Kybele

The Goddess of Fertility and Mysteries.

Blessings

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.

God Of

  • Fertility

Primary Cult Centers

  • Athens
  • Crete
  • Pessinus
  • Pieria
  • Rome

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

Animals

Lion, snake

Sacrifices

Aromatic herbs, cypress, opium poppy, myrrh, civet, blood

Festivals

  • March Festival ((March 15, 22, and 24-27)) Respectively, each day is Dies Cannophori, Dendrophori, Sanguinis, Hilaria, Requies and Ultimus
  • 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.

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Articles

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Ancient Hymns and Texts

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Modern Hymns and Devotions

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Primary Sources

  • 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

Links

Modern Books

Kybele