O visitor to the Palatine, Feel now thy heart pause in reverent awe, Pacing through the marble vestibule of Magna Mater's sacred Temple, Raised by the offspring of Aeneas, Grateful for Her salvation of Rome!

Her Emblems in the Star-Swept Heavens IMMINET LEONI VIRGO CAELESTI SITV SPICIFERA IVSTI INVENTRIX VRBIVM CONDITRIX EX QVIS MVNERIBVS NOSSE CONTIGIT DEOS: ERGO EADEM MATER DIVVM PAX VIRTVS CYBELE LANCE VITAM ET IVRA PENSITANS

The Virgin in her heavenly place rides upon the Lion! Bearer of wheat, Inventor of law, Founder of cities, by Whose gifts it is mankind's fortune to know the gods: therefore She is the Mother of the gods; Peace! Virtue! Cybele, weighing life and laws in her Balance.

Invocatio Matri Deum Let the sky revolve thrice on its never-resting axis! Let Titan thrice yoke and thrice unyoke his steeds! Straightaway the Berecynthian pipe will blow a blast on its bent horn, and the festival of the Idaean Mother will have come! Gallae will march and thump their hollow drums, and cymbals clashed on cymbals will give forth their tinkling notes! Seated on the necks of Her attendants, the Goddess Herself will be borne with howls through the streets in the city's midst...

SALVE MATER DEVM MAGNA IDAEA SALVE O DEA MAIOR SANCTISSIMA TE PRECOR BONAS PRECES O CYBELE BERECYNTHIA MATER DINDYMENE TE QVAESO IN CVSTODELAM NOS TVAM VTINAM RECIPIAS ET TVTERE TIBI OFFERO HANC ORATIONEM VT DES PACEM PROPITIA SALVTEM ET SANITATEM NOSTRAE FAMILIAE VTI SIS VOLENS PROPITIA NOBIS ET NVNQVAM DESOLES LIBEROS TVOS * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * HARVM RERVM ERGO MACTE HAC LIBATIONE ESTO FITO VOLENTE PROPITIA NOBIS

Hail, Great Idaean Mother of the Gods! Hail, O Most Holy Elder Goddess! I offer Thee fine prayers, O Cybele, Berecynthian Mother Dindymene! Take us under Thy protection That Thou mayest defend us! To Thee I offer this supplication To graciously grant peace, safety, And health to our kindred. May You be willingly propitious to us and never abandon Thy Progeny. if presenting an offering of wine: For these things shall You be honored by this libation. Be Thou willingly propitious to us!

A Homeric Hymn, trans. by P.B.Shelley O Universal Mother, who dost keep From everlasting thy foundations deep, Eldest of things, Great Earth, I sing of thee! All shapes that have their dwelling in the sea, All things that fly, or on the ground divine Live, move, and there are nourished... these are thine; These from thy wealth thou dost sustain; from thee Fair babes are born, and fruits on every tree Hang ripe and large, revered Divinity! The life of mortal men beneath thy sway Is held; thy power both gives and takes away! Happy are they whom thy mild favors nourish; All things unstinted round them grow and flourish. For them, endures the life-sustaining field Its load of harvest, and their cattle yield Large increase, and their house with wealth is filled. Such honoured dwell in cities fair and free, The homes of lovely women, prosperously; Their sons exult in youth's new budding gladness, And their fresh daughters free from care or sadness, With bloom-inwoven dance and happy song, On the soft flowers the meadow-grass among, Leap round them sporting... such delights by thee Are given, rich Power, revered Divinity. Mother of Gods, thou Wife of starry Heaven, Farewell! be thou propitious, and be given A happy life for this brief melody, Nor thou nor other songs shall unremembered be.

* MATRI DEVM SALVTARI * Nature's Mother, who bringeth all to life, and revives all from day to day! The food of life Thou grantest in eternal fidelity! ...And when the soul hath retired, we take refuge in Thee. All that Thou grantest falls back to Thy Womb. Rightly Thou art called the Mother of the Gods because by Thy loyalty, Thou hast conquered the power of the Gods. Verily Thou art also the Mother of the peoples and the Gods. Without Thee, nothing can thrive nor be. Thou art powerful; Of the Gods Thou art the Queen and also the Goddess. Thee, Goddess, and Thy Power I now invoke. Thou canst easily grant me all that I ask, and in exchange I will give Thee, Goddess, sincere thanks! From the earth, everything raises. To the earth everything returns. Hail, Great Mistress, Mother of Olympus!

