ARIADNE

ARIADNE

Greek Name Ariadnh
Transliteration Ariadnê
Latin Spelling Ariadne
Translation Most Holy (ari adnos)


Dionysus & Ariadne, Athenian red-figure kraterC5th B.C., Archaeological Museum, Naples


ARIADNE was the immortal wife of the wine-god Dionysos. There were several versions of her story. In one, Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos of Krete, assisted Theseus in his quest to slay the Minotaur, and then fled with him aboard his ship. However, when they landed on the island of Naxos, Theseus abandoned her as she was sleeping. It was here that the god Dionysos discovered her and made her his wife. Some say that she was later slain by Artemis, or else granted immortality. In another account, Ariadne's bridal with Dionysos occurred several generations before, when the god was still wandering the earth introducing his cult. But when he rode into battle against the Argives with his band of sea women, she was slain or turned to stone by King Perseus. The god then descended to the underworld through Lerna to bring her back, before ascending to Olympos.


Ariadne was often depicted alongside Dionysos in Greek vase painting: either amongst the gods of Olympos, or in Bacchic scenes surrounded by dancing Satyrs and Maenads. The discovery of the sleeping Ariadne on Naxos was also a popular scene in both vase painting and mosaic.

PARENTS

[1.1] MINOS (Homer Odysseu 11.320, Hesiod Theogony 947, Plutarch Theseus 20.1, Diodorus Siculus 4.61.5, Ovid Metamorphoses 8.175, and others)[1.2] MINOS & PASIPHAE (Apollonius Rhodius 3.997, Hyginus Fabulae 224. Ovid Heroides 4.59)

OFFSPRING

[1.1] THOAS (by Dionysos) (Quintus Smyrnaeus 4.385, Apollonius Rhodius 4.425, Ovid Heroides 6.114)[1.2] THOAS, STAPHYLOS, OINOPION, PEPARETHOS(by Dionysos) (Apollodorus E1.9)[1.3] OINOPION (by Dionysos) (Anacreon Frag 505e, Diodorus Siculus 5.79.1)[1.4] OINOPION, STAPHYLOS (by Dionysos or Theseus) (Plutarch Theseus 20.1)[2.1] PHLIASOS, EURYMEDON (by Dionysos) (Hyginus Fabulae 14)

ENCYCLOPEDIA

ARIADNE (Ariadnê), a daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë or Creta. (Apollod. iii. 1. § 2.) When Theseus was sent by his father to convey the tribute of the Athenians to Minotaurus, Ariadne fell in love with him, and gave him the string by means of which he found his way out of the Labyrinth, and which she herself had received from Hephaestus. Theseus in return promised to marry her (Plut. Thes. 19; Hygin. Fab. 42 ; Didym. ad Odyss. xi. 320), and she accordingly left Crete with him; but when they arrived in the island of Dia (Naxos), she was killed there by Artemis. (Hom. Od. xi. 324.) The words added in the Odyssey, Dionusou marturiêisin, are difficult to understand, unless we interpret them with Pherecydes by "on the denunciation of Dionysus," because he was indignant at the profanation of his grotto by the love of Theseus and Ariadne. In this case Ariadne was probably killed by Artemis at the moment she gave birth to her twin children, for she is said to have had two sons by Theseus, Oenopion and Staphylus. The more common tradition, however, was, that Theseus left Ariadne in Naxos alive; but here the statements again differ, for some relate that he was forced by Dionysus to leave her (Diod. iv. 61, v. 51; Paus. i. 20. § 2, ix. 40. § 2, x. 29. § 2), and that in his grief he forgot to take down the black sail, which occasioned the death of his father. According to others, Theseus faithlessly forsook her in the island, and different motives are given for this act of faithlessness. (Plut. Thes. 20; Ov. Met. viii. 175, Heroid. 10 ; Hygin. Fab. 43.) According to this tradition, Ariadne put an end to her own life in despair, or was saved by Dionysus, who in amazement at her beauty made her his wife, raised her among the immortals, and placed the crown which he gave her at his marriage with her, among the stars. (Hesiod. Theog. 949; Ov. Met. l. c. ; Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 5.) The Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius (iii. 996) makes Ariadne become by Dionysus the mother of Oenopion, Thoas, Staphylus, Latromis, Euanthes, and Tauropolis. There are several circumstances in the story of Ariadne which offered the happiest subjects for works of art, and some of the finest ancient works, on gems as well as paintings, are still extant, of which Ariadne is the subject.

Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.


ARIADNE, THESEUS & THE MINOTAUROS

Not detailed here, but for the story of Theseus, Ariadne and the Minotauros refer the MINOTAUROS

Philostratus the Younger, Imagines 10 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) :"[From the description of a painting :] A troup of dancers here, like the chorus which Daidalos is aid to have given to Ariadne, the daughter of Minos. What does the art represent? Young men and maidens with joined hands are dancing."

THE MARRIAGE OF DIONYSUS & ARIADNE

Homer, Odyssey 11. 320 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :"Ariadne, that daughter of subtle Minos whom Theseus bore off from Krete towards the hill of sacred Athens; yet he had no joy of her, since, before that could be, she was slain by Artemis in the isle of Dia [Naxos] because of the witness of Dionysos."

Hesiod, Theogony 947 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :"And golden-haired (khrysokomes) Dionysos made blonde-haired Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, his buxom wife: and [Zeus] the son of Kronos made her deathless and unageing for him."

Anacreon, Fragment 505e (Scholiast on Aratus) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric II) (Greek lyric C6th B.C.) :"Oinopion son of Dionysos and Ariadne."
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E1. 9 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :"Dionysos fell in love with Ariadne, and kidnapped her [from Naxos], taking her off to Lemnos where he had sex with her, and begat Thoas, Staphylos, Oinopion, and Peparethos."
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3. 997 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) :"Remember Ariadne, young Ariadne, daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, who was a daughter of Helios. She did not scruple to befriend Theseus and save him in his hour of trial; and then, when Minos had relented, she left her home and sailed away with him. She was the darling of the gods and she has her emblem in the sky: all night a ring of stars called Ariadne’s Crown rolls on its way among the heavenly constellations."

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3. 1074 ff : "[Medea asks Jason about her cousin Ariadne :] Tell me too about that girl you mentioned [Ariadne], who won such fame for herself, the daughter of Pasiphae my father’s [Aeetes’] sister."

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 425 ff : "A purple robe which the divine Kharites had made with their own hands for Dionysos in sea-girt Dia [Naxos]. Later, Dionysos gave it to his son Thoas, Thoas left it to Hypsipyle, and she, with many another piece of finery, gave it to Iason as a parting gift. It was a work of art, a joy for ever, as pleasing to the eyes as to the sense of touch. And it still gave out the ambrosial perfume it received when the Lord Dionysos lay on it, tipsy with wine and nectar, embracing Minos’ daughter, the fair young Ariadne, whom Theseus carried off from Knossos and abandoned on the Isle of Dia [Naxos]."


Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. 61. 5 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.) :“He [Theseus] carried off Ariadne [from Krete] and sailed out unobserved during the night, after which he put in at the island which at that time was called Dia, but is now called Naxos. At this same time, the myths relate, Dionysos showed himself on the island, and because of the beauty of Ariadne he took the maiden away from Theseus and kept her as his lawful wife, loving her exceedingly. Indeed, after her death he considered her worthy of immortal honours because of the affection he had for her, and placed among the stars of heaven the Crown of Ariadne."

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 51. 4 : "Theseus, on his voyage back from Krete together with Ariadne, was entertained as a guest by the inhabitants of the island [of Naxos]; and Theseus, seeing in a dream Dionysos threatening him if he would not forsake Ariadne in favour of the god, elft her behind him there in his fear and sailed away. And Dionysos led Ariadne away by night to the mountain which is know as Drios; and first of all the god disappeared, and later Ariadne also was never seen again."

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 79. 1 : "To Oinopion, the son of Minos’s daughter Ariadne, he [Rhadamanthys] gave [the island of] Khios."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 20. 3 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :"Beside this picture [in the temple of Dionysos at Athens] there are also represented . . . Ariadne asleep, Theseus putting out to sea, and Dionysos on his arrival to carry off Ariadne."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 28. 3 :"Ariadne was taken away from Theseus by Dionysos, who sailed against him with superior forces, and either fell in with Ariadne by chance or else set an ambush to catch her."

Plutarch, Life of Theseus 20. 1 (trans. Perrin) (Greek historian C1st to C2nd A.D.) :"There are many other stories about . . . Ariadne, but they do not agree at all. Some say that she hung herself because she was abandoned by Theseus; others that she was conveyed to Naxos by sailors and there lived with Oenaros the priest of Dionysos, and that she was abandoned by Theseus because he loved another woman . . . Moreover, some say that Ariadne actually had sons by Theseus, Oinopion and Staphylos, and among these is Ion of Khios, who says of his own native city:--`This, once, Theseus's son founded, Oinopion.' Now the most auspicious of these legendary tales are in the mouths of all men, as I may say; but a very peculiar account of these matters is published by Paion the Amathusian. He says that Theseus, driven out of his course by a storm to Kypros, and having with him Ariadne, who was big with child and in sore sickness and distress from the tossing of the sea, set her on shore alone, but that he himself, while trying to succour the ship, was borne out to sea again. The women of the island, accordingly, took Ariadne into their care, and tried to comfort her in the discouragement caused by her loneliness, brought her forged letters purporting to have been written to her by Theseus, ministered to her aid during the pangs of travail, and gave her burial when she died before her child was born. Paion says further that Theseus came back, and was greatly afflicted, and left a sum of money with the people of the island, enjoining them to sacrifice to Ariadne. [For the following section see cult of Ariadne below] . . . Some of the Naxians also have a story of their own, that there were two Minoses and two Ariadnes, one of whom, they say, was married to Dionysos in Naxos and bore him Staphylos and his brother, and the other, of a later time, having been carried off by Theseus and then abandoned by him, came to Naxos, accompanied by a nurse named Korkyne, whose tomb they show; and that this Ariadne also died there. . . . [For the rest see cult of Ariadne below.]"

Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 4. 430 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) :"Two great silver bowls those which Euneus [great-grandson of Dionysos and Ariadne], Jason's warrior son in sea-washed Lemnos to Akhilleus gave to ransom strong Lykaon from his hands. These had Hephaistos fashioned for his gift to glorious Dionysos, when he brought his bride divine [Ariadne] to Olympos, Minos' child far-famous, whom in sea-washed Dia's isle Theseus unwitting left. Dionysos brimmed with nectar these, and gave them to his son; and Thoas at his death to Hypsipyle with great possessions left them. She bequeathed the bowls to her godlike son [Euneus], who gave them up unto Achilles for Lykaon's life."

Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 1. 15 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) :"That Theseus treated Ariadne unjustly--though some say not with unjust intent, but under the compulsion of Dionysos--when he abandoned her while asleep on the island of Dia [i.e. Naxos], you must have heard from your nurse; for those women are skilled in telling such tales and they weep over them whenever they will. I do not need to say that it is Theseus you see there on the ship and Dionysos yonder on the land, nor will I assume you to be ignorant and call your attention to the woman on the rocks, lying there in gentle slumber.Nor yet is it enough to praise the painter for things for which someone else too might be praised; for it is easy for anyone to paint Ariadne as beautiful and Theseus as beautiful; and there are countless characteristics of Dionysos for those who wish to represent him in painting or sculpture . . . but this Dionysos the painter has characterized by love alone. Flowered garments and thyrsoi and fawn-skins have been cast aside as out of place for the moment, and the Bakkhai are not clashing their cymbals now, nor are the Satyroi playing the flute, nay, even Pan checks his wild dance that he may not disturb the maiden’s sleep. Having arrayed himself in fine purple and wreathed his head with roses, Dionysos comes to the side of Ariadne, 'drunk with love' as the Teian poet says of those who are overmastered by love. As for Theseus, he is indeed in love, but with the smoke rising from Athens, and he no longer knows Ariadne, and never knew her, and I am sure that he has even forgotten the labyrinth and could not tell on what possible errand he sailed to Krete, so singly is his gaze fixed on what lies ahead of his prow. And look at Ariadne, or rather at her sleep; for her bosom is bare to the waist, and her neck is bent back and her delicate throat, and all her right armpit is visible, but the left hand rests on her mantle that a gust of wind may not expose her. How fair a sight, Dionysos, and how sweet her breath! Whether its fragrance is of apples or of grapes, you can tell after you have kissed her!"

Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History Book 5 (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 190) (trans. Pearse) (Greek mythographer C1st to C2nd A.D.) :"Psalakantha was a Nymphe of the isle of Ikaros who, captured by Dionysos, helped him to obtain Ariane on the condition that he should also belong to her, and Dionysos refused; Psalakantha took herself to Ariane and the irritated god turned her into a plany-plant."

Theophilus, To Autolycus 7 (Greek Christian writer C2nd A.D.) : "In the Dionysian tribe there are distinct families . . . [each of these] families have their names [from a founding son of Dionysos]: the family of Ariadne, from Ariadne, daughter of Minos and wife of Dionysos, a dutiful daughter, who had intercourse with Dionysos in another form; the Thestian, from Thestios, the father of Althaia."

Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 14 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :"Phliasus, son of Father Liber [Dionysos] and Ariadne, daughter of Minos . . . Eurymedon, son of Father Liber [Dionysos] and Ariadne, daughter of Minos."

Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 40 - 43 :"After he [Minos] conquered the Athenians their revenues became his; he decreed, moreover that each year they should send seven of their children as food for the Minotaur. After Theseus had come from Troezene, and had learned what a calamity afflicted the state, of his own accord he promised to go against the Minotaur . . . When Theseus came to Crete, Ariadne, Minos’ daughter, loved him so much that she betrayed her brother and saved the stranger, or she showed Theseus the way out of the Labyrinth. When Theseus had entered and killed the Minotaur, by Ariadne’s advise he got out by unwinding the thread. Ariadne, because she had been loyal to him, he took away, intending to marry her.Theseus, detained by a storm on the island of Dia [Naxos], though it would be a reproach to him hif he brought Ariadne to Athens, and so he left her asleep on the island of Dia. Liber [Dionysos], falling in love with her, took her from there as his wife."

Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 5 :"When Ariadne wed Liber [Dionysos] on the island of Dia [Naxos], and all the gods gave her wedding gifts, she first received this crown [the crown which became the constellation Corona] as a gift from Venus [Aphrodite] and the Horae. But, as the author of the Cretica says, at the time when Liber [Dionysos] came to Minos with the hope of lying with Ariadne, he gave her this crown as a present. Delighted with it, she did not refuse the terms. It is said, too, to have been made of gold and Indian gems, and by its aid Theseus is thought to have come from the gloom of the labyrinth to the day, for the gold and gems made a glow of light in the darkness."

Ovid, Metamorphoses 8. 173 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :"The door [of the Labyrinthos], so difficult, which none of those before could find again, by Ariadne’s aid was found [by Theseus], the thread that traced the way rewound. Then Aegides [Theseus], seizing Minois [Ariadne daughter of Minos], spread his sails for Naxos, where, upon the shore, that cruel prince abandoned her and she, abandoned, in her grief and anger found comfort in Liber’s [Dionysos’] arms. He took her crown and set it in the heavens to win her there a star’s eternal glory."

Ovid, Fasti 3. 459 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :"[The constellation] Corona (the Crown) of Cnossos’ girl [Ariadne] : Theseus’ crime deified her. She gave that ingrate the winding thread [of the labyrinth] and gladly swapped her perjured husband for Bacchus [Dionysos]. Pleased with her marital fate, she asked : `Why did I sob like a country girl? His lies were my gain.’ Liber [Dionysos] meanwhile conquered the coiffured Indians and returned rich from the Orient world. Among the captive girls of surpassing beauty was a princess whom Bacchus liked too much. His loving wife wept and, as she paced the curving beach, delivered words like these, dishevelled : `Come, waves, listen again to identical sobs. Come, sand, absorb again my weeping. I recall my cry, `Perjured, perfidious Theseus!’ He left me. Bacchus incurs the same charge. Now again I cry, `No woman should trust a man!’ My case is the same, the man’s name altered. I wish my fate had proceeded as it started, and at the present time I was nothing. Why did you save me, Liber [Dionysos], as I faced my death on lonely sands? I could have stopped my pain. Love-light Bacchus and lighter than the leaves hugging your brow, Bacchus known only for my tears, have you the gall to parade a whore before me and ruin our harmonious bed? O, where is your vow? Where are your many oaths? Pity me, how often must I say this? You sued to blame Theseus and call him false. That indictment makes your sin fouler. No one should know this. I burn with silent pain lest someone think I earned such deception. I especially want it kept from Theseus to prevent his delight in sharing guilt. I suppose you prefer a dark whore to my fairness. May my enemies have that complexion. But what’s the point? You like her more for that blemish. What are you doing? She defiles your embrace. Bacchus, remain faithful and prefer no woman to a wife’s love. I love a man forever. The horns of a handsome bull captured my mother [Pasiphae], and your horns me. My love flatters, hers shames. My loving should not hurt. You were not hurt, Bacchus, when you admitted your flames for me. It’s no miracle you burn me. You were born in fire, it’s said, ripped from flames by your father’s hand. I’m the woman to whom you kept promising heaven. Ah, what gifts are mine in place of heaven!’She spoke. Liber [Dionysos] had long been listening to her words of complaint, as he followed behind her. He embraces her and mops her tears with kisses, and says : `Let us seek heaven’s heights together. You have shared my bed and you will share my name. You will be named Libera, when transformed. I will create a monument of you and your crown, which Volcanus [Hephaistos] gave Venus [Aphrodite] and she gave you.’He does what he said, and turns its nine gems to fires, and the golden crown glitters with nine stars."
Ovid, Heroides 2. 75 ff (trans. Showerman) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :"Of all the great deeds in the long career of your sire [Theseus], nothing has made impress upon your nature but the leaving of his Cretan bride [Ariadne] . . . [She] enjoys now a better lord [Dionysos], and sits aloft behind her bridled tigers."

Ovid, Heroides 4. 57 ff (trans. Showerman) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :"[Phaedra speaks :] Pasiphaë my mother, victim of the deluded bull . . . [Theseus] the faithless son of Aegeus followed the guiding thread, and escaped from the winding house through the aid my sister [Ariadne] gave. Behold, now I, lest I be thought too little a child of Minos’ line."

Ovid, Heroides 4. 113 ff :"[Phaedra complains :] My sister [Ariadne] he left at the mercy of wild beasts."

Ovid, Heroides 6. 114 ff :"[Hypsipyle, grand-daughter of Ariadne, speaks :] If noble blood and generous lineage move you--lo, I am known as daughter of Minoan Thoas! Bacchus was my grandsire; [Ariadne] the bride of Bacchus, with crown-encircled brow, outshines with her stars the lesser constellations."

Ovid, Heroides 15. 23 ff :"Let horns but spring on your head--you will be Bacchus! . . . Bacchus loved the Gnosian maid [Ariadne]."

Ovid, Heroides 16. 349 ff :"Theseus, too, he who stole you, stole Minos’ daughter; yet Minos called the Cretans ne’er to arms [to recover her]."

Seneca, Oedipus 487 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) :"Naxos, girt by the Aegean sea, gave him [Dionysos] in marriage a deserted maiden [Ariadne], compensating her loss with a better husband. Out of the dry rock there gushed Nyctelian liquor [i.e. wine]; babbling rivulets divided the grassy meadows; deep the earth drank in the sweet juices, white fountains of snowy milk and Lesbian wine mingled with fragrant thyme. The new-made bride is led to the lofty heavens; Phoebus [Apollon] a stately anthem sings, with his locks flowing down his shoulders, and twin Cupides [Erotes] brandish their torches. Jupiter [Zeus] lays aside his fiery weapons and, when Bacchus comes, abhors his thunderbolt."

Seneca, Phaedra 759 ff : "Story has spread through every nation whom [Theseus] the sister of Phaedra [Ariadne] preferred to Bromius [Dionysos]."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 43. 420 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :"[Dionysos was upset at having lost the contest for Beroe's hand in marriage to Poseidon :] His [Dionysos'] brother Eros came to console him [Dionysos] in his jealous mood : `I have kept a daintier one for your bridechamber, Ariadne, of the family of Minos and your kin.'"

