The Epiphany of Isis
Lucius Apuleius
From the Metamorphoses or The Golden Ass, translated
by William Adlington (1566) and adapted for modern readers.
he Metamorphoses of Lucius by How by Roses and Prayer Apuleius
T Lucius Apuleius, better known as The
Golden Ass, is the only Roman novel
to survive today. With parallels in the tradition
Returned to His Human Shape
As midnight approached as I slept my
first sleep, I awoke with sudden fear and saw
of the Greek novel, this work is often considered the Moon shining bright, as when she is full
the first “novel,” and inspired many later episodic and looking as though she had leapt out of
romances such as Don Quixote and Gulliver’s the sea. Then my thoughts led me to the
Travels. The present selection is assumed to be idea that it was the most secret time, when
autobiographical, as Lucius describes the epiphany the goddess Ceres had most strength and
of Isis, most probably from his participation in force, considering that all human things are
the Isis Mysteries themselves. It is clear in this governed by her providence: and not only all
passage that over several millennia, Isis has been beasts private and tame, but also all wild and
transformed from her supporting role to Osiris savage beasts who are under her protection.
and Horus in the Osirian Mysteries, to the
Universal Queen of Heaven, representing the All bodies in the heavens, the earth,
totality of Divinity in the Isis Mysteries which had and the seas, are increased by her increasing
spread throughout the Greco-Roman world by the motions and are diminished by her
second century CE. diminishing motions. As weary as I was of
my cruel fortune and calamity, and even
As the story has unfolded, through
though it was very late, I found good hope
unfortunate contact with magic, Lucius has been
of being delivered from all my misery and of
transformed into an ass. Having failed to cure
sovereign remedy, in invocation and prayer to
himself of this transformation, he finally invokes
the excellent beauty of the Goddess, whom I
the Goddess, and in this passage, he describes her
beheld shining before my eyes. Then, I arose
advent and bountiful remedy for his condition.
with a joyful face, shaking off my animal-
like and drowsy sleep. Moved
by a great affection to purify,
I plunged myself seven times
into the water of the sea—
seven being a number quite
favorable to holy and divine
things, as the worthy and
sage philosopher, Pythagoras,
has declared.
Henry Fuseli, Midsummer Night’s
Dream, Act IV, Scene I. A wood: Titania,
queen of the fairies, Bottom, fairies
attending, etc., 1796. The character of
Bottom is one of many literary legacies
from The Golden Ass.
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Lucius’s Prayer nourishing all the fruits of the world by
your vigor and force! With whatever
Then, with a weeping countenance, I made
name or fashion it is lawful to call
this prayer to the powerful Goddess, saying:
upon you, I pray you, please end my
O blessed Queen of heaven! Are great travail and misery, and deliver
you the Lady Ceres, the original and me from the wretched fortune that has
motherly nurse of all fruitful things on pursued me for so long.
earth, who inhabits the land of Eleusis? Grant peace and rest from my
Are you she who, after finding your adversities, if it pleases you, as I have
daughter Proserpina, conceived such endured too much labor and peril.
great joy that barren and unfruitful Please remove from me my shape of an
ground was made fruitful again? Or ass, and return me to my pristine estate.
are you the celestial Venus, sister to the And if I have offended in any point of
God Phoebus, now worshiped within divine majesty, let me die rather than
the Temples of the Isle of Paphos and live, for I am fully weary of my life.
the sacred places of Ephesus? Venus,
who in the beginning of the world The Goddess Appears
coupled together all kinds of things
with an engendered love, by an eternal When I had ended this prayer, finding
propagation of humankind? Venus, my pleas to the Goddess brought to light, I
who nourishes so many people by the most fortunately fell asleep. Whereupon, a
generation of beasts? Ahh…in light of divine and venerable face appeared to me,
the deadly howlings you are displaying, worshiped even by the gods themselves.
it is clear that you are the dreaded Little by little, I seemed to see the whole
Proserpina! You have the power to stop figure of her body rising out of the sea and
and put away the invasion of the hags standing before me. So then I set my mind
and ghosts that appear unto humans, to describe her divine semblance, whether the
and to keep them down in the closures poverty of my human speech might suffer
of the earth. me, or whether her divine power would grant
You, who are diversely worshiped, me proper eloquence in the task.
you who illuminate all the borders of First, her great abundance of hair was
the earth by your feminine shape! You, dispersed and scattered about her neck.
On the crown of her head she bore many
garlands interlaced with flowers, and in the
middle of her forehead was a glassy compass,
resembling the light of the Moon. In one of
her hands she bore serpents, and in the other,
sheaves of corn.
Her garment was of fine silk and
radiated a diverse array of colors, which
sometimes appeared yellow, sometimes rose,
and even sometimes aflame. And at other
times (which troubled my spirit sorely), it
even appeared dark and obscure, covered
Rosicrucian with a black robe in manner of a shield, with
Digest
No. 1 subtle pleating at the skirts. The welts were
2010 Michael Bull, F.R.C., Isis and Lucius. enticingly attractive, and here and there
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world in diverse ways, through various
customs and under many names.
