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JANUARY
I amar prestar aen
Han mathon ne nen
Han mathon ne chae
A han noston ned wilith.
January is the time to go deep within the self when the thinking forces are at their best. When it is time to travel to far away places of long ago in dreams. January at the PEACH is the time for great mysteries.
None now live who remember.
Some things that should not have been forgotten, were lost,
History became legend,
Legend became myth. – JRR Tolkien
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…men lived for 4000 years and once in a life time they had children; they were born in pairs out of their thoughts. -Song of Creation
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truth, beauty, strength
Great Mysteries – Mysteriosophy
The Sun at Midnight – Inspiration
First initiation: Throne of Necessity – The secret of all initiation is to give birth to the higher human being within oneself. What the priest accomplishes more quickly, the rest of mankind must undergo in long stages of development. To become leaders of the rest of mankind, the Druids had to receive this initiation. Druids were priests of the Sun. Through time, the eternal always appears again in a new incarnation.
Lifting the Veil – Imagination
Second Initiation: Handing over the Serpent by the Hierophant – Learning to penetrate and see the astral substances, to clearly witness the weaving of passions and desires, to lift the veil and see their actual spiritual forms beyond their material components, which would look hideous with only material sight. Develop a spiritual backbone. In creative thinking, objects are permeated with spiritual forces. The power of Imagination. Imagination is clairvoyance. To imagine is to see. Cleverness and trickery – Tantalus curses. Truth above all else, or the dangers of the lie which leads to black magic.
Source of Power – Intuition
Third Initiation: The journey into the Labyrinth – What is thus spoken is then forgotten, and only the merest vestige of it survives death. Convolutions of the brain. Eternal truths remain the longest after death. At that time, men experienced the truth through fairy stories; thus, today our spirit bodies have been prepared, and if we are able to grasp higher truths today, it is because we have been prepared.
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Spiritualism vs Materialism
Materialism is the belief that only the physical world matters in life, what we can see, and what we can touch. In the material world, people serve out of need. The social culture of materialism includes productivity connected to this force of need. However, once a person no longer exists, dies, they no longer have any need, want or desire for the culture or the forces of need.
Spiritualism is based on the belief that there is more to come in the afterlife and that we are all connected to a larger and more powerful force. In the spiritual world, service is manifested through love and devotion. The culture of the spiritual is expressed through the arts, religion, science, and philosophy. However, there is no need for the material in the end, because everything in the spiritual world is complete.
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Mysteriosophy –Thursdays 7 PM
Greek – μυστήριον – mysterion, mystery – sophy, knowledge or wisdom. Esoteric doctrines concerning ancient mysteries. Concerning secret rites or doctrines. Often regarded as an enigma. Connected to mysticism, Greek – μυστικός, mystikos. An initiate to a mystic or ancient religion. In pursuit of communion with, identification with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience and visions. A mystical experience, an extraordinary insight beyond all expression. Stories and examples will be given.
Communion of ideas among the higher beings. The slightest movement of activity stirred, caught in the peripheral vision of the el, man was created.
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All reality streams from the luminous point of hovering -Novalis
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From Darkness to Light
The days grew dark and on the solstice the darkness reached its depth and the sun stood still. Yet, the spark collected during Martinmas becomes a bright flame on Christmas Eve and though the darkness holds for ten days, the light within shines ever brighter, leading the way during the holy nights. Then, on the 1st of January, we see the movement of the sun once again as it starts to rise, the slow gesture towards the Spring Equinox. Ever so slight, the plants and trees begin their reluctant awakening. Meanwhile, man is ever clear in his thinking and wide away.
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Norse Mythology
The Ancient Culture of the Nord, consisting of nine worlds or realms, with 14 Æsir Gods and 28 Asynjur Goddesses.
Ginnungagap
The gaping abyss, the yawning void.
Völuspá
Icelandic Codex Regius manuscript (c. 1270) and Haukr Erlendsson’s Hauksbók Codex (c. 1334) manuscripts. This is one of the most important sources for the study of the Norse. It is the best known poem of the Poetic Edda. The Völva addresses the Prophecy of the God Odin. It tells the story of the creation of the world, its coming end, and rebirth.
The Prophecy of the Völva (Seeress)
“I remember the Giants born of yore, who bred me up long ago. I remember nine Worlds, nine Sibyls, a glorious Judge beneath the earth. In the beginning, when naught was, there was neither sand nor sea nor the cold waves, nor was earth to be seen nor heaven above.”
Yimir und Auðumbla
Auðumbla is a primeval cow. The primordial frost jötunn Ymir fed from her milk, and over the course of three days she licked away the salty rime rocks and revealed Búri, grandfather of the Gods. Yimir gave birth to all the line of Giants. Auðumbla gave birth to the first God Búri. He then gave birth to Borr who married the giantess Bestla. They had three children: Odin, Ville, and Ve.
Yimir continued to give birth to an endless creation of Giants, causing fear in God, this would upset the balance. So they killed Yimir and created the earth with his dismembered body. From his giant body three brothers used the bones as boulders, crags, and rocks, his skull became the sky, his brains the clouds, his hair the trees and forests, his eyelashes were used to create enclosures to keep future giants contained. Finally, Ymir’s blood formed the seas and oceans and drowned all the frost giants except one, Bergelmir. He sailed far away to safety and from whom future frost giants would be descended.
In retaliation three female Jotnar Giants went to war with the Gods. The God, in response, created many creatures to help fight this battle.
Stones, Runestone
Runestones are raised stones, boulders, carved bedrock with runic symbols. Most are located in Scandinavia, however, where the Vikings landed you are bound to find a Runestone. Usually these were placed next to a grave.
“For men of consequence, a mound should be raised to their memory, and for all other warriors who had been distinguished for manhood a standing stone, a custom that remained long after Odin’s time.” —The Ynglinga Saga
The Norse Gods & Goddesses
Odin, Borr, Frigg, Baldeu, Bragi, Hermod, Loki, Höðr, Thor, Freya, Freyr, Tyr, Heimdall, Hel, Njord, Vidar, Vale, Forseti, Mimir, Ullr, Iðunn.
Creatures Created By The Gods
Elves, Dwarves, Valkyries, Jörmungandr, Fenrir, Sleipnir, Huginn & Muninn, Níðhöggr, Auðumbla, Hafgufa, Humans.
Humans – Ask [ash] & Embla [elm]
Three Gods, powerful and passionate, left Asgard for Midgard. They found Ask and Embla, weak, fateless in that land. They had no breath, no soul, no hair, no voice, they looked inhuman. Odin gave them breath, Honir gave them souls, Loth gave them hair and human faces. – Völuspá </em
Norns
Norns are deities responsible for shaping the course of human destiny. There are many types of Norns: Elf, Dwarf, Vanir, Giant, Good and Bad. There are three in particular that draw water from their sacred well to nourish the tree, Yggdrasill. This tree resides at the center of the cosmos and the three prevent it from rot. They are described as powerful maiden giantesses from Jötunheimr and Mögþrasir. They are said to have ended the golden age of the Gods. Their neums: Urðr, Verðandi, and Skuld. Norns are also known to visit a newborn child in order to determine the child’s future. They could be malevolent, causing tragic events, or benevolent, be kind and protective.
Nine Worlds
Asgard – Realm of the Aesir
Alfheim – Realm of the Bright Elves
Jotunheim – Realm of the Giants
Midgard – Realm of the Humans
Muspelheim/Muspell – A fire-giant or the forces of chaos or their realm
Nidavellir – Realm of the Dwarves
Niflheim – Realm of Ice and Mist possibly with lower realm of Niflhel
Svartalfheim – Realm of the Black Elves
Vanaheim – Realm of the Vanir
Jörmungandr
Jörmungandr is a snake that encircles the realm of Midgard. He is the son of Loki and the giantess Angrboða. He is the brother of the great wolf, Fenrir, and the Queen of the Dead, Hel. At Ragnarök, Jörmungandr will release his tail and rise from the seas to join the forces of chaos against the Gods. He will slay and is slain by Thor.
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The Death of Baldur
The Death of Baldur Loki and Baldur were two Norse Gods. Loki was known as a trickster, a mischievous figure who often caused trouble for the other Gods. Baldur was the son of Odin. He was thought of as a heroic figure, known for his bravery and strength.
Baldur was the son of Odin and Frigg, the Supreme Gods of Asgard. Baldur was beautiful, kind and charming. He was loved by all. Baldur spread happiness wherever he went. Whoever was with him would enjoy the perfections of the world.
One night, as Baldur fell asleep, he began to have disturbing dreams, his happiness started to dissipate. His beloved wife Nana noticed the change in his mood. She tried to comfort him. Nothing seemed to work. The dreams turned into nightmares and the nightmares grew worse with every passing day. So bad were they that Baldur would wake up in the middle of the night frightened and shaking. None of the Gods knew what to do. None knew the meaning of these dreams.
This came to the attention of the wise All Father Odin. There were many things he knew because of the depth of knowledge he received at the well. He consulted the runes, and then the Ancient Oracle. The Oracle told Odin that he must travel to Helheim in order to see Baldur’s fate. This upset Odin greatly. For you see, only those who are brave, those who die with honor in battle, will enter Valhalla. The souls who do not die in honor enter the realm of Hela. They are the lost souls of the damned.
Odin disguised himself as a Wanderer. The Oracle led him to the place where he saw daemons and goblins making strange arrangements, singing haunting songs, speaking and writing in a language he did not know. However, the Ancient Oracle deciphered what they were saying. He told All Father Odin that the daemons and goblins were preparing for the arrival of Baldur, who would live with them forever. He then said, “Sorrow will ravage Asgard here in the realm of Hela, and here there will only be joy with the arrival of the spirit of the kindly.”
Odin returned to Asgard and shared the sad news with his wife Frigg. He told her of Baldur’s fate. Immediately, Frigg was determined to prevent this from happening to her beloved son. She knew he was loved by all. The Goddess then demanded all must take an oath and swear never to harm Baldur. Nothing, and no one could ever hurt the God. Every object, plant, disease and weapon pledged not to ever harm Baldur. Frigg went forth and spoke to all as she collected the oaths to protect her son.
Meanwhile, Loki the God of trickery, became envious and jealous of Baldur, but even he was compelled to take the oath, and so Baldur was invulnerable to everything. The God was safe, and his invincibility became cause for jokes and merriment among the Gods. They threw objects at Baldur, but everything harmful that approached him was deflected, for all had taken the oath. Thor hit him with his powerful Hammer, but Baldur felt nothing and everyone in Asgard was happy to know that the Beloved God was protected. Everyone, except Loki, who was determined to find a vulnerability in Baldur.
One day while slithering around, hiding in corners like a shadow, Loki overheard a conversation from the Goddess Frigg, who told a friend that she had managed to get everyone to take the oath. Everyone, except the mistletoe, a totally harmless plant, but in Loki’s evil mind, the mistletoe was not so harmless.
Loki, God of Deceit, had a great amount of wickedness inside him, and he seemed unable to contain such malevolence. Therefore, he planned to kill Baldur, the most beloved of the Gods. After collecting some mistletoe, he addressed the Gods who were still having fun trying to attack Baldur. Only the blind God Höðr felt sad that he was excluded from the fun. How could he throw something at Baldur when he didn’t even know where he was?
The cunning Loki created a dart made of mistletoe and addressed Höðr telling him that he shouldn’t let his blindness stop him from playing and having fun. Loki turned invisible and then guided Höðr to where the other Gods were throwing things at Baldur. Baldur, seeing Höðr approach, was happy to know that his twin brother would also participate in the fun and games.
Still invisible, Loki using all his might, helped Höðr throw the dart made of mistletoe at Baldur. Höðr expecting to hear the laughter of the Gods, experienced nothing, but a great silence. Baldur had been mortally wounded. As the God’s body fell to the ground, all those around him gasped and turned towards desperation. The prophesied death had come to pass. The world of the living mourned his passing. All were disturbed and saddened upon his departure. No longer would they see the beautiful and beloved Baldur.
Hermóðr, another son of Odin, brother of Baldur, was the messenger of the Gods. He rode his steed Sleipnir to the realm of Hell. Hermóðr’s mission was to rescue Baldur from the World of the Dead, and bring him back to Asgard.
When Hermóðr arrived, he immediately received some very good news. The Goddess Hela would return Baldur on one condition: ‘All beings must mourn Baldur’s death and wish him to return.’ Hermóðr brought this news directly to the Gods. All were pleased with the condition of Baldur’s return, for he was loved by all beings.
All the beings were summoned to confirm their desire to have the Beloved God Baldur return. All confirmed their devotion and love for Baldur, save one, a Giantess living in the mountains. She made it clear that she did not want the God to return, and because of her dislike and selfishness, Baldur could not return. This made everyone’s heart fill with sadness and sorrow.
The Gods went searching for the Giantess. When she was found, several of the God’s begged her to reconsider, but she refused. She said in her shrill and decrypted old voice, “Why should I care for his well-being, when I have my own to look after?” Some of the Gods fell to their knees, they begged her to reconsider, to at least try. The sight of the Gods on their knees begging made the Giantess laugh.
However, this laugh was strange and very revealing, for it was the laughter of the God Loki not an old woman. It didn’t take long before the Gods discovered that the heartless Giantess was indeed Loki in disguise.
By this time, Loki had committed every possible kind of mischief, but this act had exceeded the limits of the God’s patience. The Asgardians then came to a consensus: ‘Loki must be punished!’ Loki then fled from the wrath of the Gods. He hid deep in the mountains near a well where the salmon swam. He jumped into the well, took the form of a salmon and mixed with the other fish so not to be found by the Gods, but All Father Odin, was able to see the whole world from his throne. He saw exactly where Loki was hiding.
Still, the trickster God was smart and clever. He knew the Gods would eventually find his hiding place, so he thought about how they would try to capture him. He did not wish to underestimate their inelegance, he knew they were smart, and he knew they would use more than just a bate hook to capture him.
Loki pondered a moment and thought that if he put together a combination of strings and formed a tightly bound mesh, it could be capable of catching fish. He actually created this tool and called it the Net. It was the very first ever Fishing Net. After putting these strings together in different ways, he began to understand how the Net worked, then he designed strategies to escape from all these different combinations of Nets.
As he was designing a new method, he heard the Gods approaching. He threw the net into the fire and jumped into the river, turning back into a Loki Fish. The Gods saw Loki jump, but they didn’t know how to capture him. The God Kvasir looked around the camp fire and noticed what seemed to be traces of string, string that did not burn in the fire.
Kvasir immediately understood what Loki was up to and the purpose of the tightly wound strings. The God went straight to work. He created more of these Nets with the intent of using them to capture the trickster. The Gods then threw these Nets at Loki Fish, but he was well practiced at escaping. He knew when to wiggle, when to turn, when to flip and when to jump up high into the air, then when he landed on the shore he would turn back into himself and tear through the mesh. They could all see Loki was well-prepared.
Thor began to think of a different way to capture Loki. He thought if a bear could catch a salmon on the fly, perhaps so could he. He planned it out. When Loki was in the form of a fish, and when he jumped high in the air, Thor would be ready to grab Loki Fish and hold him before he landed, meanwhile the others would wrap him up in the Net.
Thor was all set and ready to go. The Net was tossed, and Loki Fish jumped high into the air, and before he landed, Thor snatched him like a bear and by the time Loki Fish touched the ground, becoming himself, the Gods had wrapped him up with the Net. From there, Thor dragged Loki to the cave where the Gods would hand down his well deserved punishment.
In the cave, the Gods summoned Loki’s two sons. They turned one into a wolf, who promptly killed his brother, strewing his entrails across the floor of the cave. Loki was then fastened to three rocks with the viscera, entrails, and sinews of his slain son. The Gods then turned his son’s guts into iron chains.
Many wished to kill Loki because of what he had done to Baldur, but Loki had a blood pact with Odin. Despite their different origins, they were like brothers. Odin could not allow the extermination of Loki, he could only imprison him, but this was too mild a punishment for such a traitor.
The Giantess Goddess Skadi [harm] placed a poisonous snake on a stalactite above Loki’s head, where it dripped poisonous venom onto his face, causing enormous pain. Sigyn, Loki’s faithful wife, sat by his side with a bowl that she held up to the snake’s mouth to catch the poison. However, every so often, the bowl became full, and Sigyn would have to leave her husband’s side to dispose of its contents, at which point the drops that fell onto the unrepentant God’s face would cause him to shake violently, which brought about earthquakes in Midgard, the world of humanity. Each Drop of Poison that fell on Loki only increased his desire for revenge.
Loki vowed to repay the Gods of Asgard for all the suffering imposed upon him. This was the lot of Loki and Sigyn until, as fated, Loki will break free from his chains at Ragnarök to assist the giants in destroying the cosmos.
