνακτος Ὀλυμπίου, αἰγιόχοιο,
Mother of Zenos, ruler of Olympos, the Aegean ox,
 
πάντιμ', ἀγλαόμορφε, Κρόνου σύλλεκτρε μάκαιρα,
All-honored, gloriously-embodied, Kronos’ 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, Rhea, war-raging, powerfully-impassioned,
 
ψευδομένη σώτειρα, λυτηριάς, ἀρχιγένεθλε·
Deceptively powerful savior, releasing the foundation of birth,
 
μήτηρ μέν τε θεῶν ἠδὲ θνητῶν ἀνθρώπων·
Steadfast Mother to immortals and mortal humans,
 
ἐκ σοῦ γὰρ καὶ γαῖα καὶ οὐρανὸς εὐρὺς ὕπερθεν
Daughter of Gaia and o’er-arching Ouranos,
 
καὶ πόντος πνοαί τε φιλόδρομε, ἀερόμορφε·
While Pontos breathes a loving course formed in air.
 
ἐλθέ, μάκαιρα θεά, σωτήριος, εὔφρονι βουλῆι,
Come, blessed Goddess, savior, wise counselor,
 
εἰρήνην κατάγουσα σὺν εὐόλβοις κτεάτεσσιν,
Bestow the peace of Eirene together with good, whole life attainment,
 
λύματα καὶ κῆρας πέμπουσ' ἐπὶ τέρματα γαίης.
Send defilement and destruction to the ends of the earth.
 
 
NOTES
 
Potna is a title of honor addressed to women and Goddesses, i.e. Queen, revered. Basileia means ruler.
 
Rhea (Ῥεία, Ῥέα, Ῥείη, Ῥέη) means “flow.” Rhea is also known as the “Great Goddess” and the “Great Mother (Magna Mater).”
 
By Kronos, God of Time, Rhea is the immortal Mother of the Olympian Goddesses and Gods. Rhea is identified with Kybele (Κύβέλη), the Phrygian (modern Turkey) Mother of the Goddesses and Gods; literally: pregnancy (Κύ) + base (βέ) + loosen (λη).
 
Nonnos calls Rhea “The Dispenser of the eternal universe, the first sown Beginning of the [Goddesses and G]ods, the Allmother…”[1]

Protogonoio (Πρωτογόνοιο) means first born, or first to give birth to.
 
In Thrace, Rhea’s worship was universal, with her image appearing on coins throughout Phrygia.[1]

Strabo reports that the Phrygians and Trojans called Rhea the Great Goddess:
“But as for…the Phrygians in general, and those of the Trojans who live round Ida, they too hold Rhea in honor and worship her with orgies, calling her Mother of the [Goddesses and G]ods and…the Great Goddess, and also…Cybele and Cybebe.”[2]

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

Strabo describes Rhea’s attempt to conceal the birth of Zeus from Kronos, who was swallowing his children immediately after their birth.  She did so by disguising her travail and the infant’s cries with the Curetes’ uproarious rites:
“In Crete… the mythical story of the birth of Zeus; in this they introduced Cronus as accustomed to swallow his children immediately after their birth, and Rhea as trying to keep her travail secret and, when the child was born, to get it out of the way and save its life by every means in her power; and to accomplish this it is said that she took as helpers the Curetes, who, by surrounding the [G]oddess with tambourines and similar noisy instruments and with war-dance and uproar, were supposed to strike terror into Cronus and without his knowledge to steal his child away…”[3]

Nonnos also speaks to Rhea’s association with the Curetes and Corybantes:
 
“In all European countries Rhea was conceived to be accompanied by the Curetes, who are inseparably connected with the birth and bringing up of Zeus in Crete, and in Phrygia by the Corybantes…The Corybantes were her enthusiastic priests, who with drums, cymbals, horns, and in full armour, performed their orgiastic dances in the forests and on the mountains of Phrygia.”[1]
 
A tympanum is a frame drum, tambourine, used especially in the worship of the Rhea-Cybele, the Great Mother (Magna Mater).
 
Strabo describes the use of drums in the worship of Rhea-Kybele and says that Pindar comments on the similarity to the rites of Dionysos:
 
“To perform the prelude in thy honor, great Mother, the whirling of cymbals is at hand, and among them, also, the clanging of castanets, and the torch that blazeth beneath the tawny pine-trees, he (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.”[4]
 
 “Who drives the Titan chariot.” Rhea is often depicted as riding on a lion or in a chariot drawn by lions or accompanied by lions. This is consistent with the August-September constellation Virgo (the Independent Lady) led across the sky by the constellation Leo (the Lion). Virgo appears at a particularly fruitful time in the harvest season.

Rhea is a Titan, a child of Gaia (earth) and Ouranos (sky). Titain (τιταίν) means stretch.

Olympos is a mountain in Greece considered to be the home of the Olympian deities.
 
The Aegean Sea connects Greece and Anatolia/Turkey.[5]
 
The ox is the male stud animal of the herd kept for breeding.
 
Kronos is the immortal God of time.
 
“Loosening the foundation of birth” is likely a reference to menstruation and parturition.
 
Gaia is the immortal Goddess of generative earth.
 
Ouranos is the immortal God of the sky.
 
Pontos is the immortal God of the sea.
 
Eirene is the immortal Goddess of peace.


[1] Nonnos, Dionysiaca IX.220.

[2] Strabo 10.3.12. ed. H. L. Jones, The Geography of Strabo. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+10.3.12&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198
 

[3] Strabo 10.3.10.11-12.

[4] Geography 10.3.13 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D10
 

[5] Map of Aegean Sea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegean_Sea#mediaviewer/File:Aegean_Sea_map.png

6. Πρωτογόνου, θυμίαμα σμύρναν.
 
