Hestia

Devoted daughter of Cronos, venerable ruler of the house, 

Who remains at the centre of magnificent fire's eternal illumination.

Those who serve in pious ritual belong to Self,

Initiated, they invoke favour and reside in piety and the divine.

All the Gods are resolutely implanted in Self,

The foundation of power for mortals.

Magnificently formed, perpetually radiant Goddess,

Gelastic and of beautiful appearance.

Receive into Self this ritual, and to heart, just desire,

And breathe into selves well-born intellect and virtue.

Orpheus, Initiation Through Hestia, (Aroma Offering),

New English Interpretation after Thomas Taylor, by The Editor of ClassicalPhilosophy.org, Chichester, England, 2025.

For this initiation, I have turned to paraphrase, seeking once more to recapture the spiritual path; yet in doing so, the original hexameter and later rhyme have fallen away. The dramatic intensity of a Homeric narrative style has also been softened, as I believe these changes better capture the essence of the original Orphic initiations.

The editor of Classical Philosophy.org