Girls, Gods and Trance

“Shivering, they say, my face did change to something less than mortal, yet more mighty and beautiful than my corporeal form.  Taller they say I stood with a voice which was not quite my own.  I simply gave myself wholly and gave myself utterly over to the words and inspriation of Leto’s glorious son.”
(Bolina Oceanus, in her essay “For Lo! Apollo is within me” published in Priestesses, Pythonesses & Sibyls)

My previous two blogs looked a little at the Goddess Artemis and how she was venerated by men, something which is often overlooked by those who are reinstating the worship of the old gods today.  Likewise, the worship of her twin brother Apollo provides us with some interesting challenges to modern perceptions of gender within a spiritual and magical setting.  In modern practices it is more often a female Priestess who will open herself up to an invocation of a Goddess into her for the purposes of trance and oracular work.  It is still considered rather avant-garde in some circles for a woman to open herself up for possession by a God (or indeed for a male Priest to have a female Goddess invoked into him).   But why should such a thing be considered innovative today when one of the most famous oracles of the ancient world involved the possession of a Priestess by a male God for the purposes of prophesy?

The Oracle of Delphi was home to the cult of Apollo, twin brother to the goddess Artemis.  These two deities were born to the goddess Leto, through a union with the king of the gods Zeus.  The story of their birth is one an epic one.  Leto is impregnated by Zeus, who is of course married to Hera, goddess of marriage, who was not at all pleased with the news that her husband was to father children with another goddess (yet again, as Zeus often got himself into trouble for fathering children with both mortals and gods!).   She forbade Leto to give birth on solid land and wherever the pregnant goddess went she was made to move on and denied the right to rest and give birth to her children.  In one version of the story Hera instructs the Python of Delphi, a giant serpent, to chase Leto and prevent her from getting rest.  In the end she finds refuge on the floating island of Delos, believed to have once been the body of the star goddess Asteria (sister of Leto) when she, in an effort to escape the advances of Zeus, flung herself into the ocean.  In alternative version we are told that Asteria was turned into a quail by Zeus, when she flung herself into the ocean, or that Zeus helped Leto by turning her into a quail so that she could reach Delos more easily.  Either way, the quail seems to be a key theme in this myth.

When Artemis is born, she then (as she is a god, of course) helps her mother to birth her brother Apollo – and the two would always remain absolutely loyal to each other and to their mother.  As soon as they reached adulthood, they started the process of killing many of those who brought dishonour upon their mother when she was looking for a place to rest and give birth to them.  The first to suffer at their wrath was the Python of Delphi, who had been guarding the oracle there for many years.   The Python, described as a giant serpent or dragon like creature was slayed by the arrows of the twins and Apollo took over the shrine at Delphi, and became the God of the Oracle.

It was said of the Oracle:

“The oracle at Delphi never would have been so much frequented, so famous, and so crowded with offerings from peoples and kings of every land, if all ages had not tested the truth of its prophesies.” (Cicero, On Divination)

In her essay “The Pythia”  Caroline Tully wrote that:~

“A regular Greek priestess’ sphere of influence reached only as far as the temenos walls of her sanctuary.  The authority of the Pythia, or the Priestess of the Delphic Apollo, on the other hand extended much further into areas such as religion, politics, warfare and overseas colonisation.  This was unusual not only for a priestess, but for a woman in what was predominantly patriarchal ancient Greece”.
(Caroline Tully, from The Pythia, published in Priestesses, Pythonesses & Sibyls)

It is clear from these examples that the Oracle of Apollo in Delphi was a very important one, and that it held a lot of power, and that likewise women who held the office of Pythia there, were valued and honoured members of society, whose position gave them a high office in many affairs.  What however is interesting and something I personally believe modern Pagans who do trance work with the gods might wish to take notice of is that arguably the most famous of the oracular priestesses of the ancient world gained their prophesy from a Apollo, a male god.  This was not considered unusual at all in the ancient world and there are examples which illustrate that the pythia did not just speak ‘for’ Apollo, but was actually speaking ‘as’ Apollo:

