Muses Discussion Thread [Nov 13th: Calliope]

Dedicated to Erato:

A song I'd like to discuss with Polyhymnia's day is Musette and Drums by Cocteau Twins (1983).

This is an early alternate rock song where the vocals and dense instrumentation almost seem to compete with each other in a spiralling effect to produce something heavy. The singer has stated before she often does not write lyrics, but improvises them based on how she feels, while her singing is intentionally vaguely expressed with slurred diction in a way that accompanies the projection of the audience.

Songs and hymns in ancient Greece sometimes had a prophetic function of channelling lyrics. The atmosphere and sound design of the song seems to show something vast and powerful and stormy that expresses in parts tone of regret and sadness. The fact the title references a musette and the lyrics appear to reference Juliet from Shakespeare's play and her tragic demise ties in with the theme here.

Discussion:

Dedicated to Polyhymnia:

Humans by nature are very forgetful, even when it comes to matters of their own signs and relations to the Gods, this is one of the reasons keeping a journal is so valuable.

If humanity really did have knowledge like this , I think it would greatly improve our accountability .

Not only having clear and perfect memory, but the ability to properly connect with our future would mean that we would be forced to directly face the consequences of our actions , or inaction .

We would have a greater understanding of how our past influences how we navigate the present, and how we navigate the present changes the course of time for the rest of our future.

I think if I had a portal to look directly into my future , my death, my legacy and my achievements , or lack of,

I would certainly choose how I spend my time more wisely . This thought exercise alone is something I would like to consider and meditate upon further .

Thankyou NP 🙏🏼

Anubeion, an ancient Greek astrologer whose fragments are often carried into those of Dorotheus of Sidon, says:

Ἡ Ἀφροδίτη Σελήνην τριγωνίζουσα πραεῖς ποιεῖ καὶ ἱλαρούς, εὐμόρφους, τοὺς μέντοι γάμους ἀβεβαίους δηλοῖ.

When Venus forms a trine with the Moon, she produces people who are gentle, cheerful, and beautiful in appearance; nevertheless, she indicates unstable marriage.

Compare Apollo's Astrology (not just the trine):

Moon/Venus
These people have much artistic ability, charm, and good taste. They are often good cooks, and have much domestic ability. They are affectionate and loving. With the square, this can delay marriage if other factors support it. The hard aspects can make one feel unloved and/or unappreciated, and family members can interfere with the love life in some way. The hard aspects can make these people overindulgent and over concerned with luxuries and materialism.

People with the trine aspect, and I include controversial examples for verity's sake:

I can see relations here. No doubt this is a prettier or more charming selection of people than average, possibly even for celebrities. Some like Bismarck are not known for beauty, but were known to possess inexplicable charm.

A large amount of these people appear to have cults of personality or reverence around them. The unstable marriage part is more contentious (Apollo's Astrology's reference to the Moon-Venus square aspect of delayed marriage seems to be more convincing). Ulysses S. Grant had a successful, long-lasting and loving marriage, though he did dispute about property (the Moon) with his wife Julia. As a individual not attuned to being with women, all of Marcel Proust's novels focus on male-female affairs and the misery involving these. Many of the cases here with the trine seem to show a trend of a long-lasting marriage.

In Mata Hari's case, however, the use of beauty ended badly, and so it was the case for Whitney Houston to an extent, though the factors above and her beautiful voice made her famous.

Discussion:

Here is an excerpt from the Odyssey, one of the dialogs of Tiresias in Hades. Odysseus has deliberately sought him out to discover how he can return home to Ithaca, but the prophet warns that the success of his homecoming will depend partly upon his own actions and his ability to control his companions.

Tiresias foresees that his men, driven by hunger and apparent need, will end up consuming the cattle of Helios when moored on the remote island they live on:

τὰς εἰ μέν κ᾽ ἀσινέας ἐάᾳς νόστου τε μέδηαι,

καί κεν ἔτ᾽ εἰς Ἰθάκην κακά περ πάσχοντες ἵκοισθε·

εἰ δέ κε σίνηαι, τότε τοι τεκμαίρομ᾽ ὄλεθρον,

νηί τε καὶ ἑτάροις. αὐτὸς δ᾽ εἴ πέρ κεν ἀλύξῃς,

ὀψὲ κακῶς νεῖαι, ὀλέσας ἄπο πάντας ἑταίρους,

If you, Odysseus, leave them [the cattle of Helios] unharmed and concern yourself with returning home, you all may yet reach Ithaca, though you suffer many hardships.

But if you harm them, then I foretell destruction for your ship and companions. And even if you yourself escape, you will return late and in wretched circumstances, having lost all your companions.

Odyssey 11.110–114

Note the nuances of the text. In Greek, Tiresias uses the singular second person verbs and pronouns to address Odysseus directly: ἐάᾳς, μέδηαι, σίνηαι, ἀλύξῃς, νεῖαι (if you leave... if you concern [yourself]... if you harm... if you escape... you will return...) and τοι (to you).

The exception is ἵκοισθε ("you all might reach Ithaca...") This is not directly translatable in the English because English lost all verb sense like this, though the effect may be conveyed by inserting him addressed by name and "you all".

The subsequent destruction of the crew and hardships felt by Odysseus create an ambiguity here. Odysseus indeed loses his ship, most of his companions and returns late. Odysseus wears the wretched circumstances more than being destroyed by them, perhaps because he did not directly touch the cattle.

ἀλλ᾽ ἦ τοι κείνων γε βίας ἀποτίσεαι ἐλθών·

But upon your return, you will indeed punish their violence.

115

The way this is used refers both to the suitors occupying Ithaca but also seems to refer back to the violation.

General questions: