Volume 2

  Before continuing the story of Odysseus (Ulysses), we must study the course of events in his homeland, Ithaca. As had been decided at the assembly of the gods, Athena went to Ithaca to convince Telemachus, the son of Odysseus (Ulysses), to convene a meeting and...

  The next morning, Athena toured the city under the guise of a herald of King Alcinous to invite the Phaeacians to the assembly. Alcinous still did not know the name of Odysseus (Ulysses) and whether it came from the people of the dawn or those of the sunset. He...

  Nausicaa returned to her father's mansion and went to his room where her old nurse Eurymedusa lit the fire. Odysseus (Ulysses) arrived in the city, hidden by a cloud which Athena had covered him with. The goddess then took on the appearance of a Phaeacian child...

  In the past, the Phaeacians lived in Hyperia, but they were subjected to the power of the Cyclops. Thus their king Nausithous, son of Poseidon, removed them from Hyperia. He settled them in Scheria where he built and organized the city. It was now his son...

Odysseus (Ulysses) sailed on his raft for seventeen days without ever sleeping, and arrived on the eighteenth in view of the coast of Phaeacia. Poseidon, who had just returned from Ethiopia, saw him and unleashed a great storm, blowing at the same time the four great...

  Calypso was the daughter of the Titan Atlas who knew the abysses of the entire sea and watched over the high columns separating the sky from the earth. Isolated on her ocean island, Calypso, the curly haired goddess with terrible cunning, had no connection with...

  Odysseus (Ulysses) arrived then at the island of Helios (the sun, son of Hyperion), where seven herds of cows and seven herds of fat sheep of fifty heads each grazed. These animals knew neither birth nor death and were guarded by two goddesses, Phaetousa and...

  Circe had given Odysseus (Ulysses) the choice of two routes after his encounter with the Sirens. On one side were the two overhanging rocks against which the great swells of Amphitrite were breaking. The gods called them Planktai "unstable rocks" or "wandering...

  Odysseus (Ulysses)' ship was again driven to the island of Circe, where without delay the hero fulfilled the promise made to Elpenor to bury him with dignity. While his men slept, Odysseus (Ulysses) gave Circe a complete account of his journey in the kingdom of...

Following Circe's advice, Odysseus (Ulysses) prepared himself to descend into Hades in order to question the "psyche" of the blind soothsayer Tiresias, for Persephone wanted that only he would retain his ability to think, even in death. Before departure, Elpenor died...

Odysseus (Ulysses) arrived on the island of Aeaea where Circe with the beautiful hair lived, a fearsome goddess endowed with voice. She was a daughter of Helios and the nymph Perseis, and thus a sister of Aietes, the king of Colchide. A god led the hero to the end of...

  On the seventh day, they approached the land of the Laestrigones (Laestrigonians), the high village of Lamos, the high Telepyle. There, when one shepherd came home, another came out, and they greeted each other. A man who would not sleep would earn double...

  Then Odysseus (Ulysses) and his companions approached the island of Aeolus, dear to the immortal gods, son of Hippotes. It was a floating island surrounded by an indestructible bronze wall and a smooth, polished rock. The houses of Aeolus exhaled the sweetest...

  Then Odysseus (Ulysses) and his companions reached the land of the Cyclops. These were lawless brutes who trusted the Immortals so much that they neither ploughed nor sowed. The land was so fertile that it provided them with plenty of food. At home, there was...

  After this first step, Odysseus (Ulysses) thought he could return to Ithaca. But as he crossed Cape Malea (a peninsula south-east of the Peloponnese), the swell and the Boreas wind closed the strait and then the port of Cythera. He navigated aimlessly on the...

  Odysseus (Ulysses)’ fleet was part of the first contingent leaving Troy. But at the stopover in Tenerife, Zeus unleashed the scourge of a second misunderstanding. Odysseus (Ulysses) left Menelaus, Nestor and Diomedes and returned to Agamemnon who had remained...

  Odysseus (Ulysses)   Leaving aside Heracles, who embodies the theory of the path of purification/liberation, Odysseus (Ulysses) can be seen as the most advanced symbol of a truth seeker in the spiritual evolution described by the masters of wisdom of...

  We left Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, on his return to Phthia, after he had put his grandfather Peleus back on the throne. Andromache, Hector's widow, was given to him as a share of the spoils. On the other hand, during the war, Menelaus promised him his...

  If in the Odyssey, Telemachus, the son of Achilles, is surprised that Menelaus left the murder of Agamemnon unpunished for so long - during the seven years of Aegisthus' reign - it is simply because Menelaus had not yet returned home to Sparta. On his departure...

  Homer never mentions Orestes’ murder of Clytemnestra, only that of Aegisthus. Let us recall that Orestes, the youngest son of Agamemnon, was born shortly before the Trojan War. He was therefore an adolescent or young man at the war's end. Pindar even claims...

  Agamemnon let the first wave of “returns” depart. He stayed behind to offer sacrifices to Athena to appease her wrath caused by the ungodliness of Ajax the Lesser who tried to take Cassandra by force, or even to rape her. Then, as he was getting ready for the...

  The Trojan lineage is unambiguously related to the Pleiad Electra, which symbolizes the illumined mind and expresses the achievement of liberation in the spirit. Although one of its branches was wiped out in the Trojan War by the Achaeans under the leadership...

