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Fundamentalist Paganism and Green Libertarianism

djapollo2k — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 03:10:07 GMT

Fundamentalist Paganism and Green Libertarianism

Earth Meanders by Dr. Glen Barry
http://earthmeanders.blogspot.com/
October 20, 2006

Humanity desperately needs different ecologically based
spiritual and political systems to maximize the possibility of
the Earth and humanity surviving the torrent of industrial
pollutants emanating from humans breeding like bunnies. Dramatic
social, political and spiritual change centered upon green
principles will be required if humankind and our brother and
sister species with whom we share the Earth are to have any
prospect of a desirable and sustainable future.

These "Earth Meander" essays - meant to be read as a series -
examine issues like war and religion in relation to
environmental policy, because the old political and spiritual
frameworks threaten our ability to give the global ecological
crisis the attention, resources and focus it requires. As a
political ecologist I am delving into ecological, political and
spiritual responses adequate to save our species and our Earthly
habitat.

Nothing is sacred but the Earth and truth. Current belief and
political systems are inadequate to address converging climate,
water and extinction crises. We need to draw upon the world's
great but antiquated political and religious systems, as well as
recent advances in ecological, evolutionary and other sciences,
to develop new means to organize society and its demands upon
natural capital. Our very existence depends upon this new human
evolution.

There is nothing more fundamental than humanity's reliance upon
the Earth, and nothing as valuable or fragile as liberty to
rejoice in Gaia's bounteous opportunities. This essay is a call
to worship the Earth and embrace an ecologically informed
political vision of freedom, justice and sustainability.

Fundamentalist Paganism

I despise christian, islamic and judaic fundamentalists because
they blindly follow belief systems for another time and place,
inadequate to address contemporary ecological disintegration.
The endless feuding and warring between various blind faiths,
that view the Earth as being disposable and humans as supreme,
has caused much of the environmental damage and social problems
that now threaten to destroy us all.

A modern, secular world depends upon a minimum level of
acceptance of freedom, scientific truth, openness and diversity.
In our eagerness to be tolerant and politically correct, we must
not sanction militant fundamentalists of any stripe based upon
unknowable faith and opaque books. Clearly the route to divinity
and salvation for the Earth and her inhabitants was not pre-
ordained by prophet's millennia ago. We know so much more now
than they did then.

I began worshipping the Earth and her multitudes of Gods as I
saw my first clearcut in Papua New Guinea's rainforests. Never
have I seen something as obscene as mowing ancient rainforests
to make cardboard boxes. The cry of the then homeless birds of
paradise haunts me still to this day. I was devastated and have
never really recovered from the mental anguish and substance
abuse this caused. Here was evil incarnate. I came to realize
that because God is truth in the Ghandian tradition, and Earth
is truth in the ecological science perspective; then given
transitivity, the Earth must be, and is, God.

I have been hard in these writings upon organized religion. But
what could be more self-evident than our utter dependence upon
mother Earth and father Sun? Is there anything more awesome and
God like than the nurturing sun rays and water mixed with soil
growing our every need while consuming our waste? Contemporary
social and environmental ills are a result of alienation from
the Gods to be found in mountains, trees, rivers and all
species' life.

Pagans have been killed by all the major religions throughout
history. With the loss of Earth based polytheism has also gone
humanity's connection with the Earth, and recognition that we
exist upon her whims. Where does your food come from? Where does
your poop go? And what is the source of your drinking water? If
you do not know you are spiritually and ecologically lost.

There are many habits found in the faithful that follow ancient
prophets (but false messiahs) that are commendable. Worship of
Gaia, and living for her and all the human family's well-being,
needs to take the best of Islamic devotion, Christian love and
Jewish ambition and meld them with ecological science. Let us
bring forth a new Earth based faith that listens to many
prophets while recognizing creation in all its wondrous
biological, cultural and geographic beauty is the messiah.

Fundamentalism is dangerous when based upon unknowable faith.
But we know beyond scientific doubt that ecosystems sustain our
existence; and that healthy water, air, land and oceans free
from industrial pollutants are required to live and continue
our, and many other, species. To ignore the truthfulness of
fundamentalist paganism - that the Earth is God - is to be
superstitious and to follow false gods.

Green Libertarianism

As ecological systems begin to fail, inevitably there will be a
dramatic human response to try to fix the global ecological
system. An "Age of Ecological Restoration" will come, and the
sooner the more likely it will be successful. Humanity achieving
a state of just and equitable ecological sustainability will
require a mix of the best of both the conservative and liberal
political traditions.

Traditionally there have been very good reasons to be
conservative - change your agriculture too much or radically and
you starve, lose your morals and any number of tragedies can
befall. But conservatism has been ill suited to make dramatic
changes when they are needed. It has taken liberals to get equal
rights for women, laborers their just wage, and to end slavery.
And the state of the world's climate, water, oceans and land are
going to require similar liberal change.

Nonetheless, the most clear, truthful thinking coming out of
otherwise bereft political circles is being done by conservative
libertarians that recognize that government cannot save us.
Responses to terrorism, militarism, ecological collapse and
human injustice that depend overly upon taxing workers and
building government are repressive and will inevitably fail.
Government is already too big and has no right to dictate how to
live other than that we not undermine the potential for all to
continue living in ecological sustainability, liberty and
justice.

A prime libertarian failing has been an unwillingness to
acknowledge that there are ecological truths that require
enforced limits upon human activities to maintain ecosystems and
thus life. To understand we would not dump nuclear waste in Lake
Michigan is only different, in a matter of degree of ecological
insight, from knowing all species have rights and should be
maintained.

As a progressive, free thinker I am drawn to the liberal Green
platform of grassroots democracy, social justice and ecological
wisdom. Yet in my dealings with the Green political movement I
have observed a small group of self-absorbed, marginalized,
ineffective and often old hippies that are divorced from reality
and human aspirations to be free. Their policies seem by many to
be a return to communist policies that have largely failed. They
have identified many of the problems and solutions, but not how
they are to be sold and implemented.

Given the strengths and failures of Greens and Libertarians, I
would suggest that it is only a synthesis between these
traditions that holds the best chance of formulating a political
philosophy adequate to maintain free thinking human
civilizations and the natural world. There will be no existence
without green policies, and no opportunity to enjoy its bounty
without liberty.

Given that conservation is deeply conservative and liberty
profoundly liberal, I call upon all independent and free
thinkers to embrace a politics of Green Libertarianism.

In Closing

I have held an ambivalent yet keen interest in violence all my
life. This means I have gone back and forth between extremes -
excelling as an enlisted soldier, to considering being a
conscientious objector; despising war, yet drawn to war movies;
and have been both abused and an abuser. All while loving the
Earth with every ounce of my being, even as I failed miserably
to handle anger and depression over her and humanity's death.

If I were a young man again I would take the hills to wage war
in defense of Gaia. Instead I am working on a novel called
"Earth Revolution" (which may never be completed) imagining what
must be done. And though I am generally leery of "isms", I would
suggest Political Ecologism, Green Libertarianism and
Fundamentalist Paganism are keys to a fulfilling and sustained
future for the Earth and all her inhabitants. It is time for a
political and spiritual agenda that harmonizes and updates the
great traditions in these realms and is adequate to adjust to
the dire conditions in which humanity and the Earth find
themselves.

###

Earth Meanders is a series of personal essays that places
questions of environmental sustainability within the context of
other contemporary issues. Comments can be made, and past
writings can be found, at: http://earthmeanders.blogspot.com/ .
Emailed comments will be posted there as well. Permission is
granted to reprint this essay provided it is properly credited.

posted in APOLLO THE SUN GOD - 1 reply

Cretan Elements in the Cults and Ritual of Apollo

drunkenwaxwing — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 03:49:33 GMT

http://books.google.com/books?id=qGAcAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=apollo+delphinios&source=web&ots=UGqwSkVWIk&sig=pshB4fkZsvF_yMxLxAOTKS2m5Dg#PPA39,M1

posted in APOLLO THE SUN GOD - 1 reply

More than a God of Light and Divination-Discussion of Apollon's additional duties

urbangal70 — Mon, 28 May 2007 16:34:07 GMT

I'm posting this from the LJ world. Felt it is appropriate to show everyone that Apollon has many titles not just the God of Light.
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Does anyone know of any connections between Apollon and bulls? During my Dionysos Day Divinations he admonished me that I needed to pursue a stronger relationship with his brother (something that I've been getting from several different directions recently and yet every time I try to it's like I run face-first into a brick wall) and he added the curious suggestion that the bull would be the key to unlocking this for me. Problem is, the only Apollon-cattle connection I can think of is the 4th Homeric Hymn which tells the story of Hermes' theft of Apollon's cattle. Somehow I don't think that's what he meant, since that's a little too burlesque and playful for the solemnity that is apparently called for. Perhaps the bull is more metaphorical? Also, Horus has been eliminated as a possible key (I asked since I can think of several Cow-Horus connections, not least of which is Hathor, but apparently syncreticism isn't a factor in this). So, any suggestions? Something obvious I'm overlooking here? It's apparently vital since a lot of future stuff (what, exactly, I have no idea) hinges upon this relationship.
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ardaniel
2007-05-26 01:37 am (local) (link)
Wikipedia tells me that Arthur Bernard Cook, who wrote Zeus: A Study In Ancient Religion, connected minos and minotaur with the Cretans' sun god. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minotaur#Interpretations) Is there something doing with Apollon on that count, maybe?

