Before examining Calypso and Circe, please remember that the context of these characters is primarily in relation to the central-male-protagonist-hero Odysseus, and that Homers' Odyssey is an epic poem written in a non-linear, cyclical fashion; so although the book of Calypso comes before that of Circe, Odysseus actually encounters Circe before Calypso.
She is a Goddess with several functions, a complex character, and as an individual she represents the dual nature of the feminine as both light and dark in a subtle, integrated/harmonious/in accordance way. When coupled with Circe, Calypso primarily represents (what has been constructed as) primarily the light aspects of the Great Goddess.
* Her relationships are restricted to Odysseus, her only other visitor being Hermes, otherwise she seems to always be entirely alone; unmarried and independent. She is isolated on her remote island. While on her island, [for 5-8 years, (references vary)], Odysseus also remains separate from her, living his days alone by the seashore, weeping in anguish over his exile, longing to be home in Ithaka with his wife and son. Therefor Calypso is the pure, remote feminine, untouched and inaccessible, separate, distinguished and different from the world of men,(or the view of the world by men).
* She is dominated by Zeus. It is under his will and the threat of being chastised that she decides to comply and let Odysseus continue his journey.
* It is not in her power to provide him with ship and company to return him home, but only with the materials (from the Earth) of her isle for a raft, food, and a cloak. She is overpowered as her provisions have no strength to protect him from the wrath of the angry god Poseidon. [It is interesting to note here that "Poseidon was originally a female Posidaeja in Minoan civilization, which recognized no male symbol of the sea," (p.58,B.W.)] The cloak actually hinders him when it becomes tangled as he struggles to swim to safety.
* To Odysseus she offers the gift of immortality and all things befit for a God if he stays with her. In ancient times menstruating women were worshipped for bestowing powers of immortality. Inexplicably shed without wound, flowing in rhythm with the moon cycle, and wholly foreign to male experience, her blood was of magical importance and regarded by men with holy dread as it contains the life essence. She is infused with the Great Goddesses divine life-blood, which is the substance of all creation. Ironically, Calypso's promise of eternal life is actually a form of death, as he would have to live in isolation from the world of mortal living forever.
* She is ridiculed by other gods for having a mortal as her lover; she sites other goddesses and men who were unfairly punished for such behavior. Here we see a shift in behavior towards the free expression of female sexuality, it is being restricted and condemned. Meanwhile, the male gods, especially the almighty patriarch Zeus, can express their sexuality with whomever they please, whenever and wherever.
"the ancient Greek temples called nympheae (which) were located at sacred springs, and staffed by 'colleges' of unmarried priestesses... 'Nymphs' served as priestesses in ancient temples of the Goddess, especially in sexual ceremonies, where they represented the divine principle of flowering fertility... Even now, 'nymphomania', connotes sexual obsession, like the moon-madness supposed to motivate the ancient nymphs in their seasons of mating," (Barbara Walker's Encyc. of Myths and Secrets).
* Despite connotations with fertility and life for a man 'to be among the nymphs' was a synonym for death, as it was eternal separation from the mortal world.
* Calypso displays an intense sexual desire,(almost smothering), to make Odysseus her eternal mate, thus herself an eternal wife, forever dependent on him, but to be one. This is flattering to Odysseus' stature as a hero, as if a mortal man could satisfy a goddess! She keeps Odysseus on her island, which stagnates and stifles his mission. She also seduces/compels him to sleep with her against his will,(long ago she had ceased to please him). Her ability to seduce/enchant/charm Odysseus demonstrates the influential power immortal female sexuality has in relation to the mortal male hero, she is in control.
* At night, he sleeps with her out "of necessity, in the hallow caverns, against his will."(Homer) Perhaps the 'necessity' he has for unity with the feminine, coup[led with his yearning for home,(an embodiment of the feminine principle representing relationship, community, cooperation, and non-aggression)] represents a need for integration of the feminine principle within his psyche after years of functioning in war, with the constant testosterone of destroying, killing, raping and surviving in the most inhumane, strife torn, blood drenched, barren plains of Troy. After ten years of functioning as a killer and destroyer, he must heal his numbness and de sensitivity by connecting with his feelings. The emotional outpouring when he weeps in pain from being in exile from his home(the feminine) suggests that he has begun to integrate the feminine virtues of sensitivity, patience, contemplation, depth, ripening, healing and transforming insight that enable him to continue, and to be drawn back home. Thus he is reborn through Calypso.
* Calypso nurtures, soothes and comforts Odysseus. She feeds, bathes and clothes him, following the tradition of host and guest, yet this functions on a more intimate level, like a mother and child, or wife and husband.
* She provides him with the essentials for his journey.
