Pray to the Moon: Children of Nyx: DREAMS, The Ονειροι, Oneiroi

DREAMS, The Ονειροι, Oneiroi

"And Nyx bare* hateful Moros and black Ker and Thanatos, and she bare Hypnos (Sleep) and the tribe of Oneiroi (Dreams)..."

-- Hesiod, Theogony 211 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) *either parthenogenetically or through a pairing with Erberus (Darkness)

Goddess of the Night with Entourage
Christian Rode, 1771
Etching available at auctionata auction house.

Welcome to my devotional pages, a virtual museum for the liminal tribe of the Oneiroi, their somnolent brother Hypnos & the primordial mother Nyx. This is a work in progress, an ever-evolving place to collect & consider written & visual works by a variety of artists featuring the daemones I honour in my personal cosmology & "practice." I would like to make it clear that this is not an authoritative source for, or expression of Hellenisimos (although some practitioners of Hellenisimos may find some of the resources below useful or inspiring). As an animist, I prefer to honour Them with an admittedly less traditional approach which is intuitive, relationship-focused & personally relevant.

The accompanying devotional page for mother Νύξ, Nyx or Nox can be found HERE.

The accompanying devotional page for Υπνος, Hypnos or Somnus can be found HERE.

Dreams

The Ονειροι, Oneiroi

"We learn from Statius, that the attendants and guards before the gates of this palace (the home of Sleep/Hypnos/Somnus) were Rest, Ease, Indolence, Silence, and Oblivion; as the ministers or attendants within are a vast multitude of Dreams in different shapes and attitudes. Ovid teaches us who were the supposed governors over these, and what their particular districts or offices were. The three chiefs of all are Morpheus, Phobētor, and Phantăsos, who inspire dreams into great persons only: Morpheus inspires such dreams as relate to men, Phobētor such as relate to other animals, and Phantăsos such as relate to inanimate things. They have each their particular legions under them, to inspire the common people with the sort of dreams which belong to their province."

-- Charles K. Dillaway, Roman Antiquities, and Ancient Mythology for Classical Schools (2nd ed), note in parentheses mine

"We see that the archetypal cluster to which dreams belong, according to this most ancient and continuous model in our tradition, is the world of Night. Each dream is a child of Night, affiliated closely with Sleep and Death, and with Forgetting (Lethe) all that the daily world remembers. Dreams have no father, no call upwards. They come only from Night, and they have no home other than in the dark realm. Such then is the genealogy of dreams, the myth of their origins, describing their archetypal kinship, telling us where they belong."

-- James Hillman, "The Brood of Night," The Dream and the Underworld, 1979

"Penelope speaks: ‘Dear guest, Oneiroi are beyond our unravelling--who can be sure what tale they tell? Not all that men look for comes to pass. Two gates there are that give passage to fleeting Oneiroi; one is made of horn, one of ivory. The Oneiroi that pass through sawn ivory are deceitful, bearing a message that will not be fulfilled; those that come out through polished horn have truth behind them, to be accomplished for men who see them. But I cannot hope that this Oneiros that bewilders me came from there.’"

-- Homer, Odyssey 19. 562 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.)

"To the Oneiroi, Fumigation from Aromatics. Thee I invoke, blest power of Oneiroi divine, messengers of future fates, swift wings are thine. Great source of oracles to human kind, when stealing soft, and whispering to the mind, through sleep's sweet silence, and the gloom of night, thy power awakes the intellectual sight; to silent souls the will of heaven relates, and silently reveals their future fates. Forever friendly to the upright mind, sacred and pure, to holy rites inclined; for these with pleasing hope thy dreams inspire: bliss to anticipate, which all desire. Thy visions manifest of fate disclose, what methods best may mitigate our owes; reveal what rites the Gods immortal please, and what the means their anger to appease; for ever tranquil is the good man's end, whose life thy dreams admonish and defend. But from the wicked turned averse to bless, thy form unseen, the angel of distress; no means to check approaching ill they find, pensive with fears, and to the future blind. Come, blessed power, the signatures reveal which heaven's decrees mysteriously conceal, sings only present to the worthy mind, nor omens ill disclose of monstrous kind."

-- Orphic Hymn 86 to the Oneiroi (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.)

"The chambers in the house of dreams
Are fed with so divine an air
That Time’s hoary wings grow young therein,
And they who walk there are most fair."

-- Dream-Tryst, Francis Thompson (1859–1907)

Oneiroi Dreams by artemismelissa of DeviantArt.

Μορφεύς, Morpheus

"...one who in skill excelled to imitate the human form; Morpheus his name, than whom none can present more cunningly the features, gait and speech of men, their wonted clothes and turn of phrase..."

