Showing posts with label greek mythology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label greek mythology. Show all posts

Tuesday, 20 May 2025

Oedipus’ Mom (to the tune of Stacey's Mom)

Oedipus’ mom has got it goin’ on
Oedipus’ mom has got it goin’ on
Oedipus’ mom has got it goin’ on
Oedipus’ mom has got it goin’ on

Oedipus, did you slay that Sphinx today
(The Sphinx today)
olved the rddle and saved Thebes upon the way
(Saved the day)
Did you know that the Queen was up for grabs?
(Up for grabs)
But that prophecy thing was kind of drab
(Yeah, a bit of a drab)

Friday, 4 April 2025

The Birth of the Cosmos: A Tale of Divine Forces

The Birth of the Cosmos: A Tale of Divine Forces

Before time had a name, before space held form, there was Ananke. She was the embodiment of inevitability, a force so fundamental that even the laws of physics bowed to her will. Ananke was not a being but the essence of existence itself, a paradox neither alive nor dead, neither light nor dark. From her infinite, unyielding nature sprang Chaos, the primordial void. Chaos was the Singularity, an infinite expanse of potential where nothing yet existed but from which all things would emerge.

From the stillness of Chaos, the first whispers of creation stirred. Gaia, the Earth, arose. She was the embodiment of matter, sculpted from the fabric of the void. Gaia was the bedrock of existence, the fertile soil from which worlds would grow, the solid ground beneath the chaos of becoming.

Her counterpart, Tartarus, emerged as a vast and terrifying force, the black holes of the cosmos. Tartarus was the abyss, the consuming maw of darkness that defined the universe’s boundaries. He was the enforcer of limits, ensuring that creation did not spill unchecked into oblivion.

Bakkhai on the Storm - A Radio Play (Euripides' The Bakkhai as put to the music of The Doors)

 

Bakkhai on the Storm

SCENE 1

(Darkness. A faint, crackling hum, like an old radio tuning in. The sound of wind, distant and whispering.)

DIONYSUS (whispering, distant at first, then growing closer):
Is everybody in?
Is everybody in?
(A pause. The organ hum deepens, a faint heartbeat joins it.)
The ceremony is about to begin...

(The hiss of static, voices murmuring, overlapping, neon lights buzzing to life)

DIONYSUS (soft, eerie):
The face in the mirror won’t stop.
The girl behind won’t disappear.
The phone is dead, the voice in the next room fades...

(Distant, distorted voices whisper incomprehensible phrases. The sound of a match striking. A sudden whoosh, fire igniting.)

Strange gods are coming... Savage heads, wild-eyed...

(A deep rumble, the crackle of fire, a distant, crowd cheering, chanting, laughing wildly.)

Monday, 3 March 2014

Fervour Ekstasis




A whisper, like ivy tendrils
Caresses my mind
And makes me shiver.

I see the God in his eyes,
Smell Him in his sweat,
Taste Him on his skin.

I feel Him in his fingers.
My sight turns to mist
And drum beats echo from far away.

I slip, slide from his embrace 
And fall into His
Through smoke and wine and madness.

In frenzy, I feel the need to scream,
To dance, to roar – We are lions! –
The need to tear flesh and wash it down with blood.

I fall from myself
Deeper and madder and to a darker place;
I fall into silence.

I fall before Him,
Desire set upon the altar of my flesh;
My thoughts of Him alone.

My obsession, my dream, my Muse-man.
In bondage to His glorious call
I drink of His inspiration -

Fill me, O God, with Your heat
And when the flames consume me
Lead me to be reborn. 



Fridge Magnet Anthesteria







You whisper;
       And I -
Joy drunk,
Fall from your mad embrace
Through milk and honey and warm ecstasy.
My blood trembles
And fevered visions flood from your fierce worship

Prayer to the Muses




Sisters of the spoken word
Ladies of all artistry
Nymphs of Mind who ride ones thoughts
Who give and offer, tease and taunt
Born of storm and memory

I call thee Ladies, to inspire
The graceful, glorious, gifted Nine
I Name thee Muses and call ye forth
To imbue my Craft with creative force
To give shape to what I can’t define

A Dream of Apollon



I dreamt last night,
Of hazel eyes
And the smell of bay leaves burning.