To Protogonos, the First-Born
Divine medium: myrrh
 
Πρωτόγονον καλέω διφυῆ, μέγαν, αἰθερόπλαγκτον,
First-born Protogonos I call, dual-natured, great, aether-roaming,
 
ὠιογενῆ, χρυσέαισιν ἀγαλλόμενον πτερύγεσσι,
Eggborn, golden, gloriously-powered winged essence,
 
ταυρωβόαν, γένεσιν μακάρων θνητῶν τ' ἀνθρώπων,
Bull of bulls, blessed genetive origin of mortal humanity,
 
σπέρμα πολύμνηστον, πολυόργιον, Ἠρικεπαῖον,
Seed of many courtships and sacred rites, healing the shattered,
 
ἄρρητον, κρύφιον ῥοιζήτορα, παμφαὲς ἔρνος,
Not to be spoken of, secret root of inquiry, all-illuminator, tender sprout,
 
ὄσσων ὃς σκοτόεσσαν ἀπημαύρωσας ὁμίχλην
Foretelling shadow’s essence, removing the dimness of mist,
 
πάντῃ δινηθεὶς πτερύγων ῥιπαῖς κατὰ κόσμον
All-extending power divine, winged onrush, pure, cosmic,
 
λαμπρὸν ἄγων φάος ἁγνόν, ἀφ' οὗ σε Φάνητα κικλήσκω
Brightening contests, pure enlightener, miraculous Phanes, I call,
 
ἠδὲ Πρίηπον ἄνακτα καὶ Ἀνταύγην ἑλίκωπον.
And Priapos’ restoring and opposing circling gaze,
 
ἀλλά, μάκαρ, πολύμητι, πολύσπορε, βαῖνε γεγηθὼς
Yet, blessed, plentiful, wise, prolific sower, dance with Ge rejoicing,
 
ἐς τελετὴν ἁγνίαν πολυποίκιλον ὀργιοφάνταις.
Complete the pure, plentiful, various, celebrated, illuminating mysteries.
 
 
NOTES
 
Protogonos (Πρωτόγονος) means “first (Πρωτό) + born (γονον).” According to Pausanias I.31.4, Protogonos is an epithet of the Goddess Persephone, “Kore Protogona.”
 
Protogonos, also known as Phanes (Φάνης), is “dual-natured” because this deity is both female and male.
 
Phanos (φᾱνός) means light, bright, torch. Phanes is the immortal deity of the first principle of life. The Derveni Papyrus describes Phanes as a bi-sexual entity who emerged from an egg:
 
“First, there was Chronos or Time (Chronology). From Chronos, Aither and Chasma or Chaos were born. Chronos places an egg in Aither. The egg is also called white tunic (argeeta chitona (άργῆτα χιτῶνα)) or cloud (nepheleen (νεφελήν)). The [G]od[/dess] Phanes breaks out from the egg . .  . Phanes is a marvellous (sp. sic) creature. He/she is of both sexes . . .”[1]
 
Phanes is depicted in illustrations as encircled by the zodiac. Phanes has wings and is enwrapped by a serpent, suggesting both heavenly (wings) and earthly (serpent) qualities.[2]
 
Priapos (Πρῐάπος, Ion. Πρίηπος) is the immortal God of fertility, depicted with an enomous, erect penis.[3]
 
Diodorus of Sicily reports that “certain writers say that when the ancients wished to speak in their myths of the sexual organ of males they called it Priapus.[4]
 
Aether is the heavens, upper air, sky.
 
It is of interest that the letter Ω (omega), which resembles an egg hatching, is the first letter in the very short Greek word for “egg (ὠιο).
The bull is the designated stud animal for breeding the herd.
 

[1] (Gabor Betegh, The Derveni Papyrus: Cosmology, Theology and Interpretation (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004) 141-142.)  http://books.google.com/books?id=5HaKQFeYSBEC&q=egg#v=snippet&q=egg&f=false  
 

[2] Greco-Roman
bas relief circa 150 CE. Image located in Galeriea e Museo Eustense, Modena, Italy. http://www.theoi.com/Protogenos/Phanes.html 

[3] http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Priapos.html

[4] Diodorus of Sicily (circa 50 BCE). Library of History (4 .6.1), translated by C. H. Oldfather, Loeb Classical Library Volume 303. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1935) 357-358.
 

Translated by Catherine Proppe, December 19, 2016

25. Πρωτέως, θυμίαμα στύρακα.
To Proteos, The First-Born
Divine Medium: storax/styrax
 
Πρωτέα κικλήσκω, πόντου κληῖδας ἔχοντα,
Protea I call, Ocean’s key-holder,
 
πρωτογενῆ, πάσης φύσεως ἀρχὰς ὃς ἔφηνεν
First-creation of all Nature, first to appear,
 
ὕλην ἀλλάσσων ἱερὴν ἰδέαις πολυμόρφοις,
Matter transforming, sacrificing form to numerous shapes,
 
πάντιμος, πολύβουλος, ἐπιστάμενος τά τ' ἐόντα
Honored by all, Counselor to many, from the framework to real actualization,
 
ὅσσα τε πρόσθεν ἔην ὅσα τ' ἔσσεται ὕστερον αὖτις·
Sole prophet of the future so far as essence extends to what comes next,
 
πάντα γὰρ αὐτὸς ἔχων μεταβάλλεται οὐδέ τις ἄλλος
In every way alone the foundation of change and not any of the other
 
ἀθανάτων, οἳ ἔχουσιν ἕδος νιφόεντος Ὀλύμπου
Immortals who hold the thrones of snowy Olympos,
 
καὶ πόντον καὶ γαῖαν ἐνηέριοί τε ποτῶνται·
Of Pontos’ and Gaia’s and Hera’s winged creatures
 
πάντα γὰρ Πρωτεῖ πρώτη φύσις ἐγκατέθηκε.
In every way the very first of the first within Phusis,
 
ἀλλά, πάτερ, μόλε μυστιπόλοις ὁσίαισι προνοίαις
Yet, Father, bring the mystic axis of hallowed foresight,
 
πέμπων εὐόλβου βιότου τέλος ἐσθλὸν ἐπ' ἔργοις.
Send whole life blessings and complete goodness upon these works.
 
 
NOTES
 
Protea means the very first: before (Πρω) + stretch/extension (τέα). Note the feminine ending – α. Later in the hymn, the deity is referred as “father (πάτερ).” This suggests a deity that is both female and male.
 
Proteos (Πρωτέως, Πρωτεύς) is described by Homer and Ovid as a sea-deity who can tell the future and the past and who can change shape into any animal, plant, or object:
 
“Any one wishing to compel him to foretell the future, was obliged to catch hold of him…he, indeed, had the power of assuming every possible shape, in order to escape the necessity of prophesying, but whenever he saw that his endeavours were of no avail, he resumed his usual appearance, and told the truth (Hom. Od. iv. 410, &c. 455, &c.; Ov. Art. Am. i. 761, Fast. i. 369; Philostr. Vit. Apoll. i. 4). When he had finished his prophecy he returned into the sea (Hom. Od. iv. 570).[1]”
 
Pontos is the immortal God of the sea.
 
