Circe

Luis Royo

The name 'Circe' means 'falcon.' She was said to be the daughter of the Sea Nymph Perseis (daughter of the Titan Okeanos) and the Sun God Helios, the driver of Apollo's sun chariot; alternately, she was said to be the daughter of the goddess Hecate and Hermes. After poisoning her husband, Circe fled into exile on the island of Aeaea (Aiaia) off the west coast of Italy. The name of her island was said to come from the grief wail. She was a beautiful woman, whose braided red hair resembled flames, and she lived in the center of the island in a palace, where she was attended by Nereids and Nymphs. Circe was the sister of King Perses of Tauris, King Aeetes of Colchis (a mighty wizard) and Queen Pasiphae of Minos.

Circe's favorite pastime was weaving as she sang. Circe was renowned for her knowledge of magick and poisonous plants, and cats were sacred to her. She could fly on a magick staff, brewed her potions in a brazen cauldron, and could fortell the future. Circe had the power to transform men into beasts (mainly pigs), and women into monsters, particularly serpentine ones. The beasts retained the ability to reason and may have been immortal like Circe. The pig was sacred to the Goddess of Death (Hecate), and Circe had a cemetery sacred to her in Colchis, in which willow trees (sacred to Hecate) were planted . Circe's transformation of men into beasts represents a spiritual metamorphosis, making them "as dead." After turning men into swine, she fed them on red berries that were considered the food of the dead. She was said to have been surrounded by men she had turned into beasts unlike any seen elsewhere on earth. After starting the transformation by feeding men a brew, Circe completed the transformation by striking them with her magic wand. Her spells could be prevented by the moly plant - allium moly, also called lily leek or garden garlic, really a flowering onion. Moly was said to be a plant that men found difficult to dig up.

Circe could make trees move and turn white, and the ground quake beneath her tread. She called upon the powers of Nyx (night), Chaos and Hecate. At night, her chamber was filled with unsummoned visions. Circe used the braids in her hair to control fate and the forces of creation and destruction. She had the power to bring physical healing and spiritual purification, was a guide to the Underworld, and was connected with the Isle of the Blest, where purified souls dwelt in immortality after death.

The stories told about Circe include that of (1) Picus, a sorcerous demi-god, son of Cronos, who spurned her love for that of Canens, daughter of Janus; she turned him into a woodpecker; (2) Glaucus, a fisherman who became a sea diety by eating a plant; when Glaucus, of whom Circe was enamored, professed his love for the beautiful Sea Nymph Skylla, daughter of the Titan Okeanos, Circe turned Skylla into a serpentine sea monster next to the treacherous whirlpool Charybdis; eventually, Skylla was transformed into a rock; (3) Odysseus, who with his crew were sent into uncharted waters by the wrath of Poseidon while returning home from the Trojan War; when his men were turned into swine by Circe, Odysseus resisted her spell with the help of the moly plant (revealed to him by Hermes), and he finally won Circe's heart and his men's freedom; and (4) Jason and the Argonauts, fleeing from King Aeetes of Colchis after taking the king's daughter, the sorceress Medea, and his Golden Fleece; Circe purified them of the spiritual burden of having murdered Medea's brother, Apsyrtus, in order to delay pursuit by the king.

Circe's offspring were said to include Telegonus, by Odysseus, who was made immortal and sent to the Isle of the Blest by Circe after he accidentally murdered his father, and Faunus, the half-goat god who was King of Latium.

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