At first, I was inspired by Sannion’s most excellent post, “The 99 Adorations to Dionysus”.
Well, we all know Sannion is a trend-setter. (Which is why “I’m a fan of the San”!)
David Rankine, the partner to the most excellent Sorita D’Este, did a version for Hekate…and Rebecca Buchanan did one for Hermes…
Flamingthrysos did a rather lovely one for Hekate, as well…
And said to myself, Darn it, I want in on this!
I riffed a little on Rebecca’s idea, to do 6 for Kore, 6 for Persephone and 12 for Hades and Persephone together, so that it has a seasonal theme, and combined it with some of my own UPG. Persephone, according to Charles Stein, is the Being of Non-Being- this is something I believe to be absolutely central to Persephone’s mysteries. In Hebrew Gematria, the number for “Not” often associated with “No-thing” is 31. 31 X 3 (3 being the number of Binah and the sephirah I associate with Persephone…eat your heart out, Crowley…) is 93, Agape and Thelema, Love and Will. (Once in the OTO…) So…Dividing the repetitions almost equally…we’ll do 18 X 5 + 3: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Her Mysteries and 3 names that are UPG for me. (Actually, this will probably have quite a bit of UPG, so bear with me.)
18- Living, my Beloved, the Antique Serpent, path between Geburah and Binah (Geburah is often associated with Hades)
5- Geburah (Severity), also the pentagram, the elements
3- Binah (Understanding), the alchemical elements (Persephone, for me, being an alchemical goddess)
Funnily enough, the Gematria for Persephone’s name is 935. (Greek) Crowley linked this to “the Cause of causes”. Divided by 5, it’s 187, which is “she dragon”, “a curse” and “semen” and “lifted up”. 11 x 17 (which brings us 187) brings us “Odic Force/Magick Light” and the “Earth Goddess”, “Youth” x “Capricornus” and “sacrificed”. This is 5 x 11 x 17 BUT we can also see it as 55 x 17, 55 meaning “KLH/Bride of Malkuth”, on of Persephone’s more traditional forms.
(My boyfriend, the Kabbalist, helped me with the above.)
For me, it’s very telling, at least off the top of my head. Persephone as the Being of Non-Being would be the Primordial “Cause of causes”, the origin of all things. Interacting with Hades as Geburah, we have Persephone as a goddess of curses but also Persephone who is exalted from Malkuth to Binah as the Daughter is set upon the Throne of the Mother. Semen, I mean, is it THAT HARD to link it to a fertility goddess? “Magick Light” brings to mind the Epopteia, or even the birth of her child in the Underworld in a blaze of fire. And She-Dragon? Well…that does into UPG territory, but it could also refer to one of Persephone’s Orphic myths- Zeus mated with Demeter/Rhea in the form of snakes and begot Persephone. Zeus and Persephone mated in the form of snakes and begot Dionysus. Capricornus/Saturn links back to Binah.
I would LOVE to do 935 Adorations…but I just don’t think it’s feasible for the time being.
Anyway…here they are!
(By the way…images not mine. I only wish.)
I adore thee, beautiful Girl.
I adore thee, bringer of life.
I adore thee, herald of renewal.
I adore thee, from whose steps spring the crocus.
I adore thee, bloom gatherer.
I adore thee, nature untamed.
I adore thee, bride of the earth.
I adore thee, who makes the gods pant with desire.
I adore thee, weaver of webs and tapestries.
I adore thee, lover of the lightning.
I adore thee, tender rearer of the young.
I adore thee, lady of the seeds.
I adore thee, essence of youth and beauty.
I adore thee, whose breath is the spring warmth.
I adore thee, who bore the God Who Comes.
I adore thee, Queen of Nymphs and Fae.
I adore thee, initiate with us.
I adore thee, whom her Mother loves as her self.
I adore thee, grain giver.
I adore thee, Mother’s appearance.
I adore thee, giver of sweet fruits.
I adore thee, turner of life’s cycles.
I adore thee, independent of civilization.
I adore thee, Queen of the Meadow.
I adore thee, pure from the pure.
I adore thee, soul of the Kingdom.
I adore thee, sap of Life.
I adore thee, Joy Bearer.
I adore thee, sustainer of our hearts.
I adore thee, sculptor of man.
I adore thee, who treads upon the mint.
I adore thee, who blesses marriage.
I adore thee, who bestows children.
I adore thee, Aphrodite of the Shades.
I adore thee, Infernal Hera.
I adore thee, Heiros Gamos goddess.
I adore thee, she who was raped.
I adore thee, whom death seduces.
I adore thee, whose absence brings withering cold.
I adore thee, who transforms all that lives.
I adore thee, who brings down into the dark.
I adore thee, who is enthroned in understanding.
I adore thee, who destroys the light.
I adore thee, who knows.
I adore thee, whose tears are unceasing.
I adore thee, who mourns for mother and son.
I adore thee, whose lips are stained red.
I adore thee, sacrificed one.
I adore thee, hidden light.
I adore thee, virgin’s blood stolen.
I adore thee, walker amongst the shades.
I adore thee, nightingale.
I adore thee, Hades’ Queen.
I adore thee, who came to love the dark.
I adore thee, whose heart is without pity.
I adore thee, exacter of justice.
I adore thee, Mother of the Furies.