It's, uh, sun gods and bulls! Yeah! In the same sort of general geographical area!

That's what I've got, being entirely inexpert on this shit-- do the Minoans count as "syncretism" for the sake of this inquiry, or just the Egyptians?
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sannion
2007-05-26 02:05 am (local) (link)
To my knowledge, Apollon was unknown to the Minoans. They had a god Pajawon who later became equated with him, thus producing his epithet Paian, but I don't believe bulls were connected to either, aside from possibly sacrifices. And I don't know enough to assert even that: Apollon's son, for instance, was given cocks or goats, almost never bulls. Snakes are far more commonly associated with healing deities than bulls.

I don't know what's "kosher" or not as far as this is concerned. I don't even really know where to look. I wonder if the search is part of the process? I also intend to ask Apollon for guidance, through dreams, meditation, and divination. If I doscover anything, I'll probably share it. (Unless, of course, I'm forbidden to do so.)
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wire_mother
2007-05-26 04:39 am (local) (link)
in addition to sannion's discussion, Apollo was not initially a sun-god, but a god of disease and wind (Apollo Smintheus, for instance).

(also, i'd note in regard to that comment that as late as Homer, Paian and Apollo were treated as at least somewhat separate, Apollo being Trojan, Paian being Greek.)
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sannion
2007-05-26 07:59 am (local) (link)
that's the great thing about him - and all the gods, really but especially him - there's so many sides and levels, this amazing complexity, that's why they can't be reduced to a single attribute or idea.
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wire_mother
2007-05-26 10:44 am (local) (link)
i just hate seeing him constantly reduced to little more than a sun-god. so much so that i hate hearing the words in relation to him.

however, the connection to the minotaur goes through another angle: Apollo Delphinios. when Theseus comes to Athens, he goes by the temple of Delphinios and the builders mock him as looking girlish due to his long tunic and braided hair. so he unhitches his oxen and throws them higher than the temple rooftop the builders are working on. this may be connected in some way to the Oschophoria, which had a procession that was led by two youths dressed in long (feminine) tunics.

also, on his way to Krete, Theseus plunges into the water to retrieve a golden ring Minos had thrown into the sea. he is accompanied in that dive by two dolphins.

still, the bull is more commonly and closely associated with Poseidon and Dionysos. Apollo, as i understand it, is more closely associated with dolphins (and sea-monsters, actually, which might be something of a bull connection, though sea-monsters seem to be the monster which swallows, and so closer to wolves), wolves, ravens, and mice.
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alfrecht
2007-05-26 07:50 pm (local) (link)
(I finally got a hold of the original Greek poem by Bacchylides on the little "diving adventure" Theseus has, which I'll be discussing in my Echtra Nerai paper that will be in Beyond the Boundaries!)

I'm wondering if this isn't something a bit more by tangents--not that Apollon would be connected to bulls himself, but that he owns cattle, and is a "wolf-god" (i.e. a Mannerbunde patron figure), and therefore has something to do with cattle-rustling or cattle-raiding? He was at least the victim of it on the one occasion with Hermes, and there were also other cattle-raiding episodes in the Odyssey (only they were the cattle of Helios--not the same of course...and a very different story...hmm...)...

So, my suggestion is: maybe Dionysos is saying that you should be as Hermes to Apollo, and approach him (and thereby build a relationship with him) by "stealing his cattle"...whatever that means...?
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shapeshft
2007-05-26 03:59 am (local) (link)
I know of no direct references, however, a google search for "Apollo" and "bull" turned up a tantalizing bit about Bacchus being worshipped "in the shape of Apollo's bull, as at Elis" pops up in an article that I unfortunately have no access to. Perhaps you know someone with JSTOR access who could get it.

Nevertheless, it suggests that there was in fact not only a connection between Apollo and bulls, but that there was at least one bull which was distinctly "His."

I found a second reference here, which does not require a JSTOR membership:
http://books.google.com/books?id=lgIwAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA115&lpg=RA2-PA115&dq=%22apollo's+bull%22&source=web&ots=XXVBkZd9ss&sig=a7doW5cSLjzNTuqIDGnIln6pnLA
Apparently Gods would sometimes exchange attributes.

For what it's worth, the search also turned up a few Greek coins with Apollo on one side and a bull on the other.

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sannion
2007-05-26 07:39 am (local) (link)
Thanks for googling that for me. :)

It is interesting to see how frequently the two of them are linked and even united. And I had considered that that might be what was meant i.e. Dionysos was saying I could understand something of Apollon through him. But I'm going to explore other avenues first.
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thesecondcircle
2007-05-26 06:54 pm (local) (link)
Apollon and Dionysos are like... er... struggling for image...

...the Tao -- the yin and the yang wrapping in a circle, each containing the spark of the other.

Not that Apollon and Mr. D are yin and yang. More that they are opposites that form a whole and also contain each other.

Disclaimer: my interaction with Apollon was only ever brief.
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alfrecht
2007-05-26 08:02 pm (local) (link)
As you know, I have JSTOR access through my sister, and have just downloaded the article mentioned above. Do share it with shapeshft, though! I shall e-mail it to you in a moment...
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cor_cordivm
2007-05-26 04:44 am (local) (link)
I have Attis on my mind lately, so my first thought was a taurobolium, but I kinda doubt that's what would help you.

Hm. The Apis Bull of Egypt?
Something Mithraic?

Bull as metaphor? One or the other of you should be extra manly; or not stubborn; or tell long, tricky stories; or you should buy stock for him?

Are there any bulls somehow connected with your brother, or things he has or places where he lives?

Sorry, that's all I got for now.
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sannion
2007-05-26 07:36 am (local) (link)
By brother do you mean Apollon's brother or sannion's brother? Because there's like a million bull references for Dionysos. Joey has no bulls that I'm aware of.

Apis is almost certainly out. The interpretatio graeca for him is Dionysos, not Apollon. However, I could see Mithras being relevant, though I kind of think it might be more direct than that.

At this point, unless I uncover some obscure cult of a bullish Apollon, I'm going to assume it's metaphorical.
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cor_cordivm
2007-05-26 05:39 pm (local) (link)
I meant your brother, because I read your entry after four hours of sleep and no coffee this morning. : P
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fallenkalina
2007-05-26 06:20 am (local) (link)
Maybe, its not an actual bull, but how you should approach Apollo. Be the bull, and make your way through.
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sannion
2007-05-26 07:32 am (local) (link)
Yeah, I definitely considered that as a possibility, and Dio does love the metaphors.
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zoe_me
2007-05-26 09:03 am (local) (link)
thanks to Renault I always thinkg "bull from the sea" but never mind

I wonder if this story of Argos will make you think of anything

http://www.theoi.com/Cult/ApollonCult2.html

what did Todd say?
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priapussy
2007-05-26 09:47 am (local) (link)
You might want to look into some Celtic sources after the Romans invaded Gaul. It is just a hunch, but I think Borvo, Bromios, and Belenus are going to be involved.
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alfrecht
2007-05-26 07:54 pm (local) (link)
I'd be interested to hear more from you on that...There is very little to connect Belenus with bulls, to my knowledge. Borvo and Bromios I don't know as much about, but Belenus doesn't have any obvious or direct connections.
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redselchie
2007-05-26 01:00 pm (local) (link)
when's Apollo's birthday?

He's not a taurus, is he? :D

why not ask Apollo?
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rin_x_x
2007-05-26 02:17 pm (local) (link)
Heh. Thats what I was thinking. Something to do with the astrological sign of Taurus.
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radiantbaby
2007-05-26 04:34 pm (local) (link)
(something that I've been getting from several different directions recently and yet every time I try to it's like I run face-first into a brick wall)

That has been my experience with Apollon as well. I have tried several times to open up a relationship with him due to my ties with his sister Artemis, but with no luck.