You knelt above me
Music in your touch
Playing upon me like on the strings of a lyre.

Blazing like the sun,
Your golden gaze drew me forward
Like a bloom searching for heat.

You tasted of honey,
Parting my lips with your tongue
And setting my flesh aflame with your kiss.

I dreamt of you,
Lying with me in a noon-warmed field,
As sunlight chased patterns over our glistening skin.

I dreamt of you
And woke with the warmth of sunshine
Clinging to my spirit

Medusa, My Love




My Lady of the oceans' steep
High cliffs;
Those built up with
The bones of all who've
Looked upon and seen
Thy face alight and shining bright
With terror,
Beautiful and fair;
And whose eyes that hold
Reflections now of me.
I stare as though, I've turned to stone
Enthralled;
In thrall to thee
I give myself, breath and soul
To thee in offering.
And offer forth my life, my flesh
My joy and suffering,
To gaze from now
To the end of time
Upon thy mystery.

A Prayer to Dionysus



Dionusos, send your blessing
Relieve me of my mortal pains
Fill me with your healing madness
Before I drive myself insane

Blessed Bakkhus, bring oblivion
Let me sleep a dream-filled sleep
Send your wisdom-laden liquid
To drag me down into the deep

Eleuthereus, emancipator
Relax my body and my mind
Fill my lungs up with your visions
Show me what I need to find

Nyktipolos who prowls the night
Drown out my hurt with ecstasy
Through lust and pain and violent loving
Set my mind and spirit free

Kharidotes – who brings grace
Inspire me in words and rhyme
Ease the passage of my thoughts
And turn them into flowing lines

Dionusos send your blessings
Let me see with mystic sight
Let me wander in your shadows
Until I’m ready for the light


Storm Crossed




(a poem for Zeus)

A deep-throated rumble stirs the heavens
And with a nod, the earth shakes
His storm grey gaze summons me
And I surrender.
I fall, as so many before me have
Into love, lightning-quick.
My will, my reason,
Brushed away by the barest hint of his lips against mine. 

Hellenic Prayer Beads and Prayers for Each of the Gods Represented



This is my set of prayer beads; each bead represents a deity in the Hellenic pantheon (and Inanna, who is Sumerian).


This is which deity each bead represents, starting with the bead symbolizing Hestia (Hestia,is always the first and the last)




Dionysus



Though known primarily as the god of grapes and wine, Dionysus or Dionusos is a god of many functions and forms.  He is the (semi-) respectable patron of the theatre and actors, as Greek drama developed out of the masked rituals and celebrations in which his life was acted out by and for his followers.  (In fact a mask was often used as an idol for this god, carved out of vine or fig wood).  In this guise Dionusos is a god of civilization and peace and community.   Dionusos is also the effeminate yet phallic, savage mystery-god who leads his followers – the wild maenads (the ‘raging ones’) – in blood thirsty festivals, ripping animals to pieces with their bare hands and dancing all night within the flames.  Dionusos is also a fertility god, worshiped along side Demeter; where she is the solid, receptive force of nature he is the liquid, active aspect.  Dionusos is a divine saviour who dies for mankind and is reborn, and through eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood humanity is granted eternal life in paradise.  Dionusos presides over communication with the dead, over euphoria, insanity, fear, liberation and intoxication.  Dionusos releases from the mundane and allows the breaking of society’s rules and through his intoxicating possession he grants his followers the ability to perceive the world from a divine point of view. 

Athene



Athene, favourite child of Zeus is the goddess of wisdom and wits and cunning, of war and warriors and of invention and homecrafts.  Athene was the weaver of the gods as well and took great pride in her skills and abilities even punishing mortals who had the hubris to compare their work to her own.  Athene also is credited with many inventions that ease the work necessary for survival, including the bridle, trumpet, flute, pottery, the rake, the plow, the yoke, the ship, and the chariot.