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Ragnarök
Twilight of the Gods
Another green Earth will rise from the sea. I see eagles over fells, sporting for fish. At Idavoll, the Gods meet, and talk of the serpent, their former strength, and the Wise One’s runes. On the grass, roundabout, are the tables of gold at which they played so long ago. Crops will grow unseeded; ills healed, Baldr returns to live at Valhalla, the shrine to the slaughter-Gods. Vili will cast the blooded runes and the sons of brothers, Baldr and Höðr, will live with the Wind. I see a sun-bright hall, gold-thatched at Gimle, where the Gods will pass their days in pleasure. The black dragon flies over dark-of-moon hills, bearing corpses to Hel. Where I must go too.
Prophecy of the Seeress Völva.
Sitting on a rock, her back to Odin. The room is so silent you can hear the stillness of the air. She looks down and away, then asks the God if he wishes her to recite the ancient lore. There is a muttering from those who have gathered. Turning her head towards Odin, she reads his stare. She faces the crowd requesting silence from the sons of Heimdallr (human beings) and falls into a trance.
She remembers and speaks of the time of giants born in antiquity, the ones who reared her. She speaks of the creation myth Ymir; ‘…the world was nothing but the magical void, Ginnungagap, until the sons of Burr lifted the earth out of the sea, creating the world. The Æsir commands order in the cosmos, the sun, the moon and the stars, and the beginning of day and night. A golden age ensued. The Æsir, having plenty of gold, constructed beautiful temples and made great tools. All was happy, peaceful and calm. Until three mighty giant maidens came from Jötunheimr and that golden age came to a quick end.’
She speaks how The Æsir created the dwarves, of whom Mótsognir and Durinn were mightiest. She recounts the “Dvergatal”, then the formation of Yggdrasil, the world-tree, and the creation of the first man and woman.The seer recalls the burning of Gullveig that led to the first “folk” war, and what occurred in the struggle between the Æsir and Vanir. She recalls how in Gylfaginning Freyja was given to the giant builder and the creation of Fafner the dragon.
The seeress reveals to Odin that she knows many of his secrets, and his great sacrificed, what he gas given up. She tells him she knows where his eye is hidden and how he gave it up in exchange for knowledge. She then askes him several times if he understands. She stops, the air is again still, she turns to look at the God asking if he wishes to hear more. Odin stares at the seeress, shen then turns to face the audience.
The seeress reveals to Odin that she knows many of his secrets, and his great sacrifice; what he has given up. She tells him she knows where his eye is hidden and how he gave it up in exchange for knowledge. She then asks him several times if he understands. She stops, the air is again still, she turns to look at the God, asking if he wishes to hear more. Odin stares at the seeress, she then turns to face the audience.
She goes on to describe the slaying of Odin’s son Baldr, best and fairest of the Gods, and the enmity of Loki, and of others. At the end of her words, a tear falls from Odin’s eye. She closes her eyes, bows her head, and pauses, the room is silent, the tear falls to the floor.
Breathing deeply, she prophesies the destruction of the Gods. She speaks about how fire and flood overwhelm heaven and earth as the Gods fight their final battles with their enemies. “This is the fate of the Gods! Ragnarök.”
She described the summons to battle, the deaths of many of the Gods and how Odin, himself, is slain by Fenrir, the great wolf. Thor, the God of thunder and sworn protector of the earth, faces Jörmungandr, the world serpent, and wins, but Thor is only able to take nine steps afterward before collapsing due to the serpent’s venom. Víðarr faces Fenrir and kicks his jaw open before stabbing the wolf in the heart with his spear. The God Freyr fights the giant Surtr, who wields a fiery sword that shines brighter than the sun, and Freyr falls.
After Ragnarök – The New World
Her voice begins to change. It was ever-growing dark and rough, but now it is light, and her words flow like a song. She looks to be getting younger as she speaks, “A beautiful world is reborn. It rises from the ashes of death and destruction. Baldr and Höðr will live again. The earth sprouts in abundance without sowing any seed. The surviving Æsir reunites with Hœnir, and they meet together at the field of Iðavöllr. She hears them speaking, they are talking, discussing Jörmungandr, all the great events of the past, and the runic alphabet. Suddenly, a dark shadow falls on her face. She sees the appearance of Nidhogg the dragon. In his wings he holds many corpses. Her eyes open wide, she jumps back and emerges from her trance.
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Asatru – Nine Noble Virtues: Courage, Truth, Honor, Fidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Industriousness, Self-Reliance, Perseverance. Through the month of January every Monday a member from the Astru will present a lecture on the Norse Myths and Religion. From Ginnungagap through Ragnarök and beyond. The meaning of the Gods, the wars, and battle, the creatures created, the Runes through the twilight of the Gods, including Wagner’s, Ring of the Nibelungen. Sign up for the Lecture Series and the Opera weekend.
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The Greeks
Primatial Greek Gods
Achlys – Goddess of the eternal night, before Chaos, the demon of death.
Chaos – God of the void, the beginning of all life, Chaos pre-existed all, but Achlys.
Tartarus- God of the darkest underworld.
Αether – God of light, spark of life for every creature, the highest and purest layer of air.
Αion – God of eternity, time, portrayed with a snake body and three heads: human, bull, lion.
Ananke – the Goddess of inevitability, compulsion, and necessity.
Aion and Ananke are often depicted as wrapping themselves around the cosmic egg. Squeezing it tight they break the egg releasing the earth, skies, and sees.
Chronos – God of time, father of Erebus and Nyx.
Erebus – God of darkness and shadow.
Nyx – Goddess of night, mother of the night.
Hemera – Goddess of day.
Hypnos – God of sleep.
Eros – God of love and procreation.
Gaia – Goddess of the earth, the primeval mother.
Nesoi – Goddesses of islands.
Ourea – Gods of mountains.
Pontus – God of the sea and father of the sea creatures.
Nemesis – Goddess of retribution.
Thanatos – God of death.
Uranus – God of the heavens, ruler of the world, father of the Titans, Uranus was cruel, an unjust leader and a philanderer. Pillar Sons: Hyperion, Iapetos (Iapetus), Krios (Crius), Koios (Coeus).
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Titan Gods
The Children of Uranus and Gaea, six males and six females. three gigantic beasts called, Cyclopes & three 100 hand beasts called, Hecatoncheires,
Oceanus – Titan God of the oceans. Eldest son.
Crius – the Titan God of constellations. The ram, Aries. South Pillar
Tethys – Titan Goddess and mother of all the rivers, fresh water, clouds, nymphs and undines.
Hyperion – Titan God of light, West Pillar.
Cronus – Titan God of the harvest. East Pillar. Married his sister Rhea. Youngest child of Uranus, Castrated his father with a sickle, seized power.
Rhea – Titan Goddess of fertility and generation.
Theia – Titan Goddess of the æther. Gave birth to Helios, the sun.
Eos – Titan God of the dawn.
Selene – Titan God of the moon.
Mnemosyne – Titan Goddess of memory and remembrance.
Iapetus – Titan God of mortal life. East Pillar. Father of three sons: Atlas, he who carries the heavens upon his shoulders. Twins, Prometheus, foresight, he who gifted fire to men. Epimetheus hindsight, married Pandora, the first mortal woman.
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Prometheus -Lord Byron
Titan! to whose immortal eyes
The sufferings of mortality,
Seen in their sad reality,
Were not as things that Gods despise;
What was thy pity’s recompense?
A silent suffering, and intense;
The rock, the vulture, and the chain,
All that the proud can feel of pain,
The agony they do not show,
The suffocating sense of woe,
Which speaks but in its loneliness,
And then is jealous lest the sky
Should have a listener, nor will sigh
Until its voice is echoless.
Titan! to thee the strife was given
Between the suffering and the will,
Which torture where they cannot kill;
And the inexorable Heaven,
And the deaf tyranny of Fate,
The ruling principle of Hate,
Which for its pleasure doth create
The things it may annihilate,
Refus’d thee even the boon to die:
The wretched gift Eternity
Was thine—and thou hast borne it well.
All that the Thunderer wrung from thee
Was but the menace which flung back
On him the torments of thy rack;
The fate thou didst so well foresee,
But would not to appease him tell;
And in thy Silence was his Sentence,
And in his Soul a vain repentance,
And evil dread so ill dissembled,
That in his hand the lightnings trembled.
Thy Godlike crime was to be kind,
To render with thy precepts less
The sum of human wretchedness,
And strengthen Man with his own mind;
But baffled as thou wert from high,
Still in thy patient energy,
In the endurance, and repulse
Of thine impenetrable Spirit,
Which Earth and Heaven could not convulse,
A mighty lesson we inherit:
Thou art a symbol and a sign
To Mortals of their fate and force;
Like thee, Man is in part divine,
A troubled stream from a pure source;
And Man in portions can foresee
His own funereal destiny;
His wretchedness, and his resistance,
And his sad unallied existence:
To which his Spirit may oppose
Itself—and equal to all woes,
And a firm will, and a deep sense,
Which even in torture can descry
Its own concenter’d recompense,
Triumphant where it dares defy,
And making Death a Victory.