Good luck on this, I wish I had some advice to offer. I am very interested to see how this goes for you.
(Reply to this)

this is probably nothing, but
cor_cordivm
2007-05-26 06:04 pm (local) (link)
From Wikipedia:

Now it happened that Androgeus, son of Minos, had been killed by the Athenians, who were jealous of the victories he had won at the Panathenaic festival. Others say he was killed at Marathon by the Cretan bull, his mother's former taurine lover, which Aegeus, king of Athens, had commanded him to slay. The common tradition is that Minos waged war to avenge the death of his son, and won. However, Catullus, in his account of the Minotaur's birth,[3] refers to another version in which Athens was "compelled by the cruel plague to pay penalties for the killing of Androgeon." In this version, the Athenians are made to ask Minos what they can do to stop a terrible plague that has come upon them, and he was thus given power to make demands of them. In either case, Minos required that seven Athenian youths and seven maidens, drawn by lots, be sent every ninth year (some accounts say every year) to be devoured by the Minotaur.

The article also says that Minos got the idea to build a labyrinth to hold the Minotaur from the oracle at Delphi; and that after Minos imprisoned Daedelus and Icarus in anger over the event and they escaped, Icarus flew too high because he hoped to catch a glimpse of Apollon's chariot.

The url is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minotaur if you think it's worth checking out.

I was rereading your post, above, and was struck by the juxtaposition of getting directives "from several different directions" but "running into a brick wall" when you try to follow up; and the bull is the "key" -- maybe a map key? Perhaps you should walk a labyrinth while you consider how to reach Apollon.

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luciaofthegrove
2007-05-26 08:02 pm (local) (link)
While I don't having anything to do add to these great replies, I am intrigued and reading through my resources that I have to see if anything pops up. I will let you know if I find anything relavent :)
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urbanrecon
2007-05-26 09
:19 pm (local) (link)
I keep seeing a repeating pattern running within both modern and ancient Hellenism. Apollon, Dionysos, and Hermes seem to have this intimate and dynamic relationship amongst them. They keep turning up together. They've been some of the more important dieties in my life and I still haven't been able to figure it all out. Dio and Apollon shared Delphi. I can't help thinking that comes into your question somehow; especially since you received this during divination. Perhaps the bull references thusia. Perhaps it represents something you are to offer Apollon before he gives you an oracle of how to proceed. Maybe it is metaphorically Apollon's time at Delphi for you, which may or may not have something to do with divination.
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lm
2007-05-27 07:17 pm (local) (link)
Maybe it's a connection with Apollon's father Zeus, who once became a bull in order to carry off Io?

posted in APOLLO THE SUN GOD - 1 reply

Apollon dedication tattoo

urbangal70 — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 05:23:44 GMT

Next year is my 10yrs since Apollon choose me to be one of His Followers. I am tossing around some ideas for a tattoo reflecting my devotion and admiration for the Golden One.
So far I have just a few of His symbols in mind. Crows, Bay leaves, bows and arrows, dolphins is what I have floating around in my head. I have time to come up with a decent design. In the meanwhile, I will put His statue on order for a late holiday arrival. Finding decent ones that don't look like manufactured crap is difficult. Hellenic-art.com will provide for the beautiful altar pottery for Him.

posted in APOLLO THE SUN GOD - 0 replies

Statuary for altars

urbangal70 — Mon, 28 May 2007 16:27:45 GMT

http://kingsroyalimports.safeshopper.com/index.htm?948

www.treeoflifestore.com

I've not tried the one above but I have ordered from tree of life forHermes. Beautiful statues with a smooth marble-like look. kings royal imports seems to be the resource that tree of life might use as they are the same statues. Kings royal however, has even MORE with some beautiful ancient greek pottery pieces one can pick up at hellenic-art dot com. Either way, some resources for people looking to expand on their altars.

posted in APOLLO THE SUN GOD - 0 replies

Weekly Purification Ritual

djapollo2k — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 05:29:55 GMT

Weekly Purification Ritual

1. Khernips and settling down -- light candle and take some deep breaths.

2. Invoking prayer and libation

Phoebus Apollo, we invite you to be near us and our fellow Apollonians around the world as we turn our thoughts toward your sanctuary at Delphi. We ask you to help us create sacred space wherever your people may be. May all that is not of your spirit be far away from your sacred space. And just as the sun is rising at Delphi, may the Light of your Spirit rise in our souls. We greet you here in love as we pour this libation for you.

3. Bring concerns about areas of self-improvement needed to Apollo, or wrongs committed.

Apollo, these are the areas of concern that I bring to you...

4.. The Python Verses (modified) -
Then Phoebus Apollo boasted over the slain Python:
"Now rot here upon the soil that feeds humanity. You at least shall live no more to be a bane to human beings who eat the fruit of the all-nourishing earth, and who will bring forth perfect offerings. Against cruel death neither Typhios shall avail you nor ill-famed Khimera, but here shall the Earth and shining Helios make you rot."
Thus said Phoebus, exulting over it, and darkness covered its eyes. And the holy strength of Helios made it rot away there, wherefore the place is now called Pytho, and people call the lord Apollo by another name, Pythian, because on that spot the power of piercing Helios made the monster rot away.

5. We ask Apollo to destroy guilt and self-loathing and replace it with motivation to improve OR a more realistic assessment of own abilities. We now erase the stuff we have written on the slate, or put a big "X" through the stuff that we wrote on paper. (This can go into the recycle bin later.)

Apollo, just as you were able to make the carcass of the python rot under the sun, we ask you to burn away all the monsters of our ill deeds and guilt with your White Light. We ask you to strengthen us so that we do not take on guilt from having unreasonable expectations of ourselves, and so that we make improvements in the areas where we are able. Help us to know ourselves and our abilities, and to let go of all self-loathing so that we have more energy to put toward making a meaningful effort to improve. May your White Light purify us.

6. We thank Apollo for his support and ask for blessing for ourselves and for the world. Pour libation.

Phoebus Apollo, we thank you for the purification you have given us today at the time of Delphi dawn. Thank you for helping us to become more aware of our downfalls so that we can do something about them at the time, and so that we may put our energy toward rational thinking and genuine self-improvement. Thank you for the constant support you give us each day. May you and we extend that support to the rest of the world. May we be surrounded by your White Light at all times so that nothing but good comes to us and nothing but good goes from us. So mote it be.

7. Extinguish candle.

posted in APOLLO THE SUN GOD - 1 reply

Phoibos Apollon-Opener of the way within

urbangal70 — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 17:56:16 GMT

Apollon has been my patron for nearly 10 years. In that time, He has always been the quiet voice of reason; the Light on the path I walk showing me "this or that, chose road one or road two" encouraging me to move forward not back to old habits/thinking patterns not helpful to expanding self.
Unlike His half brother, Hermes (also my Patron), Apollon I would say is pretty subtle when it comes to getting my attention. He mostly leaves me to work it out myself sort of proding me in the shoulder when procrastination sets house.

I am glad to have found this group for the Bright One. Long may his rays open eyes to see life with clarity.

Oh, and for serious Hellenics or just to know more about the greek gods, I'd recommend this site. I am not a member but I find the information is very clear and informative.

Blessings!
Kai

http://www.neokoroi.org/

posted in APOLLO THE SUN GOD - 0 replies

Apollon Hymn

urbangal70 — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 17:42:55 GMT

Orphic Hymn to Apollon (hangs over my Atlar to Apollon)
-------------------------

Blessed singer, smile on this song.

Illustrious power, rape avenger, God of shining health, evergreen of wealth, play your golden lyre.

Dragon slayer, father of oracles, archer with arrows of light, sun prince of Mousai, drive away all diseases.

Golden haired wonder, you see all within and all beneath the sky. Your omens guide us to purity and goodness.

You watch ceaseless light and the mysteries of Earth. Your keen eyes pierce silent night.

You are the root of stars and space. You inspire Nature's music with your ringing lyre.

Seeds, plows, flourishing fields glistening at dawn, belong to you.

You are dolphin, bay and laurel. You are palm tree, swan and hawk.

You are mouse and snake. You are wolf and deer. You are crow, raven, grasshopper and griffin.

Always everywhere you give subtle advice through oracles, dreams and bird flight.

Teach us the science of harmonies and limits. Tune winter's deep string to spring's sweetness.

Strike summer's purest chord. Let the wind song of the syrinx sing a dance for Pan.