Phusis is the immortal Goddess of physics/nature.
 
Olympos is a mountain in Greece believed to be the home of the Olympian deities.
 
Gaia is the immortal Goddess of generative earth.
 
Hera is the immortal Goddess of air.[2]
 


[1] Schmitz, L. (1870). PROTEUS (Πρωτεύς). In W. Smith (Ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (Vol. 3, p. 554). Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.

[2] Empedocles, Poeta Philosophus (On Nature) 6.1-3; Aetius, Opinions 1.3.20 Diels; Plato, Cratylus (404c); Virgil, Aeneid I.42-45; other references in Pease ND vol.2, p.716.
“And first the fourfold root of all things hear!--
White gleaming Zeus (Ζεύς) [fire], life-bringing Here (Ἥρη) [air], Dis (Ἀϊδωνεύς) [earth],
And Nestis (Νῆστις) [water] whose tears bedew mortality.”
The Fragments of Empedocles, (“Physics” also known as “On Nature” (6.2-3)), trans. William Ellery Leonard, Open Court Publishing, Chicago, 1908. p. 17.

Translated by Catherine Proppe, December 19, 2016

2.  Προθυραίας, θυμίαμα στύρακα.
To Prothyraia, Goddess of Parturition, “Approaching the Doorway”
Divine medium: storax/styrax
 
Κλῦθί μοι, ὦ πολύσεμνε θεά, πολυώνυμε δαῖμον,
I call, O much-revered Goddess, many-named deity,
 
ὠδίνων ἐπαρωγέ, λεχῶν ἡδεῖα πρόσοψι,
In travail of childbirth, with your aid, women give birth sweetly, before long.
 
θηλειῶν σώτειρα μόνη, φιλόπαις, ἀγανόφρον,
Women’s sole savior, lover of children, gentle counselor,
 
ὠκυλόχεια, παροῦσα νέαις θνητῶν, Προθυραία,
Bring swift childbirth for new mortals approaching the doorway,
 
κλειδοῦχ', εὐάντητε, φιλοτρόφε, πᾶσι προσηνής,
Key holder, welcoming host, loving nurturer, guide of all,
 
ἣ κατέχεις οἴκους πάντων θαλίαις τε γέγηθας,
Charged with populating joyfully, with Ge rejoicing,
 
λυσίζων', ἀφανής, ἔργοισι δὲ φαίνῃ ἅπασι,
Loosen the zone, invisibly work to bring all to light,
 
συμπάσχεις ὠδῖσι καὶ εὐτοκίηισι γέγηθας,
In sympathy with throes of parturition, ease childbirth, with Ge rejoicing,
 
Εἰλείθυια, λύουσα πόνους δειναῖς ἐν ἀνάγκαις·
Eileithyia, unbind the toil and terrible dangers of Ananke,
 
μούνην γὰρ σὲ καλοῦσι λεχοὶ ψυχῆς ἀνάπαυμα·
You alone come to women in labor and give respite to their Soul.
 
ἐν γὰρ σοὶ τοκετῶν λυσιπήμονές εἰσιν ἀνῖαι,
Come to childbirth, release suffering and painful distress,
 
Ἄρτεμις Εἰλείθυια, καὶ ἡ σεμνή, Προθυραία.
Artemis Eileithyia and revered Prothyraia,
 
κλῦθι, μάκαιρα, δίδου δὲ γονὰς ἐπαρωγὸς ἐοῦσα
Come, give blessings of offspring, aide their coming to be,
 
καὶ σῴζ', ὥσπερ ἔφυς αἰεὶ σώτειρα προπάντων.
And save from death, as Nature’s eternal savior for all.
 
 
NOTES
​
Eileithyia (Εἰλείθυια) is the immortal Goddess of childbirth and parturition, equated here with Prothyraia (Προθυραία). Prothyraia means “approaching the doorway” and refers to the mortal soul which approaches coming into mortal being through the process of parturition.
 
Psyche is the immortal Goddess of the soul.
 
In Orphic and Stoic doctrine, the soul does not enter the body until the first breath is inhaled, it resides in the body as long as respiration occurs, and departs the body when the final breath is exhaled in death.
 
Accordiing to Aristotle, the soul resides in the body because of the breath:
 
“…the soul comes in from the universe when breathing takes place, borne in upon the winds…”[1]
 
“Respiration marks the limit of life.”[2]
 
Vettius Valens echoes Aristotle:
 
“When we draw in the air, we harvest the divine soul.”[3]
 
The Stoics’ belief that the fetus has no soul is stated plainly by Carlos Megino in Tracing Orpheus:
 
“Indeed, for the Stoics the soul is, as we have said, pneuma. However, that pneuma is not soul while the foetus is inside the mother’s womb.”[4]
 
The Stoic Cleanthes (Κλέανθης) (c.300 BCE) says that the soul is animated by partaking of the cosmic soul:
 
“…the soul diffuses throughout the cosmos, and we are animate beings for having a part of it.”[5]
 
“Cleanthes taught that all souls are immortal, but that the intensity of existence after death would vary according to the strength or weakness of the particular soul.[6]”
 
Diogenes Laertius (Διογένης ὁ Λαέρτιος) explains that the Stoics believe there is one universal soul from which other souls are born:
 
“They (sc. the Stoics) declare that there is one soul in the universe—which they called ‘ether’ and ‘air’…The other souls are born from it…”[7]
 
William Smith speaks to the importance of Diogenes Laertius' work in the study of Greek philosophy:
 
“Considering the loss of all the numerous and comprehensive works of the ancients, in which the history of philosophers and of philosophy was treated…the compilation of Diogenes is of incalculable value to us as a source of information concerning the history of Greek philosophy… His work has for a long time been the foundation of most modern histories of ancient philosophy[8].”
 
Ge is the immortal Goddess of generative earth.
 
Ananke is the immortal Goddess of what is necessary, in this case, the travail of parturition.
 
Artemis is the immortal Goddess of independence.
 
Phusis is the immortal Goddess of nature, of Physics.


[1] Artistotle de An. 410b 27-11a 2), Tracing Orpheus p. 139.
 
