The Orphic Hymn to Helios!

And a link to a FREE IG Live teaching on how the Orphic Hymns help us access the animist cosmology at the root of Hellenistic Astrology

Closeup of a Greek wine-mixing krater depicting Helios on his four-horse chariot, with each horse representing one of the quarters of the year. The stars above their head are most likely those associated most closely with the equinoctial and solstitial points, while the fish below their feet tell us that these horses are “swimming” in the celestial Okeanos, or Milky Way.

I have two lovely surprises for you today:

• a Free Teaching on the Orphic Hymns’ place in the history of astrology, and

• my translation of the Orphic Hymn to Helios (aka the Sun)!

(For those of you who are still waiting on the rest of the Adonis commentary, that’s still in the works…this is just a spontaneous offering inspired by my chat with CV today.)

Link to Free Teaching

Today I had the pleasure of spending 90 mins with CV Henriette (IG: (at)art_of_the_zodiac) discussing my developing theory of how the Orphic Hymns provide us with the root cosmology, or worldview, that underlies Hellenistic astrology.

We range over a whole BUNCH of topics, but among them are:

• My developing theory on the six strands of ancient Mediterranean religious/philosophical/astral culture that merged to form the foundations of “Orphism,”

• Where and when I think this merging took place, and some of the names of early Greek thinkers associated with the Orphic flourishing,

• The three levels of meaning in Orphic hymns, and what they can teach us about the origins of astrology

• My translation of The Orphic Hymn to Helios! (see below for the full text)

  art_of_the_zodiac

  

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  This is me looking like the geekiest Supreme as I enumerate the six strands of ancient thought that influenced early Orphic thinkers. (I am no Diana Ross, that’s for sure!)

I thoroughly enjoyed the talk and will be chatting again soon with CV at the end of October. So keep a lookout!

In the meantime, CV invited me to share one of my translations at the start of the chat, and given the apocalyptic rain and flooding that happened in Brooklyn just a few days ago, I decided to hail the return of the Sun. I got so nerdily excited about sharing it, that I promised to send it to all my substack subscribers today in honor of CV’s continued interest in and appreciation for my work. I love you, CV!!! This one’s for you! (Keep scrolling for the text.)

Stay safe out there, kids.

✨✨Kristin

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The Orphic Hymn to Helios

Incense:  Frankincense

Listen, Blessed One,

All-seeing Eye of the Ages,

Golden-rayed Titan,

Highest Heavenly Light,