Selene / Mene

Hear, sovereign Goddess, diffusing argent illumination,

With tauriform horns ambling through the tenebrosity of Nyx.

Circumjacent to astra, 

Journeying an extensive course through the firmament.

Nyx's lamp extending,

Female and male with argent rays.

Presently a full orb, and presently tending to decline.

Mother of the ages, fructiferous Mene,

Self's electrum orb forms Nyx's reflection of midday.

Horse-loving, splendid sovereign of nyx,

Panoptic power, adorned with illumination from astra.

Vigil-loving, adversary of conflict,

In providence and repose exulting.

Ornament, companion and beautiful lamp of Nyx,

Self conducts the toils of Physis to their perfect telos.

Sovereign of astra, pan-sophic Artemis acclaim!

Adorned with elegant peplos and ample veil.

Emerge, sanctified Goddess, virgin, and of astra,

Emerge, orby lamp, with providence and splendid illumination.

Radiate propitiously on this initiation rite,

And Self pleased, receive mystic praise from self.   

Orpheus, Initiation Through Selene / Mene, (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