Line.
1. Universal Soul = That Being which gives structure and life to the Universe.
1. Separates = Manifests body and mind, body to tend the world, mind to Know Itself.
2. Starry Heavens = The fixed stars, ie. constellations and Zodiac, the Ogdoad.
3. Gathering Grossness = First powers, and passions, then body.
3. Spheres = Metaphorical crystal clear spheres which carry the stars round.
3. Governed by Gods = Each planet has attributes, of a defined nature, personified as an individual god, the beginning of separation.
4. Venerable = The oldest of the planetary Gods and most distant from Earth.
10. Everchanging = Phases point to the material instability of objects, metamorphosis.
10. Physical Action = As all below is matter.
11. Plunge = Into the flow of life, the waters of existence.
11. Being Born = Spiritually, at the first breath the Soul enters the body.
11. Screaming Protesting = The Soul reacts to its imprisonment in the body.
12. Infant Grows = The child forgets (Lethe) heaven as it learns the world.
12. Learns to Use = It harmonises with its earthly body, and learns the ways of men.
12. Benefits of the Gods = The natural world and the mind.
13. Initiated = It is reminded of its Heavenly origin and eventual safe return.
13. Know Itself = A portion of the Universal Soul, the All, God, a God in Truth (Alethe).
14. At Death = The Soul is breathed forth, freed at last to return home.
15. First to Moon = The boundary of matter for the returning Souls.
22. Purified = Free from all material taint and ego.
23. Ogdoad = The sphere of the fixed stars; constellations and Zodiac. = 8th.
23. Heavenwards = The dark beyond the fixed stars, which to the Soul is perfect light.
24. Unites = Total assimilation with the All, Knowing the All, Being the All.
Numerology; 24 Lines, 5 Verses
The verses end in these numbers; and lines in each verse;
3 = Heaven 3 = Trinity
10 = Decad 7 = Planets
14 = 2x7 4 = Earth
21 = 3x7 7 = Planets
24 = Zodiacal Return, 2x12 3 = Heaven
72 = 2x36, or 3x24, or 6x12 24 = 2x12, or 3x8 or 6x4
So much for the structure. Now let us look at the various planets and their attributes.
Wonder = Moon
Inquiry = Mercury
Understanding = Venus
Faith = Sun
Experience = Mars
Knowledge = Jupiter
Peace = Saturn
These seven stages are symbolized by the seven Planets, signifying an ascent
from the Earthly to the Heavenly.
Wonder at seeing the same and different as one, as the Moon is the same
full or quarter or new. Cyclic change always returns unto itself.
Inquiry into the phenomena needs systematic examination and rapid flights
of mind to take in the extremes and recognize the mean.
Understanding the beauty of the phenomena leads to Love of both it and the
creator of such a well designed and economical universe.
Faith shines through the clouds of doubt which obscure our vision of God.
Experience results merely from the ardour and zeal of the seeker, the war
within is won without loss and great are the spoils of victory!
Knowledge is powerful and majestic in the realm of the Heavens, the new
has deposed the old life. The seeker Knows what he seeks, God.
Peace, distant, yet long lived, when reached, the parent of all good, and reward of the truthful seeker of God.
The journey over, the reward claimed, and the unchangeable heavens gives a fixed home to the wanderer, a place in heaven, immortal, shining with the Light and Knowledge of the One.
HYMN TO MARS
line number
1 Mars, exceeding in strength, chariot rider,
2 Golden-helmed, doughty in heart,
3 Shield-bearer, Saviour of cities,
4 Harnessed in bronze, strong of arm,
5 Unwearying, mighty with the spear,
6 O defence of Olympus, father of warlike Victory,
7 Ally of Themis, stern governor of the rebellious,
8 Leader of the righteous men, sceptred King of manliness,
9 Who whirl your fiery sphere among the planets
10 In their sevenfold courses through the aether
11 Wherein your blazing steeds ever bear you above
12 The third firmament of heaven; hear me, helper of men,
13 Giver of dauntless youth
14 Shed down a kindly ray from above upon my life,
15 And strength of war, that I may be able
16 To drive away bitter cowardice from my head
17 And crush down the deceitful impulses of my soul.
18 Restrain also the keen fury of my heart
19 Which provokes me to tread the ways of blood-curdling strife.
20 Rather, O blessed one, give you me boldness
21 To abide within the harmless laws of peace,
22 Avoiding strife and hatred
23 And the violent fiends of death.
The hymn is divided into two distinct parts, the invocation and the supplication. The Invocation ends with the thirteenth line; and the supplication begins with the fourteenth. We can also divide the Invocation into two parts; Praise, from lines 1-8, and the Identity, from lines 9-13. Likewise the Supplication is in two parts; a prayer for strength, lines 14-17, and the prayer for restraint, lines 18-23.
