https://astromagia-org.zoom.us/j/83007657445
Kristin Mathis
Bolt-Hurler, Birth-Seeder: Esoteric Revelations from the Orphic Hymn of Zeus
While mainstream ancient Greek mythology often presented Zeus through narratives of sexual violence and coercion that can be difficult for modern readers and practitioners alike, the Orphic Hymn of Zeus offered a different vision. The Orphic hymn-writer brought together many different traditions from the ancient Mediterranean: the well-known Greek stories from Homer and Hesiod that presented Zeus as an Olympian storm god, traditional titles and associations from the deity's many worship sites throughout the Greek-speaking world, and the emerging insights of the pre-Socratic philosophers. Perhaps most boldly, the Orphic Hymns also drew on extremely ancient Babylonian, Egyptian, and Phoenician temple and star traditions that preserved thousands of years of closely guarded secret teachings on many topics.
Kristin Mathis's translation of the Orphic Hymns is the first to take the ancient art of hidden meanings seriously, using it as a modern interpretation and translation strategy. Her work "opens up" the original Greek text to today's readers by translating its wordplay, puns, and hidden references—associations that ancient initiates would have immediately recognized as being concealed in plain sight. The result reveals meanings lost for centuries but once clear to the Orphics themselves: a Zeus whose cosmic scope extends far beyond the planet Jupiter, both more primal and more philosophical than the figure in conventional myth.
Kristin Mathis is a translator, poet, and scholar whose work focuses on the Orphic Hymns—ritual texts from the Greek Mystery traditions that flourished in Sicily and Southern Italy around 500 BCE. Her translations illuminate the sophisticated wordplay and esoteric knowledge embedded within these poems. She studied ancient Mediterranean esoteric religions and cultural anthropology at Brown, Princeton, and Columbia Universities, where her teachers included Elaine Pagels, Hans Dieter Betz, John Gager, and David Pingree. In 2022, she founded the Mysteria Mundi translation project, pursuing her passion for the Orphic Hymns while adapting to the challenges she faces living with Long Covid.
Kristin’s understanding of the cosmos as a living being was shaped by her childhood in 1970s Borneo, where she grew up alongside indigenous animist traditions. Now based in Brooklyn, NY, she's a single mom to one teenage son, two cats named Venus and Comet, and an ever-expanding collection of herbs, plants, and books.