Mythology Matters
Hermetic and Kabbalistic correspondences can a very effective tool for mis-understanding everything. One of the dangers of thinking of gods and spirits in these terms is that we can loose sight of their fullness and only see the aspect that we are working with. I have written about this many times before, often bringing up the example of a magician that placed the Orishas in the quarters of their circle based on elemental attributions, without knowing that Yemeja and Oya do not get along. Correspondences are nice, but they do not over-ride tradition, mythology, and history – even the stuff that you aren’t aware of.
Alas, just because you write about something and warn others about it, doesn’t mean that you won’t occasionally fall into the same trap yourself.
I have been working on my upcoming chapbook on Planetary Magic for a while now. I am on the last chapter, a series of 49 Interplanetary Spells that explore the full potential of the hours/day system for magical magic. In some of these spells I have been making references to the Greek Gods as associated with the planets: Chronus, Zeus, Ares, Helios, Aphrodite, Hermes, and Selene. I was sipping along at a great pace until I arrived at the spell for the hour of the Sun on the day of Venus. I just stopped dead. I revisited it every day. For a MONTH AND A HALF. I could write other things, but I just could not get this damn spell to spit out.
Yesterday, while I was again banging my head against my desk in frustration, I remembered something from a book on Greek Gods that I read when I was in 6th grade about Aphrodite sleeping with Ares and getting busted by Helios.
Turns out that Aphrodite was pretty pissed that Helios spilled the beans to Hephaistos about her infidelity with his brother Ares. To get back at him she cursed him with love for the Persian princess Leucothoe, who he promptly seduced. The goddess, Clytie, who held unrequited love for Helios, revealed the seduction of the princess to her father, King Orchamus, who buried her alive as punishment.
This story tells us two things:
1. Aphrodite and Helios probably don’t get on well, and should not be called upon in the same spell.
2. The Greek Gods are a bunch of psychotic drama queens. Greek Mythology is like Days of Lives S.V.U.
Anyway, I made separate offerings to Helios and Aphrodite to smooth things out. I then approached the combined powers through their inherent emptiness (Buddhist training has a lot of uses) and immediately was able to tap into the current and get it written.