[2] Aristotle de An. 404a 10, Tracing Orpheus p. 140 footnote #5.
 
[3] Vettius Valens in Tracing Orpheus: Studies of Orphic Fragments in Honour of Alberto Bernabe  p. 142.

[4] Carlos Megino, Tracing Orpheus p.144.

[5] Cleanthes, Tracing Orpheus p. 143.
 
[6] Cotton, G. E. L. (1870). CLEANTHES (Κλέανθης). In W. Smith (Ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (Vol. 1, p. 779). Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.

[7] Diogenes Laertius, Tracing Orpheus p. 143.

[8] Stahr, A. (1870). DIO′GENES LAE′RTIUS (Διογένης ὁ Λαέρτιος or Λαερτιεύς, Λαέρτιος Διογένης. In W. Smith (Ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (Vol. 1, p. 1022). Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.

17. Ποσειδῶνος, θυμίαμα σμύρναν.
To Poseidon, God of the Mediterranean Sea
Divine medium: myrrh
 
Κλῦθι, Ποσειδάον γαιήοχε, κυανοχαῖτα,
I call Poseidon, Gaia’s ox, with navy-maned
 
ἵππιε, χαλκοτόρευτον ἔχων χείρεσσι τρίαιναν,
Steeds, holding fast in hand the embossed-copper trident,
 
ὃς ναίεις πόντοιο βαθυστέρνοιο θέμεθλα,
Prevailing over Pontos’ deep-chested foundation.
 
ποντομέδων, ἁλίδουπε, βαρύκτυπε, ἐννοσίγαιε,
Pontos-ruling, sea-roaring, deep-crashing, Gaia-ennauseating,
 
κυμοθαλής, χαριτῶπα, τετράορον ἅρμα διώκων,
With beautiful swells, charming to behold, your four-yoked chariot driven
 
εἰναλίοις ῥοίζοισι τινάσσων ἁλμυρὸν ὕδωρ,
In the seas’ rushing, shaking, briny water,
 
ὃς τριτάτης ἔλαχες μοίρης βαθὺ χεῦμα θαλάσσης,
The third, least fate deep in the streams of Thalassa.
 
κύμασι τερπόμενος θηρσίν θ' ἅμα, πότνιε δαῖμον·
Swelling, dancing, beastly power, as one with Rulers divine,
 
ἕδρανα γῆς σῴζοις καὶ νηῶν εὔδρομον ὁρμήν,
Seat of Ge, save and propel ships’ fair course,
 
εἰρήνην, ὑγίειαν ἄγων, ἠδ' ὄλβον ἀμεμφῆ.
In concert with Eirene and Hygieia, and grant a whole life above reproach.
 
 
NOTES
 
Poseidon is the immortal Olympian God of the Mediterranean sea: a quantity (Ποσ) + of forms (ειδάον); or, husband (Ποσ) + form (ειδάον); or, drink (Ποσ) + form (ειδάον).
 
“Quantity of forms” is a likely translation considering the multitude of shapes that the ocean’s surface can take.
 
“Husband-form” seems unlikely, except that one of Poseidon’s epithets is “Gaia’s ox (γαιήοχος)” (often euphemistically translated as “earth-shaker.”) An ox is a male stud animal kept for breeding.
 
“Drink-form” is likely since the ocean is water, although it is not drinkable because of the salt.
 
Gaia is the immortal Goddess of generative earth.

 
18. Εἰς Πλούτωνα.
To Plouton, God of the Before- and After-Life
 
Ὠ τὸν ὑποχθόνιον ναίων δόμον, ὀμβριμόθυμε,
Come forth from subterranean domain, mighty soulful power,
 
Ταρτάριον λειμῶνα βαθύσκιον ἠδὲ λιπαυγῆ,
From Tartarian meadows deeply shaded and deprived of dawn’s light,
 
Ζεῦ χθόνιε, σκηπτοῦχε, τάδ' ἱερὰ δέξο προθύμως,
Zeus of the foundation divine, scepter-bearer, extend your sacred right hand, welcoming soulful power,
 
Πλούτων, ὃς κατέχεις γαίης κληῖδας ἁπάσης,
Plouton, pure foundation, Gaia’s key for all,
 
πλουτοδοτῶν γενεὴν βροτέην καρποῖς ἐνιαυτῶν·
Wealth-giving genesis of mortal fruit each year,
 
ὃς τριτάτης μοίρης ἔλαχες χθόνα παμβασίλειαν,
The third portion allotted, all-ruler of the foundation divine,
 
ἕδρανον ἀθανάτων, θνητῶν στήριγμα κραταιόν·
Dwelling midst immortals, mortal-sustaining might,
 
ὃς θρόνον ἐστήριξας ὑπὸ ζοφοειδέα χῶρον
Enthroned firmly below in the nether dark region,
 
τηλέπορον τ', ἀκάμαντα, λιπόπνοον, ἄκριτον Ἅιδην
Where far-reaching passages extend unsupported, without air, indiscriminating Aidon, the place of departed souls,
 
κυάνεόν τ' Ἀχέρονθ', ὃς ἔχει ῥιζώματα γαίης·
Darkly stretching to Acheron, the foundation rooted in Gaia.
 
ὃς κρατέεις θνητῶν θανάτου χάριν, ὦ πολυδέγμων
Ruler of mortal death, charitably receive the multitude,
 
Εὔβουλ', ἁγνοπόλου Δημήτερος ὅς ποτε παῖδα
Good counselor, pure axis, when the child of Demeter
 
νυμφεύσας λειμῶνος ἀποσπαδίην διὰ πόντου
In the Nymphs’ meadow was torn away across Pontos
 
τετρώροις ἵπποισιν ὑπ' Ἀτθίδος ἤγαγες ἄντρον
On four yoked horses to beneath Attica’s central cave,
 
δήμου Ἐλευσῖνος, τόθι περ πύλαι εἴσ' Ἀίδαο.
In the deme of Eleusis, where surrounding gates lead to Aidon,
 
μοῦνος ἔφυς ἀφανῶν ἔργων φανερῶν τε βραβευτής,
There alone nature’s invisible works are made visible, then judged.
 
