The FUMIGATION from AROMATICS. NATURE, all parent, ancient, and divine, O Much-mechanic mother, art is thine; Heav'nly, abundant, venerable queen, In ev'ry part of thy dominions seen. Untam'd, all-taming, ever splendid light, All ruling, honor'd, and supremly bright. Immortal, first-born, ever still the same, Nocturnal, starry, shining, glorious dame. Thy feet's still traces in a circling course, By thee are turn'd, with unremitting force. Pure ornament of all the pow'rs divine, Finite and infinite alike you shine; 12 To all things common and in all things known, Yet incommunicable and alone. Without a father of thy wond'rous frame, Thyself the father whence thy essence came. All-flourishing, connecting, mingling soul, Leader and ruler of this mighty whole. Life-bearer, all-sustaining, various nam'd, And for commanding grace and beauty fam'd. Justice, supreme in might, whose general sway The waters of the restless deep obey. Ætherial, earthly, for the pious glad, Sweet to the good, but bitter to the bad. All-wife, all bounteous, provident, divine, A rich increase of nutriment is thine; Father of all, great nurse, and mother kind, Abundant, blessed, all-spermatic mind: Mature, impetuous, from whose fertile seeds And plastic hand, this changing scene proceeds. All-parent pow'r, to mortal eyes unseen, Eternal, moving, all-sagacious queen. By thee the world, whose parts in rapid flow, 33 Like swift descending streams, no respite know, On an eternal hinge, with steady course Is whirl'd, with matchless, unremitting force. Thron'd on a circling car, thy mighty hand Holds and directs, the reins of wide command. Various thy essence, honor'd, and the best, Of judgement too, the general end and test. Intrepid, fatal, all-subduing dame, Life-everlasting, Parca, breathing flame. Immortal, Providence, the world is thine, And thou art all things, architect divine. O blessed Goddess, hear thy suppliant's pray'r, And make my future life, thy constant care; Give plenteous seasons, and sufficient wealth, And crown my days with lasting, peace and health.

HEAV'NLY, illustrious, laughter-loving queen, Sea-born, night-loving, of an awful mien; Crafty, from whom necessity 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 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: Goddess of marriage, charming to the sight, Mother of Loves, whom banquetings delight; Source of persuasion, 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.

The FUMIGATION from a Variety of ODORIFEROUS SUBSTANCES. Mother of Gods, great nurse of all, draw near, Divinely honor'd, and regard my pray'r: Thron'd on a car, by lions drawn along, By bull-destroying lions, swift and strong, Thou sway'st the sceptre of the pole divine, And the world's middle seat, much-fam'd, is thine. Hence earth is thine, and needy mortals share Their constant food, from thy protecting care: From thee at first both Gods and men arose; From thee, the sea and ev'ry river flows. Vesta, and source of good, thy name we find To mortal men rejoicing to be kind; For ev'ry good to give, thy soul delights; Come, mighty pow'r, propitious to our rites, All-taming, blessed, Phrygian saviour, come, Saturn's great queen, rejoicing in the drum. Celestial, ancient, life-supporting maid, Fanatic Goddess, give thy suppliant aid; With joyful aspect on our incense shine, And, pleas'd, accept the sacrifice divine.

DAUGHTER of Jove, almighty and divine, Come, blessed queen, and to these rites incline: Only-begotten, Pluto's honor'd wife, 3 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 holy offspring, of a beauteous mien, Fatal, with lovely locks, infernal queen: Source of the furies, whose blest frame proceeds From Jove's ineffable and secret seeds: Mother of Bacchus, Sonorous, divine, And many-form'd, the parent of the vine: The dancing Hours attend thee, essence bright, All-ruling virgin, bearing heav'nly light: Illustrious, horned, of a bounteous mind, 13 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 21 To wretched mortals from thy power is known: For thine the task according to thy will, 23 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 reigns.