I adore thee, She Beneath the Earth.
I adore thee, Iron Queen.
I adore thee, whose heart is cleft.
I adore thee, lady of dissolution.
I adore thee, Mistress of the Labyrinth.
I adore thee, who is awful.
I adore thee, funereal shroud.
I adore thee, Oracle of the Dead.
I adore thee, who curses without regret.
I adore thee, who leads the heroes home.
I adore thee, who embraces the mystai.
I adore thee, who sends forth and calls back.
I adore thee, Queen of Tartarus.
I adore thee, Queen of Asphodel.
I adore thee, Queen of Elysium.
I adore thee, abyssal one.
I adore thee, in whose eyes are stars.
I adore thee, repairer and render.
I adore thee, dove bearer.
I adore thee, who is Mystery beyond Mystery.
I adore thee, Queen of Obscurity.
I adore thee, Cause of all causes.
I adore thee, who tends the Black Cypress.
I adore thee, who delights in nigredo.
I adore thee, confers resurrection.
I adore thee, Rose of Hades.
I adore thee, Love and Death.
I adore thee, Devouring Womb.
I adore thee, Life-giving Tomb.
I adore thee, who liberates as She is liberated.
I adore thee, who saves us.
I adore thee, who drinks from the spring of Mnemosyne.
I adore thee, who allows us the same.
I adore thee, O Face of the Unseen.
I adore thee, O Being of Non-Being.
I adore thee, O Primordial Ocean of the Void.
An interesting set, I can’t say I agree with all of them. Persephone is a very close goddess to me and my patron in many ways. I do not believe she was raped nor that she was exactly sacrificed. I find that she chose her path and chose the way things went. She was given the options and chose to join Hades. A goddess of self-sacrifice, choices, a diplomat, she who walks the line between light and dark and carves her own paths through the darkness. A beautiful piece though. Well done.
Thanks for your reply.
One of the wonderful things about Persephone, I find, is that she’s so multifaceted, so complex, that many opinions can be spoken with respect. Persephone and Viktor Frankl would have gotten along, I think, in that Persephone’s choices are usually want Frankl called the greatest and most important of our human freedoms. “The last of human freedoms – the ability to chose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.” Self-sacrifice, as you already know, is MOST CERTAINLY a big part of her mysteries.
This is often a question. Was she raped? Was she seduced? Did she go freely? I love the debate, but I myself don’t know the concrete answer. But that’s okay.
Beautiful. How wonderful that Sannion has inspired all of this – Dionysos, Hekate, Persephone. Where will it lead?
I certainly don’t have an answer for the question of Persephone’s abduction and rape either. For me, I am led to believe She heard the voices of the dead and chose Her journey; this myth has so much in it to explore. She IS so complex, there are bound to be different experiences of Her, all valid. Perhaps what these various Adorations will accomplish, aside from the obvious intention, is to let us feel the experience of another, something we may not have felt.
Sannion is an inspiring guy. I’ve made several revisions on many of his works for my own use, and always had amazing results.
Very well said- usually, when people ask me my own opinion, my answer is yes. She was raped. She was seduced. She made a choice. There’s evidence in primary sources (from Greece and Rome, respectively) for all points of argument.
absolutely incredible. some of the epithets are so staggeringly gorgeous.
i’m worn out of the endless debate about rape/not rape. some of the recons recently accused me of hating hades and promoting violence against women because of my belief that if you take out the no-choice element of the myth, you have no clue as to the nature of Death.
what happens on the couch in Dis is nobody’s business, but if you turn the tale solely into a romantic fantasy, you miss out on an awful lot of the deeper mysteries. which is of course anybody’s right. but i want to embrace the darker aspects as well.
i love beginning with ‘beautiful girl.’ i love ‘tender rearer of the young’ which i first read as ‘tearing render’ which also works. ‘lips stained red’, ‘in whose eyes are stars’ and ‘rose of Hades’ also rock my socks. well, i could go on.
love the association with kabbalah too. right up my freakin’ alley.
thanks for including me on this, glorious one!
khairete
suz
I <3 you Suz.
Actually, I'm thinking about making a post about it, using some of the entries from the devotional when it's finally ready for print. We could all go round and round about it, using both primary, scholarly and contemporary sources. The beauty regarding the ancient Greeks, though, is that there was no one way to see a divinity, and local/city cults pretty much decided what they believed within the PanHellenic frame. (Or at least, from what I can tell.)
And as you know me, you know I am totally with you on embracing the darker aspects of the myth, and I agree that the seduction/rape by death is part of the deeper picture.
I have to credit my boyfriend on the Kabbalah. I got some of it, but he's the expert.
Wonderful post! I was also similarly inspired by Sannion’s original post and created my set of 66 Adorations to Hekate! I hope to do the same with the other Gods I worship.
Thanks, thyrsos! I can’t wait to see it! I am considering making one more for Hades, too, but we’ll see how it goes.
Amazing.
Awww, thank you.
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Incredible, I love the thought and effort that you’ve put into this. The poetry and flow come across as effortless and natural. And I love the groupings, it lends itself to the possiblity of using this devotional over multipule nights to give each set greater time for meditation and thought.
I must say that this is a masterful work and the best literary devotional of this wonderous goddess that I’ve ever come across.
*blush* Thank you so much for this beautiful compliment!
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