Underflow

Bia, O goddess whose might is well known,
whose calling it is to stand guard at the throne
of thundering Zeus, I offer you my praise.
O able daughter of battle-wise Pallas
and Styx in whose name great oaths are sworn,
sister of Nike, granter of victory,
with whom you share your holy station,
broad-winged one whose will is unmatched,
whose power compels the strongest to bend,
yours is the strength to stand against any,
yours is the irresistible force. Bia,
unyielding one, grant me your gift of fortitude.

I pray to Athena, learned one, clever one,
daughter of Metis, mother of wisdom,
and great and thundering Zeus. Athena,
yours is the realm of the intellect,
of judgment, of reason, of clear perception;
yours is the might behind great minds.
Grant to me, O goddess, the power of thought,
the will to study, the wit to understand.
Grant to me, goddess, the gift of knowledge.

I call out to Psyche, sweet breath of the spirit,
fair among mortals, fair too among gods.
Beloved of Eros, your tale is one
of joy and of sorrow, of retribution
and redemption, of determination
and forgiveness. Daughter of humanity,
beautiful above all women, your loveliness
a blessing and a blight; loved by the love god,
betrayed by uncertainty, you would bear any torment,
face any fear, to reunite with your dear one.
Bright-winged goddess who knows the art of transformation,
who knows the work of a great love, I pray to you.

Asteria who dwells in darkness, star-bright,
mistress of the spangled skies, I praise your name.
Daughter of Phoebe, great of understanding,
and restless Coeus who seeks to know all;
sister of twice-blessed Leto; mother of Hekate
to whom all honors are given, I pray to you.
Beautiful goddess, pursued by thundering Zeus,
in fleeing you became a quail and fell
into the sea, to rise again an island,
fair Delos of famous name. Asteria,
mistress of auguries, lady of the falling star,
great of glory, I praise your wisdom and your might.

Phobos and Deimos, great sons of Aphrodite
and Ares who exceeds all warriors,
companion of Enyo, fierce battle-goddess,
and Eris who delights in all strife. Brothers two,
ever-present on the field of war, ever-ready
with spear and with shield, you hold fast the reins
of your father’s bright chariot, O mighty ones,
O spirits of fear. Phobos of the burning eyes,
yours it is to rout the foe, to drive them in panic
from the battleground; Deimos, yours is a subtler power,
yours is the silent chill of dread that drains the heart
of courage. I praise you, O gods; I honor your might.

I call to Eunomia, lady of laws,
daughter of Themis and thundering Zeus,
sister of Dike who is just and Eirene
the peace-bringer, sisters three who hold in hand
the well-being of all, of the community.
Yours are the good laws, the fair and proper order,
for law itself does not make what is right;
yours is the punishment of the evil-doer;
yours too is the care of the powerless,
of those preyed upon by the strong and the cruel.
Eunomia who knows the good of custom and the ill,
I pray to you for wisdom, for the courage to do right.

I call out to Maia of the star-strewn skies,
eldest of the Pleiades, wise daughters of Atlas
who holds up the heavens. Beautiful Maia,
Maia of the cypress wood, black-eyed goddess,
in the dark of night Zeus came to you, to lay with you
in your deep-hewn cave, well hidden in the stony soil
of distant Mount Kyllene. Maia of the mountain,
well-honored you were in wild Arcadia,
that rugged land in which you bore your son,
bright Hermes of the many gifts. Gracious goddess,
companion of women in their travail, friend of the mother,
the child at her breast, I praise your kindness and your might.

I sing now to Methe, joyful and unrestrained,
goddess who knows the worth of pleasure, the value
of forgetfulness. Yours is the flow of words,
the loosening of the tongue; yours is merriment
and good cheer, the heady sweetness of the wine,
the wild-hearted dance, the fire of ecstasy,
the rule of the heart, impulse obeyed,
stories that never end, tales only true
in the telling. Companion of Dionysos,
you travel with his retinue, you follow in his wake;
we know you in the brimming cup, the stumbling step,
an evening’s evanescent grace. I honor you, O Methe.

To Pothos, great of repute, great of might,
imminent and inevitable, companion
of fair Aphrodite and the Erotes,
yours is the gift of sweet desire that fills the heart
and fires the loins, a gift that sears the soul.
Yours is the cup of passion, from which you pour,
lavishly and with abandon, upon all humankind,
a blessing of unreason, an irresistible call;
yours is the longing of the lovelorn, the yearning
of the distant lover, of those torn from the arms
of their beloved, separated by need, by duty,
or by sorrowful circumstance. Pothos, to you I pray.

To Thanatos, so kind and so good, I offer my praise.
Son of the darkness and the night, of wise Erebos
and raven-haired Nyx, brother of Hypnos who grants a respite
ephemeral and sweet, O Thanatos, you bring a repose
of a longer span–an endless sleep is yours to bestow.
Beautiful Thanatos, well-wreathed with poppies red as blood,
black-winged god, fleet-footed one, bearer of the sharp-edged sword
with which you cut a lock of hair from each who enters Hades’ realm:
some call you merciless, hard of heart, O god who takes
from us those we most love–and yet, dear Thanatos,
yours is a mercy great and freeing, a boundless comfort,
a final peace. O god who gives us life’s last blessing, I praise you.

