THE HYMNS OF ORPHEUS THE THRACIAN IN MAGIC

[Kronos], various speech is thine:
Blossom of earth and of the starry skies, husband of Rhea, and Prometheus wife.
Obstetric Nature, venerable root, from which the various forms of being shoot;
No parts peculiar can thy pow’r enclose, diffus’d thro’ all, from which the world arose,
O, best of beings, of a subtle mind, propitious hear to holy pray’rs inclin’d;
The sacred rites benevolent attend, and grant a blameless life, a blessed end.

 

JUPITER

ZEUS

The Fumigation from Storax.
O Jove much-honor’d, Jove [Zeus] supremely great, to thee our holy rites we consecrate,
Our pray’rs and expiations, king divine, for all things round thy head exalted shine.
The earth is thine, and mountains swelling high, the sea profound, and all within the sky.
Saturnian [Kronion] king, descending from above, magnanimous, commanding, sceptred Jove [Zeus];
All-parent, principle and end of all, whose pow’r almighty, shakes this earthly ball;
Ev’n Nature trembles at thy mighty nod, loud-sounding, arm’d with light’ning, thund’ring God.
Source of abundance, purifying king, O various-form’d from whom all natures spring;
Propitious hear my pray’r, give blameless health, with peace divine, and necessary wealth.

 

MERCURY

TO HERMES

The Fumigation from Frankincense.
Hermes, draw near, and to my pray’r incline, angel of Jove [Zeus], and Maia’s son divine;
Studious of contests, ruler of mankind, with heart almighty, and a prudent mind.
Celestial messenger, of various skill, whose pow’rful arts could watchful Argus kill:
With winged feet, ’tis thine thro’ air to course, O friend of man, and prophet of discourse:
Great life-supporter, to rejoice is thine, in arts gymnastic, and in fraud divine:
With pow’r endu’d all language to explain, of care the loos’ner, and the source of gain.
Whose hand contains of blameless peace the rod, Corucian, blessed, profitable God;
Of various speech, whose aid in works we find, and in necessities to mortals kind:
Dire weapon of the tongue, which men revere, be present, Hermes, and thy suppliant hear;
Assist my works, conclude my life with peace, give graceful speech, and me memory’s increase.

 

VENUS INVISIBLE

TO PERSEPHONE (ERESHKEGAL)

A Hymn.
Daughter of Jove [Zeus], almighty and divine, come, blessed queen, and to these rites incline:
Only-begotten, Pluto’s [Plouton’s] honor’d wife, O venerable Goddess, source of life:
‘Tis thine in earth’s profundities to dwell, fast by the wide and dismal gates of hell:
Jove’s [Zeus’] holy offspring, of a beauteous mien, fatal [Praxidike], with lovely locks, infernal queen:
Source of the furies [Eumenides], whose blest frame proceeds from Jove’s [Zeus’] ineffable and secret seeds:
Mother of Bacchus [Eubouleos], Sonorous, divine, and many-form’d, the parent of the vine:
The dancing Hours [Horai] attend thee, essence bright, all-ruling virgin, bearing heav’nly light:
Illustrious, horned, of a bounteous mind, alone desir’d by those of mortal kind.
O, vernal queen, whom grassy plains delight, sweet to the smell, and pleasing to the sight:
Whose holy form in budding fruits we view, Earth’s vig’rous offspring of a various hue:
Espous’d in Autumn: life and death alone to wretched mortals from thy power is known:
For thine the task according to thy will, life to produce, and all that lives to kill.
Hear, blessed Goddess, send a rich increase of various fruits from earth, with lovely Peace;
Send Health with gentle hand, and crown my life with blest abundance, free from noisy strife;
Last in extreme old age the prey of Death, dismiss we willing to the realms beneath,
To thy fair palace, and the blissful plains where happy spirits dwell, and Pluto [Plouton] reigns.

 

VENUS MORNING STAR

ATHENA PALLAS

A Hymn.
Only-Begotten, noble race of Jove, blessed and fierce, who joy’st in caves to rove:
O, warlike Pallas, whose illustrious kind, ineffable and effable we find:
Magnanimous and fam’d, the rocky height, and groves, and shady mountains thee delight:
In arms rejoicing, who with Furies dire and wild, the souls of mortals dost inspire.
Gymnastic virgin of terrific mind, dire Gorgons bane, unmarried, blessed, kind:
Mother of arts, imperious; understood, rage to the wicked., wisdom to the good:
Female and male, the arts of war are thine, fanatic, much-form’d dragoness [Drakaina], divine:
O’er the Phlegrean giants rous’d to ire, thy coursers driving, with destruction dire.
Sprung from the head of Jove [Tritogeneia], of splendid mien, purger of evils, all-victorious queen.
Hear me, O Goddess, when to thee I pray, with supplicating voice both night and day,
And in my latest hour, peace and health, propitious times, and necessary wealth,
And, ever present, be thy vot’ries aid, O, much implor’d, art’s parent, blue eyed maid.

 

VENUS EVENING STAR

APHRODITE

A Hymn.
Heav’nly [Ourania], illustrious, laughter-loving queen, sea-born, night-loving, of an awful mien;
Crafty, from whom necessity [Ananke] first came, producing, nightly, all-connecting dame:
‘Tis thine the world with harmony to join, for all things spring from thee, O pow’r divine.
The triple Fates [Moirai] are rul’d by thy decree, and all productions yield alike to thee:
Whate’er the heav’ns, encircling all contain, earth fruit-producing, and the stormy main,
Thy sway confesses, and obeys thy nod, awful attendant of the brumal God [Bakkhos]:
Goddess of marriage, charming to the sight, mother of Loves [Eortes], whom banquetings delight;
Source of persuasion [Peitho], secret, fav’ring queen, illustrious born, apparent and unseen:
Spousal, lupercal, and to men inclin’d, prolific, most-desir’d, life-giving., kind:
Great sceptre-bearer of the Gods, ’tis thine, mortals in necessary bands to join;
And ev’ry tribe of savage monsters dire in magic chains to bind, thro’ mad desire.
Come, Cyprus-born, and to my pray’r incline, whether exalted in the heav’ns you shine,
Or pleas’d in Syria’s temple to preside, or o’er th’ Egyptian plains thy car to guide,
Fashion’d of gold; and near its sacred flood, fertile and fam’d to fix thy blest abode;
Or if rejoicing in the azure shores, near where the sea with foaming billows roars,
The circling choirs of mortals, thy delight, or beauteous nymphs, with eyes cerulean bright,
Pleas’d by the dusty banks renown’d of old, to drive thy rapid, two-yok’d car of gold;
Or if in Cyprus with thy mother fair, where married females praise thee ev’ry year,
And beauteous virgins in the chorus join, Adonis pure to sing and thee divine;
Come, all-attractive to my pray’r inclin’d, for thee, I call, with holy, reverent mind.

 

SUN

TO HELIOS

The Fumigation from Frankinsence and Manna.
Hear golden Titan, whose eternal eye with broad survey, illumines all the sky.
Self-born, unwearied in diffusing light, and to all eyes the mirrour of delight:
Lord of the seasons, with thy fiery car and leaping coursers, beaming light from far:
With thy right hand the source of morning light, and with thy left the father of the night.
Agile and vig’rous, venerable Sun, fiery and bright around the heav’ns you run.
Foe to the wicked, but the good man’s guide, o’er all his steps propitious you preside:
With various founding, golden lyre, ’tis mine to fill the world with harmony divine.
Father of ages, guide of prosp’rous deeds, the world’s commander, borne by lucid steeds,
Immortal Jove [Zeus], all-searching, bearing light, source of existence, pure and fiery bright
Bearer of fruit, almighty lord of years, agil and warm, whom ev’ry pow’r reveres.
Great eye of Nature and the starry skies, doom’d with immortal flames to set and rise
Dispensing justice, lover of the stream, the world’s great despot, and o’er all supreme.
Faithful defender, and the eye of right, of steeds the ruler, and of life the light:
With founding whip four fiery steeds you guide, when in the car of day you glorious ride.
Propitious on these mystic labours shine, and bless thy suppliants with a life divine.