ἔνθεε, παντοκράτωρ, ἱερώτατε, ἀγλαότιμε,
With thee, all ruler, holy power, gloriously honored,
 
σεμνοῖς μυστιπόλοις χαίρων ὁσίοις τε σεβασμοῖς·
Solemn mystic charitable axis, devoutly revered,
 
ἵλαον ἀγκαλέω σε μολεῖν κεχαρηότα μύσταις.
Generously summon thou transplants, your grace extend to the mystae.
 
 
NOTES
 
Plouton (Πλούτων) is the God of the after- and before-life. He bestows the wealth (πλοῦτος) that comes from the earth, including precious metals, gems, and the harvest. He is a son of Kronos (Time) and Rhea (Flow).
 
Plouton is also known as Aidees (Ἅιδης) or Aidoneus (Ἀϊδωνεύς), commonly translated into English as “Hades.”  
 
Aidon (Ἅιδην, Ἀίδαο) is the dwelling place of deceased souls.
 
The sky is allotted to Zeus, the sea to Poseidon, and the realm beneath the earth to Plouton. Zeus is the immortal God of lightning storms and the spark of fire/spark of life: spark (Ζ) + essence (ε) pure (ῦ). Calling Plouton “Zeus” suggests that Plouton is the God of the spark of life in the afterlife.
 
Tartaros is the deepest realm beneath the earth’s surface, according to Hesiod’s Theogony[1], the cosmic inverse of the highest point of the heavens:
 
“For a brazen anvil falling down from heaven nine nights
and days would reach the earth upon the tenth: and again, a
brazen anvil falling from earth nine nights and days would
reach Tartarus upon the tenth.”
 
Acheron is the river and lake of the afterlife. One of Sappho’s poems speaks of a longing to see Acheron:
 
"but a kind of yearning has hold of me—to die
and to look upon the dewy lotus banks
of Acheron.”[2]
 
 
It is very interesting to note that the nymph Mintha (Μίνθη), whom Plouton loved, was metamorphosed by Persephone into the plant called mint (Strab. viii. p. 344; Ov. Met. x. 728))[3][4].  In the neighbourhood of Pylos there was a hill called after her, and at its foot there was a temple of Pluto, and a grove of Demeter. (Strab. viii. p. 344; Ov. Met. x. 729; Oppian, Hal. iii. 486; Schol. ad Nicand. Alex. 374.)[5]
This is particularly relevant because the mint Mentha pulegium (βλήχων, Ionic. γλήχων, Doric. γλάχων) is specifically named in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (208-10) as part of the kykeon drink of barley and mint that Demeter drinks while she is in mourning over the loss of her daughter. Notably, Mentha pulegium is pennyroyal, a known abortificaent. This is consistent with the Orphic belief that the body is a tomb of the soul and the presumed desire of Plouton to keep souls within his domain and out of the mortal realm. The lines from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter are as follows:
“Then she [Demeter] ordered her [Metaneira] to mix some barley and water 
with delicate pennyroyal, and to give her [Demeter] that potion to drink.”[6]
 
 “ἄνωγε δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἄλφι καὶ ὕδωρ 
δοῦναι μίξασαν πιέμεν γλήχωνι τερείνῃ.
ἣ δὲ κυκεῶ τεύξασα θεᾷ πόρεν, ὡς ἐκέλευε:[7]” 
 
Lucia Nixon writes an apt analysis in “The Cults of Demeter and Kore:”
 
“In the HHD (Homeric Hymn to Demeter), Demeter requests a drink, kykeon, made of barley meal, water, and tender pennyroyal, Mentha pulegium L. The text is clear as to the species, and translators do no service by rendering it simply as mint. Aritosphanes makes it clear that he and his audience know of its use as an anti-fertility drug. In the Hippocratic Corpus, pennyroyal is recommended for opening the uterus for various reasons: preconceptual purgation, hysteria, emmenagogue, expulsion (of foetus/afterbirth), and stimulation of lochia. Dioscorides, Pliny, and Galen also recommend it as emmenagogue and abortifacent . . .
 
“Pennyroyal and its extract, ketone pulegone, work by stimulating contractions of the uterus, hence its use in preventing or ending pregnancy. It can also be used to strengthen contractions in labour, to help expel the placenta, and to assist the involution of the uterus after birth, though these uses are not specifically mentioned in ancient sources.”[8] 
 
So, Gloria Steinem and Florynce Kennedy may have been on to something when they said, “If men could have babies, abortion would be a sacrament [9].” When women were the religious leaders, and when the civilized world worshiped the Divine Mother and her Divine Daughter, abortive medicine was part of the most esteemed and sacred ritual, the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Gaia is the immortal Goddess of generative earth: generative (γ) + arising (α) + divine power (ί).
 
Basileian means ruling base.
 
Nymphs are beautiful young Goddesses who preside over a particular location in nature.
 
Pontos is the immortal God of the sea, suggesting that Kore was spirited away over the sea when she was abucted by Plouton.
 
Attica is a region that includes Athens and Eleusis.
 
Eleusis is the city of the Eleusinian Mysteries of the immortal Mother Demeter and her Daughter Kore/Persephone.
 
Mystae are initiates in the Mysteries.


[1] Hesiod. Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica, “Theogony 722.” Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, 1914; Reprinted in English by Dodo Press dodopress.co.uk, 2011, p. 45.
 

[2] Sappho. If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho, Fragment 95, translated by Anne Carson (New York: Vintage Books, a division of Random House, 2000) 189. http://inamidst.com/stuff/sappho/
 

[3] Schmitz, L. (1870). HADES or PLUTON (Ἅιδης, Πλούτων, Ἀΐδης, Ἀϊδωνεύς and Πλουτεύς). In W. Smith (Ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (Vol. 2, p. 319). Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.

[4] Schmitz, L. (1870). HADES or PLUTON (Ἅιδης, Πλούτων, Ἀΐδης, Ἀϊδωνεύς and Πλουτεύς). In W. Smith (Ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (Vol. 2, p. 319). Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.

[5] Schmitz, L. (1870). MINTHA or MENTHA (Μίνθη). In W. Smith (Ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (Vol. 2, p. 1091). Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.

[6] Homeric Hymn to Demeter 208-10, translated by Gregory Nagy. http://www.uh.edu/~cldue/texts/demeter.html

[7] http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0137%3Ahymn%3D2%3Acard%3D184

[8] Lucia Nixon, “The Cults of Demeter and Kore,” Women in Antiquity, edited by Richard Hawley and Barbara Levick, Routledge, NY 1997, p. 85.
 

