Written for Coven Life
By Hypatia
12/06/2019
The Hymn to Stars (Asteria)
(Fumigation with Aromatics)
WITH holy voice I call the stars on high,
Pure sacred lights and genii of the sky.
Celestial stars, the progeny of Night,
In whirling circles beaming far your light,
Refulgent rays around the heav’ns ye throw,
Eternal fires, the source of all below.
With flames significant of Fate ye shine,
And aptly rule for men a path divine.
In seven bright zones ye run with wand’ring flames,
And heaven and earth compose your lucid frames:
With course unwearied, pure and fiery bright
Forever shining thro’ the veil of Night.
Hail twinkling, joyful, ever wakeful fires!
Propitious shine on all my just desires;
These sacred rites regard with conscious rays, 1
And end our works devoted to your praise.
Who was Asteria (The Starry One)?
Stars- the Goddess Asteria was the Titan Goddess of falling stars and nocturnal oracles that divined with Oneiromancy. She is the Goddess of prophetic dreams.
The sister of Leto (the mother of Apollo) and the daughter of Phoebe and Coeus (both her parents born from Chaos). One of her daughters she had with Perses was the Great Goddess Hecate.
One legend has it that in order to escape the lustful grips of Zeus, she plunged into the Aegean Sea as a Quail and became the beautiful Island of Delos located in the Mediterranean archipelago.
In this beautiful Hymn to the Great Goddess you can see the appearance of 2 other Goddesses with Asteria and that is the Goddess Night and her mother Fate. All 3 Asteria, Night and Fate were Lunar Goddesses.
It speaks of 7 bright zones. This is such a scared number that could be pointing to the 7 celestial spheres of the entire cosmos or the 7 wanderers which are the 7 classical planets. It is most probably however that it is pointing to the Seven Sisters (Pleiades) of the sky.
In the Orphic and Pythagorean opinion the stars are inhabited indeed and therefore in this poem mentioned as Earthly. Legends of similar belief are all over the world connecting the inhabitants to the stars, such as the Star seeds, or Star nations and of course the Pleiades who were Star Nymph a type of celestial Faerie.
Take this time to honor Asteria, make a wish upon a star. It may even have originated from this very belief.
Enchanted Circle of Witches® 