Tag: Castor

Calendar of the Sun for Monday, January 27th

Calendar of the Sun
27 Wolfmonath
Day of the Dioscuri

Color: Blue
Element: Air
Altar: Upon a cloth of blue place two blue candles, two red candles, two figures of horses, to small mirrors, and four knives, one before each candle. Place there also four cups, one containing white wine, one containing red wine, one containing grape juice, and one containing bitter tea.
Offering: Meditate on your inner divisions.
Daily Meal: Poultry.

Invocation to the Dioscuri

Hear ye the story of the Dioscuri, the sacred twins:
Leda, Queen of Sparta, opened herself to her lawful husband,
Tyndareus of Sparta, and also to great Zeus, king of the Gods.
She bore two sets of twins, and of each pair
One was mortal, and the other a divine child.
Castor, son of Zeus, loved his brother,
Pollux son of Tyndareus, with a love that could not separate them,
And Pollux returned that love. Each protected the other’s life,
As it should be between the mortal and immortal part
Of any being. Yet Pollux was stricken, slain, brought down,
As will come about for anything mortal, and went to Hades.
Therefore did Castor grieve, and offered up half his right to Olympus,
So that both spend half their time in the darkness, and half in heaven.
Yet hear the tale of the other twins: Helen the beautiful
Scorned her plain mortal sister Clytemnestra,
Saw her married at twelve, widowed at thirteen,
Raped on the bed beside her murdered babe,
Locked in a tower by her second husband
To prove as brood mare, whilst Helen, fairer of face
Than any mortal woman, went from prince to prince,
Fought over like a proud jewel. Yet the abused sister
Overthrew her oppressors, chose her own mate, turned a kingdom
Back to the ways of old before her death, whilst Helen
Was slain by raging mortal woman, like the sister she had scorned.
And so it is: The Divine and mortal parts must love each other,
More than life itself, and learn to work together,
And be prepared to sacrifice, or both shall be ever lost.

(The four cups are poured out as libation, first the white wine and the grape juice for Castor and Pollux, then the red wine and bitter tea for Helen and Clytemnestra.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

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The Wicca Book of Days for May 22nd – Castor and Pollux

The Wicca Book of Days for May 22nd

Castor and Pollux

The twins immortalized by the sign of Gemini are Castor and Pollux, as the ancient Romans knew them, while the Greeks called them Kastor and Polydeukes and referred to them as the Dioskouroi, “Sons of God.” The children of Leda, Castor was the mortal son of King Tyndarcus of Sparta, while Pollux was the immortal son of Jupiter (Zeus). On Castor’s death in battle, Zeus agreed to allow the bereft Pollux to share his immortality with his twin so that together they now spend half their time in the Olympian heaven and half in the Hadean underworld.

Yin and Yang

In life, Castor and Pollux were similar characters, but many mythological twins are polar opposites, like two sides of a coin. The concept of such duality is embodied in the iconic Taoist t’ai chi, or yin-ying, symbol. Meditate or reflect on this today.

Calendar of the Sun for Friday, Jan. 27th

Calendar of the Sun
27 Wolfmonath

Day of the Dioscuri

Color: Blue
Element: Air
Altar: Upon a cloth of blue place two blue candles, two red candles, two figures of horses, to small mirrors, and four knives, one before each candle. Place there also four cups, one containing white wine, one containing red wine, one containing grape juice, and one containing bitter tea.
Offering: Meditate on your inner divisions.
Daily Meal: Poultry.

Invocation to the Dioscuri

Hear ye the story of the Dioscuri, the sacred twins:
Leda, Queen of Sparta, opened herself to her lawful husband,
Tyndareus of Sparta, and also to great Zeus, king of the Gods.
She bore two sets of twins, and of each pair
One was mortal, and the other a divine child.
Castor, son of Zeus, loved his brother,
Pollux son of Tyndareus, with a love that could not separate them,
And Pollux returned that love. Each protected the other’s life,
As it should be between the mortal and immortal part
Of any being. Yet Pollux was stricken, slain, brought down,
As will come about for anything mortal, and went to Hades.
Therefore did Castor grieve, and offered up half his right to Olympus,
So that both spend half their time in the darkness, and half in heaven.
Yet hear the tale of the other twins: Helen the beautiful
Scorned her plain mortal sister Clytemnestra,
Saw her married at twelve, widowed at thirteen,
Raped on the bed beside her murdered babe,
Locked in a tower by her second husband
To prove as brood mare, whilst Helen, fairer of face
Than any mortal woman, went from prince to prince,
Fought over like a proud jewel. Yet the abused sister
Overthrew her oppressors, chose her own mate, turned a kingdom
Back to the ways of old before her death, whilst Helen
Was slain by raging mortal woman, like the sister she had scorned.
And so it is: The Divine and mortal parts must love each other,
More than life itself, and learn to work together,
And be prepared to sacrifice, or both shall be ever lost.

(The four cups are poured out as libation, first the white wine and the grape juice for Castor and Pollux, then the red wine and bitter tea for Helen and Clytemnestra.)