“The Pythia not only spoke for Apollo, as other priestesses might presume to do for the deities they served, but spoke as Apollo.  Ancient authors believed that she was fully capable for channelling Apollo’s words…”
(Caroline Tully, from The Pythia, published in Priestesses, Pythonesses & Sibyls)

What is described in terms of history and academic research by Caroline Tully, is described in modern experiential terms by modern day Priestess of Apollo, Bolina Oceanus when she wrote in the same anthology:
 

“Becoming a Priestess for Apollo and allowing him to speak through me has allowed me to be free in ways I never expected I could be, but with it I have also been given a great responsibility.  I have to speak his words and I am not allowed to interpret them for others…

I have worked in groups where it was my role to assume the form of a Goddess and enjoyed those rites greatly, though I often found that something was missing or not quite right.  It was only when I first experienced Apollo speaking through me that I gave the matter much thought and realised some very obvious things.  in the ancient magickal and religious practices there were always specific deities who had associations with prophecy, whilst others had specific associations with for example agriculture, love, war or wealth.  This makes for an interesting point to consider, is it all that polite (or for that matter safe!) to invoke deities into ourselves who have no interest in prophesy?)”

(Bolina Oceanus, in her essay “For Lo! Apollo is within me” published in Priestesses, Pythonesses & Sibyls)

So, how do you decide which deities you will allow to possess you for the sake of oracular work?  And how do you test your results?

The Temple of Apollo

 This blog was originally posted to www.sorita.co.uk and is (c) Sorita d’Este 2010

The Swans and Goldfinches of Artemis

I was reminded of the strong connection between the goddess Artemis and birds this morning, especially swans which were sacred to her brother Apollo and goldfinches, which were sacred to Artemis.  In the play “The Birds” by Aristophanes the goldfinch is associated with Artemis, where the Priest says: “Pray to the swan of Delos (Apollo), to Latona the mother of quails (Leto, their mother), and to Artemis, the goldfinch”.  Artemis is also shown feeding a swan on a vase image dating to the 5th century BCE.

Having spotted both these birds this morning I feel rather chuffed, but also reminded of the work I did a few years back researching for “Artemis Virgin Goddess of the Sun & Moon“; after the recent publication of “Hekate Liminal Rites” which in a roundabout way was the reason that I also wrote on Artemis.  Both these ancient Greek Goddesses are misrpresented so often, to different extremes.  Where as Hekate usually suffers from a very distorted “evil old crone” image; Artemis suffers in the opposite direction, where she is usually made out to be nothing but a “happy go lucky moon goddess with a bow and arrow”!

When you gaze a little beyond the surface however, just like with Hekate were we find that she is in fact a Goddess of light, who is given titles such as “lightbearer”; “world soul” and “companion” – illustrating her benevolent nature.  So too Artemis who has many positive ephitets hinting at goodness such as “golden throned” and “fairest and most beautiful” and “of good repute”, “the leader” – however, she also has titles and stories associated with her clearly showing her malevolent and much darker side.  She is “delighter in arrows” , “golden sworded”, “the strangled lady” and “the thunderer”.  Some examples of Artemis’ nature are hinted at even more clearly when one examines the myths and reasons for it being given, rather than just looking at the lists.  For example:

Artemis Skythia:
This title is used for Artemis in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, here he describes the ritual scourging that was done in honour of Artemis.  Scourging of course is still used in many modern magical and pagan traditions, the best known example being that of Gardnerian Wicca.  However, the use of the scourge in these modern traditions are often symbolic and it is not generally used with the intention of causing pain.  For the Goddess Artemis this would not have sufficed, because the scourging that was done in her honour was done until blood was flowing freely and the blood from the wounds wound then be smeared over her altars.    Gory as it sounds, this was a replacement for human sacrifice which was also known to happen in honour of this (and many other) goddess, and it was a well known practice at Skythoi previous to this practice of scourging, which was considered to be less babarian!

I will write more about Artemis in future, because I have discovered so much more about this fascinating Goddess over the years since completing Artemis Virgin Goddess of the Sun and Moon, and I am certain that there is still a great deal more to discover.  There are so many interconnections also between Artemis and her cousin Hekate, that I may have no choice!

Enjoy your Tuesday!