[9] In her 1983 memoir Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions Gloria Steinem indicated that the statement was spoken to her and Florynce Kennedy, author of Abortion Rap, by the “elderly Irish woman driver” of a taxi in Boston.
 

Translated by Catherine Proppe   December 15, 2016

​18. Εἰς Πλούτωνα.
To Plouton, God of the Before- and After-Life
 
Ὠ τὸν ὑποχθόνιον ναίων δόμον, ὀμβριμόθυμε,
Come forth from subterranean domain, mighty soulful power,
 
Ταρτάριον λειμῶνα βαθύσκιον ἠδὲ λιπαυγῆ,
From Tartarian meadows deeply shaded and deprived of dawn’s light,
 
Ζεῦ χθόνιε, σκηπτοῦχε, τάδ' ἱερὰ δέξο προθύμως,
Zeus of the foundation divine, scepter-bearer, extend your sacred right hand, welcoming soulful power,
 
Πλούτων, ὃς κατέχεις γαίης κληῖδας ἁπάσης,
Plouton, pure foundation, Gaia’s key for all,
 
πλουτοδοτῶν γενεὴν βροτέην καρποῖς ἐνιαυτῶν·
Wealth-giving genesis of mortal fruit each year,
 
ὃς τριτάτης μοίρης ἔλαχες χθόνα παμβασίλειαν,
The third portion allotted, all-ruler of the foundation divine,
 
ἕδρανον ἀθανάτων, θνητῶν στήριγμα κραταιόν·
Dwelling midst immortals, mortal-sustaining might,
 
ὃς θρόνον ἐστήριξας ὑπὸ ζοφοειδέα χῶρον
Enthroned firmly below in the nether dark region,
 
τηλέπορον τ', ἀκάμαντα, λιπόπνοον, ἄκριτον Ἅιδην
Where far-reaching passages extend unsupported, without air, indiscriminating Aidon, the place of departed souls,
 
κυάνεόν τ' Ἀχέρονθ', ὃς ἔχει ῥιζώματα γαίης·
Darkly stretching to Acheron, the foundation rooted in Gaia.
 
ὃς κρατέεις θνητῶν θανάτου χάριν, ὦ πολυδέγμων
Ruler of mortal death, charitably receive the multitude,
 
Εὔβουλ', ἁγνοπόλου Δημήτερος ὅς ποτε παῖδα
Good counselor, pure axis, when the child of Demeter
 
νυμφεύσας λειμῶνος ἀποσπαδίην διὰ πόντου
In the Nymphs’ meadow was torn away across Pontos
 
τετρώροις ἵπποισιν ὑπ' Ἀτθίδος ἤγαγες ἄντρον
On four yoked horses to beneath Attica’s central cave,
 
δήμου Ἐλευσῖνος, τόθι περ πύλαι εἴσ' Ἀίδαο.
In the deme of Eleusis, where surrounding gates lead to Aidon,
 
μοῦνος ἔφυς ἀφανῶν ἔργων φανερῶν τε βραβευτής,
There alone nature’s invisible works are made visible, then judged.
 
ἔνθεε, παντοκράτωρ, ἱερώτατε, ἀγλαότιμε,
With thee, all ruler, holy power, gloriously honored,
 
σεμνοῖς μυστιπόλοις χαίρων ὁσίοις τε σεβασμοῖς·
Solemn mystic charitable axis, devoutly revered,
 
ἵλαον ἀγκαλέω σε μολεῖν κεχαρηότα μύσταις.
Generously summon thou transplants, your grace extend to the mystae.
 
 
NOTES
 
Plouton (Πλούτων) is the God of the after- and before-life. He bestows the wealth (πλοῦτος) that comes from the earth, including precious metals, gems, and the harvest. He is a son of Kronos (Time) and Rhea (Flow).
 
Plouton is also known as Aidees (Ἅιδης) or Aidoneus (Ἀϊδωνεύς), commonly translated into English as “Hades.”  
 
Aidon (Ἅιδην, Ἀίδαο) is the dwelling place of deceased souls.
 
The sky is allotted to Zeus, the sea to Poseidon, and the realm beneath the earth to Plouton. Zeus is the immortal God of lightning storms and the spark of fire/spark of life: spark (Ζ) + essence (ε) pure (ῦ). Calling Plouton “Zeus” suggests that Plouton is the God of the spark of life in the afterlife.
 
Tartaros is the deepest realm beneath the earth’s surface, according to Hesiod’s Theogony[1], the cosmic inverse of the highest point of the heavens:
 
“For a brazen anvil falling down from heaven nine nights
and days would reach the earth upon the tenth: and again, a
brazen anvil falling from earth nine nights and days would
reach Tartarus upon the tenth.”
 
Acheron is the river and lake of the afterlife. One of Sappho’s poems speaks of a longing to see Acheron:
 
"but a kind of yearning has hold of me—to die
and to look upon the dewy lotus banks
of Acheron.”[2]
 
 
It is very interesting to note that the nymph Mintha (Μίνθη), whom Plouton loved, was metamorphosed by Persephone into the plant called mint (Strab. viii. p. 344; Ov. Met. x. 728)[3].  In the neighbourhood of Pylos there was a hill called after her, and at its foot there was a temple of Pluto, and a grove of Demeter. (Strab. viii. p. 344; Ov. Met. x. 729; Oppian, Hal. iii. 486; Schol. ad Nicand. Alex. 374.)[4]
This is particularly relevant because the mint Mentha pulegium (βλήχων) is specifically named in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter as part of the kykeon drink of barley and mint that Demeter drinks while she is in mourning over the loss of her daughter. Notably, Mentha pulegium is pennyroyal, a known abortificaent. This is consistent with the Orphic belief that the body is a tomb of the soul and the presumed desire of Plouton to keep souls from returning to mortal bodies and within his domain.
Lucia Nixon writes an apt analysis in “The Cults of Demeter and Kore:”
 
“In the HHD (Homeric Hymn to Demeter), Demeter requests a drink, kykeon, made of barley meal, water, and tender pennyroyal, Mentha pulegium L. The text is clear as to the species, and translators do no service by rendering it simply as mint. Aritosphanes makes it clear that he and his audience know of its use as an anti-fertility drug. In the Hippocratic Corpus, pennyroyal is recommended for opening the uterus for various reasons: preconceptual purgation, hysteria, emmenagogue, expulsion (of foetus/afterbirth), and stimulation of lochia. Dioscorides, Pliny, and Galen also recommend it as emmenagogue and abortifacent . . .
 