I call out to Peitho, great daughter of Ocean
and sea-striding Tethys, fair of fame and great of name.
Peitho who is the irresistible voice,
who is the sound of the surf, who is bird-song
and fair weather, whose gift it is to turn the tides,
to bring about a change in reason, I pray to you.
Companion of Aphrodite, beguiler of hearts,
refiner of feeling, yours is the divergence of passions,
the coaxing of lovers, the fascination of love;
you are seduction, the call of need to need;
you are the soul and sweetness of persuasion.
Peitho, herald of the heart, I honor you.

I call to great Styx who wards the river
that bounds the realm of deep-hearted Hades.
Wise eldest daughter of Ocean and Tethys,
eldest of those three thousand fair maids,
yours is the power behind an oath,
yours is the might to break the forsworn,
yours is the comfort of the forsaken.
O solace of those with a righteous wrath,
with hearts overfull of rage and revenge,
with the anger of the just, I call to you.
I honor you, good and gracious Styx,
I offer you my praise and seek your blessing.

I call to Dione, ancient of name,
grand-daughter of Gaia and star-strewn Ouranos,
mother of blessed Aphrodite,
companion and counsel of thundering Zeus.
O goddess who knows the ways of fate,
mistress of visions and oracles,
friend of the seer and the prophet,
well-honored in temple and in grove,
well-honored at far-famed Dodona,
teller of the hidden tales, I call to you.
I honor you, good and gracious Dione,
I offer you my praise and seek your blessing.

All praise to wise Mnemosyne, mother of Muses,
mistress of your mother’s wisdom,
buried deep within the earth, with bone and stone.
Mistress of memory, the sweet and the sharp,
protector of history, preserver of stories,
maintainer of tales of sorrow and joy,
yours is the truth within the fact,
the shadow cast on what we know
by what has been forgotten.
O mother of sight and inspiration, I call to you.
I honor you, good and gracious Mnemosyne,
I offer you my praise and seek your blessing.

All praise to great Krios who stands in the south,
son of the sky and the good green earth,
beloved of ocean-born Eurybia,
with whom you guide the sailor’s course.
O Krios of the starlit skies,
O master of each constellation,
lord of the passing of the year,
measurer of month and moon,
Krios who knows the paths we walk, who knows
our tales before they are told, I call to you.
I honor you, good and gracious Krios,
I offer you my praise and seek your blessing.

All praise to Hyperion, vigilant god,
son of the sky and the broad, blessed earth,
father of sun and night-shining moon,
father of each day’s new dawning,
wise and watchful light of the heavens,
clear-sighted master of all the year’s days,
you know the travels of the stars,
you know the ways of the passing tides.
O god who sees and understands all things,
Hyperion of ancient might, I call to you.
I honor you, good and gracious Hyperion,
I offer you my praise and seek your blessing.

All praise to Coeus, deep-minded and wise,
son of the earth and the far-reaching sky,
beloved of Phoebe, shining bright,
father of Leto and farseeing Asteria.
Northmost upholder of all the heavens,
challenger, questioner, seeker of truth,
god of the intellect, god of the mind,
granter of reason, of judgement, of sense,
friend of the scholar and the sage, of science
and philosophy, I call to you.
I honor you, good and gracious Coeus,
I offer you my praise and seek your blessing.

All praise to Oceanos, great god of the deep,
lord of the waves, the currents, the tides.
Beloved of Tethys who brought forth the rain-clouds,
father of river-gods, father of nymphs,
yours are the fountains and sweet-water springs,
the healthful baths that steam and churn,
the wells from which we draw our drink,
the rains that bring green fields and fruited trees.
O Oceanos, ancient one, O great one
of the Titan gods, I call to you.
I honor you, good and gracious Ocean,
I offer you my praise and seek your blessing.

To swift-footed Artemis and far-shooting Apollo,
dear children of Leto and thundering Zeus,
I pray to you, O gods, watch over ______________
as they travel through the world, keep them safe from harm,
guard them from evil, protect them from all ill,
grant them the strength to overcome all obstacles,
grant them the resilience to recover from loss,
grant them the wisdom to find their way through the dark,
grant them true friends to join them on their journey.
Show them the joy in life, the pleasures of today
and the promise of tomorrow. Give them the gift
of a mind turned ever toward happiness and hope.
Be with them, O gods, in good times and bad;
favor them with insight and good humor, with the courage
to choose freely and the wisdom to choose well.
I pray to you, bless them with your many gifts.

Blessed Euthenia, from whose hands fall
the gifts of the deep earth, the shining bits
of fortune, the stores of wealth, the refuge
of sufficiency that brings us peace of mind.
In Egypt, bride of the Nile you were,
your image carved on precious metal,
burnished by many fingers, shining like sunlight.
In Greece, child of Hephaistos and Aglaia,
goddess of noble name and wide renown,
with your sisters, givers of that which brings joy
to men and women in this firm-grounded world:
from clear-hearted Eucleia, one's dear repute
and honor, the fair fame of a life well lived;
from bold Eupheme, the sweet words of praise
for work well done and triumph well won;
from kind Philosophryne, a seat by the fire,
a warm welcome, a hand reaching out
in friendship and comfort for a need well known.
And from you, Euthenia, the abundance
that feeds body and spirit at once,
that enables each child to live and thrive,
that brings to us the relief of knowing
that what we have will be enough. Euthenia,
compassionate goddess whose blessings we crave,
we thank you for all the times we had our fill,
for all the times we felt no want, for all
the times our hungers have been sated.
Gracious Euthenia, we praise and honor you.