Keeper of the seal that stamps the world with forms, hear our song and save us.

posted in APOLLO THE SUN GOD - 0 replies

apollon & modern art

evinc — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 13:39:57 GMT

hi all,

i m up to a research on apollo and his reflections in 20th century art (i have reached matisse and arman but i need more woks of artists.)
i urgently need sources for the topic (especially articles, galeries on the internet etc.)
any suggestion is fully appreciated :)

evinc

posted in APOLLO THE SUN GOD - 0 replies

APOLLO AND HYACINTHUS

djapollo2k — Sat, 06 May 2006 20:14:26 GMT

APOLLO AND HYACINTHUS
(in the words of Thomas Bullfinch)

Apollo was passionately fond of a youth named Hyacinthus. He accompanied him in his sports, carried the nets when he went fishing, led the dogs when he went to hunt, followed him in his excursions in the mountains, and neglected for him his lyre and his arrows. One day they played a game of quoits together, and Apollo, heaving aloft the discus, with strength mingled with skill, sent it high and far. Hyacinthus watched it as it flew, and excited with the sport ran forward to seize it, eager to make his throw, when the quoit bounded from the earth and struck him in the forehead. He fainted and fell. The god, as pale as himself, raised him and tried all his art to stanch the wound and retain the flitting life, but all in vain; the hurt was past the power of medicine. As when one has broken the stem of a lily in the garden it hangs its head and turns its flowers to the earth, so the head of the dying boy, as if too heavy for his neck, fell over on his shoulder. "Thou diest, Hyacinth," so spoke Phoebus, "robbed of thy youth by me. Thine is the suffering, mine the crime. Would that I could die for thee! But since that may not be, thou shalt live with me in memory and in song. My lyre shall celebrate thee, my song shall tell thy fate, and thou shalt become a flower inscribed with my regrets." While Apollo spoke, behold the blood which had flowed on the ground and stained the herbage ceased to be blood; but a flower of hue more beautiful than the Tyrian sprang up, resembling the lily, if it were not that this is purple and that silvery white. And this was not enough for Phoebus; but to confer still greater honour, he marked the petals with his sorrow, and inscribed "Ah! ah!" upon them, as we see to this day. The flower bears the name of Hyacinthus, and with every returning spring revives the memory of his fate.

It was said that Zephyrus (the West wind), who was also fond of Hyacinthus and jealous of his preference of Apollo, blew the quoit out of its course to make it strike Hyacinthus. Keats alludes to this in his "Endymion," where he describes the lookers-on at the game of quoits:

"Or they might watch the quoit-pitchers, intent
On either side, pitying the sad death
Of Hyacinthus, when the cruel breath
Of Zephyr slew him; Zephyr penitent,
Who now ere Phoebus mounts the firmament,
Fondles the flower amid the sobbing rain."
[see Poetical Works of John Keats for complete Endymion.]

An allusion to Hyacinthus will also be recognized in Milton's "Lycidas":

"Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe."

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Socrates on dying and the swans of Apollo

djapollo2k — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 18:49:15 GMT

Socrates on dying and the swans of Apollo

Socrates wrote:

"...when the swans feel that the time has come for them to die, they sing
more loudly and sweetly than they have sung in all their lives before,
for joy that they are going away into the presence of the god whose
servants they are. I believe that the swans, belonging as they do to
Apollo, have prophetic powers and sing because they know the good
things that await them in the unseen world, and they are happier on
that day than they have ever been before. Now I consider that I am in
the same service as the swans, and dedicated to the same god, and that
I am no worse endowed with prophetic powers by my master than they
are, and no more disconsolate at leaving this life."

[PLATO, Phaedo 84E-85B (with edits): tredennick]

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The Anthesteria

djapollo2k — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 02:03:45 GMT

Dionysian Meditations:
The Anthesteria
also known as

The More Ancient Dionysia
(Ta Arkhaiotera Dionysia)
of Apollonius Sophistes

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Anthestêria is a Festival of Flowers (Anthê) for Dionysos Anthios (also Antheus and Euanthês - Fair-flowering), the Blooming God. For, as Ovid (Fasti 5.345) says, "Bacchus loves flowers," which herald His arrival by their appearance in the spring.
At this time (c. Feb. 25-27), when also the Lesser Mysteries are held at Agrai, the Divine Child was conceived; He grew in the womb of Semele (who is Persephone) for seven months, until the time of the Greater (Eleusinian) Mysteries and grape harvest, when Zeus blasted her with his bolt (c. Sept. 29 - Oct. 5) and sewed the Child into His thigh. After the wine fermented for 40 days (c. Nov 8), we called Dionysos in the Marshes. This is the beginning of winter, marked by the rising of the Pleiades, when Dionysos rules at Delphi. He came to term ten months after conception, when we first tasted the wine at the Rural Dionysia (early Jan.). We celebrated Dionysos' birth and also His emergence from the Underworld in the Lênaia (c. Feb. 2). Now we have come full circle and we celebrate the God's wedding. At Delphi He yields to Apollo, whose birthday was four days ago.

This is the time when the fermentation of the wine is complete and the new wine is ready to drink, and so we make a first-fruit offering, but it is also the time when the vines are pruned in preparation for the next season. Therefore the Anthestêria is also the most important Festival of the Dead, for we appreciate the beauty and fruits of the Earth, the delights of wine, and indeed all pleasures, the most when we salute the Dead. Indestructible Life (Zôê) necessitates the birth and death of Individual Lives (Bioi), and so our Mother Earth both brings forth fruits and welcomes the dead back to Her bosom.

We have held this festival since before the Greeks sailed to Troy [c. 1200 BCE]; its origin is beyond the limits of memory. The rites occur on the 11th, 12th and 13th - that is, during the full moon - of the month called Anthesterion. Nominally, this is the end of February, but more precisely the full moon following the full moon of the Lênaia, and two moons following the full moon nearest the winter solstice. This is the time when Zeus mated with Semele, who is also Persephone, and Dionysos was conceived. It is also the time when Dionysos took Ariadne to be His wife, and so we celebrate the marriage of the Basilinna (religious Queen {BASI/LINNA}) and the God. (The days are reckoned from sundown to sundown.)

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where did the mythological creatures go?

djapollo2k — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 05:43:40 GMT

where did the mythological creatures go?

by Buck Young (Portland)

A long, long time ago, the Earth belonged to the creatures of the wood. By creatures of the wood I mean gnomes and elves, fauns and faeries, goblins, ogres, trolls and bogies, nymphs, sprites, and dryads. They tended it and took care of it, played in it, danced and sang in it, cared for wounded animals, worked out disputes between species, sat on mushrooms discussing matters of import and drinking Labrador tea, rode down streams on leaves and bark, and parachuted from trees with dandelion seeds. This was the world into which mankind was born. These early days, when man was but a newly arrived dinner guest who hadn't yet taken over the entire house, are fairly well documented in the literature and folklore of the world, so there's no need to go into it here. What I am interested in, and what I am asking you to be interested in, is the question, "Where did all the gnomes and elves, fauns and faeries, goblins, ogres, trolls and bogies, nymphs, sprites and dryads go?"

The friction between man and the wood creatures began with the discovery of agriculture. With the discovery of agriculture, civilization arose and spread. The forests were cleared to provide wood for shelter and fields for pasture and crops. Mankind had set up camp. No longer just a visitor in someone else's world, he pushed the wild back from his newly built doorstep.

At first this wasn't a problem. There weren't many people and everyone else felt that it was only fair to allot them their own little half acre to do with as they wished. Some of them even decided to help out. Gnomes moved into the barnhouses and helped out with the gardening chores. The devic spirits of the vegetables helped the humans better organize their crops and plan rotation, and taught them the correlation between planetary and lunar cycles and the agricultural year, plant radishes when the moon is in Cancer, harvest when the moon is in Taurus. Many trolls felt that the heaping piles of manure were a change for the better, and decided to stick around too The rest of the wood creatures just backed off into the wood, occasionally playing mischievous tricks on the new settlers, like turning the milk sour, rearranging furniture tipping the cows, tickling people's faces in their sleep, and occasionally stealing babies and leaving bundles of wood in their place.

But man's dominion spread (and spread and spread and spread), and the forests got smaller and smaller and smaller. Things got real crowded in the woods, and things were getting worse in civilization. Most farmers weren't listening to the devic spirits anymore. People found that they could increase their output by disregarding the needs of the Earth. They were raising productivity and killing the soil. Petrochemicals were just a step away. Most of the devic spirits and the gnomes fled. The trolls stayed.

Today they live mostly under bridges and in the shallow, mucky ditches beneath the metal grating on farm roads that cows are afraid to cross. Be sure to honk your horn before driving over one of these. A troll may be hanging from the grate, swinging over its living room, as they are apt to do after rolling in muck and manure, If you don't give a warning honk, you may run over its fingers, and it's not a great idea to get either your name or your license plate number on a troll's shit list.

