Orpheus- The Father of Songs

Being a musician and bard, I fancy all things musical and lyrical.

My topic today is to look at the tale of Orpheus. There are many stories, some conflicting (as doth happen in folklore and Mythology), these are the ones I like best.

The Greeks considered Orpheus to be the Greatest of all Poets & Musicians. It is said that he was the son of the God, Apollo and the daughter of the Muse of Epic Poetry, Calliope. The gifts of his parents at his birth were: a golden lyre and the ability to play it- from his father, Apollo and from his mother, the gift of being able to create lyrics and verse. Orpheus made his way with money earned as a Wizard and a Musician and courted for himself, Thalia, the Laughing Muse of Comedy.

Surely, with lineage such as this, I have to research him a bit in my quest for knowledge on these topics!

A magickal tale it is! One of Invention, Enchantment, Melody, Muse and Inspiration with a bonus of a wild Greek tragedy ending!

While Hermes may have invented the lyre (see my earlier post on Hermes) it was Orpheus who made it perfect. He could charm wild animals and birds and even make the rocks and trees dance!

How wondrous! Jason and the Argonauts were even saved by Orpheus on their voyage. Unlike Odysseus and his men who fell prey to the Sirens, Orpheus heard the Sirens calls of entrancing lure and played his lyre LOUDER and drowned out the Sirens. ( Like Nigel Tufnel says in "Spinal Tap": "this knob goes to 11..and that's one louder, isn't it?" :)

One day Orpheus's wife Eurydice, was confronted by a Satyr (I'm thinking in a an overtly sexual way, as...well.... that's how Satyrs roll...) and to avoid the rape, Eurydice unfortunately fell into a pit of vipers (how symbolic) and was bitten and died. Orpheus went to the Underworld to win her back. He is the only mortal to have gone into the Underworld and come back alive. His music so charmed Hades and Persephone that he was given his wife back and told that they should proceed to the surface. IF Orpheus was able to emerge to the top surface WITHOUT looking back at his wife, she would be free and alive again. He led her home and to a new rebirth.

 Of course, he was so excited when he saw the sunshine and their destination, he looked back to make sure that she was still with him at the last minute... and lost her forever.

The last tale is about his end of life.
It's really pretty wild.

Orpheus as he aged, withdrew his belief in the Gods, all save Apollo (or the Sun). In a fit of wild frenzy the Dionysius (Bacchus) Maenads tore him to shreds (as wild Maenads are wont to do).

His head and his lyre were thrown into the water, and as they floated along, still singing....(pretty kewl and creepy, that..). His head and fragments of his body was buried beneath Mount Olympus and nightingales still sing over his grave.

His lyre was whisked away to the heavens and placed among the stars.

Orpheus.

A musician's musician with all the tales of a life well loved....
well lived...
and well played.

HUZZAH.

Labyrinth and the Minotaur Within

L is for "Labyrinth"....

A labyrinth is a place of mystery.
A puzzle place.
I imagine that you have heard of labyrinths in Harry Potter,

 or in Jim Henson's movie of the same name,

 or the scary "Pan's Labyrinth"

Or even (Merlyn asks hopefully) in the Mythology stories of legend and maybe even at your local Zen place for meditation.

They are all, in essence, a MAZE.

These mazes are multicursal patterns or unicursal. The unicursal pattern is the oldest being even featured on minted coins as early as 430 B.C.

As far as Mythology goes (oooh, I love Mythology!) the first story I ever heard or read with a labyrinth in it was that of Theseus and the Minotaur in the Labyrinth. Theseus went into the labyrinth to slay the beast, the man eating Minotaur (1/2 man, 1/2 bull).

There had been a decree that every 7th year, 7 beautiful maidens and 7 handsome young men would be put into the labyrinth to sacrifice to the Minotaur. Theseus does end up using a ball of string to unravel from the entrance and to find his way out again after killing the beast monster.

In Harry Potter and in the movie "Labyrinth" (with David Bowie), and "Pan's Labyrinth, the labyrinth was also featured as a "deadly game" to the players. If they were to actually triumph in traversing the labyrinth and coming out alive in the end, they would succeed.

So it is with the Zen maze as well, although not deadly, but definately a soul searching journey.

Years ago, I participated in several labyrinths, the best one being a HUGE labyrinth that had been painted on duck cloth and traveled with monks around the states. It was visiting the United Methodist Church's vast Community Room.

There was quiet and meditative music played by two musicians who sat by a gong, they played sitar and dumbek. At the start of the journey we were to dedicate ourselves to following the path.

We were to enter the labyrinth with a personal quest.

At certain points we were to stop, remember our question/quest and by the time we had traversed the maze to the center, we had come to some point of thought. Whereupon, we were to pick up a piece of paper from the dish directly in the center of the labyrinth. There was a basket there with about 100 slips of paper in it, with a secret word written on each one. We were to close our eyes, bend down, pick up our choice of slip of paper, read it and keep it and travel back out of the maze meditating upon that word.

I thought I'd try it. My personal quest at that time (and most of the time for me the ever Mercurial Gemini, is "Show me the next direction to go in").
I started on my journey, thinking of my past as I wound my way into the center. I paused at the core and stooped and picked up one of the secret slips of paper. It only had one word on it.
The word was "MUSIC".
My heart leapt for joy! Of all the many pieces of paper there, this was MY WORD.
I wound my way out of the labyrinth walking on air!

The labyrinth is in essence our way to conquer our own "beast" within. In this context, we are each our own "Minotaur". There is a part of us, deep within, that is animal, uncontrollable, unreasonable, one that follows instinct and cannot be tamed. We strive to follow the complicated path of our life. When we come to the core of our own essence, we must face our beast, our failings, our strengths.
We must focus on what we need to celebrate, follow and focus on the path that is OUR OWN SELF.

The Minotaur is US. We are 1/2 man and 1/2 beast.
We must allow for both in our makeup.
We must decide which one to feed.

The beast?

The human?

The labyrinth helps us dig down to find it.
Once found, we must deal with it. Kill the beast or be killed by the beast.

Once conquered we can wind our way back out of the labyrinth, following the trail that we've left for ourself, to sure freedom out of the complicated maze of our hearts, spirits and past.

The Labyrinth makes us asks the hard questions...much like Jareth the Goblin King asks in his song:

"I only ask things I'd ask any superstar,

What is it that you have got that got you where you are?"

 Once we find out the answer to that....then we know our own power and what we should do with it.

Sometimes, in order to be "Role Models" (like in the fun movie of the same name :)

We just have to experience what we are.....

To know ourselves truly.

Here is a list of some on my area....(Google them in your own to come up with a list of labyrinths in your area)


Labyrinths in the Finger Lakes area