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.The Beginning and The End
Four Pillars – Four corners of the earth. Brothers who hold the heavens and the earth apart. Iapetus, Pillar of the West. Crius, Pillar of the South. Cronus, Pillar of the North. Hyperion, Pillar of the East.
The Hecatoncheires & the Cyclopes – The youngest, evil and most troublesome children of Uranus. Hated by their father. He had them all imprisoned in Tartarus, a dark place, deep in the bowels of the earth, inside their mother Gaea. This caused Gaea great pain, and suffering. To ease her pain Gaea fashioned a blade, a stone sickle, out of adamant [lodestone and diamond]. She then begged her youngest son to castrate Uranus so that he would have no more power over them. In the end, the brothers, Iapetus, Crius, Hyperion, held Uranus firmly in place whiles Cronus castrated him with the sickle casting the sex of their father into the sea leaving Uranus powerless. This marked a permanent separation of the earth and sky from the universe, creating a new order.
A New King – Usurping his father Uranus, Cronos, the new leader, king of the Gods brought order and justice to the universe after Uranus. This was known as the Golden Age of the Gods. With his sister-wife Rhea he had 6 children: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. What later became known as, The Olympians. However, over time Cronus proved to be no better than his father, a tyrant. Like his father he too locked the Hecatoncheires and the Cyclopes in Tartarus. However, before that could be fulfilled, Cronus was told by his mother Gaea and his father Uranus of the prophecy that had come into being, that like his father Uranus one of his children was fated to dethrone him, as he had dethroned his father. So Cronus ate each of his children as soon as they were born, thus forestalling his fate by devouring the infants, trapping them forever, inside himself.
Zeus – Zeus was the youngest son of Cronus. When he was born, his mother Rhea hid him in a cave on the island of Crete. Instead of feeding Cronos the child, as he expected, she swaddling a large stone in blankets telling Cronus it was the child. He ate the stone child quickly and felt at rest. Meanwhile, Zeus was kept well hidden on Crete. There he was raised by a nymph named Amalthea. As Zeus grew up, he dreamt about ruling over Mount Olympus. Years passed, Zeus now a man, standing over 40 feet tall, met with Metis, the Titan Goddess of wisdom, she gave him a poisonous magic elixir to give to Cronus. This potion would force Cronus to throw up his children trapped in his stomach.
Zeus transformed into a cup bearer and disguised the poison as red wine. He presented the wine to Cronus, who drank it up quick. All at once the sons and daughters of Cronus were expelled immediately. The children declared themselves to be the rulers of heaven. The Titans seemed fine with the children, but they would not accept Zeus as the leader. The children refused and so began a violent and brutal war called the Titanomoky. For ten years they battled and all looked lost for Zeus and his brothers and sisters, but Zeus released the Hecatoncheires and the Cyclopes from Tartarus and the Titans were defeated. Zeus became the God of all the heavens, as prophesized he deposed Cronus and the Titans, and as in his dream, his brothers and sisters ruled over as the Olympic Gods.
Unfortunately, like his father, Zeus became cruel and unjust. He made Atlas hold the world up forever on his shoulders, and sent his father Cronus to Tartarus for eternity. This outraged his mother who sent all manner of earthly evil to attack Zeus. He defeated all the challenges sent. Regrettably, regardless, of being brave in battled, Zeus was often petty tyrant, passing serve punishment on the Olympians for the slightest of offences. He was hypocritical, prone to temptation, and silly arguments.
Over time he declared the Gods stay out of the machinations of man, and those who didn’t he punished both the God and man. One punishment was sending the woman Pandora. She became wife of Epimetheus, brother of Prometheus. For her wedding, Zeus gave her a special gift, a beautiful jar, but she was told never to open it. Yet. her curiosity got the best of her. Zeus, of course, knew this would happen, and when she opened the jar she released all the ills and evils into the world. When she covered the jar up, nothing remained, but hope.
.Seven Wives of Zeus
When Zeus became King of the Gods he took as his First Wife, the Titan Goddess of fertility, thoughtfulness, prudence, and wisdom, Metis, the Oceanid nymph. She was one of 3000 daughters of Oceanus and Tethys. Metis was also the Goddess who gave Zeus the poison that released his brothers and sisters from the belly of Cronus. Metis gave birth to only one child, Athena. In the pecking order of children Athena was the first child of Zeus, but her birth came about in the most unusual way, you see, the father of Zeus, Cronus, and his mother, Rhea told Zeus of the agonizing prophesy he would suffer as his father and grandfather, Urines, had faced. That the God of the heavens would be overpowered and unseated by his own child. It was then prophesized that Metis would give birth to the child who would overthrow the father. To escape the prophecy, Zeus swallowed Metis while pregnant with Athena.
Second Wife, Themis, the Titan Goddess of divine law and order, traditional rules of conduct established by the Primal Gods. She is the divine voice (themistes) who instructed mankind in the primal laws of justice, the nómos (body and spirit of the law), morality, precepts of piety, rules of hospitality, good governance, conduct of assembly, and pious offerings to the Gods. She is one of the twelve Titan children of Gaia and Uranus. As the second wife of Zeus, Themis was his first counsellor. She was seated beside her husband advising him on the precepts of divine law and the rules of fate.
She was also a prophetic Goddess who presided over the most ancient oracles, including Delphoi (Delphi). She bore the Seasons and Fates with her six children: The ruling Horae, divinities of the seasons, Eunomia (Εὐνομία), Eirene/Irene (Εἰρήνη) and Dike (Δίκη). The bringer of death, Moirai (Moirae, Fates), Themis was also identified with Gaia in the role of the oracular voice of earth.
Third Wife, Eurynome, Titan-Goddess of water-meadows and pasturelands. “She of Broad-Pastures” urys “wide” or “broad” and nomia “pasture.” Daughter of Titans Oceanus and Tethys. Oceanid, Ocean, elder Okeanides, Water Nymphic one of the three thousand nymph Goddess of enticing beauty. Sister to Metis, she wore a crown of clover, protector and lover of cows, horses, dolphin, strength, power and speed.
Zeus transformed himself into a tame white bull and mixed in with her father’s herds. While Europa and her helpers were gathering flowers, she saw the bull, caressed his flanks, and eventually got onto his back. Zeus took that opportunity and ran to the sea and swam, with her on his back, to the island of Crete. She was one of his divine lovers.
She bore the Kharites – Charites, known as the Graces. Goddesses of mercy, these three fair-cheeked beauties were named: Aglaea “Radiance,” Euphrosyne “Joy,” and Thalia “Flowering.” It is said from whose eyes they glanced flowed love that unnerves the limbs, and such beautiful is their glance that beneath their brows. They represented and personified beauty, happiness, and abundance.
Eurynome, the daughter of Ocean, beautiful in form, bore [Zeus] three fair-cheeked Charites (Graces), Aglaea, and Euphrosyne, and lovely [Thalia], from whose eyes as they glanced flowed love that unnerves the limbs: and beautiful is their glance beneath their brows.
Forth wife – Demeter is the Olympian Goddess of the harvest. She presides over agriculture, crops, grains, essentially, all foods from the earth, and the fertility of the earth. She was an extremely important Goddess to the Ancient Greek people, known as the Grain-Mother, for she control all of their food.
Demeter had Chthonic power Any spirit who lives inside Earth is technically a chthonic spirit. In the older chthonic cults the earth goddess was related to the Underworld and in the secret rites, the mysteries Demeter served the double function of death and fertility. Chthon means “Earth” is used to indicate subterranean beings, those spirits who dwell inside Earth as opposed to in the Heavens, within trees, caves, burrows, and other placed in the Earth. Chthonic force consists in nature, lifeforce, nurturance and growth; evoking mystery, danger, chaos, and is equated with the subjective, the intuitive, the irrational, and the personal. As a chthonian underworld deity was often accompanied by a snake.
Like her siblings Demeter was consumed at birth by he father Cronus. She lived in his belly until the youngest son,, her brother Zeus rescued all his brothers and sisters from their father’s captivity. Zeus and his sibling overthrew their father as the prophesy determined.
Demeter never married, but at one point she became the sister wife of Zeus. S he had two children with him. A daughter, Persephone, and a son, Iacchus.
Being Chthonic Demeter and Zeus merged in the form of intertwining serpents. From this union the beautiful Goddess Persephone was born.
Demeter was very proud of her daughter, she was beautiful, and sweet. Demeter loved her very much, and like her mother, Persephone, loved nature, and like her mother, she also shares the double function of death and fertility.
