Join IAAM for a talk with Drew Levanti about the Orphic Hymn to Eros and how to unlock its mystical potential as an astrological magician today.
https://astromagia-org.zoom.us/j/89227744456?pwd=TT6OKYHyBdFxNz9XDzv5Yxv26O2rRJ.1
In this talk, Drew Levanti returns the Orphic Hymns to their native philosophical and cosmological context. A fresh translation of the Orphic Hymn to Eros by Kristin Mathis will serve as the foundation for exploring the magical potency of the Hymns and the harmonic potentials embedded within the Orphic canon.
In most astrological contexts, Eros might be relegated to the niche topics of asteroids or Uranian astrology. However, in the ancient Mediterranean magical and mystical practices, Eros assumed a far more prominent role.
Eros was of great importance to the Orphics, a mystery sect for whom Eros “governs the whole All,” as attested in the Orphic Hymns.
Originating in the initiation rites of this offbeat sect, the Orphic Hymns have served to invoke divine beings since before the dawn of Platonism. Early ritual uses of the Hymns stood in contrast to the state-led propitiations of temple priests, which were not accessible to the people. Perhaps rebelling against politico-religious forces that excluded them from sacred ceremony, the Orphics offered initiates direct contact with the divine.
Orphism went on to influence the first forms of astrological magic, as preserved in Greek Magical Papyri, the various forms of theurgy that crystallized during Neo-Platonism, and even shaped Marsillo Ficino’s reconceptualization of astrological magic during the Renaissance. The roots of our tradition as astral mages are intertwined with the enigmatic Orphic sect.
However, the Hymns left to posterity by the Orphics have fallen victim to puritanical translation biases that sanitize their original erotic and magical elements. With its profound animistic and non-dual essence, Orphism assembles a cosmos that is shamelessly erotic, non-vertical, and vitally interconnected.
Join us as we amplify the resonance of Eros and renew Orpheus’s ancient medicine.
Drew Levanti is a consulting astrologer and mystical educator based in San Francisco.
He shares the understanding that life infinitely invites us into godly presence.
This drives his teaching, spanning astrology fundamentals, elections, and the magic of the Orphic Hymns.
In Drew’s client practice, dialogue is collaborative, fueled by astropoetic interpretation that is realistic, strategic, and affirming of a free-will world.
Explore his website archeastrology.com to learn more about Drew’s work and join the next Orphic Hymns class, hosted alongside scholar-translator Kristin Mathis.