Pliny the Elder defines the three types of prayer: “...there is one formula for obtaining favourable omens, another for averting evil, another for praising the gods.”[1] We find all three in this Hymn.
Now for the content, Lines 1 & 2 are fairly straight forward words of praise to gain favour with the god. However, line 3 is something different, and sets the tone of the hymn. It is at first sight strange for Mars to be called Saviour of cities rather than Sacker of cities, as the war-like Achilles is called in Homer’s Epics. So, the tone of the hymn is to be for defence rather than offence. Lines 4 & 5 again are plain flattery. In line 6 Mars is given the highest title of defence of Olympus, the home of the very gods themselves. Themis, of whom Mars is styled an Ally in line 7, is the personification of the order of things established by Law, custom, equity. More flattery in line 8. But line 9 is the start of the identification of the particular god or attribute of the god requested.
The fiery sphere identifies this as Heavenly Mars being invoked, the planetary god, in contrast with the earthly god, whose worship involved a sacred spear. Sevenfold courses, are the Planetary spheres of the heavens which appear in line 10. Line 11 makes a metaphor of the planets as blazing steeds which are proper mounts for a warrior. The third firmament, is reckoned from the outermost of the spheres, Saturn, followed by Jupiter, then Mars, in line 12. Line 13 reverts to more flattery.
The content of the supplication follows; asking the god to shed down a ray comes from the belief that the planets and stars affected the happenings on earth by their rays of power, so line 14. Now to line 15 where the worshipper starts the formal request of the god, strength of war but not as we would expect for active warfare and killing. The next line, 16, we have him asking for cowardice to be driven away, but still not for warfare. We see in line 17 deceitful impulses are the enemy to be fought with the aid of the god. And now the true object of the hymn starts to come out, a prayer for restraint from fury of the heart, line 18. The worshipper now acknowledges a problem, that of anger within life, and requests the god, in the next line, 20, for boldness, and in line 21 the object for which the boldness is desired. Lines 22 & 23 conclude with more definition, expanding on the avoidance of strife and hatred and death.
Now that we have examined the Form and Content of the Hymn to Mars, we shall examine the religious implications, both in the hymn and its use. There are generally two types of prayer; one of: Acquisition and the other of Aversion. One prays to a god for, say, rain, that is for Acquisition of something, in this case water. However, if too much rain falls and the worshipper prays for the rain to cease, it is then a prayer to avert, say, a flood. So, Acquisition or Aversion, which of these two does our hymn fall into, or is it concerning both?
In the supplication in line 14, the worshipper asks for a kindly ray and strength, so it seems to be a Prayer for acquisition. However, in the other lines there is an overall request for aversion. Drive away, 16, and crush down, 17, and restrain fury are all terms of aversion. And line 22 actually asks for assistance in avoiding strife and hatred, which is continued in the final line of our hymn. So, the overall feeling is that of Aversion, of cowardice, deceit, fury, strife, hatred, and the violent fiends of death!
We may safely say that this hymn is Pacifist rather than War-Like, and it shows a high moral tone, unlike that of the ‘Viking-Berserker’ type of warrior. About the time of our hymn there were several mystical religious movements outside of the establishment cults. Now, planetary worship was the most widely spread system in the ancient world. The heavens were worshipped by many sects even into the late Roman period, ie. Mithraism. But in the more ancient times the Orphics were directly associated with the scale of the Planetary Spheres in their initiation and religious rites. The initiation consisted of a symbolic ‘ascent’ through the spheres to a revelation, followed by the ‘descent’ to the ‘normal’ world, a changed person! This is intended to correct the excesses and deficiencies granted the worshipper, mystically, on passing through the spheres of the planets on the way to earthly birth. In the rites each planet god is approached, in the manner of our hymn, to give moral strength and power to the devotee. Venus, perhaps, would be asked for control in passion to avoid, say, adultery. And Saturn may be requested for the power to utter truth, even when it is of material disadvantage for the worshipper. So forth for all of the planetary gods.
In line with what we have examined, we may come to the conclusion that this is a pacifist, aversion hymn addressed to a planetary god in the fashion of Orphic worship and in tune with an Orphic morality, and mysticism.[2]
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