The FUMIGATION from STORAX. O Universal mother, Ceres fam'd August, the source of wealth, and various nam'd: 2 Great nurse, all-bounteous, blessed and divine, Who joy'st in peace, to nourish corn is thine: Goddess of seed, of fruits abundant, fair, Harvest and threshing, are thy constant care; Who dwell'st in Eleusina's seats retir'd, Lovely, delightful queen, by all desir'd. Nurse of all mortals, whose benignant mind, First ploughing oxen to the yoke confin'd; And gave to men, what nature's wants require, With plenteous means of bliss which all desire. In verdure flourishing in honor bright, Assessor of great Bacchus, bearing light: Rejoicing in the reapers sickles, kind, Whose nature lucid, earthly, pure, we find. Prolific, venerable, Nurse divine, Thy daughter loving, holy Proserpine: A car with dragons yok'd, 'tis thine to guide, 19 And orgies singing round thy throne to ride: Only-begotten, much-producing queen, All flowers are thine and fruits of lovely green. Bright Goddess, come, with Summer's rich increase Swelling and pregnant, leading smiling Peace; Come, with fair Concord and imperial Health, And join with these a needful store of wealth.

The FUMIGATION from AROMATICS. HEAR, Goddess queen, diffusing silver light, Bull-horn'd and wand'ring thro' the gloom of Night. 2 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, 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. 14 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.

INITIATIONS ATTEND Musæus to my sacred song, And learn what rites to sacrifice belong. Jove I invoke, the earth, and solar light, The moon's pure splendor, and the stars of night; Thee Neptune, ruler of the sea profound, Dark-hair'd, whose waves begirt the solid ground; Ceres abundant, and of lovely mien, And Proserpine infernal Pluto's queen The huntress Dian, and bright Phœbus rays, Far-darting God, the theme of Delphic praise; And Bacchus, honour'd by the heav'nly choir, And raging Mars, and Vulcan god of fire; The mighty pow'r who rose from foam to light, And Pluto potent in the realms of night; With Hebe young, and Hercules the strong, And you to whom the cares of births belong: Justice and Piety august I call, And much-fam'd nymphs, and Pan the god of all. To Juno sacred, and to Mem'ry fair, And the chaste Muses I address my pray'r; The various year, the Graces, and the Hours, Fair-hair'd Latona, and Dione's pow'rs; Armed Curetes, household Gods I call, With those who spring from Jove the king of all: Th' Idæan Gods, the angel of the skies, And righteous Themis, with sagacious eyes; With ancient night, and day-light I implore, And Faith, and Justice dealing right adore; Saturn and Rhea, and great Thetis too, Hid in a veil of bright celestial blue: I call great Ocean, and the beauteous train Of nymphs, who dwell in chambers of the main; Atlas the strong, and ever in its prime, Vig'rous Eternity, and endless Time; The Stygian pool, and placid Gods beside, And various Genii, that o'er men preside; Illustrious Providence, the noble train Of dæmon forms, who fill th' ætherial plain; Or live in air, in water, earth, or fire, Or deep beneath the solid ground retire. Bacchus and Semele the friends of all, And white Leucothea of the sea I call; Palæmon bounteous, and Adrastria great, And sweet-tongu'd Victory, with success elate; Great Esculapius, skill'd to cure disease, And dread Minerva, whom fierce battles please; Thunders and winds in mighty columns pent, With dreadful roaring struggling hard for vent; Attis, the mother of the pow'rs on high, And fair Adonis, never doom'd to die, End and beginning he is all to all, These with propitious aid I gently call; And to my holy sacrifice invite, The pow'r who reigns in deepest hell and night; I call Einodian Hecate, lovely dame, Of earthly, wat'ry, and celestial frame, Sepulchral, in a saffron veil array'd, Pleas'd with dark ghosts that wander thro' the shade; Persian, unconquerable huntress hail! 59 The world's key-bearer never doom'd to fail On the rough rock to wander thee delights, Leader and nurse be present to our rites Propitious grant our just desires success, Accept our homage, and the incense bless.

