Hestia

Devoted daughter of Kronos, venerable ruler of the house, 

who remains at the centre of great fire's eternal light.

Those who serve in pious ritual belong to you,

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.

Greatly 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, Revised 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 these changes better capture the essence of the original Orphic initiations.

The editor of Classical Philosophy.org