#kouretes

Etym. Magnum s.v. Ἥρα 434.49

Hera, the goddess: so called because she is the same as air. For just as πατὴρ (‘father’) becomes πάτρα (‘fatherland’) and μήτηρ (‘mother’) μήτρα (‘womb’), so too ἀήρ (‘air’) becomes ἥρα (‘hera’) by transposing the letters. Or else because Rhea (ἡ Ῥέα) bore her; for when Kronos became aware of this, he ordered that the child be shown to him. Or else because Rhea, being pursued by Kronos, gave birth to Hera first by chance, while still carrying Zeus in her womb; and when Kronos became aware of this, he came forward and ordered that the child be shown to him. When he saw her, he ordered that she be taken up (ἄραι) and raised. The Cretans pronounce ἄραι as ἦραι (‘herai’), and so they named her Hera.

Ἥρα, ἡ θεός· ὅτι ἡ αὐτὴ τῷ ἀέρι ἐστίν. ὡς γὰρ πατὴρ πάτρα, καὶ μήτηρ μήτρα, οὕτως ἀήρ, καὶ καθ’ ὑπέρθεσιν ἥρα. ἢ ὅτι ἡ Ῥέα αὐτὴν ἔτεκεν· ὡς γὰρ ἥσθετο ὁ Κρόνος, ἐκέλευσε δεῖξαι τὸ παιδίον. ἢ ὅτι παρὰ τοῦ Κρόνου ἡ Ῥέα ἐπιδιωκομένη, ἀπὸ τύχης πρῶτα ἔτικτε τὴν Ἥραν· τὸν δὲ Δία ἔτι ἐν γαστρὶ εἶχεν. ὁ δὲ Κρόνος, ὡς ἥσθετο, παραπορεύεται, καὶ ἐκέλευσε δεῖξαι τὸν παῖδα· ὡς δὲ εἶδεν, ἐκέλευσεν ἄραι καὶ ἐκτρέφειν. οἱ δὲ Κρῆτες τὸ ἄραι ἦραι φασί· καὶ Ἥραν ὠνόμασαν αὐτήν.

Etym. Magnum s.v. Ἀρκέσιον 144.32

Arkesion: the name of a cave on Cretan Ida. They that say it was named by the Kouretes from ἀρκέσαι (‘to succour’), because it gave them succour when they were running away from Kronos, and had descended into it and hidden themselves. So Xenion writes in his On Crete. (cf. Schol. Aratos 30-33bis)

Ἀρκέσιον· οὕτω καλούμενον ἄντρον τῆς Κρητικῆς ῎Ιδης. παρὰ τὸ ἀρκέσαι (τὸ βοηθῆσαι) φασὶν αὐτὸ ὑπὸ Κουρήτων ὀνομασθῆναι, ὅτι τὸν Κρόνον αὐτοῖς φεύγουσι καὶ εἰς αὐτὸ καταδυεῖσι καὶ κρυπτομένοις ἐπήρκεσεν. οὕτω Ξενίων ἐν τοῖς Περὶ Κρήτης.

Diod. Sic. 5.72.4

​It is also said that the marriage of Zeus and Hera happened in the territory of the Knosians, at a place near the river Theren, where a temple now stands in which the locals offer holy sacrifices annually, and imitate the marriage in the way tradition says it was first performed.

λέγουσι δὲ καὶ τοὺς γάμους τοῦ τε Διὸς καὶ τῆς Ἥρας ἐν τῇ Κνωσίων χώρᾳ γενέσθαι κατά τινα τόπον πλησίον τοῦ Θήρηνος ποταμοῦ, καθ᾽ ὃν νῦν ἱερόν ἐστιν, ἐν ᾧ θυσίας κατ᾽ ἐνιαυτὸν ἁγίους ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων συντελεῖσθαι, καὶ τοὺς γάμους ἀπομιμεῖσθαι, καθάπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς γενέσθαι παρεδόθησαν.

Steph. Byz. s.v. Ἑρμιών ε277.13

​Hermion and Hermione, from the genitive Hermionos, in the same way ‘Kalyke’ derives from ‘kalykos’, ‘Chitone’ from ‘chitonos’, and ‘Hegemone’ from ‘hegemonos’. It was also called Lakereia. Hermion derives its name from when Zeus and Hera, arriving from Crete, anchored (ὁρμισθῆναι) there, with the ‘ο’ changing to an ‘ε’. For this reason there was also a temple of Hera Parthenos there. The ethnic name is Hermioneus, and the feminine form Hermionis. (cf. Eust. ad Il. 2.560)

This one is kind of tough to write about because there just aren't a lot of surviving traditions in the Med that deal with this. Not a lot but there are some. This is the point where things become a little bit more speculative. Due to the fact that a good deal of trancework is psychological and physiological, it is pretty simple to reconstruct this one though. Moreso than other traditions might have been. And that is because there is a very specific spectrum of ways that this can actually be done and be functional.