The FUMIGATION from every kind of SEED, except BEANS and AROMATICS. O Goddess, Earth, of Gods and men the source, Endu'd with fertile, all destroying force; All-parent, bounding, whose prolific pow'rs, Produce a store of beauteous fruits and flow'rs, All-various maid, th' eternal world's strong base Immortal, blessed, crown'd with ev'ry grace; From whose wide womb, as from an endless root, Fruits, many-form'd, mature and grateful shoot. Deep bosom'd, blessed, pleas'd with grassy plains, Sweet to the smell, and with prolific rains. All flow'ry dæmon, centre of the world, Around thy orb, the beauteous stars are hurl'd With rapid whirl, eternal and divine, Whose frames with matchless skill and wisdom shine. Come, blessed Goddess, listen to my pray'r, And make increase of fruits thy constant care; With fertile Seasons in thy train, draw near, And with propitious mind thy suppliant hear.

The FUMIGATION from MYRRH. DARK veil'd Latona, much invoked queen, Twin-bearing Goddess, of a noble mien; Cæantis great, a mighty mind is thine, Offspring prolific, blest of Jove divine: Phœbus proceeds from thee, the God of light, And Dian fair, whom winged darts delight; She in Ortygia's honor'd regions born, In Delos he, which mountains high adorn. Hear me, O Goddess, with propitious mind, And end these holy rites, with aspect kind. Next: XXXV: To Diana Sacred Texts | Classics « Previous: The Initiations of Orpheus: XXXIII: To Apollo Index Next: The Initiations of Orpheus: XXXV: To Diana » Sacred Texts | Classics

The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE. ILLUSTRIOUS Themis, of celestial birth, Thee I invoke, young blossom of the earth; 2 Beauteous-eyed virgin; first from thee alone, Prophetic oracles to men were known, Giv'n from the deep recesses of the fane In sacred Pytho, where renown'd you reign; From thee, Apollo's oracles arose, And from thy pow'r his inspiration flows. Honour'd by all, of form divinely bright, Majestic virgin, wand'ring in the night: Mankind from thee first learnt initial rites, And Bacchus' nightly choirs thy soul delights; For holy honours to disclose is thine, With all the culture of the pow'rs divine. Be present, Goddess, to my pray'r inclin'd, And bless the mystic rites with fav'ring mind.

(1) [Asclepius] Thou speak’st of God, then, O Thrice-greatest one?

[Trismegistus] Not only God, Asclepius, but all things living and inanimate. For ’tis impossible that any of the things that are should be unfruitful. For if fecundity should be removed from all the things that are, it could not be that they should be for ever what they are. I mean that Nature, Sense, and Cosmos, have in themselves the power of being born, and of preserving all things that are born. For either sex is full of procreation; and of each one there is a union, or,—what’s more true,—a unity incomprehensible; which you may rightly call Erōs or Aphroditē, or both [names].

The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE. Daughters of Jove, dire-sounding and divine, 1 Renown'd Pierian, sweetly speaking Nine; To those whose breasts your sacred furies fire Much-form'd, the objects of supreme desire: Sources of blameless virtue to mankind, Who form to excellence the youthful mind; Who nurse the soul, and give her to descry The paths of right with Reason's steady eye. Commanding queens who lead to sacred light The intellect refin'd from Error's night; And to mankind each holy rite disclose, For mystic knowledge from your nature flows. Clio, and Erato, who charms the sight, With thee Euterpe minist'ring delight: Thalia flourishing, Polymina fam'd, Melpomene from skill in music nam'd: Terpischore, Urania heav'nly bright, With thee * who gav'st me to behold the light. Come, venerable, various, pow'rs divine, With fav'ring aspect on your mystics shine; Bring glorious, ardent, lovely, fam'd desire, And warm my bosom with your sacred fire.

ONLY-Begotten, noble race of Jove, Blessed and fierce, who joy'st in caves to rove: 2 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, divine: 14 O'er the Phlegrean giants rous'd to ire, Thy coursers driving, with destruction dire. Sprung from the head of Jove, 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.

