Orpheus

by G.R.S. Mead

INTRODUCTION
Scope of the Essay
The Materials THE ORPHIC ORIGINS
The Mythological Orpheus
Orpheus, a Generic Name
The Derivation of the Name
The Orphic Dialect
Pelasgic, Etrurian, or Aeolian
The "Fable" of the Aeolians
The Receding Date of Orpheus
Caste in the " Days of Orpheus "
The Beginnings of Orphic History
Homer and Hesiod
Pherecydes
Onomacritus
The Pythagoreans and Neo-pythagoreans
The Neo-platonists
General Conclusion ORPHIC WORKS
The Logia
Secret Works
List of Works
All that is Left to Us
" Orpheus" the " Inventor "
" Orpheus " the "Magician"
The Opinions of the Kabalists GENERAL REMARKS ON ORPHIC THEOLOGY
Orphic Symbolism
Phallicism
Idol-Worship
Clemens Alexandrinus on Symbolism
Some striking Instances of Orphic Symbolism
The One God
The Monadology of Orpheus
Chart of the Orphic Theogony GENERAL OUTLINE OF ORPHIC THEOGONY
The Orders of the Divine Powers
The Triads
The Primordial Triad
The Noëtic Triad
The Noëtic-Noëric Triad
The Noëric Triad
The Supercosmic Triad
The Liberated Order
The Cosmic Order
Chart of the Chaldaen Theogony SOME COSMOGONICAL DETAILS
A Key to the Multiplicity of the Powers
The Gods and their Shaktis
Table of the Elements and Spheres
The Two Creations
The Trinity
The Quaternary
On Nature and Emanation
Cyclic Periods and Pralaya THE ORPHIC PANTHEON
Unaging Time
Aether, Chaos and Night
The Cosmic Egg
The Crater
Phanes, Ericapaeus and Metis
Night
Heaven
The Children of Heaven and Earth
The Titans
Cronus-Saturn
The Four Ages
Rhea
Zeus Jupiter
Vesta, Ceres, Juno
Proserpine
Diana and Minerva
Neptune and Pluto
Apollo
Aether
Vulcan, Venus, Mars
The Cyclopes and Centimani
Curetes and Corybantes ON THE MYSTERIES AND SYMBOLISM
'India in Greece' ?
The Perfections of Virtue
The Fantasies of Scholarship
The Lion's Cub
The Fawn Skin
The Thyrsus
Mystica Vannus Iacchi
The Playthings of Bacchus
The Orphic Lyre ORPHIC DISCIPLINE AND PSYCHOLOGY
Morals
The Inner Discipline
The Macrocosm and Microcosm
The Subtle Body
The Augoeides THE DOCTRINE OF REBIRTH
The Body is the Prison of the Soul
The Soul is Punished in the Body
The Past Births of Pythagoras
Other Instances of previous lives of " Initiates"
The Wheel of Life
Of Metensomatosis
Of the Tenet, in the Mysteries
The Psychopomp
Of Liberation
Conclusion
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Texts
Translations
General Literature

Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 1999

About the author

George Robert Stowe Mead, who always published under the initialism G.R.S. Mead, was a historian, writer, editor, translator, and an influential member of the Theosophical Society, as well as founder of the Quest Society. His scholarly works dealt mainly with the Hermetic and Gnostic religions of Late Antiquity, and were exhaustive for the time period.

Reviews

[Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is, as a friend of mine once put it, worth all the tea in China. It presents in an accessible form an outline of the teachings of the semi-mythical Orpheus. That there was such a teacher is hard to dispute, but we know little about him for certain and his life has become wrapped in profound mythology.
His teachings have been gleaned from the so called Orphic Hymns and also other writers in his tradition who commented on his teachings. The inestimable Mead has summarised the teachings in this fairly concise book. There is enormous value in the diagrams that Mead provides. For those for whom the Ancient Wisdom is still seen as having a transcendent truth that is of value today, these diagrams provide wonderful clues and much to think about. Mead's text is not a difficult read and provides much to ponder.
This book should be on any philosophy student's shelf, if they wish to have some insight into the Ancient Mysteries.

[Ady ZYN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended.