Over the glowing hill

Are you in the Way?

Are you in the wAy?

Are you in the waY?

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1996)

One thing that I love and find intensely interesting about the goddess, nymph, and/or hero Kirke is the fact that she exists in a space between mortal and divine in every portrayal, but is almost never a demigoddess. So I wanted to address and unpack that a bit, because I haven't seen much on it and it deserves attention.

First, Kirke as a very mortal goddess--this is how I'd classify her portrayal in the Odyssey, where she is clearly divine, but described as very reminiscent of a mortal. This is the origin of one of her most famous epithets, "of mortal speech." This is generally viewed as a unique trait of Kirke.

Second, Kirke as a godly mortal. She was sometimes worshipped with hero cultus, with a sacred space of hers being described as a tomb, generally reserved for dead mortal heroes. I don't believe she was ever viewed as fully mortal, but she was at least mortal adjacent, which is significant in and of itself, even if a rarer portrayal.

Generally, pharmakeia (the sorcery she performed, based in herbs) was seen as at least partly a divine power, but also, not fully in the hands of the gods. The theoi do not need herbs and witchcraft to work their wills, but working one's will through herbs and witchcraft must be at least partly based in a non-mortal power.

Kirke, in my opinion, embodies this divide. As the pharmakis goddess of Aiaia, she uses a craft both mortal and divine. The working of herbs for power is not the way of a full god, but using the power of the herbs is not the typical way of a mortal.

For clarity's sake, I am aware I am somewhat echoing arguments against witchcraft and pharmakeia in Hellenic Polytheist spheres, so I'd like to say that I do not believe pharmakeia to be a hubristic practice. Pharmakeia, in the hands of a mortal pharmakis, controls no god. Gods may refuse their aid, spells may fail and be broken. And, actually, this is another aspect of Kirke's story I find so applicable to pharmakeia: Hermes and the herb 'moly.'

Moly is a herb given to Odysseus by Hermes to protect against Kirke's enchantments. The fact that her pharmakeia is resisted with one little plant, and that the plant is given to a hero by a god, is not an accident.

This is a clear example of how pharmakeia may be overpowered by the gods, and some crafty mortals. Hermes prevented the manifestation of her charms completely and utterly. From this it follows that, outside of stories, the theoi may prevent any witchcraft from succeeding without their consent, and most likely do not need the mythic moly to do it.