* Her home is on an island at the center or edge of the world, the isle Ogygia. Described by Homer in wonderfully suggestive, symbolic, visual detail. It is an idealized, unspoiled, abundant, fruitful, immortal paradise that is isolated and remote from the rest of the world. The description of her lush, rich natural environment stresses the sensual pleasure, vibrancy and delight of the land of Ogygia, reflecting Calypso herself. There is a fresh, cool, pure spring, birds, trees, and flowers. The earth is metaphorically the body of the original Great Goddess of over flowing, flowering fertility and life. This passage is a depiction of a sacred space, a place given over to the divine feminine, the archetype of the Great Goddess.
* The surface image of Calypso is like an incredibly pure, charismatic, and beautiful image to which the hero can dedicate acts of heroism, virtue, wisdom, and spirituality, utilizing her as an image of his own higher nature, his soul, so to speak.
* Her image of paradise is the ultimate dream destination of the heroic Greek quest.
poplar: the Tree of Life, because of its distinctly bicolored leaves; dark green on the side that faces Heaven, pale green on the side that faces Earth, representing the male/female duality from which all was born.
cypress: "According to orphic descriptions of the afterlife, the first thing a newly arrived soul would see in the underworld was a white cypress"(ibid)
raven: symbolizes the destructive, dark aspect of the feminine, the goddess as death giver and is manifested in women as the crone.
owl: a symbol of the crone, as death giver and wise woman.
hawk: sometimes personifies the god ferrymen on the mythological river Styx-(name means fearful, magical, taboo) therefor the hawk is a connection to the underworld, death and rebirth.
Women identify more with the process of creating rather than with the end result. All things are eternally transforming and becoming, evolving into forever> cyclical.
Four streams of water from the goddess is also a 'rivers of paradise' symbol. The term fountain has mystical connotations as the central feature of the old, matriarchal, uterine paradise thus containing the secret of eternal life. Springs are pure, unpoluted water that gently bubbles up from deep inside the mysterious womb of the earth, from the underworlds' Styx of rebirth.
Although Calypso does not impose a direct threat to Odysseus's safety, she does have the ability to keep him on her isle forever. She has sinister/witchy undertones that become obvious when examine the symbols of her environment: grape vine, hearth, raven, owls, and the cypress.
The most obvious indicator of her potential for evil doing is that she is distrusted by Odysseus and is accused of deception when she announces to send him on with his journey. He accuses her of having 'guile' beneath the offer she refused for seven years, so he requests her to swear an oath. At this she calls him a 'dog' and then swears to the Earth and to the Styx, showing her connection to the earth/life as well as to the underworld/death= rebirth.
Her passage also shows striking similarities to the Hymn to Demeter> the intervention of Hermes and the parallel roles of Calypso to Hades, and Odysseus to Persephone. (G.C.)
Finally, it is important to emphasize that her character embodies female sexuality expressed in socially constructed roles of bride and wife, only in relation to the male. The attitude towards the free expression of her sexuality is shunned and is ideally to be restricted and confined to entities that equal her status,(thus to be shared only with immortals). We see here the beginning of the ownership, degradation and disintegration of woman's body and sexuality by the male patriarchy.
A Goddess with a complex character and having several functions. The duality of her nature is split/incompatible/discordant. She primarily represents (what has been constructed as) the Dark aspects of the Great Goddess, although her character contains elements from the Light as well.
Interesting Relationships
* She has four nymph daughters born of springs.(Lattimore) or they are her nymph maids born of fountains, under boughs, or in seaward streams.(Fitzgerald) She does have other household servants, like the maid and larder mistress.
* Although not in Homers' Odyssey, Circe and Odysseus bore Telegonus, and Agreus and Latinus,(who supposedly was son of Calypso). Their children were considered 'faultless' and 'strong', and ruled over the famous Tyrsenians. (Hesiod)
* She has a relationship with Hermes that exists prior to her encounter with Odysseus. It is Hermes who has the knowledge of the potent black root of the earths' soil that enables Odysseus to resist her drug. He displays knowledge of her sexual skill and it is he who informs Circe that Odysseus would be coming to her one day. Hermes name comes from hermaphrodite. He is a God of magic, medicine, occult wisdom. The Aegean Great Mother Goddess' primal serpent consort.
* Like the detailed description of Calypsos rich environment, Homer pays careful symbolic detail to the environment inside of Circes home, emphasizing her connection to the domestic sphere.
* Circe intimately bathes, feeds, and clothes Odysseus with her own gentle hands which is described in detail along with the blends healing and soothing effects it has on Odysseus' aching body. She does this for his men as well.
* During the full year on Aeaea, described in seasons, Circe provides an abundance of food and wine. It was probably she who was the god that put the stag in Odysseus's path which provided a feast for the men upon arrival. The entranced life with Circe idealizes the mortal activities of feasting and drinking the abundance of roasted meat and dreamy wine.
* Provides the sacrificial ewe and the ram.
* It is she who senses and identifies with their grief stricken
hearts and prompts Odysseus and his men to stay so as to
heal/restore their gallant hearts. Thus she heals them
emotionally so that they can continue their journey.
* Clearly she is skilled in the arts of medicine, magic, spells, and charms. She creates a potent 'unholy drug' of 'numbing drops of night and evil' one example that she is highly educated and skilled in herbs and extracts.
* She is likened to a cat, an animal traditionally associated with witches as they are her companions and are the shape she may take. The felines' cunning, sly nature has also been attributed to the feminine.
* She has great wisdom of the underworld and of the sacrifice to ensure Odysseus' future. She prophesizes and ordains the deed he must do in order to ensure his future. The surroundings are described by her in much length and vivid detail, emphasizing the strong connection she has to the land of the dead and its Queen pale Persephone,(Hecate or Hel). There Odysseus and his men must sacrifice a black ewe and ram. A journey to the underworld is viewed as a total catastrophe to them. The underworld was seen as dark, mysterious, awesome but deadly for living mortals, with phantoms and bloody pits. (Yet it was not the torture chamber of the Christian hell).
* Circe warns Odysseus about the sirens' pleasing song which is an incantation that can create confusion and paralyze the his will,(thelgian), making him forget his home. Circe also has the ability of thelgian although she doesn't use it against Odysseus.
* She uses a stick, staff, wooden rod, or wand, to 'fly' after the men and whip them into the pigsty. It is a witches/sorceress' tool of control, transmutation and focused channeling of energy. It is still used today by workers of ritual and magic along with the cauldron which was a necessary ingredient of ancient households. It is a traditional symbol of witch craft. According to Homer this "dazzling brazen vessel seethed" and bubbled and boiled hot upon a fiery blaze in Circes house.
* As a sorceress, she has awesome powers of transformation; she transforms the men into swine,(Appolodorous' Epitome states that she also changed their shapes into asses, lions and wolves as well by her magic wand rather than her drug), and then back again while her character also transforms from dangerous, cruel, evil, deceptive, beguiling, treacherous enemy to good, lovely, divine, exquisite, helpful friend and flawless lover. She also makes her self invisible.
* She tames and enchants ferocious beasts,(lion and wolves), that are typically a dangerous threat to men. This power displays her ability to control the wild and potentially dangerous forces of the natural world. In her possession of the beasts, she does not dominate them by force, rather she controls her victims, man and beast alike, to which Odysseus feels 'oppressed'.
* Upon Odysseus' arrival, a god or the goddess Circe, places a great king stag with 'noble' antlers in his path. (The stag goes to drink as the "power of the sun constrained him") Odysseus hunts him down and stabs him with his long phallic spear witch is described in detail. Life-blood,(like menstrual blood), flows from the wound. In the Ancient Earth Religions, the stag is a metaphor of the Horned God of untamed, male sexuality in connection to the earth,(the body of the Great Goddess), the consort of Artemis.(B.W.) He is the male spirit of the forest, and is the dying god sacrificed in service of the life force, the eternal hunt of man, the undivided self, at the peak of creative and emotional power. His activities are also representative of the seasonal phases in the cycle of the year.
Cernunnos, an image found on a cauldron in 2nd. century AD, "is the spirit of the sacrificed stag-god, a nature deity to whom sacrifices were dedicated in order to maintain the wild creatures and the cycles of nature with his holy blood." (p.199, B.W.) The Fairy Folk of Northern Europe continued this ritual tradition as late as the Holy Roman Empire. At the time of Beltane, or May eve, a young, virgin male is the chosen subject for a rite of passage into manhood by becoming the new king of death and sacrifice through hunting and killing the stag and consuming its raw flesh, absorbing its energy and acute animal perception. He then mates in a cave with the sacred virgin 'flower', queen of rebirth and fertility of the earth in her rite of passage into womanhood. This sacred union where the male and female symbolize universal forces, ensures the abundance of crops for the harvest to come. [Unfortunately the Christians then perverted the Horned God into the Devil and pagans,(mostly women), were burned at the stake,(as witches].
In slaying the stag Odysseus connects with his primal male self. It also represent his defeat of Circes male aspect that he must slay and absorb before he can challenge her. By devouring and digesting it, he also absorbs its acute, heightened perception reflected in the adrenal rush of excitement, as Odysseus' heart was "high with excitement" and "beating hard"(p.174, R.F.-Homer)].
