Return to Cauldron Home Page

Please donate now to pay our monthly server fees:
Donate to The Cauldron
[More Info]

Community Menu
Community Home

Message Board
Board Home
Board Rules
Board Extras:
   Arcade
   Calendar
   Links

CauldronMUX [Client]
Sister Forums:
   Asatru Lore

Menu

Home
Site Info & Rules
Site Archives
Volunteers Needed
Advertise Here

Pagan Supplies
Buy Pagan Books
Buy Pagan Supplies

Books & Media
Books Home
Games Home
Music: Free | Pagan
Online Books
Pagan Book Browser
Reviews:
   Academic Books
   Divination Decks
   Fiction Books
   Pagan Books
   Speculative Books
   DVD & Videotape
Submit Review

Pagan Features
Article Library
Auctions
Chat Log Index
File Library
Humor
Lessons
Pagan Holidays
Pagan Primer
Pagan Rituals
Pagan Supplies
Pagan Youth
Polls
Reconstructionism
Spell Grimoire [Blog]
Web Resources

Pagan Living
Cauldron Cookbook
Take Political Action

Newsletter
Back Issues
Subscribe

Other Features
eCauldronMail
Greeting Cards
Syndicated Articles
World News/Opinion

Shopping
Cheap Web Hosting
Doxy's Bazaar
Witchcraft Course
Zazzle

Old Indexes
Article Index
Webcrafting Index

Network Sites
Cauldron and Candle
Cauldron's Grimoire
RetroRoleplaying
RetroRoleplaying: The Blog
Software Gadgets
The Terran Empire

Site Search
Google
Entire Web
The Cauldron

Member - Pagan Forum Alliance
Charter Member

Get Firefox! While this web site is designed to work in all major browsers, we recommend Firefox.

This site hosted on
a Linode VPS
Formerly hosted by

Why Use Dreamhost?

Site copyright
© 1998-2009
by Randall

Home > Reconstructionism > Greek/Hellenic > Daily Devotions Search

Daily Devotions with the Orphic Hymns
by Drew Campbell

 

Pagan-Friendly Hosting

5000MB and 400GB for $7.95 a month!
Dreamhost
- Read Why

5000MB and 400GB for $7.95 a month!
Lunar Pages

More Choices? See the
Cheap Web Hosting Report

"...propitiate the gods with libations and sacrifices, when you go to bed and at the coming of holy day, that toward you they might have a propitious heart and mind" - Hesiod, Works and Days

This modern system of daily devotions blends material from two sources: Hesiod's sacred month, as described in his Works and Days, and the Orphic Hymns. Although the theology of the Orphic Hymns is sometimes at odds with the more mainstream beliefs of the polis, using the collection has the advantage that every major divinity, and many minor ones, will be honored during the month. Other hymns may of course be substituted at the individual's discretion. The numbers given for the hymns correspond to those in Apostolos N. Athanassakis, The Orphic Hymns: Text, Translation and Notes (n.p.: Scholars Press, 1977). Numbering conventions differ slightly between editions, so if you are using any edition of the hymns other than the Athanassakis, please refer to this page to help match up your edition's hymn numbers with those used on this site.

Thomas Taylor's 1792 translation of the hymns is available online, free and in its entirety, at the Internet Sacred Texts Archive.

Morning and Evening Devotions

Morning

Wash hands and face
Light lamp or candle
Hymn to Hestia (#84)
Light incense
Hymn to Eos (#78)
Hymn to Helios (#8)
Hymn(s) to special god/dess(es) of the day (see chart)
Additional hymns as desired (see chart)
Pour libation
Make personal supplications and thanksgivings
"Orpheus to Mousaios" (pp. 2-5)
Extinguish lamp or candle

Evening

Wash hands and face
Light lamp or candle
Hymn to Hestia (#84)
Light incense
Hymn to Nyx (#3)
Hymn to Selene (#9)
Hymn to the Stars (#7)
Hymn(s) to patron/matron god/desses
Hymn to Sleep (#85)
Hymn to Dream (#86)
Pour libation
Make personal supplications and thanksgivings
Hymn to Zeus (#15)
Extinguish lamp or candle

A shortened version of the devotions may be done by simply lighting a candle, reading "Orpheus to Mousaios," saying any personal prayers, and extinguishing the candle.

Monthly Hymn Cycle

1 · Noumenia; Apollon
34, 76
2 73, 20
3 · Athena 32, 33
4 · Hermes, Aphrodite, Eros 28, 55, 56, 60, 58, 6
5 · Horkos 59, 61, 62, 69, 70
6 · Artemis 36, 2, 35, 72
7 · Apollon 34, 76
8 · Holy; Poseidon, Asklepios 17, 83, 67, 68
9 · Holy 30, 42, 44
10 · Holy 26, 11, 51, 43
11 4, 5, 10, 21
12 40, 41, 27
13 · Athena 32, 33
14 13, 14, 37
15 · Horkos 59, 63, 64, 69, 70
16 · Artemis 36, 2, 35, 72
17 45, 46, 47
18 16, 19, 66
19 12, 65, 38
20 · Apollon 34, 76
21 48, 49, 50
22 31, 39
23 · Athena 32, 33
24 52, 53, 54
25 · Horkos 59, 69, 70
26 74, 75
27 22, 23, 24, 25
28 77, 79
29 80, 81, 82
30 · or Last Day; Hekate and the dead 1, 57, 87, 18, 29, 71


Notes on chart:

(1) Days mentioned by Hesiod as sacred to specific deities are marked.
(2) Horkos is the god (or, if you like, personification) of Oath. Days sacred to this deity are considered difficult.
(3) As the lunar calendar months range between 29 and 30 days in the Greek reckoning, it may be necessary in short months to recite all the hymns for both day 29 and day 30 on the day of the dark moon. As the last day of the month is sacred to Hekate, Her hymn should always be included.

About Incense

The Orphic Hymns specify particular types of incense to be offered to each deity. In cases where one is saying multiple hymns with differing instructions, one might either choose a single type or make a blend of all those indicated. Pure frankincense makes a good all-purpose offertory incense.

The incense specifications from the Orphic text are as follows:

Frankincense: Apollon, Ares, Artemis, Asklepios, Bakkhai, Dike, Eos, Hephaistos, Herakles, Hermes, Hygeia, Kouretes, Muses, Nike, Satyros, Silenos, Tethys, Themis, Titans

Myrrh: Leto, Nereus, Poseidon

Storax: Chthonic Hermes, Dionysos, Eleusinian Demeter, Erinues (also frankincense), Graces, Kronos, Semele, Zeus

Aromatic Herbs: Adonis, Athena, Eros, Eumenides, Fates, Hera, Hestia, Horai, Nereids, Nymphs, Okeanos, Rhea

Various: Mother of the Gods, Pan, Chthonic Dionysos (any except frankincense), Gaia (any grain; no beans or aromatic herbs)

No Incense (underworld deities): Hekate, Nemesis, Persephone, Plouton


This article originally appeared on Andrew Campbell's Nomos Arkhaios site which is currently on hiatus.
This article is copyright © 2000-2003 by Andrew Campbell and is reprinted here with permission.


Top | Home | Message Board | Site Info & Rules | Report Site Problems
Thanks to Cauldron Sponsors
(Sponsor The Cauldron!)

Cheap Web Hosting Report | Pagan & Magick Supplies
Witchcraft Course
Download Hundreds of Magic Spells