One day Zeus enraged Demeter, he had permitted their brother Hades, the god of the underworld, to kidnap their daughter. In fact, it was all his idea. How it all began, Zeus gave his consent for Hades to marry his daughter, but because he believed that Demeter would not approve of the match, he told Hades to abduct Persephone and take her to his realm in the Underworld. With the aid of Gaia, Hades did just that, He abducted the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Demeter, and carried her to the Underworld.
Now, the Sirens were the companions of young Persephone. When she realized her daughter was missing Demeter gave them wings to search for her beloved girl. When she found out that the Sirens did nothing to save her daughter, Demeter cursed them for failing to intervene in the abduction.
Demeter then carried a pair of flaming torches in her search for Persephone. Even today she is depicted in art holding one or two torches as her attribute.
Demeter was also called Khrysaoros (Lady of the Golden Blade) after the golden sword or sickle which she wielded in her search. Demeter looked everywhere in the world for her, but was unsuccessful. Devastated by Persephone’s kidnapping Demeter fell into a great sorrow and grief. She withdrew from her responsibilities and refused to permit any crops to grow on Earth. This led to a massive famine and put the survival of humanity in danger.
Zeus pleaded with Demeter to save humanity, but she refused, and so Zeus confessed to his part in the plan to abduct Persephone and allow their brother Hades of the Underworld to marry her.
Persephone was in the meadow picking flowers when Hades emerged from a crack on the earth, he grabbed the child, and carried her off to the Underworld. She struggled to get free, but he overpowered her. Hecate and Helios witnessed the abduction. Hecate ran to fetch torches, and Helios ran to tell Demeter.
Now that she knew the truth Zeus needed to go to the Underworld to speak to Hades, otherwise Humanity would die.
Now, according to the myth, anyone who consumes food or drink in the underworld was bound to it and could never leave. As long as Persephone did not eat in the Underworld she could return to the land of the living, and to that point Persephone had eaten nothing while kidnapped by Hades.
Hades then tempted the girl with a Pomegranate. He pealed back the leathery skin and inside the snug white flesh of the fruit were red juicy seeds that looked like gems. He said if she ate just one, she would live forever, and so she did. Without realizing what she had done she had eaten food in the Underworld. The simple temptation of the luscious Pomegranate made Persephone Hade’s eternal queen.
Needless to say, Hades was not happy when Zeus arrived wanting to bring Persephone back to the living, but Zeus explained that there was no choice in the matter, humans needed to eat and without food they could not worship the Gods, and they would all parish. In the end he forced Demeter and Hades to make a compromise regarding their claims to Persephone.
For eating the seed Persephone was bound to the Underworld and Hades. She is always watched by hos Owl. She spent 4 moths of sorrow with her husband, and 8 months with her mother, happy among the living. Her journey from the Underworld to the Land of the Living is symbolized in the change of the seasons. When she leaves her mother, Demeter grows sad and alone, she is at rest, the gardens grow dark and cold, the world is in a state of winter until her darling daughter returns in the Spring.
Persephone has two children with Hades one daughter, Melinoë, and one son, Zagreus. Melinoë became the Goddess of nightmares and madness. Zagreus the God of intoxication. However, there has always been rumors that Zeus is the biological father of both children.
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Fifth Wife– Mnemosyne, Goddess of memory, mother of the Muse, all born through a relationship with her nephew Zeus.
Birth of The Muses – When Zeus became the Father of Gods, he slept with the Goddess of memory and remembrance, Mnemosyne. He stayed with her for nine consecutive days. This led to the birth of the nine Muses. In *Hesiod’s Theogony, the kings and poets were inspired by Mnemosyne and the Muses, thus getting their extraordinary abilities in speech and using powerful words. All ancient writers appeal to the Muses at the beginning of their work. Apollo was the best known patron of the muses. Homer asks the Muses both in the Iliad and Odyssey to help him tell the story in the most proper way, and even until today the Muses are symbols of inspiration and artistic creation. The muses had many incarnations, but eventually settled on nine.
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The Nine Muses
Clio – Muse of history
Calliope – Muse of heroic or epic poetry
Erato – Muse of lyric and love poetry
Euterpe – Muse of music or flutes
Melpomeni – Muse of tragedy
Polymnia – Muse of sacred poetry or of the mimic art
Terpsichore – Muse of dancing and choral song
Thalia – Muse of comedy
Urania – Muse of astronomy
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Homer’s Call to the Muses
Sing, Goddess, sing of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus—
that murderous anger which condemned Achaeans
to countless agonies and threw many warrior souls
deep into Hades, leaving their dead bodies
carrion food for dogs and birds—
all in fulfilment of the will of Zeus.
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Sixth Wife – Leto, Goddess of motherhood. Titan, daughter of Cronus and Phoebe. Sister wife of Zeus. As the Goddess of motherhood she is the protectress of the young. She is also portrayed as the Goddess of modesty and womanly demure, some connect her name with the word lethô, modesty. In a number of Greek vase paintings she is depicted as a young woman lifting her veil to Zeus, a gesture of modesty.
She is more often depicted as a mother, accompanied by her two children. The origin of her name is thought to mean “unseen” this makes a connection to her modesty, though some believe her name derives from “lada,” which is the Lycian word for woman. The cult of Leto was wide-spread all over Greece and Asia Minor for being the mother of two Gods. She is also connected to the island of Delos and later, the town and Oracle of Delphi.
Leto, pregnant by Zeus, sought a place of refuge to deliver her children. This was difficult for she was now cursed by Zeus’ seventh wife, Hera. Enraged and full of jealousy Hera pursued Leto relentlessly. She vowed to curse any piece of land that allowed Leto to rest and give birth. Hera sent her serpent-dagon Python in pursuit to destroy her and the children she carried. Hera’s curses drove Leto from land to land preventing her from finding a place to rest and give birth.
Eventually, the day came and Leto fell into the throes of labor, Python went in for the kill extending his clutches to grab her she was almost magickly swooped up by the North Wind, this was of course sent by Zeus. The wind lifter Leto higher allowing her to escape Python, and it carried her clear to the Aegean Sea. The wind then blew her onto a wandering barren rock, borne about by the waves, adrift in the sea, attached to nothing. Here is where Leto found refuge and rest.
Her labor could not be held back and as she gave birth on that rock it fixed itself to the sea floor, becoming the isle of Delos [Cyclades archipelago of Greece]. It’s name means to manifest, to reveal. There she gave birth to a set of twins, a male and a female. Their names, the God Apollo and the Goddess Artemis.
The Island of Delos now became a sacred place. Upon their birth Hyperborean Swans circled the island seven times. This was a symbol, a sign, and a blessing of good health, harmony, divination, and grace. The Titaness, Earth Goddesses, would also grant and bear Apollo and Artemis Olympian Gods.
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Gifts from Zeus To Leto’s Twins
Zeus gifted Apollo the city of Delphi, a golden tripod, a golden bow and quiver of arrows that could never be emptied, and a silver chariot pulled by swans
Zeus promised Artemis all the mountains as her domain, he presented her with 30 cities, and guardian of the world’s roads and harbors. Zeus granted Artemis a silver bow and arrows made by the Cyclops, granted her eternal virginity, and a group of nymphs to serve her forever.
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Wandering The World
The twins grew rapidly, into fierce protectors of their mother. At only four days old Apollo was ready to slay the beast that chased his mother, and put upon him vengeance for the horrors she suffered for simply bringing the twins into the world (more on this later).
The Island of Delos was small and though safe, threats were always looming. Now that the children were born,this wasn’t the end of Leto’s woes. Hera did not cease in her pursuit of Leto. Her jealousy and anger only increased. This forced Leto and the children to wander the world, they were constantly pursued by all manner of creatures, sent by Hera of course.
Travelling to Delphi, Leto was accosted by the giant Tityus he was attempting to abduct and rape her on the orders of Hera. Tityus, was an earth-born giant, A child of Zeus. Zeus hid his mistress Elara from his wife, Hera, by placing her deep beneath the earth. Tityus grew so large that he split his mother’s womb, and he was carried to term by Gaia, the Earth Mother.
There are two stories sounding Tityus death. One by the twins, where his death came hard and fast. Tityus tried to accost Leto, but his advances were repelled by Apollo, and Airtimes through the power and skill of Apollos silver arrows. The others claim it was Zeus who intervened with a bolt of lightening and thunder. When Zeus heard of the attempt to abduct Leto he poured a thunderbolt upon his head, and as punishment, Tityus was stretched out in Tartarus and tortured by two vultures who fed on his liver, which grew back every night. This punishment is comparable to the story of the Titan Prometheus.