-- Ovid, Metamorphoses 11. 585 (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.)

Morpheus Lord of Dreams, we call unto thee.
Weaver of webs in the attic of the subconscious.
Great Jackal, Manifesto of impermanence, Magickal King, Sandman, Anubis, join us now.
Come down from your moon lit mountain, with wispy cloak and eyes of light.
Past the stars, through the clouds of disbelief.
Awaken our imagination, throw your poppy like sand upon our distracted minds.
For we come to dream, to pay homage to the art, the joy, the reality of fantasy.
Opening our subconscious we invoke hermetic truths, universal archetypes and mythical legends.
From the depths of our inner most void - align our energies with the ray of wisdom.
Descend thee Morpheus.

-- Korinne (via Evolver), Invocation to Morpheus

MORPHEUS, the humble god, that dwells
In cottages and smoky cells,
Hates gilded roofs and beds of down;
And though he fears no prince’s frown,
Flies from the circle of a crown.

Come, I say, thou powerful god,
And thy leaden charming-rod,
Dipt in the Lethéan lake,
O’er his wakeful temples shake,
Lest he should sleep, and never wake.

Nature, alas! why art thou so
Obligèd to thy greatest foe?
Sleep that is thy best repast,
Yet of death it bears a taste,
And both are the same things at last.

-- Sir John Denham, Song: "Morpheus, the humble god, that dwells" (1615–1669)

Personal writings regarding Morpheus:

Le Soir or Morpheus
Le Brun, 1664-77
Galerie D'Apollon, France

Morpheus, or Sleep

Jean-Bernard Restout, 1771

The Cleveland Museum of Art, USA

"Morpheus" by alexmartinez of deviantART

"Morpheus Awakening as Iris Draws Near"
René-Antoine Houasse, 1688
Château de Versailles, France

Iris and Morpheus

Claudia Kunin, 2007

Part of the The Holy Ghost Stories

Special Exhibit at Vintage Works, Ltd., USA

Morpheus and Iris
Guerin, Pierre Narcisse, 1811
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Aurora Weckt Morpheus
Bartolomeo Altomonte, aka Bartholomäus Hohenberg, 1769
From Landeschronik Oberösterreich.
3000 Jahre in Daten, Dokumenten und Bildern.
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Morpheus Dreams
Art Card, available at Memes Fancy, Etsy.

Morphee, Accompagne du Beau Songe et du Petit Marchand
De Sable. Chasse la Nuit Blanche et le Cauchemar.
From Le Sourire, 192-
From my personal collection

Etching: Antefix with Morpheus and foliage From L'Art Pour Tous, 1862.

Engraving: Antefix with Morpheus and foliage
From L'Art Pour Tous, 1862.

Morphee. Bust of Morpheus holding some plants.
Simon Thomassin, 1695
after Poussin statue at Château de Versailles, France
from Recueil des figures, groupes, thermes, fontaines,
vases, statues et autres ornemens de Versailles

Morfeo, Nettuno e delle Furie
Giulio Ferrario, 1826
From Il Costume Antico e Moderno o Storia del Governo, Della Milizia,
Della Religione, Delle Arti, Scienze ed Usanze di Tutti Popoli Antichi e Moderni.
Europa, VOLUME IV.

In the Arms of Morpheus
Sir William Ernest Reynolds-Stephens, 1894
Private Collection, Image courtesy The Anathenum

In the Arms of Morpheus
Laura den Hertog, 2011
Private Collection, Image from artist's article:
"Art Inspiring Art with a Little Mythology Thrown In."

Morpheus
Soni Alcorn-Hender, 2014
See her works at her online studio: Bohemian Weasel

Morphée
Nicolas Poussin, 1679
(Bosquet de la Girandole)
Château de Versailles, France

Morpheus Sleeping
PROKOF'YEV, Ivan Prokof'yevich, 1782
State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Night Giving Morpheus a Bunch of Poppies

Italy, 16th century, artist unknown

Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Morpheus by Italian artist, Beatrice Riva.

Dream Weaver (Morpheus the God of Dreams)
Tino Rodriguez, 2010
Tino Rodriguez Gallery

Φοβητωρ, Phobêtôr (also Ικελος, Ikelos)

"...another forms the beasts and birds and the long sliding snakes. The gods have named him Icelos; here below the tribe of mortals call him Phobetor."

-- Ovid, Metamorphoses 11. 585 (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.)

"Phobetor," by Italian artist, Beatrice Riva.
Discovering this piece chilled my blood by a few degrees --
here is the face of the brown & green man in my dream.

Personal writings regarding Phobetor: