I mentioned last week that I was much enamored of Circe, the Witch Queen of Aeaea, and the more I learn and work with her, the more in love I fall. Today, I want to talk in detail about her first meeting with Odysseus. Homer tells us the story from Odysseus's point of view, but imagine it from hers. For eons, she has been alone, with her waiting women, waiting for a man long foretold, one who could withstand her. But, century after century, he never came. Others came, boats and boats of them; rough, animalistic men, weak-willed and limp-dicked men who could neither challenge nor satisfy her. Swine.
But one day, swore the Great God Hermes, a man would come to her from Troy, and finally be her equal. When Odysseus, bolstered by the herb moly, does not crumple in the face of her magic, she rejoices, saying “Who art thou among men, and from whence? Where is thy city, and where thy parents? Amazement holds me that thou hast drunk this charm and wast in no wise bewitched. For no man else soever hath withstood this charm, when once he has drunk it, and it has passed the barrier of his teeth. Nay, but the mind in thy breast is one not to be beguiled. Surely thou art Odysseus, the man of ready device, who Argeiphontes(1) of the golden wand ever said to me would come hither on his way home from Troy with his swift, black ship. Nay, come, put up thy sword in its sheath, and let us two then go up into my bed, that couched together in love we may put trust in each other." (Argeiphontes, which means "Argus Slayer", is a cult title of Hermes)
The two fall thoroughly in love, and Odysseus tarries on Aeaea for a year before his men convince his to set forth again. And so she sends him once more to sea, well supplied and advised, but not before she teaches him how to seek the wisdom he needs in the underworld.
If you would like to work with Circe too, might I recommend this amazing incense from Mastros & Zealot: Witches for Hire?
PS: If you like my writing, I've recently started a Patreon campaign where you can help support it! ANY amount of support (starting at just $3 per month) comes with access to brand new mythopoetics you can't read anywhere else.