“Pennyroyal and its extract, ketone pulegone, work by stimulating contractions of the uterus, hence its use in preventing or ending pregnancy. It can also be used to strengthen contractions in labour, to help expel the placenta, and to assist the involution of the uterus after birth, though these uses are not specifically mentioned in ancient sources.”[5] 
 
So, Gloria Steinem and Florynce Kennedy may have been on to something when they said, “If men could have babies, abortion would be a sacrament [6].” When women were the religious leaders, and when the civilized world worshiped the Divine Mother and her Divine Daughter, abortive medicine was part of the most esteemed and sacred sacramental ritual, the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Gaia is the immortal Goddess of generative earth: generative (γ) + arising (α) + divine power (ί).
 
Basileian means ruling base.
 
Nymphs are beautiful young Goddesses who preside over a particular location in nature.
 
Pontos is the immortal God of the sea, suggesting that Kore was spirited away over the sea when she was abucted by Plouton.
 
Attica is a region that includes Athens and Eleusis.
 
Eleusis is the city of the Eleusinian Mysteries of the immortal Mother Demeter and her Daughter Kore/Persephone.
 
Mystae are initiates in the Mysteries.


[1] Hesiod. Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica, “Theogony 722.” Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, 1914; Reprinted in English by Dodo Press dodopress.co.uk, 2011, p. 45.
 

[2] Sappho. If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho, Fragment 95, translated by Anne Carson (New York: Vintage Books, a division of Random House, 2000) 189. http://inamidst.com/stuff/sappho/
 

[3] Schmitz, L. (1870). HADES or PLUTON (Ἅιδης, Πλούτων, Ἀΐδης, Ἀϊδωνεύς and Πλουτεύς). In W. Smith (Ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (Vol. 2, p. 319). Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.

[4] Schmitz, L. (1870). MINTHA or MENTHA (Μίνθη). In W. Smith (Ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (Vol. 2, p. 1091). Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.

[5] Lucia Nixon, “The Cults of Demeter and Kore,” Women in Antiquity, edited by Richard Hawley and Barbara Levick, Routledge, London and New York, 1995, p. 85.
 

[6] In her 1983 memoir Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions Gloria Steinem indicated that the statement was spoken to her and Florynce Kennedy, author of Abortion Rap, by the “elderly Irish woman driver” of a taxi in Boston.

Translated by Catherine Proppe   December 14, 2016

29. Ὕμνος Περσεφόνης.
Hymn to Persephone
 
Περσεφόνη, θύγατερ μεγάλου Διός, ἐλθέ, μάκαιρα,
Persephone, daughter of mighty Dios, come, blessed Lady,
 
μουνογένεια θεά, κεχαρισμένα δ' ἱερὰ δέξαι,
Sole offspring of the Goddess, gracious power who receives the sanctified,
 
Πλούτωνος πολύτιμε δάμαρ, κεδνή, βιοδῶτι,
Plouton’s greatly-honored wife, trusted giver of life,
 
ἣ κατέχεις Ἀίδαο πύλας ὑπὸ κεύθεα γαίης,
Held fast by Aidao’s gates below, in the depths of Earth,
 
Πραξιδίκη, ἐρατοπλόκαμε, Δηοῦς θάλος ἁγνόν,
Lady Justice, lovely-tressed pure daughter of Demeter,
 
Εὐμενίδων γενέτειρα, ὑποχθονίων βασίλεια,
Mother of the Eumenides, netherworld Queen,
 
ἣν Ζεὺς ἀρρήτοισι γοναῖς τεκνώσατο κούρην,
Who, as his daughter, gave birth to famed Zeus’ unnamed offspring.
 
μῆτερ ἐριβρεμέτου πολυμόρφου Εὐβουλῆος,
Mother of the loud-thundering, many-shaped Euboulos.
 
Ὡρῶν συμπαίκτειρα, φαεσφόρε, ἀγλαόμορφε,
The Horai’s playmate, light-bearing, gloriously formed,
 
σεμνή, παντοκράτειρα, κόρη καρποῖσι βρύουσα,
Solemn, all-ruling daughter of fruit full to bursting,
 
εὐφεγγής, κερόεσσα, μόνη θνητοῖσι ποθεινή,
Bright-shining, horned essence, singularly longed for by mortals.
 
ἐαρινή, λειμωνιάσιν χαίρουσα πνοῆισιν,
In springtime, meadow-dwelling, rejoicing in the breeze,
 
ἱερὸν ἐκφαίνουσα δέμας βλαστοῖς χλοοκάρποις,
Holy emerging light’s essence embodied in budding green fruit,
 
ἁρπαγιμαῖα λέχη μετοπωρινὰ νυμφευθεῖσα,
Then, snatched away from the midwife’s bed,
 
ζωὴ καὶ θάνατος μούνη θνητοῖς πολυμόχθοις,
Eternal life and death became one with mortals’ many hardships.
 
Φερσεφόνεια· φέρβεις γὰρ ἀεὶ καὶ πάντα φονεύεις.
Phersephone, who feeds all eternally and destroys all,
 
κλῦθι, μάκαιρα θεά, καρποὺς δ' ἀνάπεμπ' ἀπὸ γαίης
Come, blessed Goddeess, send up fruit upon Gaia’s earth,
 
εἰρήνηι θάλλουσα καὶ ἠπιοχείρωι ὑγείαι
Let Eirene’s peace thrive and the soothing hand of Hygeia,
 
καὶ βίωι εὐόλβωι λιπαρὸν γῆρας κατάγοντι
And life, good whole life, to a rich old age, bring forth,
 
πρὸς σὸν χῶρον, ἄνασσα, καὶ εὐδύνατον Πλούτωνα.
Bring forth upon your land, Anassa, with benevolent Plouton.
 
 
 
NOTES
 
Persephone, also called Phersephone, is the immortal Goddess of the afterlife and new life in Spring.
 
Dios refers to Zeus, the immortal God of lightning storms and the spark of fire/spark of life.
 
“The Goddess” is Demeter, the Goddess who directs the growth of plants, the “Directing (Δη) + Mother (μήτερος).” Deeous (Δηοῦς) is also Demeter, “directing (Δ) + central (η) + entity (ο) + pure (ῦ).”
 