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One day while Leto and the children were passing through Lycia, she felt thirsty and tried to drink from a well. The peasants however, stirred up the mud at the bottom of the well, and made the water undrinkable for her and the children. In anger for the unfairness towards her children, Leto turned them all into frogs.
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After many yeas and adventures of wandering had passed, Leto decided to settle in Thebes, this is where she wished to spend the rest of her life. Her children would then follow their father and rule in Olympus.
In the city of Thebes, there was an arrogant and hubris queen named Niobe, she was the daughter of Tantalus. She once said that she was superior to Leto, because Niobe had given birth to fourteen children, seven male, and seven female, instead of only two. Leto and her divine children were so insulted when they found out about this reproach, both Apollo and Artemis took revenge, killing all fourteen of Niobe’s children. When Niobe discovered what had happened, she burst into great tears and sorrowful grief. There was no consoling her. She then asked Zeus to show mercy on her by turning her into stone, so that she would no longer feel the pain and suffering of this loss. Zeus granted her request, and turned her into a pillar of stone. To this day people say that when they pass the pillar, they see it weeping.
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Apollo and Delphi
When Leto was saved by the North Wind from the serpent-dragon Python she landed on a rock floating in the Aegean. This was the only way to avoid the curse set by Hera. When Leto started to give birth to the divine twins, the children of Zeus, the rock began to take root and became the island of Delos.
Her twins grew rapidly, becoming her fierce protectors of their mother. At only four days old Apollo was ready to slay the creatures known as Python. Python was described as a terrifying monster and a “bloody plague.” She was also the nurse of the giant Typhon, one of the deadliest creatures in the cosmos. It is said Hera had created the monster to overthrow Zeus.
It did not take long for Apollo to search for the serpent-dragon. He was ready to put an end to the beast that raped his mother while pregnant, then chased and tried to kill her. Python’s lair was on Delphi, and Apollo would strike vengeance upon the beast for the horrors his mother suffered.
He found Python’s lair on Mt. Parnassus and killed Python with a single arrow shot from his golden bow. He then let the corpse rot under the sun and declared himself the oracle deity of Delphi. As the corps rotted in the sun it produced a sticky substance, and a strange, but sweet smell. Apollo then claimed the ground sacred and as his own. A sanctuary was vested by Gaia, the earth Goddess. This is where Apollo secured his worship and temple. Apollo’s domain was now established, he was the light and the sun, truth and prophecy, healing, music, and poetry. Apollo built his temple, and inscribed on the entrance are the words:
“Know Thyself”
(Γνῶθι σαυτόν)
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Oracle of Delphi
From the corps of the creature a vapor emerged and out of the vapor there came a priestess, she was known as Pythia, she is the Oracle of Delphi. The name Pythia is derived from Pytho, which was the original name of Delphi. Her full background is unknown, but often controversial. Was she the sister of Asteria, is she the Goddess of day or night? Is her true title Pythoness?
Pythia sits in the temple on a tripod, in her left hand are sprigs of laurel or lavender, and in the other a wooden bowl of holy water. One is to calm the other to cleanse. Apollo speaks through her. He speak the sacred speech applying the dactylic hexameter. Seekers came to the temple from all over the world for guidance in all major decisions. Apollo would speak through this priestess and answer their questions.
The Oracles were a guild of virgin priestesses, all dedicated to the God Apollo. All were natives of Delphi, required to have had a sober life, and be of good character. Most were raised among the local farmers. The Pithy lived in her own home tended by two priests who also oversaw the guests. The Pithy made prediction 9 days a year, but the challenge was so greats few of the priestesses live beyond middle age. The guild were all considered priestesses, when one died another was chosen by the others to be the Oracle.
To have an audience with the Oracle people traveled from far away places and they were required to bring an animal to slaughter and check its insides for a favorable reading. The guest must also bathe in the waters of the cave in order to be clean and sit before the Pithy.
She would fall into a trance, then communicate the words of Apollo through a spiritual language. The priests who tended and cared for her would then interpret the words spoken. Often, the priestess’s answers to questions would then be put into the dactylic hexameter by a priest. In out modern age there are those who have explored Delphia and discovered that the caves produce a certain gas that could have been the cause of hallucinations or a trance like state. Two geological faults were discovered that intersect directly below the Delphic Earthquakes would rrlease the hydrocarbon gases ethylene, a sweet smell and produces a narcotic effect described as a floating or disembodied euphoria. the Pythia derived her prophecies in a small, enclosed chamber in the basement of the temple. The Pythia went to the chamber once a month, as tradition says, she could have been exposed to concentrations of the narcotic gas that were strong enough to induce a trance-like state. Of course, not so much when there were no earth quakes or tremors. llll
The Procedure
Once a month On the seventh day the oracle would undergo purification rites, the number seven is sacred and associated with the god Apollo. She would also fast in order to prepare for communication with the divine. Her face covered in a violet veil, she was escorted by two priests to the temple One of the priests would then proclaim:
Servant of the Delphine Apollo
Go to the Castilian Spring
Wash in its silvery eddies,
And return cleansed to the temple.
Guard your lips from offence
To those who ask for oracles.
Let the God’s answer come
Pure from all private fault.
The Pythia would then bathe naked in the Castilian Spring, she would drink the holy water of the Cassotis, where a nymph possessing magical powers lived.
Euripides described the ritual in this wise, “Purification ceremony with the priest’s Ion dancing on the highest point of Mount Parnassus, home of the Muse. he would sprinkling the temple floor with holy water. The Hosioi, an aristocratic council of five, with a crowd of oracular servants, would arrive at the temple Consultants carrying the sacred laurel branches would approached the temple along the winding upward course of the Sacred Way. They would bring a young goat, a kid, for sacrifice in the forecourt of the temple, and a monetary fee.”
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Apollo’s Gifts To Mortals
Apollo was capable of seeing into the future, he gave some mortals the gift of prophecy, the ability to see the future, although often times this “gift” came with severe consequences.
The End of the Oracle
Overtime things changed for many reasons. In later years some of the Oracles were married, However, upon assuming their role as the Pythia, the priestess would cease all family responsibilities, marital relations, and her individual identity.
In more prosperous times of the Oracle, the Pythia may have been a woman chosen from an influential family, well educated in geography, politics, history, philosophy, and the arts. During later periods, however, uneducated peasant women were chosen for the role, which may explain why the poetic pentameter or hexameter prophecies of the early period were later made only in prose.
The temple began to fall into ruin under Nero. He ended the practice of the Oracle, while he looted the temple.
Julian the Apostate, the last pagan emperor, posed the last question to the Oracle, but the temple was already in ruins. Julian sent an emissary to pose the Oracle the question the priests of the temple sent him the following reply, ‘tell the Emperor that the glorious temple fell into ruins. Apollo does not have a roof over his
head anymore. The leaves of the laurels are silent, the sources and prophetic streams are dead.
It was the Christian Emperor Theodosius I who finally closed the temple.
tbc
Knights of Pythias
While it is understood that most Secret Societies went underground due to the dominant beliefs of the age taking precedent, as well as, forbidding their practice by the ruling leaders. The Oracle of Delphia, Pythia fell into ruin and vanished as the Byzantium Empire grew. and dominated what was once the Roman Empire. Interesting the Knights of Pythia appeared at the end of the Civil War in the US, 1884. This lodge grew strong and spread world wide.
As most lodges of the time they had several object, part of their ritual, like most lodges they has a sword for the Knights of Pythia, embed in the handle of the blade was inscribed the initials FCB meaning, Friendship, Charity, Benevolence. On their pin we see the the image of a knight’s helmet and a lion on the crest, a sprig of myrtle; the Pythian symbol of love. A falcon; the Pythian symbol of vigilance. We hope to learn more about this particular Lodge and any connection to Delphia.
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The Five Oracles
Dodona.
Trophonius.
Erythaea.
Cumæ
Delphi
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.Seventh Wife – Hera
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Lecture on the Muse
Clash of the Titans
Metis creator of Demeter, Hestia, and Hera.
Apollo was the patron of the muse
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12 Olympian Gods
Children of Cronus
Zeus – Youngest Son. Overthrew his father becoming the God of all the heavens. God of thunder. Lord of justice.
Hera- Goddess of lawful marriage and family. Protector of women during childbirth. Faithful wife to Zeus.
Demeter – Goddess of agriculture and the harvest, presided over the fertility of the earth the natural cycle of life and death.
Hestia – Eldest of the Olympians, Virgin Goddess of the hearth, home, and hospitality.
Hades –
Poseidon –
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Children of Zeus
Athena, endowed with courage and prudent counsel, equal to her father.