 

 

MOON

TO SELENE

The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Hear, Goddess queen, diffusing silver light, bull-horn’d and wand’ring thro’ the gloom of Night.
With stars surrounded, and with circuit wide Night’s torch extending, thro’ the heav’ns you ride:
Female and Male with borrow’d rays you shine, and now full-orb’d, now tending to decline.
Mother of ages, fruit-producing Moon [Mene], whose amber orb makes Night’s reflected noon:
Lover of horses, splendid, queen of Night, all-seeing pow’r bedeck’d with starry light.
Lover of vigilance, the foe of strife, in peace rejoicing, and a prudent life:
Fair lamp of Night, its ornament and friend, who giv’st to Nature’s works their destin’d end.
Queen of the stars, all-wife Diana hail! Deck’d with a graceful robe and shining veil;
Come, blessed Goddess, prudent, starry, bright, come moony-lamp with chaste and splendid light,
Shine on these sacred rites with prosp’rous rays, and pleas’d accept thy suppliant’s mystic praise.

 

TO THE FIXED STARS

The Fumigation from Aromatics.
With holy voice I call the stars [Astron] on high, pure sacred lights and genii of the sky.
Celestial stars, the progeny of Night [Nyx], in whirling circles beaming far your light,
Refulgent rays around the heav’ns ye throw, eternal fires, the source of all below.
With flames significant of Fate ye shine, and aptly rule for men a path divine.
In seven bright zones ye run with wand’ring flames, and heaven and earth compose your lucid frames:
With course unwearied, pure and fiery bright forever shining thro’ the veil of Night.
Hail twinkling, joyful, ever wakeful fires! Propitious shine on all my just desires;
These sacred rites regard with conscious rays, and end our works devoted to your praise.

 

MARS

TO ARES

The Fumigation from Frankincense.
Magnanimous, unconquer’d, boistrous Mars, in darts rejoicing, and in bloody wars
Fierce and untam’d, whose mighty pow’r can make the strongest walls from their foundations shake:
Mortal destroying king, defil’d with gore, pleas’d with war’s dreadful and tumultuous roar:
Thee, human blood, and swords, and spears delight, and the dire ruin of mad savage fight.
Stay, furious contests, and avenging strife, whose works with woe, embitter human life;
To lovely Venus [Kypris], and to Bacchus [Lyaios] yield, to Ceres [Deo] give the weapons of the field;
Encourage peace, to gentle works inclin’d, and give abundance, with benignant mind.

 

TO ASKLEPIOS

The Fumigation from Manna.
Great Esculapius [Asklepios], skill’d to heal mankind, all-ruling Pæan, and physician kind;
Whose arts medic’nal, can alone assuage diseases dire, and stop their dreadful rage:
Strong lenient God, regard my suppliant pray’r, bring gentle Health, adorn’d with lovely hair;
Convey the means of mitigating pain, and raging, deadly pestilence restrain.
O pow’r all-flourishing, abundant, bright, Apollo’s honor’d offspring, God of light;
Husband of blameless Health [Hygeia], the constant foe of dread Disease the minister of woe:
Come, blessed saviour, and my health defend, and to my life afford a prosp’rous end.

 

TO THE DIVINITY OF DREAMS

The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Thee I invoke, blest pow’r of dreams [Oneiroi] divine, angel of future fates, swift wings are thine:
Great source of oracles to human kind, when stealing soft, and whisp’ring to the mind,
Thro’ sleep’s sweet silence and the gloom of night, thy pow’r awakes th’ intellectual fight;
To silent souls the will of heav’n relates, and silently reveals their future fates.
For ever friendly to the upright mind sacred and pure, to holy rites inclin’d;
For these with pleasing hope thy dreams inspire, bliss to anticipate, which all desire.
Thy visions manifest of fate disclose, what methods best may mitigate our woes;
Reveal what rites the Gods immortal please, and what the means their anger to appease:
For ever tranquil is the good man’s end, whose life, thy dreams admonish and defend.
But from the wicked turn’d averse to bless, thy form unseen, the angel of distress;
No means to cheek approaching ill they find, pensive with fears, and to the future blind.
Come, blessed pow’r, the signatures reveal which heav’n’s decrees mysteriously conceal,
Signs only present to the worthy mind, nor omens ill disclose of monst’rous kind.

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