* Circe, who is sometimes considered a nymph, is a of dire divine beauty. She is clearly sexual desirable as even Hermes notes what a pleasure it is to share her 'flawless' bed, informing us that she is a sensual goddess.
* Circe has a deeper understanding of sexual possibilities as she uses sex on two levels. First, with lusty primal instinct as a device to escape her death from beneath Odysseus mortal phallic sword, to which she cowers in fear. Second, as a vehicle for relating deeply through a process of giving and receiving in pleasure and play so as to create a connection of mutual trust through sharing a most intimate act of bonding.
In her flawless bed of pleasure of which she entices Odysseus, she must be highly skilled in the art of sex magic, for both helpful and harmful purposes. Odysseus is aware of this consents to have sex with her he requests her to swear an oath. This indicates his fear and distrust of her sexually. For Circe has the power to 'unman' or desex Odysseus making him into a 'weakling' in her 'dangerous' bed. Thus she has significant control of sexual forces.
When viewed differently, Odysseus' power to take her immortal life coupled with his ability to outsmart her drug with the imparted wisdom from the male god Hermes and the amulet, are signs of the hero dominating her as he can use his threatening phallic instrument as a weapon of force and death.
* Odysseus must grope through the darkness before reaching her flawless bed while his men sleep in her shadowy hall.
* References to "being a man", like when he accepts her compelling invitations to stay with her, after slaying the stag and uniting with her sexually imply that he has now fully become a man.
goblet: which holds the wine, the blood of the earth, is analogous of the womb filled with the blood of life.
cauldron: It is the deep womb of the goddess, a life-giving, blood-filled vessel. The cauldron is the symbol of the pre-Christian world, associated with witchcraft and the female power of cosmic creation. it is where re birthing takes place as well as magic and medicine.
bowls: were used in ancient sacrificial ceremonies to catch the blood of the victim, the Greek word for bowl is amrion, which also means womb. the universe is thought of as the goddesses great mixing bowl. The bowl is a blood- filled vessel.
all of these are Gold: the alchemical sign for sun for its color and immortality due to its impervious nature, it never deteriorates. It is mutable as it can be melted and reshaped but doesn't loose luster; unchangeable, untarnishable.
wine: the blood of the earth as it was identified with women's life-giving menstrual blood that flows gently without sacrificial killing.
See grape/vine
As "the dread goddess who talks with mortals"(Lattimore, p.53), Circe is seen as being low, or close to that which is mortal, therefor un-divine and un-holy. Her loss of status indicated here and throughout the beginning of her passage are a result of the rising male perspective which valued definition, order, rationality, light, life, and knowledge(>the 'good') over the forces of ambiguity, chaos, intuition, darkness, death and mystery(>the 'evil') represented by the feminine.
a general list of things in common:
"theatrics, disguise, and acting are essentially attributes of the psychology of the absolute female...one could say the higher aspect of the activity of deception is art or the aesthetic pursuits in general. extreme mutability explains why absolute woman is prone to 'lie' and disguise herself... such behavior is a counterpart to fluidity and mutability in the cosmic feminine nature."(R.L.) This self-protective mutibility is seen as evil when judged from a male-oriented value standard. Here is the beginning of the misogyny that continues and escalates as time goes by.
Both Calypso and Circe are associated with symbols that become the property of Dionysis. His rites involve the qualities of consciousness that correspond with the worship of the great goddess.
"The unrepressed form of feminine sexuality is inexorably tied up with the notorious Greek god... dionysian religions or 'mysteries' prevailed throughout the world prior to the formation of patriarchal male-dominated societies and are considered to be the repository of the most ancient earth-mother religions... his celebrations were always initiated by women who would then bring men into the associated sacrificial rites and orgies... dionysian rites are based on a collective evocation of ecstatic states of mind through dance, drunkenness, music, chanting, sexual abandonment, hysteria, and pandemonium."(p.54, R.L.)
"'the primordial mystery of weaving and spinning has also been experienced in projection upon the Great Mother who weaves the web of life and spins the threads of fate regardless whether she appears as one great spinstress or, as so frequently, in a lunar triad...thus the Great Goddesses are weavers."
Witches see reality as swirling spiral patterns of energy.
Although both are from a man's perspective,(Homers'), Calypso represents more of the male view of the feminine in his idea of relating to her. Circe is mainly the feminine entirely unto itself,(her power as a witch was exclusively female), yet she is clearly judged by conventional male standards. The hero masters his masculinity with Circe, and then unites with his feminine psyche with Calypso. Through coming to know both aspects of universal/individual duality's, he becomes whole.
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