 
Plouton is the immortal God of wealth and the afterlife.
 
Aidao is the realm of the afterlife.
 
Gaia is the immortal Goddess of generative earth.
 
Praxidike is the immortal Goddess who exacts justice, the practictioner (Πραξι) of Justice/Dike (δίκη).
 
The Eumenides, “Good Powers,” are the Goddesses who avenge crimes and persecute wrongdoers.
 
Basileia means Queen, ruler, basis of rule.
 
“Zeus’ unnamed offspring” is Zagreus (Ζαγρευς), "the first-born Dionysos," was born after Zeus seduced Persephone in the form of a serpent. “Zeus placed Zagreus upon the throne of heaven and armed him with his lightning bolts. The Titanes sneaked into Olympos and offered the boy a collection of toys, tricking him into setting aside the lightning. They then seized and dismembered him with their knives. Zeus recovered Zagreus' heart and made it into a potion for Semele to imbibe who then conceived and gave birth to the second Dionysos as a reincarnation of the first.
“The genitals of Zagreus were later recovered by the Kabeiroi, two demigods of the island of Samothrace. They deposited these in a sacred cave on the isle and instituted the Samothracian Mysteries in honour of the dead [G]od.”  http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Zagreus.html
 
Euboulos means “Good Counselor,” and is another name for Dionysos, the immortal God of wine and its effects, and other deities including Plouton, God of the afterlife.
 
The Horai are the immortal Goddesses of the seasons, of the natural time for things to occur. 
 
Interestingly, arpagimaios (ἁρπαγιμαῖος), “snatched away,” also describes Selene, Goddess of the moon, at the close of the month and is translated as “scarcely visible.” The word is more often translated as “seized, stolen, forcible abduction.” Another time this word is used in reference to Selene is “en arpagee Selene (ἐν ἁρπαγῇ σελήνης),” that is, “when the moon is invisible.”
 
Ares (Ἄρης) is the immortal God of war, destruction, plague, and ruin.   Ara (Ἀρά) is personified as the Goddess of destruction and revenge.  The word ἁρπαγιμαῖα could be broken down as follows:
- ἁρ (destroy)
- παγι (all)
- μαῖα (mothers).
 
Eirene is the immortal Goddess of peace.
 
Hygeia is the immortal Goddess of health.
 
Anassa means Queen, Lady.
 
 
 
As the Goddess of the afterlife, mystae are encouraged to drink from the spring of memory and continue on to the sacred groves of Persephone, as described in these tablets from ancient tombs[1]:
 
“But as soon as the soul has left the light of the sun,
 . . . Journey on the right-hand road
to holy meadows and groves of Persephone.”
 
-circa 400 BCE, from a grave mound in Thurii, now in the Museo Nazionale in Naples, Italy.
 
“Now I come as a suppliant to holy Persephone,
so that she may kindly send me to the seats of the pure.”
 
-circa 400 BCE, from a grave mound in Thurii, now in the Museo Nazionale in Naples, Italy.
 
 
“When you are about to die
down to the well-built house of Hades,
 
There is a spring at the right side,
And standing by it a white cypress.
 
Descending to it, the souls of the dead refresh themselves.
Do not even go near this spring!
 
Ahead you will find from the Lake of Memory,
Cold water pouring forth; there are guards before it.
 
They will ask you, with astute wisdom,
What you are seeking in the darkness of murky Hades.
 
Say, “I am a child of Earth and starry Sky,
I am parched with thirst and am dying;
 
But quickly grant me
Cold water from the Lake of Memory to drink.”
 
And they will announce you to the Chthonian King,
And they will grant you to drink from the Lake of Memory.
 
And you, too, having drunk, will go along the sacred road on which other
Glorious initiates and bacchoi travel.
 
From the cist-grave of a woman, around 400 BCE, grave tablet, Museo Archeologico di Vibo. The rectangular gold tablet, folded several times, was found lying on the upper chest of the skeleton and was perhaps attached to the neck by a tiny string.
 
 
 
For the Orphics, the soul exists before birth and continues to exist after death. “What [is] called life is really death, and the body is the tomb of the soul (σῶμα σῆμα), which is imprisoned successively in animal, and even in vegetable bodies, until its final purification liberates it from the ‘wheel of birth.’”[2]
 
The followers of Orpheus look upon what we call death as the door by which one may escape from prison and ultimately rejoin the society of Goddesses and Gods. 
 
Aristotle says that the Orphic verses proclaim that the soul enters the body when we draw our first breath: “the soul was said to be carried to and fro by the winds, and drawn into the body by respiration.”
 
In an early poem, “Descent into Aidou (κατάβασιςϵἰςΑιδου),” Orpheus relates that in the afterlife the soul, characterized as female, escapes from mortality and is reunited with the divine:
 
“I have escaped from the lamentable and cruel circle: I have set my eager feet within the longed-for ring. I have passed to the bosom of the Mistress and Queen of the underworld.” 
 
Such is the language in which the triumphant soul announces her redemption.
 
In reply, she is thus addressed:
 
“O happy and blessed one, thou shalt be [an Immortal) instead of a mortal.
 
“Hail, for thy sufferings are past…thou art become [an Immortal] from having been a [hu]man…hail, hail, thou that farest to the right, through the sacred meadows and groves of Persephone.”
 
“I have paid the penalty for deeds unjust,”—so speaks the soul, when she has finished her pilgrimage,—“and now I am come as a suppliant unto noble Persephone, beseeching her to be gracious, and to send me into the abodes of the pious.”74
 
“Already thou art [Immortal],” is the Orphic precept; “seek to be reunited with the [Goddesses and G]ods.”[3] 


[1] Ritual Texts for the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets, by Fritz Graf and Sarah Iles Johnson, Routledge, New York, 2007.  
 

[2] Greek Philosophy. Part I, Thales to Plato by John Burnet, London, Macmillan anc Co., 1914 p. 31   https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b000925979;view=1up;seq=47

[3] The Religious Teachers of Greece, “Lecture 5: Orphic Religious Ideas,” by James Adam, Reference Book Publishers: Clifton, New Jersey, 1965, T & T Clark, 1908.
 http://www.giffordlectures.org/books/religious-teachers-greece/lecture-5-orphic-religious-ideas