The FUMIGATION from MANNA. Hear me, Jove's daughter, celebrated queen, Bacchian and Titan, of a noble mien: In darts rejoicing and on all to shine, Torch-bearing Goddess, Dictynna divine; O'er births presiding, and thyself a maid, To labour-pangs imparting ready aid: Dissolver of the zone and wrinkl'd care, Fierce huntress, glorying in the Sylvan war: Swift in the course, in dreadful arrows skill'd, Wandering by night, rejoicing in the field: Of manly form, erect, of bounteous mind, Illustrious dæmon, nurse of human kind: Immortal, earthly, bane of monsters fell, 'Tis thine; blest maid, on woody hills to dwell: Foe of the stag, whom woods and dogs delight, In endless youth who flourish fair and bright. O, universal queen, august, divine, A various form, Cydonian pow'r, is thine: Dread guardian Goddess, with benignant mind Auspicious, come to mystic rites inclin'd Give earth a store of beauteous fruits to bear, Send gentle Peace, and Health with lovely hair, And to the mountains drive Disease and Care.

(4) Hermes, which is the name of my forebear, whose home is in a place called after him, doth aid and guard all mortal [men] who come to him from every side. As for Osiris’ [spouse]; how many are the blessings that we know Isis bestows when she’s propitious; how many does she injure when she’s wrath! For that the terrene and the cosmic Gods are easily enraged, in that they are created and composed of the two natures.

THEE, Nemesis I call, almighty queen, By whom the deeds of mortal life are seen: Eternal, much rever'd, of boundless sight, Alone rejoicing in the just and right: Changing the counsels of the human breast For ever various, rolling without rest. To every mortal is thy influence known, And men beneath thy righteous bondage groan; For ev'ry thought within the mind conceal'd Is to thy fight perspicuously reveal'd. The soul unwilling reason to obey By lawless passion rul'd, thy eyes survey. All to see, hear, and rule, O pow'r divine Whose nature Equity contains, is thine. Come, blessed, holy Goddess, hear my pray'r, And make thy mystic's life, thy constant care: Give aid benignant in the needful hour, And strength abundant to the reas'ning pow'r; And far avert the dire, unfriendly race Of counsels impious, arrogant, and base. Next: LXI: To Justice Sacred Texts | Classics « Previous: The Initiations of Orpheus: LIX: To the Graces Index Next: The Initiations of Orpheus: LXI: To Justice » Sacred Texts | Classics

(1) [Asclepius] And of what nature, O Thrice-greatest one, may be the quality of those who are considered terrene Gods?

[Trismegistus] It doth consist, Asclepius, of plants, and stones, and spices, which contain the nature of [their own] divinity. And for this cause they are delighted with repeated sacrifice, with hymns, and lauds, and sweetest sounds, tuned to the key of Heaven’s harmonious song.

(4) He whose omniscience everything transcends The heavens created, and gave who should guide them, That every part to every part may shine, Distributing the light in equal measure; He in like manner to the mundane splendours Ordained a general ministress and guide, That she might change at times the empty treasures From race to race, from one blood to another, Beyond resistance of all human wisdom. Therefore one people triumphs, and another Languishes, in pursuance of her judgment, Which hidden is, as in the grass a serpent. Your knowledge has no counterstand against her; She makes provision, judges, and pursues Her governance, as theirs the other gods. Her permutations have not any truce; Necessity makes her precipitate, So often cometh who his turn obtains. And this is she who is so crucified Even by those who ought to give her praise, Giving her blame amiss, and bad repute. But she is blissful, and she hears it not; Among the other primal creatures gladsome She turns her sphere, and blissful she rejoices.

The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE. Approach strong Fortune, with propitious mind And rich abundance, to my pray'r inclin'd Placid, and gentle Trivia, mighty nam'd, 3 Imperial Dian, born of Pluto fam'd; Mankind's unconquer'd, endless praise is thine, Sepulch'ral, widely-wand'ring pow'r divine! In thee, our various mortal life is found, And some from thee hi copious wealth abound; While others mourn thy hand averse to bless, In all the bitterness of deep distress. Bc present, Goddess, to thy vot'ry kind, And give abundance with benignant mind.

(138) For the Goddess bringeth forth the Vast Sun, and the lucent Moon.