![]() ![]() Annibale Carracci’s Ulysses and Circe (c. 1590) at Farnese Palace, RomeĪmong his attributes he possesses a fairy wand, an instrument of power, an ancient prerogative of the gods but its greatest magic is the metamorphosis it is able to carry out on human nature, the alchemical knowledge exercised on the matter. Around her, in the temple of an ancient mother goddess or a “lady of the beasts”, wild animals roam, tamed like dogs, subject to the magical song of their mistress. Order the threads of chaos, weave destinies in the ancient work of creation. And on that island, if you are lucky enough to find it, you die and then rise again.Ĭirce weaves a large canvas: this is how Ulysses’ companions find it when they cross the threshold of his home. His island is an afterlife: it is necessary to pass through the lands of the dead if you are looking for immortality. In this enchanted place, driven by dark forces, the Hero is guided by the female soul towards a deeper understanding of existence. She lives surrounded by the primordial element of life, water, in the solitude of an island that is also a virtual omphalos, a center from which to observe the world, on the edge of known geography.Ī remote and inaccessible existence, his incubation of magical and herbal knowledge. Helios, then Apollo, proclaims his power over the most ancient female divinities, but his still remains adoptive paternity: in Circe’s nature, distant, forgotten inheritances continue to prevail, shadows that eclipse the dazzling brightness of the sun.Ī List of 3 Deities That are Associated with Sun Yet, when the Hellenic universe erupts into the Mediterranean cultural scenario, Circe is swallowed up in the dynasty of Helios, the Sun, who appropriates the ancient functions by incorporating it not without contradictions into the embrace of the new solar religion. The goddess who traces the dynamic becoming of the moon in her recurring epiphanies, in the incessant succession of birth, growth, and decline, and is a virgin, wife and mother, an old man.Ī List of 5 Deities Associated with the Moon Of the primitive nature of goddess, priestess, and shaman, Circe retains the typical characteristics: dominion over animals and vegetation, pharmaceutical knowledge, the art of magical weaving, the power to transform.Ĭirce is an adept of Hecate, who is a teacher of magic and a lunar patroness of the dark arts: a divinity linked to cyclicality, fertility, the sphere of generation. You can buy it on Amazon US and Amazon UK An archetype that emerges from the wild world of an archaic divine female, whose symbols she guards and passes on and as in all transitional figures, its specific figure is an ambivalence to be explored through its contradictions. When we meet Circe in the pages of the Odyssey, we encounter an archetype in transformation. There is, therefore a fairly clear division of roles: the man is a soothsayer and a prophet, while the woman is a sorceress. It is also important to note that women exclusively use magic in Greek myth. ![]() The episode constitutes the widest concession to the magical world found in Homer: in fact, magic is generally not present in epic tales, as it is an archaic element. ![]() Thus, he can penetrate the sorceress’s house and render it harmless. Odysseus goes to their rescue and in the forest, he meets the god Hermes, who makes him immune to magic. Odysseus divides his companions into two groups and sends one out to explore, but they fall victim to Circe’s spells that transform them into pigs. The Homeric Circe is rich in the charm of ambiguities: a terrible goddess, a woman with a clear voice, a sorceress with many drugs. ![]() Circe and Her Lovers in a Landscape Edit. Homer calls her a goddess and describes her home in Eea, the island of Alba, as a beautiful palace that stood in the middle of a dense forest all around the house lions and wolves, victims of Circe’s magical arts, terrified visitors. She transformed her enemies and all those who offended her into animals. How do you know that Circe is calling you?Ĭirce was a sorceress with many and extraordinary powers who lived on the island of Eea, later identified by some authors with Circeo on the west coast of Italy. ![]()
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