Erato
Erato is one of the nine Muses named by Hesiod (Theogony 76-79), daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, and her name carries the sense of the lovely and the desired. The allocation of a subject to each Muse is later than Hesiod.
Erato is one of a collective power and has no separate cult, temple, priest or festival: the Muses are worshipped as a company, and the domain of love poetry is a later allocation. The planetary, zodiacal, tarot and sabbat values here are modern Western overlays with no ancient basis, and the tradition's own account is primary. The erotic reading of her name belongs to the handbooks and to Roman poetry, not to Hesiod.
Correspondences
- Planetary Correspondence
- Venus
Offerings
- Offerings
- A poem written and given awayRoseWineHoneySong
Sacred timing
- Sacred Timing
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- Erato the LovelyMuse of Love PoetryMuse of Lyric Desire
- Gender Expression
- Feminine
- Titles
- The LovelyThe DesiredMuse of Love PoetryOne of the Nine MusesShe of the Lyre's Longing
- Symbols
- The lyreThe roseThe arrowThe small bow
Practice
- Invocation Approach
- ToneIntimate and formalAddressEratoLovely OneMuse of Love VerseRelationshipThe song that makes the beloved nearerWarningThe song is lent and the love is not hers to giveResonancePoets of desire and those writing a letter they may never send
- Modern Practice
The Muse of the addressed song: invoked by poets of desire, and by anyone writing a letter that will not be sent. The work is craft rather than wish - the poem is the offering, and it has to be good.
Nature and meaning
- Domain
- Love poetryLyric desireErotic verseLongingThe song that woosTendernessThe asked for thing
- Mythology Summary
Erato is one of the nine Muses named by Hesiod (Theogony 76-79), daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, and her name carries the sense of the lovely and the desired. The allocation of a subject to each Muse is later than Hesiod; Erato becomes the Muse of love poetry and lyric desire in the Hellenistic and Roman lists, shown with a lyre. She was honoured as one of the college, at the Helicon sanctuary and the Thespian Mouseia (Pausanias 9.29-30).
Details
- Correspondences
- ColorsPinkWhiteBlueScentsRoseJasmineMetalsCopperSilverAnimalsDoveSwallow
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