Moon Queen
‘‘Then the maidens – those with honour –
Artemis in love, Selene,
Keep thee near the world as Moon Queen,
Govern tides and turn. Athena
‘You shall take the name, Minerva,
Teach the legions with your learning;
Help the Romans conquer Hellas,
Thereby, still be known as Pallas.
‘Hestia, keep your honoured status,
May the Earth exalt your greatness.
You, Demeter, shall be Ceres
Governing over every season.
Zeus who radiates with lightening,
Thunderbolts so freely striking,
Then be Jove with circles binding –
Halos – rings of dust surrounding.
Though I shan’t recall the priestess,
She who kept the gold-leaf mystery,
Shroud the oracle of Delphi
With the endless veil of history.
i am curious at the shrouding of pithia….can you give me reason?
well, this is more a statement about what happened when Delphi declined – indeed, when the oracular force began to degenerate into a darker sibylline form. But as it happens you have picked out a verse that hearkens back even further than this period, which is in the Hellenistic age and therefore in context in The Myth, where Osiris is putting the hostile Apollo ‘in place’ by telling him what will become of the Olympic pantheon when it is adopted by Rome. But there is a very deep story behind the Pythia going back go Archaic times, when there was a pivotal but relatively unheard of moment when the pythia ran away with a soldier who was visiting the sanctuary. From that moment no more teenage girls sat upon the tripod and the oracle was delivered by a crone. But that is not why it was shrouded, just one of the hidden passages in The Myth. Osiris here wants to shroud the oracle because of her allegiance to Apollo, though he doesn’t ‘recall’ her because he appreciates the sanctity of her role. He simply decides that her voice will be hidden by time, while the Dionysiac flow – initiated by Osiris as far as we know in terms of spiritual history, therefore part of his stream – runs freely; something Isis points out. That while Apollo appears to be ‘put in place’ by the furious Osiris, his bloodline actually continues via the same stream, or beside it on the earth. A visual metaphor would be the two vases held by the woman in The Star of the Tarot.
Bit of a monster reply that, sorry! Funnily enough, I have written a whole book around that one verse, and a screenplay, lol!! You are very perceptive…..
o i love the reply !! and i would know more of the delphi always. so in some respects she was given sanctuary from the ravages of succession. osiris’ wisdom is not to be ignored in that. one can only wonder where that bloodline flows.
i knew of the sibylline advancement. i go in search of further knowledge on this.
thank you for your teachings. any chance you will be sharing the book or play here or excerpts?
b