*Bride is a gender neutral term in this context. It comes from the cultural concept of being horsed or ridden like a horse by a deity. The Bride is the one under the bridle. The idea is that the deity steers the body of the person who is being horsed. This concept is also tied to a permanent relationship, similar to that of a mortal marriage. A deity Bride (capital B to denote a difference between someone engaging with a trance tradition and someone who is getting married) undergoes sacred vows and strict codes of conduct in their daily lives. The basics of that are that the individual must be of good social standing–not an outlaw, a drunk, a thief, or criminal of some kind (though that depends strongly on the deity involved, certain kinds of shady activities might be a bonus depending on the tradition you are engaging with). There should be a familial or an occupational connection to the deity, as in there should be a good unquestionable reason for this relationship and that reason should be conspicuous as should be the deity’s favor. 

There are four kinds of euphoric trance rituals. Each has a different goal and manner of interaction.  

Deity Bridalwork

Prophetic Bridalwork

Coming into the Presence of Divinity

Diagnostic Ritual

Deity Bridalwork

Deity Bridalwork is essentially making yourself into a horse for a deity. This is a culturally encoded concept that means "your body gets possessed by a god." This is done in ecstatic rituals where the deity is expected to be present and presiding. Non ecstatic rituals where the deity is expected to be present and presiding will involve a statue as a substitute for this. Ecstatic rituals are occasions where miracles take place and people get to interact with an embodied deity in the limited ways that would be appropriate--engaging with their preferred rituals tools, foods, colors, scents, drinks, and anything relevant to the current place in the calendar cycle. 

The Goal: To inspire, to bless, to actively participate.  

How Does This Work? 

A Bridal relationship is an act of devotion. At its very core, it is a state of sacrifice. To give up one’s body, to trust, and to be present for the community. It is an honor to participate in but it is a lot of work.  Preparing to perform an embodiment ritual like this starts with preparing the body through fasting, prayer, meditation, and good hygiene. I personally do a vitamin boost and water push during this time as well and abstain from meat (not even handling it or looking at it), alcohol, swearing, and I will wear white for an odd number of days in the lead up–usually 7 because that is the number of greatest fortune. Some deities have sacred numbers though and those may be better to use. 

On the day of, the Bride will take a ritual bath (or multiple) and get fully exfoliated from head to toe of all dead skin while chanting prayers (like the purgation chant). The body is fully waxed (if appropriate for that deity) and then moisturized with oils and bathed in scented smoke. The Bride is then veiled (eyes covered), having never looked into a mirror or into the eyes of another, and taken to the place where they will be dressed. The Bride will then be painted, dressed, and adorned with all of the clothing and tools of the Deity while music is played, cymbals are the most essential component unless it is a nature/agricultural deity–then it is clacking wood or grain stalks instead. 

Once fully dressed, the veil is removed from the eyes and the eyes of the deity are opened. The deity is then fed (or given a drink of) something that they are strongly associated with. From that point on, the transformation is complete and the Bride’s consciousness is pushed aside. The Bride then does whatever the ritual objective for the day or night is. That usually involves multiple activities and traveling on foot from one area that requires their presence to another. Music is played the entire time to keep the Bride in the proper state and to cover any unlucky sounds that may try to break through.  

Links: Because seeing it helps to understand so many tiny details that don’t make it into words. 

Bonalu ceremony for the goddess Mahakali. You can see the Bride’s body is adorned the same as the goddess would be dressed complete with the deity’s familiar tools that she interacts with. Music plays throughout, including drums and cymbals. Music holds up the ritual state, that is load bearing music. You can also see the attendants handing her things and holding her tools that are not in use. People gather to watch. There are familiar gestures and acts done by the goddess that further establish her identity. There are ritual objectives to complete as well–processing through certain areas to bless them, bathing and making offerings, receiving https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mByafJxhDYU 

Thaipusam is a festival that features a lot of Bridalwork with both deities and spirits. It also involves body mortification, mostly through dermal piercing. This video features close ups of Brides getting pierced. It may not be suitable for all audiences, especially those who have phobias of needles. This is an own voice presentation so we can hear the Bride describe this in his own words. (Many thanks to Cousin Camilo for sharing this with the world.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmo0BRMeHK4  

Prophetic Bridalwork

Prophetic Bridalwork involves all of the above plus the added bonus of receiving a truthful statement about matters beyond human perception. That phrasing is important. If a prophecy is truthful and useful then it is divine. If it is untruthful or not useful (or just gibberish) then it comes from some other source--most likely a daemon. The ability to do this accurately and to be able to spontaneously compose it in verse on the spot provides proof of state. In other words, the proof is in the prophetic pudding. 