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 47. 265 ff : "[Dionysos] went in dainty revel to the vineclad district of Naxos. About him bold Eros beat his wings, and Kythereia [Aphrodite] led, before the coming of Lyaios [Dionysos] the bridegroom. For Theseus had just sailed away, and left without pity the banished maiden asleep on the shore, scattering his promises to the winds. When Dionysos beheld deserted Ariadne sleeping, he mingled love with wonder, and spoke out his admiration cautiously to the danceweaving Bakkhantes : `[Dionysos compares the sleeping Ariadne to various goddesses.] . . .‘Hypnos (Sleep) flew away, the poor lovelorn girl scattered sleep, awoke and rose from the sand, and she saw no fleet, no husband [i.e. Theseus had abandoned her on the island]--the deceiver! But the Kydonian maiden lamented with the kingfishers, and paced the heavy murmuring shore which was all that the Erotes (Loves) had given her. She called on the young man’s name, madly she sought his vessel along the seaside, scolded the envious sleep, reproached even more the Paphian’s mother, the sea. She prayed to Boreas and adjured the wind, adjured Oreithyia to bring back the boy [Theseus] to the land of Naxos and to let her see that sweet ship again. She besought hardhearted Aiolos yet more; he heard her prayer and obeyed, sending a contrary wind to blow, but Boreas lovelorn himself cared nothing for the miad stricken with desire--yes, even the Aurai (Breezes) themselves must have had a spite against the maiden when they carried the ship to the Athenian land.Eros himself admired the maiden, and though he saw Aphrodite lamenting in Naxos where all is joy. She was even more resplendent in her grief, and pain was a grace to the sorrower . . . At last in her tears she found a voice to speak thus : `[Ariadne laments her fate] . . .‘Bakkhos was enraptured to hear this lament. He noticed Kekropia, and knew the name of Theseus and the deceitful voyage from Krete. Before the girl he appeared in his radiant godhead; Eros moved swiftly about, and with stinging cestus he whipt the maiden into a nobler love, that he might lead Minos’ daughter to join willingly with his brother Dionysos. Then Bakkhos comforted Ariadne, lovelorn and lamenting, with these words in his mindcharming voice : `Maiden, why do you sorrow for the deceitful man of Athens? Let pass the memory of Theseus; you have Dionysos for your lover, a husband incorruptible for the husband of a day! If you are pleased with the mortal body of a youthful yearsmate, Theseus can never challenge Dionysos in manhood or comeliness. But you will say [he slew the Minotaur] . . . Not for nothing did that fleet [of Theseus] sail from my Naxos, but Pothos (Sexual Longing) preserved you for a nobler bridal. Happy girl, that you leave the poor bed of Theseus to look on the couch of Dionysos the desirable! What could you pray for higher than that? You have both heaven for your home and Kronion for your godfather . . . for you I will make a starry crown [the constellation Corona], that you may be called the shining bedfellow of crownloving Dionysos.’So he comforted her; the girl throbbed with joy, and cast into the sea all her memories of Theseus when she received the promise of wedlock from her heavenly wooer. Then Eros decked out the bridal chamber for Bakkhos, the wedding dance resounded, about the bridal bed all flowers grew; the dancers of Orkhomenos [the Kharites or Graces] surrounded Naxos with foliage of spring, the Hamadryas sang of the wedding, the Naias Nymphe by the fountains unveiled unshod praised the union of Ariadne with the vine-god: Ortygia cried aloud in triumph, and chanting a bridal hymn for Lyaios the brother of Phoibos [Apollon] cityholder she skipt in the dance, that unshakeable rock. Fiery Eros made a round flowergarland with red roses and plaited a wreath coloured like the stars, as prophet and herald of the heavenly Crown; and round about the Naxian bride danced a swarm of the Erotes (Loves) which attend on marriage.The Golden Father [Dionysos] entering the chamber of wedded love sowed the seed of many children. Then rolling the long circle of hoary time, he remembered Rheia his prolific mother; and leaving faultless Naxos still full of Kharites he visited all the town of Hellas."

THE DEATH OF ARIADNE

The accounts of Ariadne's death conflict with the tale that Dionysos brought her to Olympos to be his immortal wife. Although, like his mother Semele, he may have recovered her from Hades.

Homer, Odyssey 11. 320 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :"[Odysseus in the Underworld :] I saw lovely Ariadne, that daughter of subtle Minos whom Theseus bore off from Krete towards the hill of sacred Athens; yet he had no joy of her, since, before that could be, she was slain by Artemis in the isle of Dia [Naxos] because of the witness of Dionysos."

Aratus, Phaenomena 72 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek astronomical poem C3rd B.C.) :"Here too that Crown [constellation Corona], which glorious Dionysos set to be memorial of the dead Ariadne."

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. 61. 5 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.) :"Dionysos . . . kept her [Ariadne] as his lawful wife, loving her exceedingly. Indeed, after her death he considered her worthy of immortal honours because of the affection he had for her, and placed among the stars of heaven the Crown of Ariadne."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 23. 7 - 8 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :"They say that the god [Dionysos], having made war on Perseus, afterwards laid aside his enmity, and received great honors at the hands of the Argives, including this precinct set specially apart for himself. It was afterwards called the precinct of Kres (the Kretan), because, when Ariadne died, Dionysos buried her here. But Lykeas says that when the [new] temple [of Dionysos] was being rebuilt an earthenware coffin was found, and that it was Ariadne's. He also said that both he himself and other Argives had seen it."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 28. 3 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :"[In a painting of the Underworld by Polygnotos at Delphoi :] Ariadne, seated on a rock, is looking at her sister Phaidra."

Plutarch, Life of Theseus 20. 1 (trans. Perrin) (Greek historian C1st to C2nd A.D.) :"Paion the Amathusian says that Theseus, driven out of his course by a storm to Kypros, and having with him Ariadne, who was big with child and in sore sickness and distress from the tossing of the sea, set her on shore alone, but that he himself, while trying to succour the ship, was borne out to sea again. The women of the island, accordingly, took Ariadne into their care . . . and gave her burial when she died before her child was born . . . Some of the Naxians also have a story of their own, that there were two Minoses and two Ariadnes, one of whom, they say, was married to Dionysos in Naxos and bore him Staphylos and his brother, and the other, of a later time, having been carried off by Theseus and then abandoned by him, came to Naxos, accompanied by a nurse named Korkyne, whose tomb they show; and that this Ariadne also died there."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 47. 665 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :"He [Perseus in his battle with Dionysos] shook in his hand the deadly face of Medousa, and turned armed Ariadne into stone. Bakkhos was even more furious when he saw his bride all stone . . . [Hermes descends upon the battlefield and addresses Dionysos :] `She [Ariadne] has died in battle, a glorious fate, and you ought to think Ariadne happy in her death, because she found one so great [Perseus] to slay her, one sprung from heaven and of no mortal stock, one who killed the Keteos (Seamonster) and beheaded horsebreeding Medousa. The Moirai’s (Fates') threads obey not persuasion . . . And your bride even in death shall enter the starspangled sky, and she will be seen near Maia my mother among the seven travelling Pleiades. What could Ariadne wish more welcome than to live in the heavens and give light to the earth, after Krete? Come no, lay down your thyrsus, let the winds blow battle away, and fix the selfmade image of mortal Ariadne where the image of heavenly Hera stands.'"

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 25. 104 ff : "[The River] Inakhos was witness to both [Perseus and Dionysos], when the heavy bronze pikes of Mykenai resisted the ivy and deadly fennel, when Perseus sickle in hand gave way to Bakkhos with his wand, and fled before the fury of Satyroi cyring Euoi; Perseus cast a raging spear, and hit frail Ariadne unarmed instead of Lyaios the warrior. I do not admire Perseus for killing one woman, in her bridal dress still breathing of love."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48. 449 ff : "Ariadne . . . was a stone in a foreign land like the statue of Akhaian Hera."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48. 530 ff : "The soul of dead Ariadne borne on the wind came, and beside Dionysos sleeping sound, stood jealous after death, and spoke in the words of a dream : `Dionysos, you have forgotten your former bride,: you long for Aura, and you care not for Ariadne. O my own Theseus, whom the bitter wind stole! O my own Theseus, whom Phaidra [Ariadne’s sister] got for husband! I suppose it was fated that a perjured husband must always run from me, if the sweet boy left me while I slept, and I was married instead to Lyaios, an inconstant lover and a deceiver. Alas, that I had not a mortal husband, one soon to die; then I might have armed myself against lovemad Dionysos and been one of the Lemnian women myself. But after Theseus, now I must call you too a perjured bridegroom, the invader of many marriage beds. If your bride asks you for a gift, take this distaff at my hands, a friendly gift of love, that you may give your mountaineering bride what your Minoian wife gave you; then people can say--`She gave the thread to Theseus, and the distaff to Dionysos. You are just like Kronion changing from bed to bed, and you have imitated the doings of your womanmad father, having a n insatiable passion for changing your loves. I know how you lately married your Sithonian wife Pallene, and your wedding with Althaia: I will say nothing of the love of Kronois, from whose bed were born the three Kharites ever inseparable. But O Mykenai, proclaim my fate and the savage glare of Medousa! Shores of Naxos cry aloud of Ariadne’s lot, constrained to a hateful love, and say, "O bridegroom Theseus, Minos’s daughter calls you in anger against Dionysos!’ But why do I think of Kekropia? To her of Paphos, I carry my plaint against them both, Theseus and Dionysos!"'She spoke, and her shade flew away like shadowy smoke. Bold Bakkhos awoke and shook off the wing of Hypnos (Sleep). He lamented the sorrow of Ariadne in his dream."



CROWN OF ARIADNE, THE CONSTELLATION CORONA

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3. 997 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) :"Remember Ariadne, young Ariadne, daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, who was a daughter of Helios . . . She was the darling of the gods and she has her emblem in the sky: all night a ring of stars called Ariadne’s Crown rolls on its way among the heavenly constellations."

Aratus, Phaenomena 72 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek astronomical poem C3rd B.C.) :"Here too that Crown [Constellation Corona], which glorious Dionysos set to be memorial of the dead Ariadne."