Now there is little wild land left at all, and even that is shrinking at an unprecedented rate. There is simply not enough space for all the gnomes and elves, fauns and faeries, goblins, ogres, trolls and bogies, nymphs,sprites, and dryads.

So where are they?

Are they dead?

No.

So where did they go?

The answer is a bit surprising. They didn't go anywhere. We did. Early humans had an intuitive knowledge of their role in nature, just as bears and raccoons and mice and every other critter does. They understood, from the ways of the wild around them, that nothing ever comes from nowhere and nothing ever just disappears. Things change form. Death is necessary for life to continue. They offered up their kills as sacrifices to the gods of nature. They offered praise, prayer, sacrifice, and song to the spirits of the wild, to brother buffalo, brother deer, brother fish, and brother tree.

Now we know that everything that has ever existed continues to exist, in one form of another, and as for as we can tell, they were more aware of that back then than we are now. So the sacrifice, song, praise and prayer did not ensure the immortality of the slaughtered, either in body or in spirit. That was already taken care of. What it did ensure was the continuance of the connection between the spirit of the slaughterer and the spirit of the slaughtered. Killing is risky business. The membrane separating the internal from the external is not necessarily as thick or as dearly defined as we have come to believe. Every time we kill, we risk killing the reality of that thing inside ourselves as well as outside. We risk breaking the connections that lead in and out of the membrane. Taking life to feed life requires a keen understanding of the natural law of give and take. When we lost that understanding, gave up the songs, the sacrifice, the prayers, the praise, we lost the connection. Saying grace is not enough.

When we lose those connections, everything becomes dead - fish, rivers, frogs, mice, even each other. There is no way they can reach inside us any more. The five senses we are left with are not enough. We have given up those connections in exchange for the freedom to clearcut forests with skidders, turn cows into milk machines and chickens into egg factories. We can experiment on animals, club seals, wear mink coats, exterminate passenger pigeons, dodo birds, whales, bear, dolphin and condor. Not a twinge of guilt. The lines have been severed.

And we are all under the impression that it is the forests, the creatures, the spirits, and the wildlands that are disappearing from the universe and not us. Not so. Thinking that is like thinking that if you stand on the end of a limb and saw that limb from the tree, the tree will fall and you will remain standing. Bugs Bunny might be able to get away with that, but we can't. When a marionette cuts its strings, the puppeteer doesn't collapse to the ground. When a spider severs the lines that connect its web to the trees, the forest doesn't fall away.

It is we who have fallen away from the real world into a world where we may carry out our twisted sterile dreams without threatening the Earth and its inhabitants. Ever wonder why the trees and stones and rivers and streams, the birds, the snakes, the bears and the frogs no longer talk to us as they did in the early tales of the Native Americans, the Hindus, the Africans, the Bible? It's because we're not around to talk to any more Every clearcut, every vivisection, every mechanized slaughter of cow, pig, or chicken moves our dreamworld farther and farther from the tree, making a reunification, which is still possible, more and more difficult.

Somewhere not so far from here, in the real world, the ancient forests are still standing, the buffalo roam the prairies, the sky is full of condors, the deer and the antelope play, and dodo birds wander the sandy beaches, bumping into things.

Where there are still wildlands in our dreamworld, strong connections still exist. Bridges, tunnels, and portals. Occasionally a traveler will get lost in the wilderness and find himself in the real world, returning the next day to find that a hundred years have passed, or never returning at all, There are more ephemeral connections as well - brooks and waterfalls where you can still hear voices from the other side, if you listen carefully enough. When they sit by these waters they hear loud clanking and screams.

When they eat psilocybin everything stops glowing, and condos rise where forests stand. Our children can see their world in their dreams. Their children see ours in their nightmares.

And there is another connection. Sometimes agents from the other side infiltrate our world in an attempt to expedite the reunification. Believe it or not, they miss us over there. Sometimes - more often than you might think - they send souls over to our world to be born as human babies. Sort of like a socialist, communist, or anarchist entering the American political arena and running for office in an attempt to effect change from the inside. There are quite a lot of them actually - gnomes and elves, fauns and faeries, goblins, ogres, trolls and bogies, nymphs, sprites, and dryads - running around in human bodies, doing crazy things like writing on walls, working in co-ops, running inns in the mountains, talking to themselves in the streets, making pottery, illustrating children's books, spiking trees and blowing up tractors. They are planting bio-dynamic gardens, sitting in the back yard naked, arguing with Satan. They are in asylums pumped full of thorazine, in the classroom on Ritalin and lithium. They live with Indians. They run recycling centers. They are starting revolutions, corrupting the young, inventing paranoid conspiracy theories, making up religions. They're directing movies, gobbling acid, drinking heavily and writing poetry.

The transition from their world to ours is not an easy one. Intricate rituals and incantations are involved. The transition is not easy on the soul. A great deal is lost. They may have no idea who or what they are at first. They may or may not find out. They will know that they are not like everyone else. They will know that this world is not theirs. They will faintly remember something better, where things made sense and worked like they ought to, where love and magic had the power to heal.

They will know that what makes other people happy does not make them happy, and that what makes them happy makes them happier than anyone else alive. They will see things others cannot see, hear things others cannot hear, feel things others cannot feel, and know things others do not know.

They will laugh a great deal or cry a great deal or both. They will love humans individually, but have a hard time with humanity as a whole that may occasionally approach loathing. They will have a handful of very close friends, and often be very lonely. They will be unhappiest when forced to act like a human and do the things that humans do, want the things that humans want, or when they are convinced that they actually are one.

Things will not be easy for them. Because of their memories of the other side, the world will seem to them to be a wondrous calliope with just a few teeth missing on one of the cogs, and because of this tiny deficiency, the music is all off key, the horses are crashing into each other, and the children are frightened, bruised and crying.

The solutions will seem obvious and no one else will listen. They will be repeatedly punished for shouting FIRE! in a crowded theater when the buildings are in flames no one else can see. They will get slapped on the wrist for pointing to the EXIT signs when everyone else is running around screaming and trampling each other.

They will be zealous, fanatical, and didactic about their beliefs. They will feel utterly confused. They will have ecstatic visions and babble incoherently. They will be extremely articulate. They are prone to long periods of silence. They have no idea how to say what they really mean.

They will spend a lot of time with children and animals. They will become drunkards and dope fiends, organic gardeners, Essene soapmakers, carpenters, madmen, magicians, jugglers and clowns, lunatic physicists, painters and scribblers, travelers and wanderers.

They will dress in bright colors, frumpy sweaters, or all black. They will smoke too much and drink too much. They will eat only macrobiotic foods. They will develop addictions to Mountain Dew. They will often be accused of living in their own fantasy world.

They will make great lovers. Yeah, even the trolls.

They will spend too much time either making love or thinking about it. They will speak to inanimate objects.

They will have much brighter eyes than everyone else. They will expect their magic to work in this world and their love to heal, and they will be crushed by this world, and often they won't expect it.

It will come close to killing them.

They will visit the places where the connections still exist: the waterfalls, the mountains, the ocean, the forests. They will draw on all the power they have, and sometimes, sometimes, the magic will work. And everything will be wondrously easy. The teeth will grow back on the calliope's cog, the tune will right itself, the horses will bob gracefully up and down, around and around, and the children will giggle and sing with cotton candy stuck to their cheeks and noses.

They will spend their days trying to reconnect a branch that millions are still busy sawing away at. Often it will be more than they can bear.

While the rest of humanity is busy working on new and more efficient ways to lay waste to the Earth with the push of a button, they are saving it, a handful at a time.

They will share a common conviction that they are the only sane individuals in a world gone mad.

They're right.

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the orphic hymn to apollon (greek)

djapollo2k — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 03:07:07 GMT

the orphic hymn to apollon (greek)

Apóllōnos, thumíama mánnan.

