Tag Archives: religious life

The Homeric Hymn to Demeter

The Homeric Hymn to Demeter: Translation, Commentary, and Interpretative Essays, edited by Helene P Foley, 3rd printing of the 1994 paperback published by Princeton University Press, is part of the collection at the Reading Room.

Helene P Foley The Homeric Hymn to Demeter from Princeton University Press

“The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, composed in the late seventh or early sixth century B.C.E., is a key to understanding the psychological and religious world of ancient Greek women. The poem tells how Hades, lord of the underworld, abducted the goddess Persephone and how her grieving mother, Demeter, the goddess of grain, forced the gods to allow Persephone to return to her for part of each year. Helene Foley presents the Greek text and an annotated translation of the Hymn, together with selected essays by Helene Foley, Mary Louise Lord, Jean Rudhardt, Nancy Felson-Rubin and Harriet M. Deal, Marilyn Arthur Katz, and Nancy Chodorow. These essays give the reader a rich understanding of the Hymn’s structure and artistry, its role in the religious life of the ancient world, and its meaning for the modern world. The authors also study the Hymn in the context of early Greek epic and cosmology, examine its critical attitude to the institution of marriage, and analyze the dynamics of mother-daughter relations in the poem.” — back cover

Neopaganism

Hermetic Library fellow Mark Stavish pointed out a paper by Michael LaRiviere on “Neopaganism” over at Thoughts of Amherst which may be of interest. Mark says, “Are Second Generation NeoPagans More Conservative Than Their Parents? A well done undergraduate paper from Amherst (2007).”

“I first was curious about individuals’ spiritual and religious life, and I made a point to differentiate between the two points. For instance, I wondered if individuals’ beliefs may have conflicted with the religion’s stated beliefs, or if one’s personal rituals were less formalized than group religious rituals. The very nature of Neopaganism provides an interesting answer to this question, as the movement is much more individual-oriented than traditional old religions. However, in considering the question of personal spirituality versus religion, another question arose as to the evolution of the religion. Did subsequent generations of Neopagans have differing views on spirituality and religion? Considering the liberalization of Roman Catholicism over the past fifty years, I thought perhaps a similar trend might be seen in Neopaganism. The answers I found were surprising, reflecting simultaneous pulls in various directions.” [via]

The Deeper Symbolism of Freemasonry from The Meaning of Masonry by Walter Leslie Wilmshurst.

“The first degree is also eminently the degree of preparation, of self-discipline and purification. It corresponds with that symbolical cleansing accorded in the sacrament of Baptism, which, in the churches, is, so to speak, the first degree in the religious life; and which is administered, appropriately, at the font, near the entrance of the church, even as the act itself takes place at the entrance of the spiritual career.” [via]