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Kybele Blessing: Kybele is a Goddess of fertility, both in humans and animals, and of wild nature, especially forests and mountains. She was served by transvestite priests who had undergone castration, and presided over orgies and ecstatic rites. Her Mysteries were second only to the Eleusinian in antiquity. Through the shedding of blood - both that of her galli, and the bulls and rams of her great sacrifices - the earth was made fecund once more. Epithets: Agdistis (from the Agdus rock), Dindymene (of Mount Dindymus), Idaia (of Mount Ida), Kubebe (alternate version), Magna Mater (Great Mother), Mater Deum (Mother of the Gods), Meter (Mother), Meter Oreia (Mountain Mother), Rhea (alternate name), Tmolene (of Mount Tmolus) Symbols: drum, tower crown, throne Animal(s): lion, snake Sacrifices: aromatic herbs, cypress, opium poppy, myrrh, civet, blood Primary Cult Center(s): Crete, Athens, Pessinus, Rome Festivals: Dies Cannophori: March 15 Dies Dendrophori: March 22 Dies Sanguinis: March 24 Dies Hilaria: March 25 Dies Requies: March 26 Dies Ultimus: March 27 Megalesia: April 4-9 Ways to honor: Dancing and drumming are central to the worship of Kybele, often until one reaches states of ecstacy and trance-possession. Respect queer people - gays, lesbians, the transgendered, and those into BDSM - as they are her special children. Go to wild places - forests, mountains, and cities late at night - and look for her there. For more information: Apollodorus' Library 1.1.3-1.2.1, 3.12.6, 3.5.1, 3.12.6 Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica 1.1092-1152 Apuleius' Metamorphoses 8.23-31 Arnobius of Sicca's The Case Against the Pagans 5.5-7, 16-17 Catallus' Poem 63 Clement of Alexandria's Exhortation to the Greeks 2.15-24 Eusebius of Caesarea's Preparation for the Gospel 2.3.18 Firmicus Maternus' The Error of the Pagan Religions 3, 18.1 Herodotus' The Histories 1.34-35 Hesiod's Theogony 135, 453-506 Hippolytus of Rome's Refutation of All Heresies 5.7.1-24, 5.9.10, 8.31-9.11 Homer's Iliad 14.201-204 Homeric Hymn to the Mother of the Gods 14 Hyginus' Fabulae 139, 191 Emperor Julian's Hymn to the Mother of the Gods Emperor Julian's Orations Livy's History of Rome 29.10-14 Lucian's De Dea Syria 1-16, 30-60 Ovid's Fasti 4.221-348 Ovid's Metamorposes 10.102-105, 10.686-704, 14.535-555 Pausanias' Description of Greece 7.17.9-12, 8.36.2-3 Prudentius' On the Martyr's Crown 10.1011-50 Sallustius' On the Gods and the World 4 Virgil's Aeneid 10.252-55 Virgil's Ciris 163-167