Libation to APOLLON
Sponsored by the Artemis Mounykhia Proto-demos
and Eranos
Officiate 1:
“Koimeson
stoma!"
Officiate 2:
“Silence
your lips!”
Officiate 1:
“Hekas o
hekas este bebeloi!”
Officiate 2:
"Let
the profane ones depart!"
Officiate 3:
"Hear
us on this day, great Apollon."
Everyone:
"Hear
us"
Officiate 3:
Phoibos, of
you even the swan sings with clear voice to the beating of his wings, as he
alights upon the bank by the eddying river Peneios; and of you the
sweet-tongued minstrel, holding his high-pitched lyre, always sings both first
and last. And so hail to you lord! We seek your favor.
(From the Homeric Hymn to Apollon)
O holy
child of great Leto, golden-haired Phoebus, come from afar to be near us as the
son of Hyperion rises over the navel of the world. As daylight dawns at sacred
Delphi we who adore you turn our thoughts there, scattered as we are across the
whole earth, and each in our own way salute you,
remembering
the one we shall never forget. Where
your golden foot steps is hallowed ground;
may you
come to each one of us. And with your
coming the light grows warm, and soft harmonies cleanse the air. Your presence purifies us, for only what is
pure can approach Apollo.
Where you
are is sweet Delphi, and we who are yours unite in this sacred place to greet
and to praise you,
to smell
the fragrance of your hair, and to remember, to always remember,
Apollo who
shoots afar.
(From the
Kyklos Apollon ritual)
Everyone:
"Apollon,
we sing your praises"
Officiate 3:
"May
our libations today reach your lips"
Officiate 1 (with Officiate
3, Officiate 2, and anyone else alternately pouring):
A libation
in your honor, Apollon Mousêgetês, “leader of the muses”
Everyone:
”Apollon, we honor you”
Officiate 1:
A libation
in your honor, Apollon Paiêon, “healer”
Everyone:
”Apollon,
we honor you”
Officiate 1:
A libation
in your honor, Apollon Alexikakos, “averter of harm and evil”
Everyone:
“Apollon,
we honor you”
Officiate 1:
A libation
in your honor, Apollon Boêdromios, “rescuer”
Everyone:
”Apollon,
we honor you”
Officiate 1:
A libation
in your honor, Apollon Theoxenios, “protector of strangers”
Everyone:
“Apollon,
we honor you”
Officiate 1:
A libation
in your honor, Apollon Aiglêtos, “the shining”
Everyone:
“Apollon,
we honor you”
Officiate 1:
And
finally, a libation in your honor,
Apollon Thearios, “of the Oracle”
Everyone:
“Apollon,
we honor you”
Officiate 2:
Come, O
blessed Paian, O slayer of Titanos, O Phoibos, O Lykoreus;
A giver of
riches are you and an illustrious dweller of Memphis, O god to whom one cries
IE.
To you, O
Titan and Pythian god, belong the lyre, and seeds and plows.
Grynean,
Sminthian, slayer of Pytho, Delphic diviner,
you are a
wild, light-bringing and lovable god, O glorious youth.
You shoot
your arrows from afar, you lead the Muses into dance,
and, O holy
one, you are Bakkhos, Didymeus, and Loxias, too.
Lord of
Delos, eye that sees all and brings light to mortals,
golden is
your hair, and clear your oracular utterance.
Hear me
with kindly heart as I pray for people.
You gaze
upon all the ethereal vastness, and upon the rich earth you look through the
twilight.
In the
quiet darkness of a night lit with stars you see earth's roots below, and you
hold the bounds
of the
whole world. Yours, too, are the beginning and the end to come.
You make
everything bloom, and with your versatile lyre
you
harmonize the poles, now reaching the highest pitch,
now the
lowest, and now again with the Doric mode
balancing
the poles harmoniously, as you keep the living races distinct.
You have
infused harmony into all men's lot,
giving them
an equal measure of summer and winter.
The lowest
notes you strike in the winter, the highest in the summer,
and your
mode is Doric for spring's lovely and blooming season.
Wherefore
mortals call you lord, and Pan,
the
two-horned god who sends the whistling winds.
For this,
too, you have the master seal of the entire cosmos.
O blessed
one, hear the suppliant voice of the initiates and save them.
(Orphic
hymn, translation by A. Athanassakis)
[Any
personal devotions, requests, stories, poetry or songs are made/read at this
time.]
Officiate 2:
“Hail,
Apollon, god of medicine, healing, light, and archery! Grant us your blessings, and we shall
assemble in your honor again.”