* MATRI DEVM MAGNÆ IDÆÆ * O Divine Mother! Creatrix of both atoms and stars! Thou hast sung the Eternal Chord That brought all reality into being, And sustained it with thy Mighty Bow. Huntress, who gives and harvests life, We praise Thee for the Festal Board in golden Thargeliôn. From eternity to eternity, Thou art ever the Immaculate, Serendissima, Clarissima, Most Brilliant Orb of Beauty. Grateful are we, humble handmaidens Dependent on thy ever-flowing Milk of Sustenance, Matter and Spirit. Thou art the Aion of Truth, Radiant, a Fountain of Justice, She who turns the Wheel and Weaves the Tapestry of the Cosmos. Envelop us always in Your Loving Embrace, To drink of your Mercy. Blessed Be

Hymnus Attei Of Attis I will sing, of Rhea's Son. Not sounding His praises with rolling drums, nor on the reed, nor with the road, of Ida's Curetes ... But as the Muse of Phoebus on the lyre. I will blend the strains, Euhoi! He is Bacchus! Euhan! He is Pan! He is the Shepherd of the White Constellation!

To the Goddess of Passion Thou art the Sacred Orb, O Mother of all, Who lives and transmits Life's myriad reflections. Thy Ruby Splendor transcends the dark spaces in this world of Shadows, casting effulgence; Passionate Ecstasy revealing in Essence, earth, sea, wind, and flame unto Epiphany the inmost tranquil Heart whose changeless brilliance illumines the Cosmos.

Dionysian Hymn to Mother and Child attr: Euripides O happy to whom is the blessedness given, To be taught in the Mysteries sent from heaven! Who is pure in his life, through whose soul the Unsleeping Revel goes sweeping! Made meet by the sacred purifying For the Bacchanal rout o'er the mountains flying, For the orgies of Cybele, Mystery-folden, Of the Mother Olden, Wreathed with the ivy sprays, The thyrsus on high doth he raise, Singing the Vine God's praise!

I Am Journeying I am journeying to the center, to the heart, To the heart of the Mother. Oh Magna Mater, Take me in. Show me your secrets, teach me your mysteries, that I may learn to bear the LIGHT glow incandescent with the white heat. That I may manifest PEACE transforming presence with ease. That all I touch may know LOVE --- Joan Ann Lansberry

I have partaken from the Tympanum; quaffed from the Cymbal; I have carried the Communion vessel, descending even unto the Sacred Chamber! Rejoice, O ye initiates, for the God has been saved! Thus deliverance will come for us as well!

Altar commemorating Taurobolium offered to Magna Mater on 26 February 295 C.E. by L Cornelius Scipio Oreitus.

Mother of the immortal gods, She prepares a fast-riding chariot, drawn by bull-slaying lions: She who wields the Scepter over the renowned pole, She of the many names, the Honored One! Thou occupiest the Central Throne of the Cosmos, and thus of the earth, while Thou providest delicate foods! By Thee there was brought forth the race of immortal and mortal beings! By Thee, the rivers and the entire sea are ruled! Go to the Feast, O Lofty One! Delighting in drums, Tamer of all, Savior of the Phrygians, Bedfellow of Kronos, Child of Ouranos, the Old One, Life-Giving, Frenzy-Loving, Joyful One ... gratified with acts of piety! Generous Goddess of Ida, You, Mother of Gods, Who takes delight in Dindyma ... and in towered cities ... and in lions yoked in pairs ... now guide me in the coming years! Goddess, make this sign favorable! Stride beside me with Your gracious step!

Lady of Byblos! Lady of Tyre! Fragrant cedar bough Scents Thy threshold With ancient desire; Changeling daughters Yet remember Thee!

THE GREAT PRAYER To the Great Mystery which is within and without, Honor be to the Spirit of Life. May it flow like a river Through the channels of our hearts And branch out across the earth. Let us find healing at the peaceful waters And learn the love that empowers. May the love grow as the flame That brings light into the darkness And melts hatred and fear, And may we burn forever bright. May we know the strength of our souls, Know the worlds within us As we know we are cells of a greater whole. Two-fold in one, We are many fold in one. Ah-ho, so mote it be, AMEN. --- Joan Ann Lansberry

Who is then the Mother of the Gods? She is the source of the intellectual and creative gods, who in their turn guide the visible gods: she is both the mother and the spouse of mighty Zeus; She came into being next to and together with the great Creator; She is in control of every form of life, and the Cause of all generation; She easily brings to perfection all things that are made. Without pain She brings to birth ... She is the Motherless Maiden, enthroned at the very side of Zeus, and in very truth is the Mother of All the Gods ... --- Emperor Julian II "the Blessed", from an Oration to Cybele composed at Pessinus, AVC MCXVI ... (1116 years after the founding of Rome)

Questa pagina in italiano

Cybele and Her Gallæ in Roman History

Return to main index page