Pandemoniac Pages

Friday, June 13, 2014

CIRCE

CIRCE
"He drew his sword and spake harsh word 
To Circe standing there 
"My men set free", in wrath quoth he 
"Thy damage quick repair"!!!"
H.P. Lovecraft, The Poem Of Ulysses

"Kirke, a goddess with braided hair, with human speech and with strange powers;"

"Having given them this and waited for them to have their fill, she struck them suddenly with her wand, then drove them into the sties where she kept her swine. And now the men had the form of swine--the snout and grunt and bristles; only their minds were left unchanged. They shed tears as they were shut in, while Kirke threw down in front of them some acorns and mast and cornel--daily fare for swine whose lodging is on the ground."
Homer, Odyssey

"She sprinkled round about her evil drugs and poisonous essences, and out of Erebos and Chaos called Nox and the Di Noties and poured a prayer with long-drawn wailing cries to Hecate. The woods  leapt away, a groan came from the ground, the bushes blanched, the spattered sward was soaked with gouts of blood, stones brayed and bellowed, dogs began to bark, black snakes swarmed on the soil and ghostly shapes of silent spirits floated through the air. Stunned by such magic sorcery, the group of courtiers stood aghast; and as they gazed, she touched their faces with her poisoned wand, and at its touch each took the magic form of some wild beast; none kept his proper shape."
Ovid, Metamorphoses

"She was skilled in the magic of metamorphosis, the power of illusion, and the dark art of necromancy."
Aaron J. Atsma, The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology


No comments:

Post a Comment