Aphrodite




Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, is possibly the most well known and most worshiped of all the Greek deities.  There are two stories of her birth, the first calls her the child of Zeus and Dione, the second a foam-born child of the surging sea and the severed genitals of Ouranos – the heavens.  Aphrodite’s cult began around 12-800 BCE, the child-of-Dione tradition is present in Homer (c. 800) and perhaps is the original story of her birth as understood by the Greeks.  But as exposure to the older cultures of the near-east increased Aphrodite seems to have been greatly influenced by the powerful goddesses who ruled there and began to acquire some of their titles and events of their own myths.

Ares



Ares, handsome and cruel, often depicted carrying a bloodstained spear or sitting upon a throne in Olympos that was covered in the skin of men he had slain in battle was the god of war, raw masculinity and warlike frenzy.   Though counted among the ruling council of the gods, he had a very poor reputation among the Olympians and the ancient Greeks. Worshiped in places such as Sparta and Thrake, Thessalia and Thesprotia, he was hated by many of the city-states because of the blood lust and slaughter that he brought to mankind as he rode upon his chariot accompanied by Eris the goddess of discord and Enyo, goddess of slaughter

Hephaistos



Called the ugliest of gods, Hephaistos is the god of the forge and fire and patron of craftsmen and was often associated with volcanoes which were seen as great primeval work rooms in which treasures and miraculous devices were created.  In particular Mt. Vesuvius, which devastated Pompeii and Herculaneum, was linked with him. 

Hermes



One of the youngest of the Olympian gods, Hermes is the son of Zeus and the Pleide
Maia (who herself was a daughter of the Titan Atlas).  Hermes is a playful, free spirited god and very much a trickster; he represents the ability to put aside instant gratification for long-term gain.  Hermes was born within a cave in a mountain near Kyllene and as his mother slept after labour, before he was even a day old Hermes snuck from his crib and performed his first theft.  He came across the cattle of Apollon and took a number of the herd and putting boards on their hooves, drove them backwards to his home so that none would be able to follow their tracks.  Helios spied the infant god and reported to Apollon who tracked down the child pretending to sleep and mimicking innocence in his cradle.  Apollon demanded the cattle back but twelve were missing, Hermes had sacrificed one for each of the Olympians (at this time there were only eleven Olympians, Hermes was counting himself as the twelfth).  He had also created the lyre from the shell of a turtle and gut from one of the slaughtered cattle and the music it produced soothed Apollon into forgiveness.  

Artemis



Artemis, the daughter of Zeus and the titaness Leto was worshiped from very early times as the (sometimes winged) goddess of nature, birth, the hunt and all things wild – including young girls.  Later, in classical times was added her association with the moon.  Artemis is the twin sister of Apollon and is one of the few deities of Greek religion who are described by their filial relationships.  Artemis was born two days before her brother on the isle of Ortygia and developed her midwifery skills early in her life helping Leto to deliver Apollon on the isle of Delos.

Apollo



The son of Zeus and the titaness, Leto; Apollo or Apollon is best known as god of the sun, and though he became this in late times (originally it was Helios who was the sun god) that is not what was meant when the ancients called him the lord of light.  Above the temple of Delphi, the seat of the prophetic cult of Apollon were written the words ‘Know Thyself’ and Apollon is the light that seeks out knowledge of the self: deep, rational, true meanings; the light that burns away the shadows and lies and reveals the very core of our Selves. 

Persephone



The maiden of life and the queen of death Persephone is not a true Olympian but as the daughter two Elder Olympians and the wife of a third she is a very powerful and prominent goddess in the ancient Greek religion.  Persephone is the daughter of Zeus (though there are some hints that in earlier, Mykenean times it may have been Poseidon who fathered this goddess) and Demeter – the goddess of the earth’s fertility and distributor of the crops grown from it, though in the Orphic telling of her birth she is the daughter of Rhea who takes the name ‘Demeter’ after giving birth.