Elthé, mákar, Paián, Tituoktóne, Phoîbe, Lukōreû,
Memphît’, aglaótime, iēie, olbiodōta,
khrusolúrē, spermeîe, arótrie, Púthie, Titán,
Grúneie, Smintheû, Puthoktóne, Delphiké, mánti,
ágrie, phōsphóre daîmon, erásmie, kúdime koûre,
mousagéta, khoropoié, hekēbóle, toxobélemne,
Bákkhie kaì Didumeû, hekáerge, Loxía, hagné,
Dēli’ ánax, panderkès ékhōn phaesímbroton ómma,
khrusokóma, katharàs phēmas khrēsmoús t’ anaphaínōn;
klûthí mou eukhoménou laōn húper eúphroni thumōi;
tónde sù gàr leússeis tòn apeíriton aithéra pánta
gaîan t’ olbiómoiron húperthé te kaì di’ amolgoû,
nuktòs en hēsukhíaisin hup’ asteroómmaton órphnēn
rhízdas nérthe dédorkas, ékheis dé te peírata kósmou
pantós; soì d’ arkhē te teleutē t’ estì mélousa,
pantothalēs, sù dè pánta pólon kithárēi polukréktōi
harmózdeis, hotè mèn neátēs epì térmata baínōn,
állote d’ aûth’ hupátēn, potè Dōrion eis diákosmon
pánta pólon kirnàs kríneis biothrémmona phûla,
harmoníēi kerásas {tēn} pagkósmion andrási moîran,
míxas kheimōnos théreós t’ íson amphotéroisin,
eis hupátas kheimōna, théros neátais diakrínas,
Dōrion eis éaros poluērátou hōrion ánthos.
énthen epōnumíēn se brotoì klēizdousin ánakta,
Pâna, theòn dikérōt’, anémōn surígmath’ hiénta;
hoúneka pantòs ékheis kósmou sphragîda tupōtin.
klûthi, mákar, sōzdōn mústas hiketērídi phōnēi.

** note: i have transliterated  as “zd,” which is how it was pronounced.

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Midwinter Apollo Ritual

djapollo2k — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 03:03:57 GMT

Midwinter Apollo Ritual

1. Khernips and settling down -- light candle and take some deep breaths.

2. White Light Sphere Casting
White Light of Apollo in the north, bless and protect this sacred space.
White Light of Apollo in the east, bless and protect this sacred space.
White Light of Apollo in the south, bless and protect this sacred space.
White Light of Apollo in the west, bless and protect this sacred space.
White Light of Apollo in the sky above, bless and protect this sacred space.
White Light of Apollo in the earth below, bless and protect this sacred space.

3. Invoking prayer and libation

Phoebus Apollo, we invite you to be near us and our fellow Apollonians around the world as we turn our thoughts toward you on this winter night. We ask you to help us create sacred space wherever your people may be. May all that is of your spirit be present here. And just as the sun rises every day for us, may the Light of your Spirit rise in our souls. We greet you here in love as we pour this libation for you.

4. Poetry Reading

5. Guided Meditation

6. Closing Prayer and Libation

Phoebus Apollo, we thank you for the energy and fortification you have given us this evening. Thank you for helping us to become more aware of your White Light so that we may keep our balance and stay healthy. May we remind ourselves to enjoy and appreciate all the good things that are present in our lives. Thank you for the constant support you give us each day. We pour this libation for you as an expression of our appreciation. (Pour libation.) May you and we extend your support to the rest of the world. May we be surrounded by your White Light at all times so that nothing but good comes to us and nothing but good goes from us. So mote it be.

7. Extinguish candle.
(Following the ritual, a snack may help the participants feel less spacy and more grounded.)

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Guided Meditation for Midwinter Apollo Ritual

djapollo2k — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 02:27:20 GMT

Guided Meditation
for Midwinter Apollo Ritual

This meditation is for inclusion in ritual and is intended to help the participants make a stronger connection with Apollo. You may choose to have music playing in the background, especially calming music with stringed instruments such as harp or guitar. Total silence is all right too, if music would be too distracting.

You may begin by focussing on the candle flame or closing your eyes. Apollo's light surrounds us and protects us during this meditation. Allow your mind to become calm by focussing on your breathing. Breathe in and out, in and out as you become calmer and calmer.

As you look around, you become aware that you are in a forest of evergreens and naked trees. A thin coat of snow sticks to them. The air you breathe is cool and crisp, but not too cold. As you exhale, you notice a cloud of your breath in front of you, and the snow crunches under your boots whenever you move your feet slightly. Cheerful winter birds twitter in the branches of the trees above you, and as you look up, you notice some rays of sunlight slanting through the trees. At this time of year, sunshine is like liquid gold.
You notice a snow-packed pathway in front of you, and start to walk on this path, noticing the snow-covered logs in the forest and a few animal tracks in the snow. You walk at a leisurely pace. As you walk, you notice that the light appears to be getting brighter.

Eventually, you arrive at a clearing where a few brown stalks of grass poke up from the snow. You take a deep breath, savoring the freshness of the air. Everything is quiet and peaceful, and you feel completely safe and warm in your parka, boots and tooque. No harm can enter here.
As you gaze at the forest on the other side of the clearing, you wonder what might be there, or whether the path may continue there. Then, you notice a tiny, brilliant white light emerging from between the evergreens. It begins to get larger and brighter, the longer you watch it, and it slowly comes toward you. You are puzzled about what it is, but it does not approach any closer, and you realize that it does not want to intrude on your space.

Nevertheless, you are not afraid, and you mentally ask it to come closer. The ball of light responds and moves closer to you very slowly until it is only a few feet away from you, and you realize that there is a Being of Light inside this ball of light.

You encourage this being to leave the bubble and stand near you in the snow. Then the bubble dissipates, and you realize that the being who is left standing in the snow is Apollo. He has come to meet you, and you invite him to come closer to you so you can talk to him and get a better look at him. His eyes are bright blue, and his golden curls brush against his shoulders as he walks or moves. His nylon snowsuit is sky-blue. As he smiles at you, he radiates warmth to you, and suddenly you become aware that the snow around him is melting.

You reach out to welcome him and encourage him to come even closer. His warmth melts your heart, and at this point, it is entirely your choice what you would like to do with him -- shake his hand, give him a warm hug, talk with him, or simply hold him close to you in your arms. Is there something he would like to tell you, or that you would like to tell him? Does he have a gift for you, or is there something you would like to give to him? Take a few minutes now to spend some time with Apollo while he fills you with his warmth and light.
***
Apollo has been filling you with his light and energy all this time. Now, the sun is starting to set, and you realize that it's time to let Apollo be on his way, as much as you'd like to keep him there with you. You thank him for spending this time with you and ask him to guide you and keep you healthy as you go through life. You squeeze his hand and allow him to back up a few steps. The ball of light forms around him, completely enfolding him, and the ball slowly recedes across the clearing and into the forest. You notice that the ball of light has merged with the sun, and you turn around and start walking back along the path in the direction from which you had originally come.

You walk briskly and rhythmically, and become aware of your breath on the crisp air, yet you don't feel the cold, since the warmth of Apollo is still with you. The forest recedes and fades away, and you now find yourself at home again, and completely relaxed. Slowly, you become more aware of your surroundings, and when you open your eyes, you take some deep breaths as you become re-oriented to the physical world once more. The dazzling brightness of Apollo's light begins to tone down as it becomes integrated into your mind and body, giving you energy, relaxation and balance.

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John Keats - "Hymn To Apollo"

djapollo2k — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 23:38:50 GMT

John Keats - "Hymn To Apollo"

God of the golden bow,
And of the golden lyre,
And of the golden hair,
And of the golden fire,
Charioteer
Of the patient year,
Where---where slept thine ire,
When like a blank idiot I put on thy wreath,
Thy laurel, :thy glory,
The light of thy story,
Or was I a worm---too low crawling for death?
O Delphic Apollo!

The Thunderer grasp'd and grasp'd,
The Thunderer frown'd and frown'd;
The eagle's feathery mane
For wrath became stiffen'd---the sound
Of breeding thunder
Went drowsily under,
Muttering to be unbound.
O why didst thou pity, and beg for a worm?
Why touch thy soft lute
Till the thunder was mute,
Why was I not crush'd---such a pitiful germ?
O Delphic Apollo!

The Pleiades were up,
Watching the silent air;
The seeds and roots in Earth
Were swelling for summer fare;
The Ocean, its neighbour,
Was at his old labour,
When, who---who did dare
To tie for a moment, thy plant round his brow,
And grin and look proudly,
And blaspheme so loudly,
And live for that honour, to stoop to thee now?
O Delphic Apollo!

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Secret of Delphi Found in Ancient Text

djapollo2k — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 02:11:20 GMT

Secret of Delphi Found in Ancient Text

Researchers at the University of Leicester have unravelled a 2,700 year old mystery concerning The Oracle of Delphi – by consulting an ancient farmer’s manual.

The researchers from the School of Archaeology and Ancient History sought to explain how people from across Greece came to consult with the Oracle – a hotline to the god Apollo- on a particular day of the year even though there was no common calendar.

