Helios

Hear, aureate Titan,

Self's eternal eye, with incomparable vision, illuminates the entire firmament.

Self-generating, continuously diffusing illumination,

To the multitude of eyes, the object of delight.

Sovereign of the Horai, radiating illumination from a distance,

A resonant moderate dance in Self's four-yoked chariot.

Self's right hand the origin of dawn,

Self's left hand the generator of dusk.

Able, vigorous and venerated rein-holder,

Flaming, brilliant and permeating the firmament.

Adversary to suffering.

Companion of the good,

Presiding propitiously over all their movements.

The golden lyre is associated with Self,

Plenishing the cosmos with divine harmony.

Patriarch of the ages and prosperous acts.

Principal of the cosmos, carried by horses.

Immortal Zeus, aulete and luminous,

Origin of existence, pure fire.

Conveyor of fruit, supreme sovereign of the years,

Provider of heat, entire powers revere Self.

Brilliant eye, constantly permeating the cosmos,

With beneficial fulgid rays that descend and ascend.

Dispensing justice and affection for the stream.

Supreme master of the cosmos,

Loyal protector, the eye of justice.

Sovereign over horses and the illumination of existence.

Self directs four spirited horses by the sound of the whip,

Self in a brilliant chariot of daylight.

Radiate propitiously on this initiate's toil.

And exalt self with a life devoted to the Gods.

Orpheus, Initiation Through Helios, (Libanos Offering and Melia 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