The Goal: To provide truthful/ useful information that others can act on. 

How Does This Work?

The process for this is largely identical to Deity Bridalwork but instead of processing through the town and using their tools to bless the public, the Bride is led to a place of prominence. Music is played and when/if inspired to do so, the Bride will speak truth through spontaneously composed verse. This lasts until the Bride drops into a PTFO (more like slumps). At that point the Deity has departed and the Bride is fed something mundane to fully bring them back to their body. As a personal note, expect them to be completely exhausted and incapable of doing anything important in this state. They can go with the flow, they can talk, they can be social, they may even get up and dance around a little, but they will definitely be trance drunk and they will not be fully functional until they have slept. 

Presence

Coming into the presence of a deity is done without any kind of embodiment. It is merely a matter of singing the right songs and doing the right kind of dances. These are (usually) stately and highly formal. Most of the gods are dignified in their conduct but there are a few yahoos in the pantheon that prefer a bit more crash and chaos. (Looking at the entourage of Dionysos and Kybele here.) This can be done without a lot of messing around with other forms of trance but you should at least be able to reliably get yourself in and out of a basic trance before giving it a go. The goal of this one is just unity, oneness, feeling close to divinity. It has an extremely positive impact on the mind, body, and spirit of the participant and that is enough of a reason to do it. 

Special Note: Imagine that the single most important holy doctrine in one’s faith was simply “Joy.” The holiness of joy. To experience oneness, enthusiasm, euphoria. To feel compassion and camaraderie with others present, stepping into a communal experience of pure untethered joy. 

The Goal: To be in a state of unity.

How Does This Work? 

Presence ceremonies are handled by organizations like fraternities. As such they will have several levels of education and experience within them and whatever level you happen to be at determines the ways that you might engage with this. In the beginning you will know nothing but you can observe. As you progress you will learn to sing, learn to dance, and learn the philosophies of the individual group. A lot of latent learning happens during ceremonies but there are also occasions when you just get to learn outside of the confines of a ritual. Learn while awake, put into practice in ceremony. 

The movements, songs, and breathwork utilized in a presence ceremony are designed to bring you into a deep and powerful trance. The coordination of it allows for participation from many people at once. It is holy, good, and family friendly. It helps if things are clean, beautiful, and treated with the utmost sanctity. 

The presence of the deity is meant to fill every pocket of the self with love and joy. It is a generous, uplifting feeling. 

Links:

Semah ceremony from Turkiye. It demonstrates what a formal group presence ceremony can look like with participants dressed formally and engaging in the same movements together. Dancing in a large circle as a group and then making personal spins or turns within that wider circle is an extremely effective method of achieving a trance safely in a large group. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFJ_cgpjFyQ 

Semah again, several styles this time. In this one the participants are using coordinated breathwork and well choreographed movements that induce and hold trance. I really like this one because you can clearly see three different types of group dances used in a presence ceremony. You can also hear and see the transitions moving from one holy song to another. Everyone benefits from this. There are dedicated musicians and people who are observing.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USccRnT45cQ 

Diagnostic Ritual

This one relates to the rites of the Kouretes and Koryvantes and to the Orphic Hymns. The Kouretes and Koryvantes performed a ritual in which people would gather and lay very still while priestly musicians played sacred hymns and their special rhythms. If an individual had done something to offend one (or more) of the theoi, then their bodies would begin to contort and dance around ungracefully when that deity’s thread was played. This person could then afterwards perform the appropriate sacrifices and all would be mended. 

The ritual should begin at dusk with the setting sun and end either at or just before dawn. If you finish a few hours early, that's fine as it will then leave room in the night for making those aforementioned sacrifices. In addition to their own rhythms and melodies, each deity will also have a scent trigger (incense) burned at the start of their hymn. Offerings are not made until the end of the ritual though.

The Goal: Bring peace between humanity and the gods.  How Does This Work?

So here are my personal designs for the Caretakers (the ones who raised Zeus/Jupiter in the Myths).