Now their findings, published in this month’s edition of the journal Antiquity, suggests celestial signs observed by farmers could also have determined the rituals associated with Apollo Delphinios

Postgraduate student Alun Salt said: “The manual, Works and Days by Hesiod, dating to the eight century BC, describes the right time to plant crops or harvest by observing a variety of signs. One particular event he frequently looked for was the heliacal rising of a star, its first appearance that year in the morning sky.

“I was playing around with a planisphere while suffering from insomnia. This is when I noticed that the constellation Delphinus would have been rising in the eastern sky in late December and early January. This is the same time that some cities were sacrificing to Apollo Delphinios.

“I wondered if ritual events could use the same system described by Hesiod. The problem was that January wasn’t the time Apollo Delphinios was questioned at Delphi. Delphi was a month late compared to other cities. I knew the cliffs at Delphi would delay the rising of Delphinus there, but I didn’t know by how much.”

Efrosyni Boutsikas, a fellow postgraduate at Leicester, had surveyed Delphi as part of her PhD and had the figures. She said: “The temple of Apollo at Delphi is overlooked by huge cliffs to the east. These block out the view of the lower part of the eastern sky. The horizon is so high the stars have to climb a long way before they are visible just before sunrise.

“This means that if you’re holding an early morning ritual like preparing to consult Apollo, and you want to see a constellation, you have to wait around a month after other cities with flat horizons.”

Alun Salt concluded; “The great advantage that constellation spotting has over waiting for the sun to rise over a stone is that this system is portable. It could be used by Greeks across the Mediterranean who wanted to know when to visit Delphi without having to rely on knowing what the local date was in Delphi’s calendar. It also explains why Delphi’s calendar is slightly out of step with calendars in places like Athens.”

Does this make Delphi a Greek Stonehenge? Could this event still be seen by visitors today? Alun Salt is doubtful: “The event still happens, about a month later these days because of the way the Earth’s movement in the heavens has changed since ancient times. The big problem is light pollution. The stars of Delphinus are quite faint. You won’t see them from Athens, and I don’t know if the sky around Delphi is dark enough to make them out. It’s a challenge for anyone at Delphi around the start of February.

The findings are published in this month’s edition of the archaeological journal Antiquity.

http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/physik_astronomie/bericht-49251.html

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The World is too much with us

djapollo2k — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 03:42:31 GMT

The World is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.—Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn,
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea,
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

William Wordsworth

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From Pagan resurgence to Pagan global culture - Interview with Selena Fox

djapollo2k — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 01:29:46 GMT

In the original edition (1979) of her standard book on contemporary Paganism in the United States, "Drawing Down the Moon", Margot Adler wrote:

“In the last ten years, alongside the often noted resurgence of 'occult' and 'magical' groups, a diverse and decentralized religious movement has sprung up that remains comparatively unnoticed, and when recognized, is generally misunderstood.”

Those were people describing themselves as Pagans or Neo-Pagans. “The modern Pagan resurgence includes the new feminist goddess-worshipping groups, certain new religions based on the visions of science-fiction writers, attempts to revive ancient European religions - Norse, Greek, Roman - and the surviving tribal religions”, wrote Adler.

In the meantime, Paganism has certainly not decreased and its expressions have become still much more varied than they used to be. There are now many academic books and articles on contemporary Paganism, especially in North America. Moreover, Paganism has grown into a more international phenomenon. But people active in Pagan ways still feel they are misunderstood in many places. However, at least in the United States, Paganism has now its place among other religious paths in a number of local, regional, and national interreligious initiatives, for instance.

In order to learn more about Paganism today, Religioscope has met with Selena Fox, who has been active for many years in this field as the leader of Circle. Born in 1949 in Arlington, Virginia, Rev. Selena Fox is senior minister and high priestess of Circle Sanctuary, a Shamanic Wiccan church, Pagan resource center, and Nature preserve with a worldwide Ecospirituality ministry that includes networking, publishing, education, environmental preservation, counseling, events sponsoring, and other work. For more than thirty years, Rev. Fox has served as one of the elders, religious freedom activists, and public media spokespersons for the Wiccan religion and related forms of contemporary Paganism and Ecospirituality, nationwide and internationally.

Being involved in networks across Pagan traditions, Selena Fox is certainly one of the most qualified Pagan leaders for helping us to gain a better understanding of this religious phenomenon. In this interview, she also tells us how she came herself to follow the old Gods. The interview took place in July 2004 at the Parliament of the World's Religions, in Barcelona, Spain, and was revised by Selena Fox in August 2005.

Religioscope - How did you discover that you were a Pagan?

Selena Fox - Ever since I was a very young child I have had a strong affinity with Nature. I found that being outdoors in natural settings was one of my favorite things to do. Throughout my life, I have enjoyed listening to the sounds of birds and sitting meditatively by trees. Plants, creatures, and the Elements of Nature are my friends. I have had special close relationships with the companion cats in my life. Although I did not call myself a Pagan when I was a child, now as an adult, I realize that I already had Pagan leanings.

Special bonds were formed and developed between me and animals, places, and plants, with the wind, with land, sacred fire, the sun, waters. I found that my own inner Pagan spirit began emerging very early in life, in that I had what would best be called “mystical experiences” while I was communing with Nature. During these times, I found myself going beyond the confines of my human-centric consciousness and feeling a oneness with the Divine. I not only experienced the Divine within me but within the greater Circle of Life.

I was raised in a fundamentalist Southern Baptist family. Although some of my mystical experiences occurred indoors in a Christian church setting, most emerged spontaneously when I was doing my own type of Nature communion outside. I found that I was most comfortable with spiritual activity outdoors and being in places where I was one with the unity of Creation and Creator.

Religioscope - But this was a kind of solitary Pagan awareness. When did you come in touch with other Pagans? When did Pagan community life begin for you?

Selena Fox - I began having group experiences when I was twenty-one years old and a senior in college. I went to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, U.S.A. My undergraduate studies were in psychology but, in addition to my major field, I continued my love and study of the Classics, which had begun when I was thirteen years old and in ninth grade, eight years before.

During my senior year in college, I was the president of the Classics honors society, Eta Sigma Phi, as well as the president of the Classics Club, which was open to everyone regardless of their academic achievement. I decided, as president of both organizations, we needed to enhance our learning about the Classics in an experiential way. The Classics department was one of the oldest departments on campus, and dated back nearly three hundred years, with the founding of the college in 1693. So there already was a long tradition of Classics at my college. I got the Classics professors to agree to be part of a re-creation of a Rite of Spring where we drew on both ancient Greek as well as Roman traditions.

We picked a beautiful Springtime day to have this learning experience, which was a re-creation of an honoring of the Divine as Great Father in the form of Dionysus, God of Rebirth and Ecstasy among the ancient Greeks, and of the Divine Feminine, Mother Earth, known as Terra to the Romans and Gaia to the Greeks. I was the priestess of this ritual. I carried with me a tambourine and a pine cone-tipped staff known as the thyrsus, traditionally part of the rites of Dionysus. We dressed in long, flowing, toga-like outfits with ivy in our hair, and we went processing through campus making joyful sounds. Someone played the flute and I played the tambourine. We got to a beautiful place on campus, the Sunken Garden, dating back to the colonial era and designed by Thomas Jefferson who went to school there. In the middle of this beautiful garden area, we perfomed our ritual. We called on Dionysus. “Io! Evohe! Io! Evohe! Io! Evohe!” We then began dancing ecstatically and in so doing connected with ancient Greek Dionysian traditions. We peaked our ecstatic dance, and then laid down on the ground and honored Mother Earth.

This group ritual experience was both fun and educational. But for me, something additional happened within myself - it was spiritually transformative. I realized that I had come home to my religion. I realized that I needed to do rituals such as this as part of my life. I did not know fully at that time I would actually be a full-time Pagan priestess as my career. But I realized how therapeutic and transformative this Pagan ritual was. Now in retrospect, I realize that the gateways of my spiritual perception were thrown open by performing that ritual and invoking with ancient Divine forces. I aligned with ancient Pagan roots and from that point onward I was forever changed.

Within two months of doing that ritual, I encountered a small group of women who were practicing a form of the Pagan religion rooted in the folk traditions of old Europe in a place once known as Prussia. A woman named Marianne was a hereditary Pagan. Pagan folkways had been passed down from generation to generation in her family. It was an oral tradition and there was no book. There was not a lot of elaborate liturgy involved and this path was very simple in some of its practices. It was basically a continuation of folkways with a spiritual dimension to it. Marianne's Paganism was a women's tradition, passed on to her from her grandmother. What we shared together consisted of going out under the Full Moon, invoking the Moon Goddess and celebrating our connection with all of Nature and making magic. I began by working just with her, and then that Summer, several other women joined us. So my first experiences with Paganism in community settings was these experiences with Marianne as well as the ritual I led as an educational experience. As I continued to go deeper in my explorations, actually the old Gods and Goddesses, the Old Ways, found me, and I began increasingly practicing Paganism with others.

How did I find Marianne? Although I majored in psychology and was an honors graduate, the first job I got was working on an archaeological dig. Throughout my life, I have had a long-time interest in ancient cultures, in preserving history, and in researching history. I talked my way into an archaeological job even though I had no academic training in archaeology. I was able to restore pottery and do displays as I did have some art training. And, I actually went out on the archaeological digs on some occasions. Marianne worked on this dig and we both worked in the laboratory cataloging broken wine bottles, windowpane glass, broken pipe stems and other artifacts from a dump of a colonial tavern. We discovered our common interest in honoring the sacred dimensions of Nature. In addition, I realized that she shared my own positive associations with the “Witch” word. She invited me to practice Witchcraft with her. That was in the Summer of 1971.

Religioscope - I see two elements here. On one hand, it was still in the atmosphere of the counter-culture of the 1960s. On the other hand, there is the feminine dimension, a group of women, the feminine dimension of the Divine. So, would these be two major impulses stand behind the rebirth of Paganism?

Selena Fox - Yes. And, in my own case, I also think my connection with the Classics, which is coming from a much more conservative form of tradition. For me personally, my immersion in the Classics is what brought me to Paganism. The Neo-Classicism of the America colonial era is part of my conservative, political upbringing, roots, and training. I am the descendant of ancestors that came to America from England, Switzerland, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Germany and other parts of Europe in the sixteen and seventeen hundreds in order to practice their forms of religion. I view my embracing of contemporary Paganism as also part of my ancestral tradition of what I prefer to call religious innovation, but which was regarded as religious radicalism by those persecuting my ancestors.

In addition to my European-American heritage, I am also part Native American and descended from the Cherokee people. Some of my own understanding of Nature religions also comes from teachings of my Native American ancestors that have come through childhood dreams, and from my own personal practices of working at sacred sites. As an adult, I have encountered elders from a number of different native traditions that paralleled Nature traditions rooted in old Europe. I have come to know that my spiritual path in this life involves honoring and working with the sacred dimensions of Nature in multicultural ways.

I see Nature religions as having roots in the oldest parts of humankind and yet what I practice now is not something that was practiced in an unbroken line by Pagan peoples thirty-five thousand years ago or even two thousand years ago. The Paganism I practice is something that draws on the roots of the ancient past from many cultures but also draws on the here and now in a time where there is multiculturalism and a time where we have post-modern philosophy. Paganism today has evolved in a time where there is an environmental crisis and a need for there to be environmentally relevant and responsible forms of religion.

Religioscope - As you were practicing at the time with Marianne, were you aware there were other Pagans in the United States, groups of different traditions or did that become an awareness at a later stage?

More- http://www.thothweb.com/article918.html

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You do not have to worship Apollo

djapollo2k — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 05:29:02 GMT

You do not have to worship Apollo.

It is possible that those who do not worship Apollo live miserable, thwarted lives. It is possible that the failure to worship Apollo leads one to a horrible afterlife - to a damnation of some sort - or to no afterlife whatsoever. If so, I am not aware of it. Nor is this anywhere written. Pascal's wager makes a poor rationale for the worship of Apollo.

He is exactly the opposite of a jealous God, calling all worship into himself. Indeed, the existence of Apollo actively presupposes the existence of other Gods, and if it is your desire to become wise, or to save your soul, or simply to shed a few bad habits, the existence of Apollo presupposes one's capacity to fulfill these wishes beneath the shade, or light, of some other deity. You do not have to worship Apollo. His existence does not even contradict the existence of that God whose existence would presume to contradict his.

And more: no mortal can guarantee that Apollo has any interest in your worship, or in you. The claim, Apollo Loves You, must be won through experience, not doctrine. This might seem discouraging, but here there is something quite breathtaking. For if you are among those (Few? Many? We shall see) if you are among those who carry within them the feeling of Apollo's interest, you may conclude that this interest is in you, distinctly, and in you, wholly, as a particular individual; that he has seen the path you alone have walked, and invites you onto a path that has been walked by few, or by none, before.

There is something centrifugal in his nature, that sends force outward, onward, toward some far destination. His statuary suggests this. The statues of Apollo - think of the Belvedere, think of the Olympia - almost never face you, the mortal, with open arms, as though he himself were the destination of your path. Nor are they turned inward, as Buddhas are, toward silent contemplation. Instead, they draw your eye to some third point, upon which he, Archer, Striker From Afar, is rapt. You are invited to share this focus upon the third point, which is neither you nor he, but which, shared by you both, becomes the intersection of the mortal and the divine. To appreciate a statue of Apollo seems always to triangulate upon this third point, in the same manner that one tends not to gaze upon the Sun, before soon focusing upon that which the Sun illuminates. Even in the Apollo of Project: Apollo, one cannot long consider Apollo without soon considering that third thing, the Moon.

You do not have to worship Apollo. But let us, for a moment, gaze into the Sun.

Apollo has, of course, his special creatures. The wolf. The crow. The dolphin. Apparently disparate creatures, united in being, each, an irruption of intelligence within Nature; of intelligence as Nature's fruit, rather than as Nature's opposite. However, among the Olympians, Apollo does not shorthand very comfortably; he is notoriously resistant to synopsis. Apollo is Sun God, but not in the manner that Aphrodite is Love Goddess, Ares, God of War. Name Aphrodite Love Goddess and you have said something reductive, and crude, but for a given moment, adequate. One might then go on to consider all the depth and complexity of the field, Love. Do so with sufficient thoroughness, and you will have come to a conversational understanding of Aphrodite.

It is not adequate to Apollo to name him Sun God. It becomes necessary, for instance, to understand the Sun as the Greeks did. Where we see a stillness around which we move, they saw a fireball that rose out of darkness, crossed the broad sky, and returned to darkness; and knowing this matters when you name Apollo Sun God. Then there is the entire business of Helios, and the uneasy dance between Sun God and Sun itself.

Further, to the Greeks, Apollo was more importantly God of Medicine, of Prophecy, and of Purification, than Sun God. Of these, we all welcome Medicine; Prophecy is a minor cultural aside to most of us, belonging more to entertainment than to religion; and Purification means nothing to us, even less than nothing.

And yet of all Apollo's many facets, Purification is perhaps most crucial. It needs to be understood. A mystical concept, it can yet be approached rationally. As a question, Purification necessarily divides into two:

Purification from what?

and

Purification toward what?

These queries can be seen as two points that describe a Line.

Purification toward what? has a straightforward answer: Purification toward the condition of Apollo. And this condition is, simply, perfection. Apollo is the antetype to man, standing beyond our far point, forever over the horizon of our possibility. Of all Gods known to man, none represents this aspect of divinity - divine excellence - so completely as Apollo. Excellence incarnate, excellence is his gift. Though we will never match him, we yet share the same Line. Even as there is this fundamental difference, still there is this fundamental bond. And the Delphic command, Know Thyself, means both Know that there is always a segment between his point and yours; and also, Know your position, precisely, along the Line. Know when you rise, shortening the segment, and Know when you have sunk, lengthening it.

Apollo combines the impossibility of our becoming Gods and the invitation toward divinity. The Line segment between Apollo and ourselves is the segment upon which Icarus rose and fell. Traveling this Line is fraught with danger. Know Thyself is a warning. Don't challenge the Gods to musical contests. If you see a Goddess bathing nude, look the other way. Don't ask the Gods to show themselves in their true form.

And yet, paradoxically, Purification is-inevitably- an invitation to ascent. There are those who have accepted this invitation. This is the ascent of Pythagoras. Of Socrates. Of Plato. Of Empedocles. Of Apollonius. Of Plotinus. This invitation, which is Apollo's, is, through these men who worshiped him, the deep source of Western reason, science, and technology. And the fruit of this ascent, the ultimate third point, is the conceptualization of the One.

You do not have to worship Apollo. But do so, and you will have stepped into the center of the center of Western civilization. For, Purity incarnate, incapable of fear, Apollo is the God who does not fear your thinking, nor where it might lead. Appropriate, that it was his son, his blood, who began raising the dead themselves, till Zeus cut him short.

Stand back a distance, regarding the Line, and yourself as one point upon it, and an adequate synopsis for Apollo occurs:

Apollo is the God of the Evolution of Man. No wonder that we look about ourselves, across Nature, in vain for that phenomenon that is the Sign of Apollo. We ourselves are the Sign of Apollo. You are a shadow he has cast upon time. Be Purified.

Rise.

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