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Circe is the witch
living in the island of Aeaea, who was visited by the crew of
heroes called the Argonauts and the Trojan War hero Odysseus.
Circe was a powerful witch who, with the help of herbs,
muttering incantations, or praying to her gods, could turn men
into animals or create unsubstantial images of beasts. She was
able to darken the heavens by hiding the moon or the sun behind
clouds, and destroy her enemies with poisonous juices, calling
to her aid Nyx (Night), Chaos or Hecate, goddess of the
crossroads. In her presence and because of her enchantments the
woods could move, the ground rumble and the trees around her
turn white.
But as witchcraft may make a victim also of him or her who
practices it, the nights of Circe could be wasted in fear
because of the uncontrolled visions which filled her house. And
so, for example, the walls and chambers of her palace could seem
to be bathing in blood, while fire could seem to devour her
magic herbs. That is why it was a relief for her when daylight
came and she could bathe and clean her garments forgetting the
scaring nightly visions.
If these were visions, those who came to her abode could
hallucinate as much as she did, and if not, her world was in
fact transformed. For Circe is said to have been surrounded by
all kinds of beasts which cannot be seen elsewhere, having an
appearance which reminds of what earth produced out of primeval
slime. And yet, when others came to the palace of Circe, they
also saw many beasts, but of the regular kind, that is, such as
lions, bears and wolves, which however, acted as domesticated
animals showing their kindness by wagging their tails. Some say
these were actually the drugged victims of Circe.
The witch Circe, whose hair resembled flames, lived in Aeaea, an
island which could be located off the western or eastern coast
of Italy, where she was brought by her father Helius. The name
of this elusive island is what some call a palindrome, for it is
the same when read backwards or forwards.
Some of those who visited Aeaea have told that Circe, who lived
in a house made of stone in the middle of a clearing in a forest
dell, used to sit on a throne wearing a purple robe and a golden
veil. They said that her attendants were Nereids and Nymphs,
whose only task to sort out the plants and flowers of Circe's
herbarium, and put them in separate baskets.
Besides supervising them Circe, while singing beautifully, wove
delicate and dazzling fabrics, which is one of the goddesses'
favorite occupations. Others have said that Circe was attended
by four maids, one who threw covers over the chairs, another who
drew silver tables up to the chairs, placing golden baskets on
them, another who mixed the wine, and a fourth who fetched water
and lit up the fire to warm it.
Circe fell in love with Glaucus, brother of the Nereids, who
some say had once been a mortal fisherman but afterwards became
a sea-deity by chewing a plant. However Glaucus loved Scylla,
who was a most beautiful young woman, and when she went to bathe
in the sea, Circe, out of jealousy, poisoned the water with her
magic drugs. This is how the beautiful girl became a monster
with the face and breast of a woman but having in her flanks six
heads and twelve feet of dogs, and a danger for ships passing
the strait of Messina between Sicily and Italy.
It is in the neighbourhood of Circaeum, when the witch Circe was
once gathering herbs, that she met Picus and instantly fell in
love with him. This Picus, son of Cronos, was a demigod living
on the Aventine hill. He also used powerful drugs and practiced
clever incantations, being able to play many tricks. Circe loved
him, but he, being in love with the singer Canens, daughter of
Janus, refused her. Turning twice to the east and twice to the
west while touching Picus thrice with her wand as she sang her
charms, Circe turned him into a woodpecker.
And after this she populated the surroundings with many beasts,
for Picus' friends coming to her and asking for the young man,
were all transformed by her into animals of many shapes, while
Canens, in grief for Picus' absence, melted away in tears and
vanished.
The island of Circe was visited by the Argonauts, when they were
escaping the Colchian fleet. Some say that Medea, who was with
Jason and the Argonauts, wished to visit her aunt, but others
have said that it was the ship "Argo" itself which instructed
them to come to Circe and be purified for the assassination of
Medea's brother Apsyrtus. Others say that Zeus himself was
seized by wrath when he learned about the ruthless murder of
Apsyrtus, and he ordered that the Argonauts should be cleansed
by Circe. In any case Medea and the Argonauts could leave Aeaea
purified by the witch.