(I’ve decided to make the Kouretes and the Daktyloi Satyrs/Fauns considering that they were describe being Forest Spirits. The Kouretes are Satyrs while the Daktyloi are Fauns. I also gave them Names, though for the names for the Daktyloi and one of the Kouretes are actually named after some characters from William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”).

So here’s a New Concept; After when Zeus and Jupiter rescued their own Brothers from a Young Age thanks to their own Mothers by their help, the Boys managed to escape out of their own Dads’ clutches as they travel through the Seas and ended up in the Island of Crete. 

The Boys were basically separate feet apart away so they just didn’t know that they were on the same situation thanks to their own Fathers who betrayed their Families.

The Young Greek Big Three (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades) were lost in the Island of Crete as they had no where to go but suddenly they were first found by a Goat. At first they were scared because they didn’t know which animal it was since they’ve never seen a Goat before, Zeus try to tame it (without the Animal knowing what was going on) until later on, Amalthea decides to raise the Young Gods with the help of the Kouretes as Poseidon and his Brothers grew up with a New Family after when Zeus quickly freed his Young Siblings at a Younger Age.

The Young Roman Big Three (Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto) were in the same situation as their own Greek Counterparts as they were lost in Crete too, but they endlessly stumble across upon some Nymphs and Fauns as the Creatures of the Forest saw the Poor Helpless Boys as they took them in. The Daktyloi on the Other Hand were more like Teachers/Uncles to the Young Roman Gods while Two of the Nymphs were their Step-Moms.

The Greek Brothers were raised by the Goat (Amalthea) while The Roman Bros were raised by the Two Nymphs (Adrasteia and Ida). Needless to say, they were far apart met they would eventually met each other again as Adults in the Future.

The Brothers really love their own Foster Mothers very much but Poseidon and Jupiter were more into their own Biological Mothers than their Foster Moms but regardless, Neptune on the Other Hand still loved his own Biological Mother but  he also adored his own caretakers who looked after Him and his Brothers.

Although Poseidon did appreciated Amalthea like if she was his Actual Mother (Rhea) but still misses her no matter the cost.

I got the idea inspired by @violetrose-art and @sp00kies​, even though this may be 100% inaccurate to the Mythos, I actually the idea where the Siblings grow up together with their own Foster Parents.

King Neptune and King Poseidon (c) Stephen Hillenburg and Nickelodeon 

A demi-god who is the father or grandfather (it varies) of Oaxos, the Daktyloi, the Hekaterides, Satyroi, the Kouretes, and the Oreiades. We don’t know who his parentage might be, but his descendants are featured in numerous stories and cults.

His name is found in the name of two styles of dance, hekateris and hekatereo. His name may mean “with both hands,” or “each of two,” or “the marvelous hundred.” It could also be translated as “either” according to Desiderius Erasmus in the Renaissance, who shares an unrelated story about two brothers, Amphoteros (Both), and Hekateros (Either), which is mostly a play on words rather than a legend or anything of real value for our purposes.

His children, the Kouretes, are in this case the Phrygian demi-gods who were renowned for their music, playing pipes for Nymphs and other wildling creatures. Hesiod, in a lost document, makes him the father of the Satyroi, those frivolous companions of Dionysos and Pan.

It seems that Hekateros is most likely similar in nature to Silenus, and theoi.com speculates that He is a God of the dance which bears his name. Based upon his offspring, it also seems possible that He is a God associated with the hands, for daktyloi are ‘fingers’. Overall, from him come some of the most light-hearted and wild spirits known to us, and without him, Dionysos’ retinue would be quite tame!

 Sources:

Theoi.com lsj.translatum.gr

Erasmus, Desiderius. Apophthegmata, Toronto, 2015. Rose, Herbert Jennings. A Handbook of Greek Mythology: Including its Extension to Rome, Dutton, 1959. Stoll, Heinrich Wilhelm. Handbook of the Religion and Mythology of the Greeks, trans R.B. Paul, 1852. Tsagalis, Christos. Early Greek Epic Fragments I: Antiquarian and Genealogical Epic, de Gruyter, 2017.

