“the youth of Lacedaemon in Sparta made due sacrifice” (all about flogging really!)

This is the second in a series of blogs in which I am providing detailed analysis of the CHARGE OF THE GODDESS.    What follows is an extract from Chapter 11 “Adore the Spirit of Me” in the book “Wicca Magickal Beginnings” which I co-authored with David Rankine and which includes a full analysis of the entire text, together with research on the origins of all the various component parts found in Wicca.

The line which is the subject of this blog is the first line spoken by the High Priestess of the Charge during the ceremony.  It is sometimes omitted by practitioners who have long realised that the line is obviously incorrect, or in some instances adapted to something which at least makes sense.  As this is a discussion on the historical origins, we stuck to the original for the sake of the discussion as it is still being reproduced and still being used by some.

By understanding the context of the words we speak in ritual and its origins, we can gain a deeper understanding of the rites we perform.  If you have something you wish to add to this discussion, your own ideas, experiences or maybe something we missed – feel free to add your views to the original blog which is at http://www.sorita.co.uk/?p=914 (all posts drawing from the analysis of the Charge of the Goddess in Wicca Magickal Beginnings will be tagged as “Charge Analysis” which should make it easier for you to find)

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“High Priestess: At mine Altars the youth of Lacedaemon in Sparta made due sacrifice.”

Interestingly here, we find that Gardner wrote in Witchcraft Today “At mine altars the youth in Lacedaemon made due sacrifice”. However, it is noteworthy that in Gardner’s rendition of it there, he at least omitted a rather obtuse error in this first line of this version of the Charge, but of course we don’t know whether this was an accidental mistake or a deliberate omission in an effort to not reveal too much of the prose.

So what is wrong with this statement?  Put simply the geography is all wrong.  Sparta was a city in Lacedaemon, not the other way around, this statement is like saying England is in London or America is in New York!  Then there is an apparent contradiction with the line “Nor do I demand aught in sacrifice….” which is found later in the same version of this Charge. So, whilst the goddess seems to be saying that sacrifice was made, she is also saying that she demands no sacrifice now!  This is probably a side effect of the use of literature from a number of sources and the conflation of the myths of a variety of goddesses to represent the words spoken by one, or it could indicate a change of position on the part of the goddess, or her worshippers!

The reference to the ‘youth of Sparta,’ is to the ritual flogging which took place at the altars of the goddess Artemis Orthia (“Artemis of the steep”) during the Roman period.  As part of the rites, young boys would be scourged on Artemis’ altar until it was smeared with their blood, being both their ritual purification and their sacrifice to this virgin huntress.

The origins of this rather grim ceremony are believed to have come from the discovery of an image of Artemis Orthia which had been lost from a temple for some time before being rediscovered.  Two Spartan warriors, Astrabakos and Alopekos, discovered it and upon doing so immediately went completely insane.  Following this a temple was erected around the rediscovered statue in honour of Artemis and through doing so the goddess was temporarily propitiated.  However, during a sacrifice taking place on the altar, rival groups of Limnatians, Kynosourians and Mesoans got themselves into a brawl and as a result many of them were killed on and around the altar.  Artemis, not known for forgiveness, decided to kill the rest of those involved through disease as a punishment for defiling her temple.

The Spartan people made desperate appeals to an oracle for advice on what to do and were told that the only way to stop the disease was to stain the altar with human blood as an offering to Artemis.  For many years they offered human sacrifices at the altar (the sacrifice being chosen by lot) until this practice was eventually substituted with that of the whipping of young prepubescent boys.  The boys were scourged until enough blood had been produced to stain the altar anew and thus ensured another period of peace with the goddess. During the scourging a priestess would hold a light wooden image of the goddess with which she would be able to tell if the men who were doing the scourging were slacking on the amount or the severity of the blows given to the boys based on beauty or rank.  If the statue grew heavy it was due to the men slacking and the priestess would chastise those doing the whipping to ensure that Artemis’ offerings were made correctly and appropriately.

As an interesting aside, flogging is a theme which recurs in the worship of the goddess Artemis.  It also played a part in the cheese-stealing rituals recorded by Xenophon in Lakedaimonion Politeia in the fifth/fourth century BCE.  Here two groups of young men would contest a piece of cheese which was placed on the altar of Artemis.  The first group defended the cheese with whips, whilst the other group had to try and steal it.  Though there is no direct connection here with sacrifice, which is clearly indicated in the example of Artemis Orthia, it may be that this was another variation of a similar rite as those being scourged would undoubtedly bleed onto the altar, making a blood sacrifice as part of the ceremonial goings on.

The use of the scourge in an ancient ceremony was well exemplified by the frequently quoted Roman festival of Lupercalia, where young men clad in skins would rush around beating people with strips of goatskin, which was believed to promote fertility and easy childbirth.  However this does not really bear much resemblance to the use of the scourge in the Wiccan tradition.  In medieval times the scourge was described as being used frequently for punishment of witches.  One such example is seen in Murray’s The God of the Witches:

“The accused escaped with her life, but her sentence was, ‘To be scourged from the end of said town to the other.  And thereafter to be banished from the country’.”

Another common suggestion is the claim that the Knights Templar used scourging, a reference Gardner himself makes in his works.  Whether they did or not, there is certainly a well-documented history of self-flagellation within the Christian church as a means of ’purification’, so this is a much more likely source of the magickal beginnings of using the scourge to be “properly prepared”.

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If you want to read more, see the book Wicca Magickal Beginnings (ISBN  978-1-905297-15-3)  by Sorita d’Este and David Rankine.  See   http://avaloniabooks.co.uk/catalogue/titles/wicca_mb.htm for more information.

If you would like to add your comments, opinions or additional ideas to this article please do so on my website, where it will be available for others to read in future:  http://www.sorita.co.uk/?p=895

(c) 2010 Sorita d’Este.  This blog was written by Sorita d’Este for www.sorita.co.uk, allrights reserved.

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Blood on Her Altar

The idea that Artemis was only worshipped by women in the ancient world, which is a common one amongst modern pagans, is simply not true.  Men often played a role in ceremonies honouring her, though in a very different way and for different reasons from women.

In Sparta during the Roman period, young men had to undergo severe flogging on the altar of Artemis Orthia, the scourging would continue until the entire altar was covered in their blood.  This ritual flogging was known as diamnastigosis   (from diamastigô - ”to whip harshly”), and was a test endurance through which the men had to demonstrate their willingness and worthiness to be devotees and warriors fighting in the name this goddess.  

This particular ceremony is believed to have its origins in the discovery of the image of Artemis Orthia which was lost from a temple and then subsequently rediscovered.  The statue was found by two Spartan warriors, Astrabakos and Alopekos, who went insane when they found the statue.  The statue was then replaced in the temple, an altar set up and Artemis temporarily propitiated.  Then at a sacrifice honouring Artemis at this icon, groups of Limnatians, Kynosourians and Mesoans got into a quarrel, which developed into a fight during which several of the men were killed at the altar.  The Goddess was furious and killed the remaining men through a disease! 

The disease started spreading and the Spartans were understandably concerned and therefore consulted with an Oracle.  They were told that the only way in which they could appease Artemis and thereby prevent further spread of the disease would be to stain her altar with human blood.  Initially this took the form of human sacrifice on the altar, with the blood of the sacrifice being smeared on the altar.  But it was eventually substituted with the ceremonial scourging of young men as part of their coming of age, journey into manhood.   During the scourging a Priestess would hold the wooden image of Atemis, and if the image became heavy to her, it meant that the men scourging the boys were giving favour to a boy, maybe because of the rank of the child or because of his beauty.  If this happened then the Priestess would chastise the scourgers and make sure that the boy in question is scourged properly.

This combined with the use of ritual flogging as described by Xenophon as I discussed in my blog of yesterday and the mock sacrifice at the temple of Artemis Tauropolos in Attica demonstrate examples of where men were very much the centre of ceremonies honouring Artemis. 

As always I would love to hear your thoughts on this practice, you can respond here or at the original blog www.sorita.co.uk

For more info see: ARTEMIS Virgin Goddess of the Sun & Moon