The Phrygians call me the Mother
of the Gods; the Athenians, Minerva;
the Cyprians, Venus; the Candians,
Diana; the Sicilians, Proserpina;
the Eleusians, Ceres. Some Juno,
others Bellona, others Hecate. And
principally, the Ethiopians in the East,
and the Egyptians who are excellent
in all manner of ancient doctrine
and who worship me by their proper
Isis Finial, polychromed iron, late period Egypt,
twenty-seventh to thirty-first dynasties (ca. 525- ceremonies and customs, call me
332 BCE). Finials were carried on long staffs, Queen Isis.
and marked the place of an important person in
a procession, or a section for gathering. From the Behold, I am here to take pity of
collection of the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. your fortune and tribulation; I am
present to favor and aid you. Leave
the stars could be glimpsed. In the middle behind your weeping and lamentation
of them was placed the Moon, which and put away all your sorrow.
shone like a flame of fire. Encircling the Rather, look upon the healthful day
robe was a coronet or garland made with that is ordained by my providence,
flowers and fruits. and therefore be ready to attend to
Her right hand held a brass timbrel, my commandment.
which gave a pleasant sound. In her left
The day following tonight is
hand was a gold cup, from which the serpent
dedicated to my service, by an eternal
Aspis emerged and lifted up his head with
religion. After the tempests of the sea
a swelling throat. Her fragrant feet were
have ceased, my priests and ministers
covered with shoes, which were interlaced
customarily offer in my name a new
and wrought with victorious palm. And
so her heavenly form, breathing out the
pleasant spice of fertile Arabia, chose with
compassion to utter these words to me in her
divine voice:
Behold Lucius I am come; your
weeping and prayers have moved
me to provide solace to you. I am
she who is the natural mother of all
things, mistress and governess of all
the elements, the initial progeny of
worlds, chief of powers divine, Queen
of heaven! I am the principal of the Bust of Isis-Sothis-Demeter, white marble, Roman
artwork, second part of Hadrian’s reign, ca. 131-
celestial Gods, the light of the goddesses. 138 CE. From the gymnasium in the Villa Adriana,
At my will, the planets of the air, the near Tivoli, discovered in 1736. Collection of the
wholesome winds of the seas, and the Gregorian Egyptian Museum. Photo by Marie-Lan
Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons. Isis was identified
silences of hell are disposed. My name, with all of the major Goddesses of the Mediterranean
my divinity is adored throughout the world, and assimilated their attributes.
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You will live blessed in this world, and you will live
gloriously by my guidance and protection.
ship as a first fruit of my navigation. you will become a human. You will
I command you not to profane or live blessed in this world, and you
despise the sacrifice in any way. will live gloriously by my guidance
Tomorrow the High Priest, following and protection. When you descend to
in procession under my divine Hades, that subterranean place where
guidance, shall carry a garland of you will see me shining (as you see
roses next to the timbrel in his right me now) in the darkness of Acheron,
hand. Follow my procession among and reigning in the deep profundity
the people, and when you come to the of Styx, you will worship me as one
priest, make as though you would kiss who has been favorable to you. And if
his hand, but instead snatch at the I perceive that you are obedient to my
roses. When this is done, I will rid you commandment, adhere to my religion,
of the skin and shape of an ass, a kind and merit my divine grace, then
of beast I have long time abhorred know that I will prolong your days
and despised. above and beyond the time that the
Above all, beware and do not fates have appointed and the celestial
doubt me or have any fear, even planets ordained.
as difficult as it may seem for these
events to be brought to pass. Because When the divine Image had spoken
in the same hour that I have come these words, she vanished away! Upon
to you, I have also commanded awakening, I arose, feeling the various parts
the Priest a vision of what he of my body mixed with fear, joy and sweat,
shall do, and all the people by my and I marveled at the clear presence of the
commandment shall be compelled powerful goddess. And while being sprinkled
to give you place and to say nothing! with the water of the sea,
I recounted in order her
Furthermore, do not worry about
admonitions and divine
whether any person shall abhor your
commandments.
ill-favored and deformed figure, as
you will be among so fair and joyful
ceremonies and in such good company
that this will not be cause for concern.
Nor would anyone in attendance be so Royal Sistrum. Sistra were used
foolhardy as to blame and reprove your by women in Egyptian Temple
sudden restoration to human shape, worship since early dynastic
times, particularly in the rites
lest in doing so they should gather or of Goddesses. Isis, mother and
conceive any sinister opinion. Also creator, was often shown holding
know this for sure: that the rest of your a water container (the flooding of
life until the hour of death shall be the Nile) and a sistrum. Sistra are
still used today in the Liturgies
bound and subject to me! of the Alexandrine Christian
Rosicrucian And do not regard it as an injury Tradition (Coptic, Ethiopian,
Digest Eritrean). From the collection
No. 1 to be always in my service, since it is of the Rosicrucian Egyptian
2010 by my countenance and benefit that Museum.
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