Images:

Some time ago after some online text-conversations with my colleague Sartrix, I realized that the assignment of Scorpio III to Kairos, the god of opportunity, was probably wrong… and it was probably the Korybantes or Kouretes or Dioscuri — the name given to the masculine spirits of wild and dangerous places, in much the same way that the nymphs are the feminine spirits of wild but ‘relatively…

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 6.1.8-9: "Euhemerus goes on to say that Uranus was the first to be king, … “There were born to him by his wife Hestia two sons, Titan and Cronus, and two daughters, Rhea and Demeter. Cronus became king after Uranus, and marrying Rhea he begat Zeus and Hera and Poseidon. And Zeus on succeeding to the kingship, married Hera and Demeter and Themis, and by them he had children, the Curetes by the first named, Persephonê by the second, and Athena by the third."

Zeus was reared during his infancy by a local nymph or nymphs. In what was perhaps the most favoured tradition, he was tended by the nymph Amaltheia, who fed him on milk from a she-goat that she owned; or in another version which first appears in Callimachus, Amaltheia was the name of the goat itself, and the nymph Adrasteia fed Zeus on its milk along with sweet honeycomb; or else his nurses were Adrasteia and Ida, or the Idaian nymphs Helike and Kynosura, or others of their kind. There were also various picturesque tales in which he was said to have been fed by bees or suckled by a sow or the like. To prevent Kronos from being able to hear the infant’s cries, some minor Cretan divinities, the Kouretes,  danced a noisy war-dance near the entrance to the cave, clashing their spears against their shields. ... Much of this is connected  with ritual, and Cretan ritual at that; excavations have shown that a fair number of cave-sanctuaries in Crete were very ancient holy places dating back to the Minoan period; the dances of the Kouretes can be related to similar dances performed by Cretan youths in initiation rituals and the like; and it seems that a divine child who was born (and probably died) every year was a prominent object of Cretan worship.

A curious tale about Zeus’ cave in Crete is recorded by Antoninus Liberalis in his anthology of transformation myths. The cave (of unspecified location) was inhabited by sacred bees  that had tended the infant Zeus, but was otherwise forbidden ground to gods and mortals alike. At one time four thieves had entered the cave nonetheless to steal some of the honey, wearing full armour (to protect themselves against the bees, and probably on account of its apotropaic value also). When they saw the swaddling-clothes of Zeus, however, and the  blood that had been shed at his birth, their armour fractured and fell from their bodies; and Zeus would have killed them with a thunderbolt as punishment for their sacrilege if the Moirai (Fates) and Themis (as guardian of divine law) had not restrained him by reminding him that no one could be allowed to die in a place of such sanctity. So he transformed  them into various birds that bore the same names as themselves (Laios, Kerkeos, Kerberos and Aigolios). The author remarks that the blood inside the cave used to boil up at a particular time every year, presumably on the anniversary of Zeus’ birth, causing a mass of flame to issue from the cave.

The astronomical literature also provides some odd tales about Zeus’s childhood. In one such story, the nanny-goat that nursed the infant Zeus is said to have been a wondrous child of the sun-god Helios that so alarmed the Titans, apparently because of its radiant brightness, that they asked Earth to conceal it from their view in one of her caves in Crete. When Zeus came of age and was preparing for his war against the Titans, he learned that he would be victorious if he used the hide of the goat as a shield (i.e. as his aigis); and after he duly won his victory, he covered the bones of the goat with another skin, revived it and made it immortal, and placed it in the heavens as Capella (the Goat), a bright star in the constellation of the Charioteer (Auriga). Or in another tale of the kind, Kronos set off in search of Zeus and arrived in Crete, but was deceived by his son, who concealed his presence by transforming himself into a snake and his two nurses into bears. Zeus later commemorated the incident by placing images of the three animals in the sky as the constellations of the Dragon and the Greater and Lesser Bear (Draco and Ursa Major and Minor). Some said that he was removed to the island of Naxos when his father came in search of him, and was raised there from that time onwards.

There were also numerous local traditions in which Zeus was said to have been reared  in mainland Greece (especially the Peloponnese) or Asia Minor. According to Arcadian tradition, for instance, Rhea brought him to birth on Mt Lykaion (an important centre for his cult), and three local nymphs, Neda, Theisoa and Hagno, reared him on  an area of the mountain that was known as Kretea. Neda was the nymph of the river Neda that rose on Lykaion and flowed westwards into Messenia; it was claimed that Earth had caused it to spring forth at the request of Rhea to enable her to wash the new-born Zeus. And the other two nymphs were eponyms of springs on the mountain. The Messenians claim for their part that the Kouretes had conveyed the infant Zeus to their own territory, where he had been reared by Neda and Ithome (the eponym of the Messenian mountain of that name). In reporting this Messenian tale, Pausanias remarks that it would be impossible, even if one should wish it, to number all the peoples who insisted that Zeus had been born and reared in their land.”