The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Bendis
11:43 Dec 13 2011
Times Read: 811

Bendis was the Great Goddess of gynocratic Lemnos and Thrace, where women worked the land and tended the sheep and cattle. She was called the fierce Huntress of the Two Spears. She provided the religious underpinning for the Lemnosian women's revolt in which all the men of the island were slain. Her name means "to tie". In Her image She is depicted holding a branch of a tree which is thought to grant passage to the underworld.



It is told that Her women wore lion pelts and fox skins. Those who worshipped Her did so in Her Sacred Groves. To the Greeks, Bendis was the same Thracian Artemis worshipped by the Amazons as Tauropolis and She was closely aligned with Cybele and Hecate. As Hecate, She was Moon and Night; Earth and Nature. She had great power over heaven and earth. She is also identified with the Brauronian Artemis and Rhea.



Her worship was introduced into Attica by the Thracians and was so favored that She was celebrated in a ceremonial in Athens which included grand processions and races and was called Bendideia.

PRAYER TO PERSEPHONE
12:58 Dec 12 2011
Times Read: 814










PRAYER TO PERSEPHONE









Cleansed by the ritual ablutions and clothed in violet robes, we droop our olive branches to the earth.



"Oh, underworld Persephone, whatever be the name that thou desirest, if this name pleases thee, oh, hear our prayer, Crowned with Shadows, barren smile-less Queen!



"Koklis, daughter of Thrasymakos, is lying at thy door. Pray do not call her yet; thou knowest she cannot fly from thee for ever; but take her later, call some other day.



"Oh, bear her not away so soon, Invisible Mistress! For she bewails her virginity, she supplicates thee through our prayers; to save her we will give our three black sheep, unshorn."



from The Songs of Bilitis by Pierre Louÿs













Hermes leads Persephone forth from the underworld where she is greeted by the goddesses Demeter and Hekate. Hermes is depicted holdling his kerykeion (herald's wand), and wearing a winged petasos (cap). Persephone wears a crown, Hekate carries a pair of burning torches, and Demeter holds a royal staff.