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. 61. 5 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.) :"Dionysos . . . kept her [Ariadne] as his lawful wife, loving her exceedingly. Indeed, after her death he considered her worthy of immortal honours because of the affection he had for her, and placed among the stars of heaven the ‘Crown of Ariadne."

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 6 Fragment 4 (from Tertullian On the Crown 13. 4) : "The writer [Diodoros] gives . . . to Ariadna a wreath made of gold and precious stones from India, this wreath becoming also a distinction of Vulcanus [Hephaistos[, and then of Liber [Dionysos], and later a constellation."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 19. 1 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :"[Amongst the scenes depicted on the chest of Kypselos dedicated at Olympia :] There is Theseus holding a lyre, and by his side is Ariadne gripping a crown."

Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History Book 5 (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 190) (trans. Pearse) (Greek mythographer C1st to C2nd A.D.) :"Psalakantha was a Nymphe of the isle of Ikaros who, captured by Dionysos, helped him to obtain Ariane on the condition that he should also belong to her, and Dionysos refused; Psalakantha took herself to Ariane and the irritated god turned her into a plany; then, feeling remorse, he wanted to honour this plant by placing it in the crown of Ariane, who took her place among the celestial constellations."

Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 5 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :"[Constellation Corona] Crown. This is thought to be Ariadne’s crown, placed by Father Liber [Dionysos] among the constellations. For they say that when Ariadne wed Liber [Dionysos] on the island of Dia [Naxos], and all the gods gave her wedding gifts, she first received this crown as a gift from Venus [Aphrodite] and the Horae. But, as the author of the Cretica says, at the time when Liber [Dionysos] came to Minos with the hope of lying with Ariadne, he gave her this crown as a present. Delighted with it, she did not refuse the terms. It is said, too, to have been made of gold and Indian gems, and by its aid Theseus is thought to have come from the gloom of the labyrinth to the day, for the gold and gems made a glow of light in the darkness."

Ovid, Metamorphoses 8. 175 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :"She [Ariadne], abandoned [by Theseus], in her grief and anger found comfort in Bacchus’[Dionysos’] arms. He took her crown and set it in the heavens to win her there a star’s eternal glory; and the crown flew through the soft light air and, as it flew, its gems were turned to gleaming fires, and still shaped as a crown their place in heaven they take between the Kneeler and him who grasps the Snake."

Ovid, Fasti 3. 459 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :"[The constellation] Corona (the Crown) of Cnossos’ girl [Ariadne] . . . He [Dionysos-Liber] embraces her [Ariadne] and mops her tears with kisses, and says: ‘. . . I will create a monument of you and your crown, which Volcanus [Hephaistos] gave Venus [Aphrodite] and she gave you.’ He does what he said, and turns its nine gems to fires, and the golden crown glitters with nine stars [the Constellation Corona]."

Ovid, Fasti 5. 345 ff : "Bacchus loves flowers. Bacchus’ pleasure in the wreath can be known from Ariadne’s star."

Ovid, Heroides 6. 116 ff (trans. Showerman) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :"[Ariadne] the bride of Bacchus, with crown-encircled brow, outshines with her stars the lesser constellations."

Ovid, Heroides 18. 151 ff :"Let another fix his eyes on Andromeda and the bright Crown [i.e. of Ariadne], and upon the Parrhasian Bear that gleams in the frozen pole; but for me, I care not for the loves of Perseus, and of Liber [Dionysos] and Jove [Zeus], to point me on my dubious way."

Propertius, Elegies 3. 17 ff (trans. Goold) (Roman elegy C1st B.C.) :"For you [Dionysos] too are not without experience [in love] : to that, carried by your lynx-drawn chariot to heaven, Ariadne bears witness among the stars."

Seneca, Hercules Furens 16 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) :"Not alone has Bacchus [Dionysos] himself or the [Semele] mother of Bacchus attained the skies . . . [but also] the heavens wear the crown of the Cretan maid [Ariadne]."

Seneca, Phaedra 663 ff : "[Phaedra prays :] `Thee, thee, O sister [Ariadne], wherever amidst the starry heavens thou shinest, I call to aid for a cause like to thine own [i.e. love for a prince of Athens].'"

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 47. 265 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :"[Dionysos addresses Ariadne :] `For you I will make a starry crown [the constellation Corona], that you may be called the shining bedfellow of crownloving Dionysos.’ . . . [At their wedding] Fiery Eros made a round flowergarland with red roses and plaited a wreath coloured like the stars, as prophet and herald of the heavenly Crown."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48. 969 ff : "Bakkhos [Dionysos] had not forgotten his Kydonian darling [Ariadne], no, he remembered still the bride once his, then lost, and he placed in Olympos the rounded crown of Ariadne passed away, a witness of his love, an everlasting proclaimer of garlanded wedding."



THE APOTHEOSIS OF ARIADNE

Hesiod, Theogony 947 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :"And golden-haired Dionysos made brown-haired Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, his buxom wife : and [Zeus] the son of Kronos made her deathless and unageing for him."

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 51. 4 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.) :"Dionysos led Ariadne away by night to the mountain which is know as Drios; and first of all the god disappeared, and later Ariadne also was never seen again."

Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 4. 385 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) :"Two great silver bowls . . . these had Hephaistos fashioned for his gift to glorious Dionysos when he brought his bride [Ariadne] divine to Olympos, Minos' child far-famous, whom in sea-washed Dia's isle [Naxos] Theseus unwitting left."

Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 224 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :"Mortals who were made immortal . . . Ariadne, whom Father Liver called Libera, daughter of Minos and Pasiphae."

Ovid, Fasti 3. 459 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :"[The constellation] Corona (the Crown) of Cnossos’ girl [Ariadne]: Theseus’ crime deified her. She gave that ingrate the winding thread [of the labyrinth] and gladly swapped her perjured husband for Bacchus [Dionysos] . . . He [Dionysos-Liber] embraces her [Ariadne] and mops her tears with kisses, and says : `Let us seek heaven’s heights together. You have shared my bed and you will share my name. You will be named Libera, when transformed. I will create a monument of you and your crown, which Volcanus [Hephaistos] gave Venus [Aphrodite] and she gave you.’ He does what he said, and turns its nine gems to fires, and the golden crown glitters with nine stars [the constellation Corona]."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 47. 265 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :"[Dionysos addresses Ariadne :] `You have both heaven for your home and Kronion [Zeus] for your godfather.'"


CULT OF ARIADNE

Homerica, Of the Origin of Homer and Hesiod and of their Contest Fragment 1 (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic B.C.) : "The local feast of Ariadne was being held."

Plutarch, Life of Theseus 20. 1 (trans. Perrin) (Greek historian C1st to C2nd A.D.) :"A very peculiar account of these matters [the story of Ariadne] is published by Paion the Amathusian. He says that Theseus, driven out of his course by a storm to Kypros, and having with him Ariadne, who was big with child and in sore sickness and distress from the tossing of the sea, set her on shore alone, but that he himself, while trying to succour the ship, was borne out to sea again. The women of the island, accordingly, took Ariadne into their care, and tried to comfort her in the discouragement caused by her loneliness, brought her forged letters purporting to have been written to her by Theseus, ministered to her aid during the pangs of travail, and gave her burial when she died before her child was born. Paion says further that Theseus came back, and was greatly afflicted, and left a sum of money with the people of the island, enjoining them to sacrifice to Ariadne, and caused two little statuettes to be set up in her honor, one of silver, and one of bronze. He says also that at the sacrifice in her honor on the second day of the month Gorpiaeus, one of their young men lies down and imitates the cries and gestures of women in travail; and that they call the grove in which they show her tomb, the grove of Ariadne Aphrodite.Some of the Naxians also have a story of their own, that there were two Minoses and two Ariadnes, one of whom, they say, was married to Dionysos in Naxos and bore him Staphylos and his brother, and the other, of a later time, having been carried off by Theseus and then abandoned by him, came to Naxos, accompanied by a nurse named Korkyne, whose tomb they show; and that this Ariadne also died there, and has honors paid her unlike those of the former, for the festival of the first Ariadne is celebrated with mirth and revels, but the sacrifices performed in honor of the second are attended with sorrow and mourning."

Plutarch, Theseus 23. 2 : "It was Theseus who instituted also the Athenian festival of the Oskhophoria. For it is said that he did not take away with him all the maidens on whom the lot fell at that time, but picked out two young men of his acquaintance who had fresh and girlish faces, but eager and manly spirits, and changed their outward appearance almost entirely by giving them warn baths and keeping them out of the sun, by arranging their hair, and by smoothing their skin and beautifying their complexions with unguents; he also taught them to imitate maidens as closely as possible in their speech, their dress, and their gait, and to leave no difference that could be observed, and then enrolled them among the maidens who were going to Krete, and was undiscovered by any. And when he was come back, he himself and these two young men headed a procession, arrayed as those are now arrayed who carry the vine-branches. They carry these in honor of Dionysos and Ariadne, and because of their part in the story; or rather, because they came back home at the time of the vintage. And the women called Deipnophoroi, or supper-carriers, take part in the procession and share in the sacrifice, in imitation of the mothers of the young men and maidens on whom the lot fell, for these kept coming with bread and meat for their children. And tales are told at this festival, because these mothers, for the sake of comforting and encouraging their children, spun out tales for them. At any rate, these details are to be found in the history of Damon."


Sources:
Homer, The Odyssey - Greek Epic C8th B.C.
Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th B.C.
Greek Lyric II Anacreon, Fragments - Greek Lyric C6th B.C.
Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D.
Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd B.C.
Aratus, Phaenomena - Greek Astronomy C3rd B.C.
Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History - Greek History C1st B.C.
Pausanias, Description of Greece - Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D.
Plutarch, Lives - Greek Historian C1st-2nd A.D.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy - Greek Epic C4th A.D.
Philostratus the Elder, Imagines - Greek Rhetoric C3rd A.D.
Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History - Greek Mythography C1st-2nd A.D.
Theophilus, To Autolycus - Greek Chrisitan Rhetoric C2nd A.D.
Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd A.D.
Hyginus, Astronomica - Latin Mythography C2nd A.D.
Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.
Ovid, Fasti - Latin Poetry C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.
Ovid, Heroides - Latin Poetry C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.
Propertius, Elegies - Latin Elegy C1st B.C.
Seneca, Hercules Furens - Latin Tragedy C1st A.D.
Seneca, Oedipus - Latin Tragedy C1st A.D.
Seneca, Phaedra - Latin Tragedy C1st A.D.
Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th A.D.
Photius, Myriobiblon - Byzantine Greek Scholar C9th A.D.
Other references not currently quoted here: (mostly references to the story of Ariadne, Theseus & the Minotauros): Odyssey 11.322; Apollodorus 1.9.16 & 3.1.2 & E1.8; Diodorus Siculus 4.60.4; Antoninus Liberalis 27; Parthenius 1.3; Pausanias 1.3.1; Statius Thebaid 5.226





Theoi Project Copyright © 2000 - 2008, Aaron J. Atsma, New Zealand
http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Ariadne.html

Anti-Anxiety Spell - Marigold

Anti-Anxiety Spell - Marigold

Use a marigold flower.
Marigolds are the flower of the sun, so it's most potent when picked at high noon.
Take your noonday blossom in hand and say,

The light of the sun shines on my heart.
Chase the shadows, all sadness depart!

