Incense: Aromatic Herbs
Pure spirits of spring and of the blossoming meadow,
You are found in every color and in all the scents wafted by the breezes.
Ever-blooming, revolving and sweet-faced, O Horia,
You cloak youselves with the dew of luxuriant flowers.
You are holy Persephone's companions at play, when the Fates and the Graces,
In circling dances come forth to light, pleasing Zeus and their fruit-giving mother.
Come to the new initiates and their reverent and holy rites,
And bring seasons perfect for growth of goodly fruit.
Incense: Storax
Fair Semele of the lovely tresses and the full bosom,
Mother of thyrsus-bearing and joyous Dionysos.
She was driven to great pain by the blazing thunderbolt,
Which, through the counsels of immortal Kronian Zeus, burned her,
And by noble Persephone she was granted honors among mortal men,
Honors given every third year.
Then they reenact the travail for your son Bacchos,
The sacred ritual of the table, and the holy mysteries.
Now you, goddess, do I beseech, daughter of Kadmos, queen,
Always to be gentle-minded towards the initiates.
Bassareus and Bacchos, many-named master of all.
You delight in bloody swords and in the holy meneads,
As you howl throughout Olympos, O roaring and frenzied Bacchos.
Armed with the thyrsus and wrathful in extreme, you are honored
By all the gods and by all the men who dwell on earth.
Come, blessed and leaping god, and bring much joy to all.
Incense: Powdered Frankincense
Blossoming, beloved and kindly Bacchos,
Nursling of the nymphs and fair-wreathed Aphrodite.
The forest once felt your feet quiver in the dance,
As frenzy drove you and the graceful nymphs on,
And the counsels of Zeus brought you to noble Persephone,
Who reared you to be loved by the deathless gods.
Kind-heartedly come, O blessed one, and accept the gift of this sacrifice.
Incense: Aromatic Herbs
Who enveloped all of Kadmos' house and with his might,
Checked and calmed the heaving earth when the blazing thunderbolt,
And the raging gale stirred all the land.
Then everyone's bonds sprang loose.
Blessed reveler, come with joyous heart.
Incense: Aromatic Herbs
You sewed into your thigh Bacchic Dionysos, the roaring Eiraphiotes,
That he might come whole to noble Tmolos, by the side of fair-cheeked Hipta.
But, O blessed ruler of Phrygia and supreme king of all,
Come kind-heartedly to the aid of the initiates.
Incense: Aromatic Herbs
In mystic rites she takes part, and she exults in pure Sabos' worship,
And in the night dances of roaring Iacchos.
O queen and chthonic mother, hear my prayer, whether you are on Ida,
Phrygia's sacred mountain, or you take pleasure on Tholos, fair seat of the Lydians.
Come to these rites, with joy on you holy face.
