Upcoming Free Talk on Recovering the Lost Rituals of the Orphic Hymns
August 2, 1-2:30pm EDT, hosted by IAAM (International Association of Astrological Magic)
In a nutshell: Two important upcoming dates in August.
Saturday, August 2nd, 1pm EDT: FREE talk on Recovering the Lost Rituals of the Orphic Hymns (full description & link below)
Sunday, August 17th, 2pm EDT: Live Chat on The Orphic Hymn of Thalassa (Sea). Translation will be released in the week preceding the chat.
What can an esoteric reading of the Orphic Hymns tell us about early Orphic Mystery ritual and magic? Quite a bit! it turns out.
My work translating the hymns with an eye to the Greek text’s hidden meanings has given me a peek into the nuts and bolts of the original Mystery rituals. In this talk, I’ll be pulling the curtain back on practical indications we can take away from the hymns — from the secrets of recommended incense and herbal preparations, to the roots of alchemical practices, to magical interactions designed to buffer and even change the weavings of Fate.
Whether you are completely new to the hymns, or have been working with them for years, this talk will be of interest to you!
Hope to see you there!
✨✨Kristin
Here’s the full write-up from the IAAM website.
The Orphic Hymns have been treasured by esoteric practitioners for millennia as poetic inspiration, devotional expressions, and powerful magical speech-acts. While the first two uses thrive in today’s astro-magical community, the original ritual and magical context of the hymns has remained mysteriously hidden—thanks to the ancient practice of keeping sacred rites ‘arrhēton” (unspoken).
The Orphic Mystery secrets were so well-guarded that reconstructing their rituals seemed impossible. However, Kristin has used ancient techniques of esoteric interpretation to uncover encoded layers of meaning in the original Greek text. Her new English translations make the hymns' hidden ritual and magical language accessible to modern practitioners, seamlessly blending rigorous scholarship with practical accessibility.
*This will be a 60-minute presentation followed by 30 minutes for Q&A.*
Kristin Mathis is a translator, poet, and scholar whose work focuses on the Orphic Hymns—ritual texts from the Greek Mystery traditions that flourished in Sicily and Southern Italy around 500 BCE. Her translations illuminate the sophisticated wordplay and esoteric knowledge embedded within these poems, which blend pre-Socratic philosophy with Phoenician, Egyptian, Etruscan, and indigenous spiritual practices.
Kristin studied ancient Mediterranean esoteric religions and cultural anthropology at Brown, Princeton, and Columbia Universities, where her teachers included Elaine Pagels, Hans Dieter Betz, John Gager, and David Pingree. In 2022, she founded the Mysteria Mundi translation project, pursuing her passion for the Orphic Hymns while adapting to Long Covid.
Her understanding of the cosmos as a living being was shaped by childhood in 1970s Borneo, where she experienced indigenous animist traditions. Now based in Brooklyn, NY, she is a single mom to one teenage son, two cats named Venus and Comet, and an ever-expanding collection of herbs, plants, and books.
Hi Kristen! Looking forward to both talks. Is the chat on a Sunday or August 13th? As August 13th is a Wednesday. This would be my first chat attendance, so I just want to make sure I write down the correct day on my calendar! Thank you :)