Athena, according to Greek mythology, was the goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare. Athena was the beloved daughter of Zeus. Her mother was the Titaness Metis, the first wife of Zeus. Zeus received a prophecy informing him that Metis would give birth to the child who would overthrow his father. To escape the prophecy, Zeus swallowed Metis while she was pregnant in Athena. Later, Zeus began to suffer from headaches and called on Hephaestus to help him. Hephaestus hit the head of Zeus with his hammer and Athena sprang out in full armor. She is always pictured to be armed, never as a child, always a virgin. She won the battle for the patronage of Athens over Poseidon. The Parthenon in Athens is the most famous temple dedicated to her. Protector of heroes and wisest among the Gods, Athena was considered one of the most powerful and important Olympian Gods.
Athena, endowed with courage and prudent counsel, equal to her father.
, Zeus placed her down into his belly,
so the goddess might advise him on good and evil.
In order to forestall these consequences, Zeus tricked Metis into turning herself into a fly and promptly swallowed her. However, she was already pregnant with their first and only child, Athena. Metis crafted armor, a spear, and a shield for her daughter, whom she raised in Zeus’ mind.
Athena, according to Greek mythology, was the goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare. Athena was the beloved daughter of Zeus. Later, Zeus began to suffer from headaches and called on Hephaestus to help him. Hephaestus hit the head of Zeus with his hammer and Athena sprang out in full armor. She is always pictured to be armed, never as a child, always a virgin. She won the battle for the patronage of Athens over Poseidon. The Parthenon in Athens is the most famous temple dedicated to her. Protector of heroes and wisest among the Gods, Athena was considered one of the most powerful and important Olympian Gods.
Apollo – God of the the sun, music, archery, prophecy and healing. His symbols sun, a bow and arrow, a lyre, and a swan.
Apollo The twin brother of Artemis – or Diana – children of Zeus and Leto.
On hearing of Leto’s pregnancy, Hera – Zeus’ wife – banned Leto from giving birth on land. Leto found the island of Delos (in the Cyclades archipelago of Greece), which was a ‘floating’ island and wasn’t anchored to the mainland, and gave birth to Apollo and Artemis safely there. When the twins were born, swans are said to have circled the island seven times – island was sacred to him . Zeus also gave his son a golden chariot pulled by swans as a gift. Apollo he is the only god in the classical pantheon to share the same name in both Greek and Roman traditions.
Artemis or Diana – twin sister to Apollo – – goddess of the hunt, wild animals, chastity and childbirth.
In the story of the hunter Actaeon. Actaeon stumbled into Diana’s grove as she bathed, catching a glimpse of the goddess naked. In retribution, she splashed him with water, cursing him and transforming him into a deer, and he was killed by his own hunting dogs.
Artemis from Ephesus
Ares –
Hermes –
Hercules –
Perseus –
Dionysus –
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More Children of Zeus
Zeus had over 100 children a few we are familiar Gods.
Hephaistos – son of Zeus
Aphrodite –
The beginning and the end
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*The Theogony, by Hesiod is a poem describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods, composed c. 730–700 BC. It is written in the Epic dialect of Ancient Greek .
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Homer
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.Greco-Roman
From the Greek Gods to the Roman Gods
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Greek and Roman God of the sun, medicine, music, poetry, and sciences. Apollo’s epithet is Phoebus, “bright”.
The only God who kept his original name from the Greeks ot ht eSOmans
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Roman Gods and their relationship to the Greek Gods.
Jupiter/Zeus
Juno/Hera
Neptune/Poseidon
Minerva/Athena
Mars/Ares
Venus/Aphrodite
Apollo
Diana/Artemis
Vulcan/Hephaestus
Mercury/Hermes
Ceres/Demeter
Vesta/Hestia
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The beginning and the end
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willing, thinking and feeling
The Gnostic
Gnosticism
Gnosis – hidden knowledge
Hylic (from Greek ύλη (hylē) “matter”) material – also called Somatics (from Gk σώμα (sōma) “body”), completely bound to matter. Somatics were deemed doomed, incapable of understanding. They were the lowest order of the three types of human. Falling into corruption.
Psychic and hylics from Greek ψυχή (psychē) “soul”) bound to matter/animal. However, through the Sophia Divine the Spark lingers within the soul. Animal souls of necessity rest forever with the Demiurge in the intermediate place, elemental being are higher, yet, still inferior to the pneumatic.
Pneumatics (from Gk πνεύμα (pneuma) “spirit, breath” spiritual open to secret knowledge. The highest order of humans, escaping the doom transcendent knowledge. Some are by nature good, and others by nature evil. The good are those who become capable of receiving the [spiritual] seed [and becoming pneumatic]. The evil by nature are those who are never able to receive that seed [and become hylic].
Achamoth, being disciplined, and nourished here from that time until now in righteous souls, perfection, shall be given as brides to the angels of the Savior.
firmitas, utilitas, venustas
strength, utility, and beauty.
Four Virtues – Plato tbc
They are connection to the body and one’s disposition.
1. wisdom/ethics – the brain – opposes egotism and materialism or if consumed by both this equates to thoughtlessness, ignorance/
2. courage – heart – a weak heart means cowardice. You have to have Christ in your heart to be courageous.
3. temperance – organs, moderation – weak in moderation means quick to anger, generally violent, will cause organ maladies problems later in life, via any excess.
4. justice – to stand upright – justice is fleeting, it comes in only at one moment when a child stands up right, watch your posture, be weary of people who are bent over. When you speak stand upright and justice will flow through you words. Anyone who uses these for ill-gotten gains will pay a heavy price. What made me think of the virtues was Elonis words, he is a coward.
wisdom/ethics – brain – opposes egotism and materialism
courage – heart, stays with you through all incarnations
temperance – organs, moderation
justice – upright – childhood
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Monad – Spiritual Creator –
Demiurge, Material World Creator –
Ennoia – Rebellious angels as a trap for the spiritual –
Archontics, Ophites, Sethians –
Apocrypha of John –
Arianism v Homousian –
Manichaeism – Mani, “Apostle of Light” or “Supreme Illuminator” Duelism
Neoplatonism
Rejected the OT ???
Gospel Of Thomas –
Nag Hammadi –
Revitalizing Catharism –
Montanism – Also called Cataphrygian heresy, or New Prophecy, a heretical movement founded by the prophet Montanus that arose in the Christian church in Phrygia, Asia Minor, in the 2nd century. Subsequently, it flourished in the West, principally in Carthage under the leadership of Tertullian in the 3rd century.
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“We are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness. We employ wealth when there is a real use for it, and we regard poverty as no disgrace. The disgrace is to do nothing to avoid it.” -Pericles
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[tbc]
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Atlantis Fell
When Atlantis fell it was from the misty sky, and as all the world solidified there was one final piece of heaven left surrounded by the brume and miasma. Yet, it remained for thousands of years above gazing at the remnant of all that was before, never forgetting all that took place, and witnessed all that came into being, and then that too fell. Today we call that last piece of heaven, Éireann. – Knowledge Of Ancient Worlds
People often believe Atlantis was met by flood, rising tides enveloped by heaps of rain. This is partially correct. The part that is often missed, or, perhaps, misunderstood is that Atlantis actually fell from the sky into the melting ice below. We then, to a certain extent, live on top of what was once inside this misty place, save one piece of what we call land today. One remnant that held on to this mist and haze, the fog and heavy vapor until it began to solidify, grew heavy and could hold on to the sky no longer. As it fell from the sky, it became known as the last piece of heaven. It is still there today, full of the memories of that place, its being, phantoms that even 23 and me can not figure out where they came from. Now, I won’t tell you the name of this place. I won’t tell you because you already know. See if you can draw it up from inside yourself. Can you remember? When you do, don’t forget to catch your breath and hold it for a moment or two.
Then, wait until you hear the tales of the dinosaurs, rock plants that squeak, and the Sphinx.
Goethe & Plato
There will be a public lecture as part of the Goethean Science Class on Goethe’s Relationship to Plato, the Platonic Year, and The 7 Platonic Solids.
Date and Location: 2nd Friday, 7PM-9PM, Lecture I.
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Myths And Legends
Secret Wisdom Of The Fairytale
The Myth –
The Actions –
The Legacy –
von Goethe – The Green Snake and The Beautiful Lily.
Magical Idealism
Novalis – The Story of Hyacinth and Roseblossom
Ludwig Tieck. Tales from the Phantasus
Norse Mysteries
Snorri Sturluson, 1179 – 1241, Icelandic historian, poet, politician.
Odin – Twilight Of The Gods
Baldr – Phoebus – Christ
Greco-Roman Myths- Apollo and the Number 7
Delphic Maxims
Celtic Mysteries – I see/hear your thoughts vs the Semitic Materialism. “I am my father’s thoughts.”
Ancient History
India white
Bodhisattva
Varna Man – Bronze
Persia
Zarathustra
Persepolis – 1st Empire
-Cyrus
-writing
-messengers
-first gardens
-textiles
-feasting
-Alexander
Mesopotamia
Babylon
Egypt
Minoan
Brief: Greece Rome Gnostics
History Topics
History of Materialism
Money – banks, trust, labor, inspiration
Communication – media, truth/lies, art/creativity, imagination
Laws – politics, organization, social, intuition
Clocks & Calendars
Fibonacci
Magna Carta
The Black Death
Magic – From Ancient Greece through the Middle Ages.
Galileo –
Philosophy
Modern Mystics and Schools of Philosophy—William Blake
Theosophy – clairvoyant – adept – initiate
Rosicrucian –
Anthroposophy –
Modern Gnostic –
Mason –
H. P. Blavatsky to Manly P Hall
Philosophy Of Freedom, Rudolf Steiner
Study Of Goethean Science: Observation of the Senses, Understanding Quality.
Literature
CS Lewis — Narnia
JRR Tolkien – Rings Cycle
G.K. Chesterton – The Everlasting Man
Poetry
Edda – Snorri Sturluson [1220] (trans.) Pros — Codex Regius [written 1200]- Poetry — Skaldic Poetry
Milton—Paradise Lost
Novalus – 1794
Esoterica
Emerald Tablet
Song Of Life, Bodhisattva
Theophrastus von Hohenheim, Paracelsus – 1493-1541
13 Days – Christmas Eve through the Epiphany
Death – Is birth into the spiritual world. The 1st breath, the awakening of the soul, is the end if the life body and the experience of the will of the astral body, the connection with the anguloi, hierarchy.
The time of isolation, healing, justice, organization, skill 850—1190.
Raphael—Late Dark Age through Middle Ages. Out of the darkness, something new began to stir. The age of death and material enlightenment, humanism, a Greek Revival 1190—1510.
Samuel—High Middle Ages, Gothic through the Italian and English Renaissance.
1840–1879 Materialism from collective instinct to individualism.
Michael 1879
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Prehistoric Orkney –
Hallstatt Culture –
First of the Celts – Varna Man
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[tbc]
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Opera Weekend
3rd Weekend of January
Weekend of Operatic Films. Every year there is an Operatic Theme, Verdi, Puccini, Mozart, Bizet, Strauss, Rossini, Wagner. The Film Club and Cooking Club produces this weekend. Each Opera is preceded by a Lecture on the Artist and the Opera in the Salon. On Saturday evening, a special room and Meal is prepared in the Café.
This year’s Opera is, Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen.
Friday: Lecture: 7PM – Film Opera: Das Rheingold
Saturday: Dinner: 5PM – Lecture: 7PM – Film Opera: Das Valkyrie.
Sunday: Lecture: 1PM – Film Opera: Siegfried.
Lecture: 6PM – Film Opera: Götterdämmerung.
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[tbc]
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Mozart’s Masked Ball
The celebration of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birth, 27th of January. No doubt this will be an enjoyable time for all. The lengths members go to creating these beautiful masks and head dresses is something to behold. Added to the fun is keeping these beautiful and interesting creations a secret all year until the day of the Ball. Not only are the masks admired, no one is really certain who is behind them. Whether dressed entirely for the period or draped in feathers, glitter, silks, velvet, or streams of cray-paper, the creations are always unique and remarkable. Half the fun is making and wearing the costume.
Once people arrive and have settled in, everyone is welcomed and the dance begins. Our dance instructors lead the dances for this period. The dances are simple period movements. However, if you are interested, they also offered instruction a week before. Our chamber orchestra performs the music.
The mask contest follows the dances. The contest is for the best and most captivating creations, cast by secret ballot. The contestant will walk the promenade in the style of their creation. They will then remove the masks and headdresses revealing the person behind them, they are placed on a stand at the front of the room.
This leads to a performance of one of Mozart’s songs by a few of our residents and performed by our chamber orchestra.
A birthday cake is then brought out and everyone will sing, Bei Männern welche Liebe fühlen, from Die Zauberflöte. Music and words, in English, will be handed out. Two of our residents sing the song, first in German, and then everyone joins in for a second time through in English. It is a simple song, but feel free to hum along if you wish. Cake and Champaign will then be served and ballots collected. There is more dancing followed by the announcement of the winners. Each winner will be crowned, receive a bottle of Champaign, and a Gift Certificate to the Tè Chay Tea Room. The winning head dresses will then be encased in a glass box for the year in the Tea Room as works of art.
[TBC]
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.WINTER FESTIVAL
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PEACH Community – Annual Winter Olympics
Brought to you by the Cooking Club, Festivals and Celebrations Club, The Film Club, Bicycle, Ski & Skate Shop.
Event: A Weekend Long Winter Olympics (2nd weekend in January).
Registration Date: Halloween
Date and Time Of Event: Friday 4PM through Sunday 4PM.
Friday: Opening 4PM Check-in – Rules of the Snow, Map of Course, Safety Outlines, Sleeping Accommodations.
Evening Activities; Songs, Games, Pot-luck Stew, Movie at 9PM.
Indoor Activities
Friday 6PM through Noon Sunday
Practical Arts
Knitting: socks, hat, scarf, or mittens.
Basket weaving and Bird House Building.
Book-Binding.
Outdoor Activities (must have cell phone
charged and turned on at all times).
Saturday 6AM – 8PM
Sun Up Through Sun Down – Cross Country Skiing: .22 calibers and bow and arrow targets.
Snow Walking: Snowshoes, bundle of sticks in a rucksack.
Course = half mile (see map).
1PM – Skating races; sing, double relay.
3PM – Ice Pole Dancing.
4PM – 4PM – Snowball Fight
8AM – 8PM: Ice fishing, Snowman Building, Igloo Building, Mountain Shoveling or Neighborhood Shoveling (weather dependent). Figure Skating and Sledding.
Sunday
All Projects Completed and Submitted by Noon.
Sunday Noon – 2PM: Poetry Reading – break or make time.
Crowing of the Winter King and Queen Song.
Glass Icicle Closing Ceremony.
Meals
Friday: Stew and salad pot luck.
Saturday: 6AM – 11AM Traditional Farmer’s Breakfast.
Saturday: 12PM – 4PM Soup, Sandwich, Salad.
Saturday Evening: Pizza, Popcorn.
Sunday: 6AM – 11:AM Traditional Breakfast.
All Day Treats and Snacks:
Coffee, Tea, Cocoa, Raw Milk. Maple Cookies, Shortbread, Zucchini Bread, Carrot Cake.
Our goal is to expand this Festival into a week-long event with more activities, indoor and outdoor, including; ice sculpture, a dogsled race/ride and ice hockey. If the weather is too nice or too cold, most activities will take place in the gym.
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JANUARY CALENDAR
Festivals Celebrations: New Years Day, Myth’s and Legends, Winter Festival and Olympics, Sunday Afternoon Wind Ensembles Performances, Opera Festival, Mozart’s Masked Ball, Reading of the Edda, Open House.
Lectures – Great Mysteries: The Mystery Schools. Mystery of the Arts. The Evolution of The Cosmos. The Creation and the Fall. Modern Mystics and Schools of Philosophy. ( Friday Evenings 7PM).
Goethean Science, Individual Topics (Saturday Afternoons 2PM).
The Greeks:
Lecture on the Muse, Wives of Zeus. Clash of the Titans.
Topics in Ancient History & Cultural: Topics In Ancient History: Hallstatt Culture – Varna Man India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt. Review: Greece, Rome Early Christians through the end of Rome – 800, 1066, 1190 (Saturday Evenings 7PM)
History of the Mystic: The Expansion and Contraction of Civilizations: Lemuria, Atlantis, Norse, Buddha, Zoroastrian. Reading of the Poetic Edda. (Sunday Evenings 7PM)
Arts: Pottery, Painting, Woodworking, Music, Dance, Theatre, Photography, Printmaking.
Clubs: Lecture and History Clubs, Book Club, Sports Club, Dance Clubs,
Writer’s Club: Intuition – 1k to 3k Essay: A mystical trip. Mundane, Magical, Shock!
Businesses: Ski and Skates, Swan Factory.
Open House: Description of the Calendar, Celebration and Festivals, Businesses, Sports, Clubs, Lectures, History, Educational Classes, Administration, All Skills, Fine Arts and Folk Arts.
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Living Pan-European and American Cultural and Heritage Community Center
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EMAIL: peachcommunity yahoo.com
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quicklink
PEACH COMMUNITY 