Building the Arte

A link to the seven hymns I’ve written in honor and celebration of the seven planetary deities used in the Hermetic philosophy.

I have it in mind to write seven planetary odes— hymns for the seven classical planets of the ancient world, and the principal divine forces of the “seven heavens” as laid out in classical Hellenis…

One more to write, tomorrow.

For those who may be following this cycle of poems for the planetary forces I’ve been writing, but missed the Friday poem for Venus:

Venus, illustrious queen of heaven
Lady of love and radiant beauty:
Crafty, artful, necessity’s mother,
Whose jewels with words of love are graven,
To whom pleasures’ acts are happy duty,
At whose banquets we feed one another:
You join all life in harmony divine,
And even savage powers bend the knee
And pour rich libations of hearty wine
In praise of your renowned divinity.

All forms of desire, beneath your eye,
Flourish and prosper like laughing ladies
Dancing as sea-foam curls around their toes.
Tears of parting lovers, an infant’s cry
For mother, food the happy cook readies —
These are love’s emblems, as everyone knows;
And whether at home or in foreign lands,
In candlelit bedrooms or public shrines,
Both married and lonely raise praying hands
In praise or your grace and grand designs.

For nowhere on Earth can be found a clan
That does not hope for solemn connection;,
Though rarely do you dole out love by plan,
And neither, quite, by random selection,
That union of hearts and minds and kisses.
Venus draw near, and to my prayer incline:
Send honest love, and familial prize,
Nature’s fertility, and such blisses.
Thus exalted as heaven’s queen you shine,
And in the temples of all lovers’ eyes.

I have one more of these to write, two more to post…

I have it in mind to write seven planetary odes— hymns for the seven classical planets of the ancient world, and the principal divine forces of the “seven heavens” as laid out in classical Hellenis…

I have it in mind to write seven planetary odes— hymns for the seven classical planets of the ancient world, and the principal divine forces of the “seven heavens” as laid out in classical Hellenistic/Roman philosophy, and as later used by Medieval Christians, and as later used by Renaissance humanists.

Today being Thursday, the hymn in question is for Jupiter:

O Jove enthroned in lightning and in cloud,
And ruling over heaven, earth and sea;
Imperial, magnanimous, and proud,
Fountain of abundance, and fatherly:
Give ear to your disciple and attend,
For every mountain and each court of law,
And any place where lightning touches down
Becomes a realm that your decree can bend
To fulfill your aim, sure and without flaw—
Thus in majesty you wear heaven’s crown.

Yet loving kindness spills forth from your hand:
Your magnanimity respects no bounds,
And though Earth trembles at your mighty nod,
All kinds of heroes join your royal band —
That hidden chivalry whose grace astounds,
When they act for you, great Jovial god.
Your fatherly kindness extends to all,
And our first being finds its source in you —
You offer a feast, and we heed that call,
To take up life abundantly, anew.

These sacred rites of purity and health,
O thundering Jove, in mercy take part:
Grant to me an increase of needful wealth,
Yet lead me to act with generous heart.
Forge me as a link in the golden chain
By which heaven’s mercies descend to earth,
And all of life’s diversities expand:
Swans, bulls, and eagles, even Danae’s rain,
Or fecund grapes of Bacchus in his mirth —
All born of the lightning of your command.

This one came through much more easily than the Hermes/Mercury text… But even Jove demanded a second draft.