  Ajax “the Lesser” (or Locrian Ajax) represents what various traditions call “the little self” or personality consciousness. He was a son of Oileus, “the consciousness that works to liberate itself. This personality consciousness came from the movement of...

  Let us recall that Teucer (“The right opening to the summits of consciousness”) was the bastard son of Telamon and the Trojan Hesione, and thus the half-brother of the great Ajax. First back home in Salamis, he then settled in Cyprus. To explain his exile, some...

  During the Trojan War, Menelaus promised his daughter Hermione to Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, who also received Andromache, Hector’s wife, as a share of the booty during the plunder of the city. When he embarked, some say that he also took on board...

  According to the Odyssey, Idomeneus (“Who desires union”) returned safely to Crete with all his companions. (Some say that he was driven out as soon as he arrived by the tyrant Leucos who took power in his absence: “brilliant transparency” or “simplicity”...

  In Chapter IV we examined not only the events of the Iliad but also the elements of four other poems of the Epic Cycle, of which we have only concise summaries: the Cypria, the Aethiopis, The Little Iliad, and the Iliupersis also called The Sack of Troy. The...

  The soothsayer of the expedition, Calchas, took the land road with Amphilocus, Leonteus, Podalirius and Polypoetes. He died after reaching Colophon, following a contest of prophecies from which Mopsus, son of Apollo and Manto, emerged victorious. Indeed, the...

  Returning from Troy, following a quarrel between the two Atrides, Agamemnon and Menelaus, created by Athena, many Achaean heroes and fighters had to endure the wrath of the goddess. A meeting was called in which Menelaus recommended that everyone should leave...

  The manuscripts of the Odyssey date from the Middle Ages and we know little about the transmission of texts since Homeric times, except that there was most likely a very long period of oral transmission. However, to the extent that these texts reflect...

The latest exploits of Heracles illustrate the advanced stages of the process of purification-liberation or "unveiling" of the divine involuted in matter. After the installation of the seeker in the overmind, these are the first experiences of the supramental...

The Trojan War sung by Homer in the Iliad illustrates a major reversal in the process of spiritual quest. This reversal marks the end of the quest for the divine in the spirit when the seeker finally agrees to purify the depths of the vital. Achilles and Ajax playing...

The lineage of the Asopos illustrates the purification of the deep layers of the vital achieved successively by Aeacus, Peleus and Achilles.The other major lineages involved in the Trojan War include: the Tantalum lineage, the Trojan royal lineage, the Spartan...

The royal line of Arcadia illustrates the liberation from all attachment and the achievement of equality through endurance, equality embodied by Atalanta. Atalanta fighting with Peleus - Staatliche Antikensammlungen To fully understand this web page, it is recommended...

The lineage of Deion is one of the lineages involved in the Trojan War which include: the Tantalum lineage, the Trojan royal lineage, the Spartan lineage, the Maia lineage, the Deion lineage and the Asopos lineage. The lineage of Deion, the last child of Aeolus,...

The lineages involved in the Trojan War include: the Tantalum lineage, the Trojan royal lineage, the Spartan lineage, the Maia lineage, the Deion lineage and the Asopos lineage. The lineage of Maia continues with her son the god Hermes, symbol of a force consciously...

The lineages involved in the Trojan War include: the Tantalum lineage, the Trojan royal lineage, the Spartan lineage, the Maia lineage, the Deion lineage and the Asopos lineage. The royal lineage of Sparta (Taygetus lineage) studied here illustrates the access to the...

The lineages involved in the Trojan War include: the Tantalum lineage, the Trojan royal lineage, the Spartan lineage, the Maia lineage, the Deion lineage and the Asopos lineage. The Trojan royal lineage (Electra lineage) studied here symbolizes access to the illumined...

The lineages involved in the Trojan War include: the Tantalum lineage, the Trojan royal lineage, the Spartan lineage, the Maia lineage, the Deion lineage and the Asopos lineage.The lineage of Tantalus studied here embodies the aspiration of the seeker. It includes in...

The myth of Oedipus and the wars of Thebes illustrate the process of purification of energy centers to make the body transparent to the penetration of divine forces. Oedipus and the Sphinge - Louvre Museum / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)...

The myth of Orion describes a searcher who "draws" excessively the divine ecstasy in his nature which is not yet ready to receive it. To fully understand this web page, it is recommended to follow the progression given in the tab Greek myths interpretation. This...

The last feats of Theseus concern the period between the realization of equality and the descent into body consciousness. Theseus leading Helen to a chariot arranged by Peirithoos - National Archaeological Museum of Athens...

Calydonian boar hunt represents a very advanced purification of the deep layers of the vital, only possible when equality is achieved. The Boeotian Atalanta fighting with Peleus - Staatliche Antikensammlungen To fully understand this web page, it is recommended to...

Ixion and the War of the Lapiths against the Centaurs symbolize on the one hand spiritual pride, on the other hand a deep purification of the vital. The War of the Lapiths against the Centaurs - Louvre Museum To fully understand this web page, it is recommended to...

In the introduction to Volume 3 are presented the most advanced stages of the spiritual path for the adventurers of consciousness. The conditions in which men live upon earth are the result of their state of consciousness. To want to change the conditions without...

The last labour of Heracles is the Capture of Cerberus in the kingdom of Hades which symbolizes the acquisition of the knowledge of what prevents from a premature transformation. To fully understand this web page, it is recommended to follow the progression given in...