Invocations, Pleas, Poems, praise, prayers, Hymns and Other Homage to HER:
the Goddess named: Neith
"I am all that has
been,
That is, and that will
be".
Quoted in
Who's Who in Egyptian Mythology
by Anthony S. Mercantante.
"I am what is,
What will be,
And what has been.
No one uncovered me.
The fruit
To which I gave birth
Was ‑ the Sun".
Quoted in Greek Myths
by Robert Graves.
"I am all that has
been,
That is, that will be.
No mortal has yet been able
To life the veil that covers
me".
Recorded by
Plutarch from an inscription above
the gate
to Her temple in
Quoted in The
Book of Goddesses and Heroines
by Patricia Monaghan.
Invocations, Pleas, Poems, praise, prayers, Hymns and Other Homage to HER:
the Goddess named: Niamh
A royal crown was on Her head;
and a brown mantle of precious
silk,
Spangled with stars of red
gold,
Covering Her shoes down to the
grass.
A gold ring was hanging down
From each yellow curl of Her golden
hair;
Her eyes, blue, clear, and
cloudless,
Like a dew‑drop on the top of
the grass.
Redder were Her cheeks than the
rose,
Fairer was Her visage than the swan
upon the wave,
And more sweet was the taste of Her
balsam lips
Than honey mingled thro' red
wine.
A garment, wide, long, and
smooth
Covered the white steed,
There was a comely saddle of red
gold,
And Her right hand held a bridle
with a golden bit.
Four shoes well‑shaped were
under him,
Of the yellow gold of the purest
quality;
A silver wreath was on the back of
his head,
And there was not in the world a
steed better.
from The Lay of Oisin in the
by Michael Comy (18th.
cent.) translated by Brian O'Looney
for the Ossianic
Society‑‑Transactions, Vol. IV.
Quoted in Celtic Myth and Legend
by Charles Squire, p. 223‑4.
Invocations, Pleas, Poems, praise, prayers, Hymns and Other Homage to HER:
the Goddess named: Nut
To the Goddess named ‑
Nut[?\cyc\n\nut]
"Nut, the old
one,
who gave birth to the
sun
and laid the seeds of Gods
and humanity"
"Mother of the
morning sun,
Creatress of the evening
sun,
who existed when there was
nothing
and who created what was
after Her."
"Hail, thou sycamore of
the Goddess Nut!
Grant thou to me of the water
and of the air
which dwell in thee"
(ref: ma.wwem/110)
Invocations, Pleas, Poems, praise, prayers, Hymns and Other Homage to HER:
the Goddess named: Pele
E Pele e!
Ke akua o ka pohaku
enaena.
Eli eli kau mai!
E Pele e!
O Goddess of the burning
stones,
Let awe possess me!
Ancient
Hawaiian prayer. Ref: SNv124.
Invocations, Pleas, Poems, praise, prayers, Hymns and Other Homage to HER:
the Goddess named: Rhea
To the Goddess named ‑ Rhea
Earth sends up
fruits,
and so praise
Earth,
The Mother.
Invocation of Rhea,
Quoted in The
Book of Goddesses and Heroines
by Patricia Monaghan.
Invocations, Pleas, Poems, praise, prayers, Hymns and Other Homage to HER:
the Goddess named: Sedna
Of the Goddess named ‑ Sedna
One day in the village of the people there
was famine. The people packed and left in fear. One young girl went back to get
something she needed. She
was
a special girl because she was adopted after losing her family. Being a girl
she was extra from the gate. She had to eat handouts and sleep wherever
she
was accepted. Anyway when she came back to the boats they had left her. She saw
them off aways and swam out to catch them. When she caught up, they
would
not let her get in the boats. She hung on the side of a boat and pleaded. They
cut her fingers off to make her let go. She became angry and
told
them to go to their new home and she would live in the sea. She told them they
would not hunt until they treated her right. She made her fingers that
were
cut off into walrus, seal and fish. She told them not to come to the hunter
that did not have proper respect. She then went to the bottom of the
sea
to live. Any hunters that died while hunting properly lived with her and combed
her hair with their fingers because she had none. Any hunter that did
not
hunt properly and show respect to the one that will send them their food would
starve, and their family too.
So say your prayers to Sedna if you wish to
enjoy life now and later.
Hand written for Katherine
Singleton, Branwen's Day 1992,
by Patrick Joseph
Oskollkoff of the Athabascan people.
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
NOTES
extra from the gate: extra means "another mouth to feed",
unnecessary,
unwanted,
lower than a slave; from the gate, perhaps a racing metaphor,
signifies
"from the beginning, from birth". If the first birth in a family
was
a girl Inuit tribes exposed the baby on the ice.
Cronos Odysseus, steer your boat"The Sirens' Welcome To Cronos" by Robert Graves,
Toward Silver Island whence we sing:
Here you shall pass your days.
Through a thick-growing alder-wood
We clearly see, but are not seen,
Hid in a golden haze.
Our hair the hue of barley sheaf,
Our eyes the hue of blackbird's egg,
Our cheeks like asphodel.
Here the wild apple blossoms yet,
Wrens in the silver branches play
And prophesy you well.
Here nothing ill or harsh is found.
Cronos Odysseus, steer your boat
Across these placid straits.
With each of us in turn to lie
Taking your pleasure on young grass
That for your coming waits.
No grief nor gloom, sickness nor death
Disturbs our long tranquility;
No treachery, no greed.
Compared with this, what are the plains
Of Elis, where you ruled as king?
A wilderness indeed.
A starry crown awaits your head,
A hero feast is spread for you:
Swineflesh, milk and mead.
Invocations, Pleas, Poems, praise, prayers, Hymns and Other Homage to HER:
the Goddess named: Shen-Nu
To the Goddess named ‑
Shen‑Nu
The small woman of
screened by clouds:
The winds of spring shoot out pine
flowerets
on the mountain.
Alone She pierces the green canopy ‑
a fragrance heading
straight for home:
A white horse and flowered pole go before ‑
thrusting and thrusting.
The wind is mild on the Kiang in Shu, the
water
like netted gauze ‑
Yet who else could make sail on a fallen
orchid
to cross over it?
The cinnamon trees on a southern hill lie
dead
for that lady
Whose cloudy blouse is slightly stained
from
pink pomade blossoms.
commentary:
The rainbow Goddess leaves the shamanka's
alter,
darting through the clouds.
Her ardent body bursts the pine catkins as
She passes.
She swoops up through the forest canopy,
trailing
sweet odors.
She is preceded by a ceremonial steed,
rigged with Her
flowery insignia.
The great Yangtze by Her home in the gorge
is calm.
Yet who will risk crossing it on a flower
petal to meet
Her ‑ only the Goddess is
capable of the feat.
The evergreen cinnamons perish at Her
approach ‑ the touch
of the love Goddess is dangerous.
Her light shift is inevitably spotten with
safflower,
from which the rouge of courtesans is
made.
"The Departure Song of Divine Strings"
by Li Ho, translation and
commentary by Edward H. Schafer from
The Divine Woman, Dragon
Ladies and Rain Maidens pp 104‑5.