It was in great despair and exhaustion that Odysseus and his
crew arrived to Aeaea, for they had barely escaped the Cyclops
Polyphemus and the cannibals in the land of the Laestrygonians.
After resting on the beach for three days Odysseus, who had seen
a wisp of smoke in the distance, divided his men in two groups
and sent Eurylochus with twenty two men to explore the terrain.
When Eurylochus's party found Circe's house, the witch invited
them to enter and all of them followed her except captain
Eurylochus, for he, suspecting a trap, stayed outside. Those who
came in Circe treated with a mixture of cheese, barley meal, and
honey flavored with Pramnian wine, to which she added a powerful
drug to make them forgetful of their native land. When they had
eaten their meal she struck them with her wand, and driving them
off, put them in the pig sties, for they now looked like swine
and grunted exactly like pigs, though their minds were
unchanged.
When this happened Eurylochus hastened back to the beach and
reported to Odysseus that his whole party had vanished. And when
Odysseus decided to go to Circe's house there was no way to
convince Eurylochus to make his way back to the house of the
witch.
So Odysseus went by himself and in his way to Circe's he met
Hermes who, while giving him an antidote (a plant called Moly
with black root and white flower), which would rob Circe's drugs
of its power, told him to oppose his sword to her wand, for she,
fearing for her life, would shrink from him in terror and invite
him to her bed. Hermes also advised Odysseus to accept Circe's
favors while making her swear an oath not to try any more
tricks, for otherwise, Hermes said, she could rob him of his
courage and manhood.
That is how Odysseus could take Circe by surprise, and when she
was threatened by him she remembered that Hermes had once told
her of the arrival of this man to her island. And as Hermes had
predicted she invited him to her bed:
"...so that
in love and sleep we may learn to trust
one another." (Circe to Odysseus)
and then Odysseus
persuaded her to free his comrades. Circe then smeared their pig
heads with a salve and they became men again, some say even more
handsome and taller than before. And from that moment there was
friendship between Circe and Odysseus' crew, and charmed by the
hospitality of the witch they stayed with her for a whole year.
When the year had passed and Odysseus beseeched her to keep her
promise and send him home to Ithaca, Circe told him that before
she could do that, he would have to make a journey to the
Underworld and consult the soul of the seer Tiresias about the
outcome of his wanderings.
And this was the first time a ship sailed to Hades, blown by the
North Wind (Boreas), and Odysseus was given by Circe all the
instructions necessary to reach the Underworld, where to beach
his boat, and how to proceed in order to meet the souls of the
dead.
Returning from Hades the ship of Odysseus put in at Aeaea once
more, where the whole crew sat with Circe and feasted on a rich
supply of meat and wine. At night Odysseus and Circe retired
and, before his departure the day after, she described for him
the dangers that still awaited, instructing him as how to avoid
the SIRENS and still listen to their enchanting song, and
warning him, among other things, about the rocks that are the
abode of Scylla & Charybdis.
Circe, they say, had children by Odysseus, perhaps too many
considering the time he spent in Aeaea, but goddesses, and even
witches, may perform miracles.
When Telegonus, who others call son of Calypso, learned from his
mother Circe that he was a son of Odysseus, he sailed in search
of his father. Having come to Ithaca, he drove away some cattle,
and when Odysseus defended them, Telegonus wounded him with a
spear and Odysseus died of the wound. Telegonus bitterly
lamented what he had done, but it is said that he was made
immortal by Circe and sent to the Islands of the Blest together
with Penelope.
Faunus was another child of Circe. This is the Half-goat god who
was king of Latium and that is sometimes identified with Pan or
with a Satyr. Some say he was a son of Picus & Canens, the
daughter of Janus and the Nymph Venilia.
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