Tear up the flower and release it to the Earth to release your anxiety.

From A Floral Grimoire by Patricia Telesco

The Charge of the Goddess

The Charge of the Goddess
Posted by: "Katy_Ravensong"
yahoo group greenwitchgarden
Wed Jun 25, 2008 11:06 pm (PDT)

another goodie from our files (from my favorite author)

The Charge of the Goddess
by Maggie Shayne

I am darkness as well as light,
Mistress of Death but also of life,
Bow before me on this night
and worship both my black and bright!

By myriad names have I been known
I rule both Hel* and heaven's throne
I rain my love upon my own
be they en masse or one alone!

If a gift you would receive
Come to be by darksome eve,
In forest glens my altars dwell
So dance, rejoice and cast the spell!

All the secrets shall be known
The chains that held you now disown
I crush them with the force of love
For as below, so is above!

I'll teach you all the mysteries,
The circle of life and rebirth, is me!
And the only sacrifice I ask
Is that you love, that is is your task,

Love me, that you surely do,
But love your fellow humans too,
For surely as I live in thee,
I live in each of them, you see.

For every breath and every stone
and every being is mine to own
From me they come, to me they go
We all are one, As above, so below!

______________

Buttprints in the Sand by Ray Brumback

A bit of humor ---
Posted by: "Katy_Ravensong"
yahoo group GreenWitchGarden


Buttprints in the Sand
by Ray Brumback


One night I had a wondrous dream,
One set of footprints there was seen,
The footprints of the Goddess they were,
But mine were not along the shore.

But then some stranger prints appeared,
And I asked Her,
"What have we here?
These prints are large and round and neat,
But much too big to be from feet."

"My child," She said in somber tones,
"For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait."

"You would not learn, you would not grow,
The walk of faith, you would not know,
So I got tired, I got fed up,
And there I dropped you on your butt."

Because in life, there comes a time
When one must fight, and one must climb,
When one must rise and take a stand,
Or leave their butt prints in the sand."

We Will Not Forget.

We Will Not Forget.

We will not forget that you are our Mother, (Mother) Nature, the great womb from which all life springs.

Millions upon billions of souls have labored to enter into your world in the
hopes that eyes might absorb your majestic beauty, so that hands might touch
the tender new buds of spring ~ soft ~ weeping with mornings' dew.
Each soul waiting for that first precious sound which stirs the body to life

We ~ will not forget.

We will not forget that you are the Great Wayshower of Sacred Law.

We learn about the Great Law of Life, Death and Rebirth from surviving our
first Autumn, resplendent with crimson ~ ochre leaves floating to the earth
blanketing it from winters clinging snows. Then, miracle upon miracle,
Spring ~ and Life bursts through the last remaining snows. Skeleton trees,
death totems framed against the sky, breath with new Life flowing through
their veins and emerald buds promise a future.

We Understand.

We are the tree of life' and are reborn into your arms in the season of the soul.

The four legged's, the two legged's, the winged spirits and those who swim
through your birthing waters are one of the greatest gifts you have given
the People. We have watched our allies in wonder ~ and then ~ in understanding.

We have learned that every living being is necessary ~ for each identifies
an aspect of the psyche of the People. However, with knowledge comes some
sorrow for we have also learned that with the extinction of any species ~ so
too has one aspect of our psyche become extinct. Some potential for the
Human Soul has become Extinct.

When we endanger the existence of any living thing so to do we endanger the
evolution of our very soul. They give their lives that we may live, they
share their spirit that we may evolve. All life is sacred and we give thanks
when one of them must fall that we may live. Someday, we too will return to
the earth and feed new life.

We have learned ~ this is the Way of the Great Circle.
So we will Remember.

The Earth does not belong to the People, the People belong to the Earth.
From the Earth we are born ~ to the Earth we shall return. Your soil is
consecrated ground and we will sing our songs and tell our stories to show
our children that the dust beneath their feet is the ashes of their ancestors.

We will remember that the blood of our Ancestors course through your mighty rivers.

Your crystal waters quench our thirst, carry our canoes and their
rippling mummers speak of the memories of our People. We will show our
children that the flow of Life is Sacred and to treat the waters as we would
our own blood.

We will remember that the air is precious and through its spirit all life is supported. The winds that give us our first breath also receive our final sigh. And, if we listen, the four winds will speak to us of our past and our future ~ of what is below and what is above.

We will show our children thatthe air is Sacred and to listen to the whispering among the leaves. Above all, we will remember that all Life is connected. All that lives areallies in our beingness. There are beasts and beings that give their livesfor us and those that show us about ourselves by showing us their Ways.

We do remember ~ our blood remembers ~ for we are born of Turtle Island. We are the Warriors of the Rainbow who will lead the Peoples of the Earth into an awareness of the Sacredness of 'All That Is' and lead them into a New Age

Written by: Eutonnah V. Olsen Dunn
As Published in: 'Gatherings' ~ The En'owkin Journal of First North American Peoples As the smoke rises, Announcing our Prayers to "All That Is", Let those that may, Hear

Spell to Banish Jealousy

Spell to Banish Jealousy
June 26th, 2008
Color of the day: White
Incense of the day: Nutmeg

Jealousy plagues relationships. Working with your partner or by yourself, you'll create that green-eyed monster and then banish it. The energy you put into making a doll is part of your magic. You'll make a monster; however you imagine that. Just make sure it has green eyes! While making the doll, think about jealousy. Think how unpleasant it feels,and how it harms your relationship. Think about jealous fights, and how you'd prefer not to have them. In a circle, consecrate and name the finished doll:
"You are jealousy, the green-eyed monster.
You are my/our feelings of jealousy and pain."

Greet the doll. Talk to it. Tell it about jealousy. Pour your deepest feelings of jealousy into the doll.
Say:
"I/we banish you.
Leave here and return no more!"

Throw the doll out of the circle. Close the circle. Take the doll to a dumpster or landfill.

Repeat: "Leave and return no more!"
By: Deborah Lipp

_____________

A Welsh Charm to Banish Sickness

A Welsh Charm to Banish Sickness
Posted by: "cherrywitch57
Yahoo group: Turn the Wheel
Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:22 pm (PDT)

A Welsh Charm to Banish Sickness
A charm to banish sickness is made by placing a gold coin in a glass of red wine. Put this beneath the stars and a waning moon for three nights, and each night drink one third of the wine to shrink your sickness until it's gone. This originated in rural Welsh regions, with some similar spells appearing in Scotland and England. Overall well-being. Return to wholeness of body, mind, and spirit. Strength and vitality.

Note: Health spells usually pertain to one type of sickness. So a general, all-purpose health enchantment appears below along with examples for common maladies. However, these should in no way take the place of modern medical care, especially for persistent symptoms. Let them act as a magical accent to conventional methods. Whenever health and well being are desired. Sundays. Fridays.

Rose Peace At Home Spell

Rose Peace At Home Spell

If loved ones or roommates are squabbling at home, buy a bouquet of white roses. Put them in a vase in a prominent part of the home where everyone will see them, such as a kitchen table.

When you are home alone, stand before the roses and say:

White roses of peace,
Bless my living space
And all of those within.
Let me understand each other's needs,
And live serenely with each other.
Peace be with this house,
And Strife be gone.

If you wish you can also burn a peaceful home candle that you have annointed with a little rose oil.

Denise Dumars--Llewellyn's 2006 Almanac

Rose Spell
2002 Spell-A-Day
2002-05-17

According to Roman mythology, Venus fashioned the rose; therefore, the flower cannot be matched in beauty, delicacy, and fragrance. The red rose today represents love and passion, while the pink rose represents happiness in love.

If you are searching for happy love, make a tea from pink rose petals and sip on it before you see your lover. When you see him or her, offer a kiss and you will both be happy in love together. Or, to generate more passion in a relationship, gather two red roses and carefully pluck the petals. Drop the petals into a warm bath, and light two red candles. Relax in the bath, and envision becoming irresistible to your lover. After draining the bath, gather the largest petals, dry them, and slip a few under your lover's doormat.

By Verna Gates

_____________

Magical Roses (article)

Magical Roses (article)

History & Folklore:

Greek legend tells us that Roses were born from Aphrodite's blood whenher foot got pricked by a thorn, but the Greek's were certainly not the first or last civilization to include this flower in myth and lore. The Rose has been the "Queen of Flowers" for over three thousand years.

Ancient stories say that Cleopatra welcomed Mark Anthony with thousands of Rose petals as a sign of her love. In Rome and surrounding regions,the Rose not only represented romance, but also Joy and Passion.

In Greece, any oath or information shared beneath a hanging rose was considered binding and secret. Teutonic tradition says Roses are protected by Faery Folk. Arabs consider them sacred to Muhammad, and they were favored by Vishu in India. Some regions of Europe consider the Rose a funerary flower, while in others its petals are observed for omens (often about a relationship.)

In much of the Orient, the Rose is the flower of Goddesses, which is why Goddess images often receive showers of Rose petals as an offering. The idea of the Catholic prayer "rosary" comes from the tradition that the beads were originally made of Rose petals, and Roses are Mary's Flowers.[Some Pagans believe that the Goddess was re-incarnated into the "MotherMary" when Christianity became the predominent religion in Europe.]

Golden Roses are said to represent spiritual perfection, white Roses represent purity, yellow Roses friendship, and eight-petaled Roses signify Re-Incarnation.

Themes:
* Death
* Enlightenment
* Faeries
* Friendship
* Happiness
* Love
* Oaths
* Offerings
* Omens
* Passion
* Prayer
* Purity
* Reincarnation

Sample Applications:There aren't many magickal procedures that won't benefit from the Rose's loving energy. Personally, I love Pink Roses and especially wild Rose Bushes. I have a beautiful Pink Rose Bush that I planted near my front doorstep, and I keep the fresh blooms on my altar for decoration and energy --- after asking the permission of Rose and the Faeries of course!It is relatively easy to make rose-scented oils, teas, and potions for magickal use simply by steeping the freshly cut petals in in warm (not HOT) water or oil until the petals are translucent. Repeat with fresh petals until you are happy with the scent. Store in a dark, airtight container (I like the colored glass bottles...) that is suitably labeled. Roses are edible and the hips are a wonderful source of vitamin C, making them serviceable physically as well as metaphysically!

Information from:
"MAGICK made Easy: Charms, Spells, Potions & Power"
Paticia Telesco.
HarperSanFransisco;1999.

______________________

Roses and Magick

Roses and Magick
from Scott Cunninghams'
Magical Herbalism:
p 109

Rose: The love oil. Used in all love operations, added to baths, and to induce peace and harmony.

Take a handful of rose buds, place them in a silver goblet. Pour one dram rose oil over them. Let soak for a week. After this, on a Friday night, burn them over the charcoal to infuse your house with loving vibrations. This is an excellent "peace" incense, and can be done regularly to ensure domestic tranquility.

cold (p. 130 "Plants that are relaxing, passive, magnetic and /or negative are cold.)

Planet: Venus
Element: Water
Associated Deities: Venus, Hulda, Demeter, Isis, Eros, Cupid, Adonis
part used: flowers
Basic Powers: Love, fertility, clairvoyance
Specific Uses: Wash your hands with rose water before mixing up love mixtures (Rose water may be purchased commercially in gourmet food shops and herb stores.) Bear the buds if you would find a love. Drink of tisane of rose petals to produce clairvoyant dreams. Burn the petals in the bedroom prior to sleep and have a completely refreshing, wondrous night. The petals are often added to healing incenses and sachets. Scatter fresh rose petals in the bed chamber on your honeymoon. To prove you love another, send him or her red roses, the flowers of love.

_________________

The Guardian Rose

The Guardian Rose

The second protection spell is great to use when you leave on vacation or you're any place where you feel insecure in your physical surroundings.

Dry out some roses. Save the petals for another purpose and cut the stems (with thorns) down to about six inches each. When you leave on vacation place a stem over your doors (and windows if you choose) and simply ask the stems to serve as guardians in your absence. You can add as much or as little ritual to this as feels appropriate. The key here is you must know at a deep level that this makes sense. No spell will work if you aren't emotionally connected to it. If you don't have roses in your yard, buy roses every time you have a chance. If you don't regard the rose as your flower then this spell probably won't work for you. I bring this up only to stress once again the true nature of magic. It's very personal and it is directly related to your beliefs, perceptions and your need.

http://www.owlsdottir.com/BOS/guardian_rose.html#The%20Rose%20Sentry%20Spell

________________

The Rose Sentry Spell

The Rose Sentry Spell

Determine what climbing rose bushes are suited to your location and climate. You want something that needs as little care as possible, a wild rose would be best. Once you’ve obtained your rose bushes go to your power spot on your property (you’ve found that already haven’t you?) and sit down with a rose placed in each of the four corners around you. Your goal here is to find out the rose’s name. Remember the deva in the rose is alive, conscious (in the deva sense – not in our sense) and you are going to be asking that deva to help you guard and protect your property. Wouldn’t you want to be on a first name basis with someone your asking to guard your home? Once you’ve been introduced it’s time to go dig your holes and prepare the soil. You will be placing these roses so that one of them can guard the north, south, east and west of your property. While your doing this ask the earth to nourish the rose that you're going to be planting there.

When your ready to plant in the north:
(rose name) thank you for agreeing to help me guard and protect this land
Gnomes of the north, protectors of the land come join us in our task
Help us always nurture and care for this place
And keep others who would do me and mine harm far from our door.

http://www.owlsdottir.com/BOS/guardian_rose.html#The%20Rose%20Sentry%20Spell

When your ready to plant in the east:

(rose name) thank you for agreeing to help me guard and protect this land
Sylphs of the east, guardians of the Air come join us in our task
Help us always nurture and care for this place
And keep others who would do me and mine harm far from our door.

When you’re ready to plant in the south:

(rose name) thank you for agreeing to help me guard and protect this land
Salamanders of the south, guardians of fire come join us in our task
Help us always nurture and care for this place
And keep others who would do me and mine harm far from our door.

When you’re ready to plant in the west :

(rose name) thank you for agreeing to help me guard and protect this land
Sirens of the west, guardians of water come join us in our task
Help us always nurture and care for this place
And keep others who would do me and mine harm far from our door.

http://www.owlsdottir.com/BOS/guardian_rose.html#The%20Rose%20Sentry%20Spell


_______________________

Sun Magick

Sun Magick

Sun Energies

* Sunrise - Babe Energy
A time of rebirth, awakening from slumber, fresh starts.

* Morning Sun - Youth Energy
A time of growth, growing energy, learning, exploration.

* Noon - Warrior Energy
Midday is a time of potent solar energy. A time for warrior magicks and spells for justice.

* Afternoon Sun - Father Energy
This is the time of day to bring home the day's bounty - a metaphor for the middle years of a person's life. This Sun represents the harvest and fatherhood.


* Sunset - Elder Energy
A time when you sit down and reflect upon the day gone by. The energies here are for reflection, wisdom and advice.



Short Sun Spells
From Everyday Magic by Dorothy Morrison

* Sunrise
Youngest Babe, so newly born,
Help me on this bright new morn.
Aid this spell with your fresh power,
And strengthen it with every hour.

* Morning Sun
Brother Sun of growing strength,
Come to me and stay at length.
Wrap this spell with intensity,
And add to it Your potency.

* Noon
Father Sun, of strength and might,
Aid this spell in taking flight
To its target, now please guide -
Increase its power as it flies.

* Afternoon Sun
Aging One of Amber Light:
Hearken! Hear me! Aid my plight!
Take this spell where it must go,
And give it power that it might grow.

* Sunset

Setting Sun of passing day,
Aid me in Your gentle way.
Take this spell, oh Ancient One;
Give it Your strength as You pass on.

resourse link

http://www.mabinogistudy.co.uk/resources.html

Clues from Homer classic help date 'Odyssey' slaughter

Clues from Homer classic help date 'Odyssey' slaughter


Story Highlights
Scholars may now know the date King Odysseus returned from the Trojan War
They believe the warrior slaughtered his rivals on April 16, 1178 B.C.
Experts use clues from star and sun positions cited by ancient Greek poet Homer
Scholars debate whether Homer's books reflect the actual history of the Trojan War


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Using clues from star and sun positions mentioned by the ancient Greek poet Homer, scholars think they have determined the date when King Odysseus returned from the Trojan War and slaughtered a group of suitors who had been pressing his wife to marry one of them.

It was April 16, 1178 B.C., that the great warrior struck with arrows, swords and spears, killing those who sought to replace him, a pair of researchers say in Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Experts have long debated whether the books of Homer reflect the actual history of the Trojan War and its aftermath.

Marcelo O. Magnasco of Rockefeller University in New York and Constantino Baikouzis of the Astronomical Observatory in La Plata, Argentina, acknowledge that they had to make some assumptions to determine the date Odysseus returned to his kingdom of Ithaca.

But interpreting clues in Homer's "Odyssey" as references to the positions of stars and a total eclipse of the sun allowed them to determine when a particular set of conditions would have occurred.

"What we'd like to achieve is to get the reader to pick up the 'Odyssey' and read it again and ponder," Magnasco said. "And to realize that our understanding of these texts is quite imperfect, and even when entire libraries have been written about Homeric studies, there is still room for further investigation."

Their study could add support to the accuracy of Homer's writing.

"Under the assumption that our work turns out to be correct, it adds to the evidence that he knew what he was talking about," Magnasco said. "It still does not prove the historicity of the return of Odysseus. It only proves that Homer knew about certain astronomical phenomena that happened much before his time."

Homer reports that on the day of the slaughter, the sun is blotted from the sky, possibly a reference to an eclipse. In addition, he mentions more than once that it is the time of a new moon, which is necessary for a total eclipse, the researchers say.

Other clues include:

• Six days before the slaughter, Venus is visible and high in the sky.

• Twenty-nine days before, two constellations -- the Pleiades and Bootes -- are simultaneously visible at sunset.

• And 33 days before, Mercury is high at dawn and near the western end of its trajectory. This is the researchers' interpretation, anyway. Homer wrote that Hermes, the Greek name for Mercury, traveled far west to deliver a message.

"Of course, we believe it's amply justified, otherwise we would not commit it to print. However, we do recognize there's less ammunition to defend this interpretation than the others," Magnasco said.

"Even though the other astronomical references are much clearer, our interpretation of them as allusions to astronomical phenomena is an assumption," he added via e-mail.

For example, Magnasco said, Homer writes that as Odysseus spread his sails out of Ogygia, "sleep did not weigh on his eyelids as he watched the Pleiades, and late-setting Bootes and the Bear."

"We assume he means that as Odysseus set sail shortly after sunset, at nautical twilight the Pleiades and Bootes were simultaneously visible and that Bootes would be the later-setting of the two," Magnasco explained.

"It is a good assumption, because every member of his audience would know what was being discussed, as the Pleiades and Bootes were important to them to know the passage of the seasons and would be very familiar with which times of the year they were visible. Remember, the only calendar they had was the sky."

Because the occurrence of an eclipse and the various star positions repeat over time, Magnasco and Baikouzis set out to calculate when they would all occur in the order mentioned in the "Odyssey."

And their result has Odysseus exacting his revenge April 16, 1178 B.C.


Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
All AboutAstronomy



Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/06/24/Homerstudy.ap/index.html?eref=rss_latest

Interesting blog! Quaker Pagan

found this in my wanderings:

http://quakerpagan.blogspot.com/

Interesting premise! Can't wait to learn more since I am descended from a ton of Quaker ancestors!


_________________________________

I love this!!!

http://mythworker.livejournal.com/372295.html

The author has an "interview" with Herne The Hunter....I just love it!!!

__________________________________

Song: Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen

Hallelujah lyrics

I heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth,
the minor fall, the major lift,
the baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelu----jah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof,
you saw her bathing on the roof,
her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair,
she broke your throne, she cut your hair,
and from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelu----jah

Maybe I have been here before,
I know this room; I have walked this floor,
I used to live alone before I knew you
I've seen your flag on the marble arch,
love is not a victory march,it's a cold and its a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelu----jah

There was a time you let me know
whats really going on below,
but now you never show it to me, do you?
(and) Remember when I moved in you;
the holy dark was moving too,
and every breath we drew was Hallelujah
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelu----jah

Maybe there's a God above,
and all I ever learned from love
was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
And its not a cry you can hear at night,
its not somebody who's seen the light,
its a cold and its a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelu--jah
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelu---u---jah

“The Baffled King Composing Hallelujah” Leonard Cohen, although late to the scene of song writing, has created a plethora of music that has inspired millions. In his late 40’s, early 50’s Cohen embarked on a reevaluation of his faith. This produced several songs of religious nature, one of which is “Hallelujah. Although it sings out in a melancholy tone, “Hallelujah” is a song with a positive message about God and the nature of believing. Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” was created after Cohen’s midlife journey of religious exploration as an affirmation of his faith.

Leonard Cohen was born in Montreal in 1934. He was born into a Jewish family; however his works containing religious aspects have been mostly inspired by the Christian and Protestant influence of Montreal. Around his fifties Cohen wanted to affirm his faith. He proceeded on an exploration of faith, his and in general, and at the end of the journey made the album Various Positions. Various Positions features several songs of the religious nature. After the album he continued to create songs of faith in order to reach his fans about the nature of believing.

The first verse of “Hallelujah” sets the mood for the rest of the song. “David” is King David from the second book of Samuel. It also states a question directly from Cohen to God; “But you don’t really care for music, do you?” It isn’t talking about music, specifically; it’s an overall question to God about his caring about the world. Cohen also makes mention of a “baffled king.” This is both David and Cohen himself. David is a baffled king, as in the bible when he asks for an ordeal, but also in his actions dealing with Bethsheba in the second stanza. Cohen is the baffled musician, not necessarily searching for an actual lost chord, but searching for the element that ties everything together and makes sense of existing.

The second stanza of “Hallelujah” refers to David from the second book of Samuel. The woman in the verse is Bethsheba, wife of Uriah. While strolling on the roof David comes across her. Eventually he takes her to his bed and she becomes with child. Bethsheba did tie David to a chair and did break a throne. Cohen also wanted to make note in this stanza the workings of relationships between men and women. He writes this passage with the stance that nothing can be reconciled here. There are conflicts in life and in us that don’t come with resolution. It isn’t until later, both in life and in the song, that we see any kind of conflict resolution. Between David and Bethsheba it isn’t a happy ending that we look for, but David, and Cohen, rising above the mortal coil and embracing what it is to be alive.

The third stanza ties the biblical introduction to Cohen’s experiences and feelings. This is where Cohen introduces his crisis of faith. “You say I took the name in vain” is talking about sins. Here it states the sin of taking the lord’s name in vain, however it can be broadened to refer to all of Cohen’s sins. “I don’t even know the name” is Cohen’s response to the accusations- that he doesn’t know God, or that God has not made himself known to Cohen. “But if I did, well really, what’s it to you?” is Cohen asking others why it matters to them what he believes or doesn’t believe. The final part that talks about the blaze of light in every word is saying that God is in all the words. It doesn’t matter which you’ve heard because God is in all of them.

The final stanza of “Hallelujah” is the firm statement that Cohen believes in God. “I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch” refers to Cohen’s religious exploration in the late part of his life. Cohen felt the lack of faith in his life and so sought out a path to God to feel complete. “I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you” shows his honesty and earnest searching. The “you” in the lyrics refer to God. With these words he reassured God of his pure intentions. “And even though/ It all went wrong/ I’ll stand before the Lord of Song/ With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah” is the final statement that Cohen feels his journey has been fulfilling. Despite the hardships and failures, Cohen stands before the “Lord of Song” still singing Hallelujah. “Hallelujah” is the basic sense that even though no one ever completely understands faith and God, sometimes all there is to say is Hallelujah.

Despite rumors of Cohen being a pessimist, “Hallelujah” is an uplifting song with a strong, positive message. Created after Cohen’s explorative stint in religion, “Hallelujah” is a song about the believing and having faith. It moves gracefully through Cohen’s transition from doubting to faith. With religious metaphors and imagery it captures listeners who listen to lyrics, and with its harmonizing singing and flowing melody it ensnares listeners who prefer instrumentals. “Hallelujah” is a song that helps listeners to believe and to trust in God, or merely to have faith.

song performed by Rufus Wainwright, Jeff Buckley, Bob Dylan,

Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah! (update)

One would never wish financial hardship on anyone but 'Halleujah!' for the financial hardship that forces Leonard Cohen back on to the stage. Here Telegraph journalist Neil McCormick welcomes Cohen back with an in depth look at one of his most enduring songs. Additional material from the Independent now added at the foot of this article.

This weekend one of the most revered singer-songwriters in history arrives in Britain and Ireland for a tour that will take him from the gardens of Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin to the main stage at Glastonbury.

In 15 years away from the stage, Leonard Cohen has endured psychological crisis, spiritual transformation and the loss of his fortune in a financial fraud, yet he treats such personal dramas as the stuff of art. "We basically all lead the same kind of lives," he said recently. "Gain and loss, surrender and victory - popular music has to be about those subjects."

It is all there in one song in particular, an epic, gospel-tinged ballad of desire and rejection, love and sex, God and man, failure and transcendence, the inevitability of death and triumph of the spirit against the greatest odds. Performed by a 73-year-old man with a shattered voice, it is a song with the power to turn a rock arena into a cathedral.

The song is Hallelujah. Written and rewritten by Cohen over the years, it has come to be regarded by many as the greatest song of all time. It has been recorded and performed by more than 100 artists in a dozen different languages, including versions by Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Bono, KD Lang, Rufus Wainwright and, most famously, Jeff Buckley. It has featured on the soundtracks of dozens of films, from Shrek to the dark satire Lord of War

____________________________________________________

Dispelling Sorrow Spell

This spell is from Valerie Worth, in her book "The Crones Book Of Words."

Dispelling Sorrow Spell

When world and fate
Conspire to mark
Your life with lines
And characters dark,
Mould a tablet
Of earth or clay,
Write on it all
You would cast away-
All you regret,
All that you bear,
All that afflicts you,
All that you fear-
Break it and bury it
In the ground,
saying this charm

To heal the wound:

"Sorrow be dust
And dust dissolve:
Let my grief
Go into this grave."

When Witches Blend Torah and Tarot

October 30, 2003
When Witches Blend Torah and Tarot
By Keren Engelberg
http://www.jewishjournal.com/ community_briefs/article/when_witches_blend_torah_and_tarot_20031031/


The Thursday before Halloween, Melissa Oringer participates in the traditional rituals of her Wiccan coven. She carves pumpkins and she scrys, or peforms a sort of "magick" (a spelling that differentiates it from modern associations of magic) that uses something tangible, like tarot cards, runes or other tools to delve into someone's psyche. Halloween, known as Samhain among Pagans, celebrates the Pagan New Year, the time when the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is thinnest and, therefore, a day for honoring your beloved dead. Oringer's coven does so by sharing stories, or making food related to the person being remembered.

But Oringer does another ritual as well on Halloween, a more private one: she lights a yahrtzeit candle to remember her own beloved dead. The Jew and Wiccan high priestess said she melds Jewish and Wiccan traditions in a manner that she finds meaningful. "I'm Wiccan and I'm Jewish," she writes on her Web site, jewitchery.com. And she's not the only one.

There are some 200,000 Pagans in America, according to Margot Adler, author of "Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess Worshippers and Other Pagans in America Today." A fraction of this group is Jewish -- and why not? Like a growing number of Jews who personalize religion to suit their needs (think JuBus, or Jewish Buddhists), many Pagan Jews see their practice as just another niche in the wide spectrum of being "The Chosen."

But is it possible to follow both the second commandment and a religion based on polytheism? What is lacking in Judaism that causes spirituality seekers to turn away from their own traditions? And: Can Jewish Paganism be good for the Jews?

First things first: A short tutorial. Given its controversial history, it's probably most appropriate to begin with what Neo-Paganism (the official term) is not: 1) It is not a cult. 2) It does not involve Satanism or devil worship. 3) Its goal is not to visit harm on others. 4) While rituals may be performed "skyclad" (naked), it is a religion devoted to the natural world, not to sexual hedonism.

Neo-Paganism is a polytheistic, anarchic religion that elevates nature, utilizing magick and ritual to end people's alienation from nature.

In some ways at least, it's not too far from Judaism, which also fosters an appreciation of nature and of human life, and also focuses on ritual, uses a lunar calendar and celebrates seasonal holidays. Some have even argued that certain Jewish traditions stem from early Pagan practices, though their relationship is steeped in ambiguity and, therefore, controversy.

Consider the Shabbat challah: A potato version was called berches by Northern European Jews, perhaps owing to the practice among Northern European non-Jewish women of offering braided bread loaves to the Teutonic goddess Berchta. Other links have been cited between the celebration of Rosh Chodesh (the new month) and of Chanukah, which corresponds with the Pagan winter solstice. Where Paganism leaves off, however, Judaism continues to enrich, argued Rabbi Danny Landes, director for Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.

"Where Paganism sometimes gets it right is in a notion of the appreciation of the force of life, force of nature," Landes told The Journal. But, he added, "I think Neo-Pagan religions are at best an ethical hedonism in which we say 'I'll live my life and you'll live yours....' There is a lack of great desire for justice ... and for loving kindness. I'm not saying they're all evil. It just doesn't go far enough."

For Adler, it does. To her, Paganism's appeal lies in ritual. Adler's own upbringing was in an atheist Jewish household that had "almost no Jewish resonance."

"I don't think there was ever a rejection of Judaism because I didn't think of myself as having a Jewish resonance," she said. "The only thing I could really reject was atheist Marxism. But I knew there was some powerful stuff in ritual."

When she went searching in her 20s, Adler found "most of the Christian and Jewish ceremonies were, from a ritual ceremony [perspective], really boring. I wasn't exposed to Chasidism ... or Sufi dancing," she said. "I hadn't seen Jewish religious juice or Christian religious juice. So I was looking for the juice and mystery of ecstatic religious experience but without the price of losing one's intellectual integrity."

What she said she found was, "a way of living in this world and yet being attuned to this ecstatic tradition."

She'll still occasionally attend a feminist Passover seder.

"You can see Passover in this incredible civil rights and political way without looking at the religious aspects," she said.

Today, she describes her Pagan tradition as "eclectic," "polytheistic" and earth-centered, following seasonal celebrations and using the goddesses as metaphor.

"I don't know how much is real and how much is metaphor," she said.

Juicy or not, with Judaism's ban on idolatry, how much is metaphor becomes a more than minor question, at least for Pagans still claiming their Judaism, like Oringer, or Devin Galaudet, who described his practice as "a cross-section of kabbalah, and perhaps I will throw in magick, general hermetics and a little bit of Eastern philosophy."

His reconciliation goes like this: "Those different god names in the Bible all serve different purposes. I think perhaps the difference is that Judaism has the different parts, but does not embrace the parts in different ways. I think there's value in embracing the different sides that God is. It's wonderful that God is an all-powerful being or entity, but it's also nice that God makes the flowers and there's a specific part of God that does that, and makes the wind blow, and everything else."

But Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Project Next Step, warned of the dangers of polytheism within the Jewish faith.

"God doesn't like mistresses," he said. "Not that it matters to Him, but in our relationship with Him, which is what will give us happiness as Jews, putting our focus elsewhere is not going to cement our relationship with Him."

That Adlerstein uses the masculine pronouns to refer to God exemplifies Oringer's personal conflict with the Judaism in which she was raised.

"For me, the writers of Judaism didn't resonate with me. I felt left out of that because I was a woman," Oringer said.

Indeed, for a good number of Jewish Pagans, their spiritual blending can be seen as one of many varied attempts among Jewish women to reconcile a patriarchal Jewish tradition with modern feminist ideology.

In her essay, "Challah for the Queen of Heaven," in the book "Yentl's Revenge: The Next Wave of Jewish Feminism," Ryiah Lilith offers a similar position: "As buzzwords and phrases such as patriarchy, masculine God-language and blood taboo crept into my vocabulary, the lure of Orthodox Judaism diminished. In Conservative services I was distracted by the gendered and often sexist prayers and felt little connection to either Adonai or other congregants and although the Reform 'Gates of Prayer' was explicitly nonsexist, I noticed that the rabbi, cantor, congregational leadership and most of the board were men."

The feminist orientation and emphasis on the goddess led both women to the Craft. But in the end, they chose to incorporate rather than abandon their Jewishness.

Lilith writes, "there are a number of Jewish women within the Pagan community who worship the goddess and who want more feminine and feminist liturgy and ritual than Judaism currently allows."

"I have never stopped being a Jew," Oringer writes on her Web site. "That's simply who I am. It's my family, my tribe, my people. I don't always agree with them ... but they're still my family, for better or for worse. I incorporate the tools of my family into my practice (the Kiddush cup, the menorah, the braided candle, the candlesticks, the spice box, the hand of God...). I have a fondness for challah."

Jewish goddess worshippers like Oringer and Lilith may also invoke the names of goddesses like Asherah, who, according to controversial texts like Raphael Patai's "The Hebrew Goddess," was worshipped by the Israelites before Jewish idol worship ceased completely. They might also summon Shekinah, the female name of God.

"I think the crisis is Jews of all ages with insufficient knowledge of the depth and beauty of their own religion," Adlerstein said. "There's a real quest for spirituality. It's nothing new that people using misplaced yetzer tov (good inclination) rather than bad inclination often assume that the spirituality they're looking for doesn't exist in Judaism. So they look elsewhere."

Even among Neo-Pagans, Adlerstein's point rings true.

"If Jewish renewal had been around at the time [I began my approach], I might have felt differently," Oringer said. "But I certainly had nothing to identify with."

In Devin Galaudet's Cor Lucis tradition, the focus is more on ritual and meditation, and less on spellcasting. They use a framework of the classic text "The Golden Dawn," as well as the kabbalistic Tree of Life and the tarot. But he also still celebrates most of the Jewish holidays and holds a particular affinity for more ritualistic holidays like Passover.

"It's one of the holidays where the ritual is performed at home... When I go to synagogue someone else is making that connection or they're portraying the connection on my behalf, but ... it waters down the experience for me," Galaudet said.

Growing up in the Fairfax district, Galaudet considers his background as culturally Jewish, but secular. But in his 20s, he began studying Kabbalah at the Kabbalah Centre, as well as various forms of Paganism and just about every other religion before deciding on his unique combination. The things he thinks are missing from Judaism are ritual and the personal power to connect with God.

"Ultimately ... the hierarchy of Jewish temples ... doesn't seem to work for me," he said. "Rabbis aren't necessarily approachable, and frequently they don't want to answer questions. Ultimately it's a very Christian sort of power struggle. I don't need the rabbi's help to make the connection."
For Galaudet, making that connection will sometimes involve "Qabalistic" (an older variation on the spelling) tarot reading. He may have learned about the Kabbalah at the Kabbalah Centre, but, said a Centre representative, not about Qabalistic tarot reading. According to Billy Phillips, the organization's director of communications, "It's not part of the Judaic understanding of Kabbalah. Throughout history there have been countless sects that have liberated and taken from Kabbalah and tried to adapt it to their own purposes."

Adlerstein believes that this kind of dual citizenship is bad for the Jews. He placed the blame for it on a lazy approach toward religion resulting in pop spirituality.

"Part of what we're looking at are the same reason people turn to the Kabbalah Centre," Adlerstein said. "It's like fast food spiritualism -- getting it without the work, the counterculture part of it."

But Lillith still sees a place for her approach to Judaism:

"If 'Jewish' is a sufficiently expansive and flexible marker to describe the overlap or commonality -- no matter how slight -- between Reconstructionist, Israeli, transgender, Chasidic and Ethiopian Jews, then it can certainly include Goddess-worshipping Jewish witches as well."

© Copyright 2008 The Jewish Journal and JewishJournal.comAll rights reserved

Pagans mark longest day at ancient Stonehenge

Pagans mark longest day at ancient Stonehenge

Story Highlights
Pagans, druids gather at Stonehenge on the longest day of the year
UK police estimate 28,000 present to greet the day amid drizzle at 0348 GMT
Gatherings have sometimes seen violent scenes, although calmer in recent years
Stonehenge, about 80 miles from London, built between 3000 and 1600 B.C.


STONEHENGE, England (AP) -- Thousands of partygoers, pagans and self-styled druids cheered and banged drums Saturday to greet the dawn at Stonehenge on the longest day of the year, the summer solstice.

Blowhorns signaled the rise of the sun over the ancient stone circle at 4:58 a.m. (0348 GMT) -- although in typical English fashion, the sunrise was barely visible through the clouds.

Still, the mist and drizzle did not dampen the spirits of revelers who gathered under umbrellas, ponchos and plastic bags to greet the dawn.

"I've done this for the last three years," said Peter Rawcliffe, 26, who cycled the 50 miles (80 kilometers) from his home in the city of Oxford. "I suppose I'm a bit of a closet druid.
"It's a really magical experience," he said.

Police estimated 28,000 revelers had made the trip, one of the largest numbers in years. They said there were 15 arrests for theft and other minor offenses.

Trevor Wyatt, 55, described the historic site as his "cathedral."

"It's been a sacred place for 6,000 years for the people of this country," he said. Wyatt, who lives in London, said he is neither pagan nor druid, "just English."

In ancient times, a druid was a member of the Celtic priesthood who would act as priest, arbitrator, scholar, magistrate and healer. They appeared in sagas and in Christian legends as magicians or wizards.

Solstice celebrations were a highlight of the pre-Christian calendar, and in many countries bonfires, maypole dances and courtship rituals linger on as holdovers from Europe's pagan past.

Zoe Neale, 48, cheerfully admitted that her visit to Stonehenge "is part of my midlife crisis." She left her West London office amid gentle teasing from her colleagues Friday afternoon to see a very English tradition.

"I've always thought it's just a bunch of old hippies. I'm just going to ignore the hippie things and think about Stonehenge and the sunrise," she said.

Throughout the night, visitors gathered in groups to dance around drummers and bagpipe players -- or to swig from cans of beer to the beat of techno music.

"We heard about it through our really studious friends, but we're going to come and get drunk," said Alison Newcomer, a 21-year-old student from Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of London, was built over three phases between 3000 B.C. and 1600 B.C. It is one of Britain's most popular tourist attractions, drawing more than 750,000 visitors a year.

The solstice is the one day of the year that visitors are allowed access throughout the night to the stone circle. Representatives of English Heritage, the monument's caretaker, were on hand to make sure no one climbed on or vandalized the stones.

Though the stone circle's alignment with the midsummer sunrise makes it an ideal location for celebrating the solstice, the event has a controversial past.

A clash between police and revelers at the solstice celebration in 1985 led to closure of the monument for the solstice for 15 years. During those years, riot police and people determined to celebrate the solstice often clashed.

But in 2000, English Heritage reopened Stonehenge for the solstice, and celebrations since have been peaceful, with only a few arrests for minor offenses each year.

"People generally respect the stones, and we don't have a problem," English Heritage spokeswoman Rebecca Milton said.

Exactly how and why Stonehenge was built remains a mystery. Some experts believe that it is aligned with the sun simply because its builders came from a sun-worshipping culture, while others believe the site was part of a huge astronomical calendar.

In May, researchers said new evidence suggests that the stone circle was used as a burial ground. Cremated remains found at the site date to 3000 B.C., and radiocarbon dating shows that burials continued at the site for at least 500 years.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/06/21/stonehenge.dawn.ap/index.html?eref=rss_latest