Ancient_Images

Ancient Images

Meditations, Poetry, and Songs for Our Lady of Dindymus

The Virgin in her heavenly place rides upon the Lion!
Bearer of corn, 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.

Invocation to Cybele

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...

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 fluorish.
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 SALVTARIS *

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!
Creator of all atoms and light!
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
, All-perfection, Omniscient,
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

Julia Cybele Lansberry / 5 Aug 90

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.

Julia Cybele Lansberry / 7 Jan 94

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 Lansberry / 1 Jan 96

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!

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!

Julia Cybele Lansberry / 9 Oct 96

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