Hypnos
Hypnos is Sleep itself, a son of Night in Hesiod's genealogy and the twin of Death, and the old telling calls the two of them gentle. He lives in a cave near the land of the Cimmerians where the sun never reaches, and the river Lethe runs through it.
Hesiod makes him the son of Nyx alone; later genealogies add Erebos as father. Ovid's Somnus is the Roman counterpart, and Morpheus is Ovid's invention among Somnus's ministers rather than a Greek cult figure. The cave, the Lethe and the poppy are literary settings; Hypnos had no known temple.
Correspondences
- Planetary Correspondence
- Moon
Offerings
- Offerings
- Poppy seedHoneyMilkSilenceA kept bedtimeRest taken without guilt
Sacred timing
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- SomnusThe SleepBrother of Death
- Gender Expression
- Masculine
- Titles
- Sleep ItselfThe Gentle UnmakerTwin of ThanatosThe One Who Loosens
- Symbols
- PoppyThe caveThe river letheClosed eyesWinged youth
Practice
- Invocation Approach
- ToneQuiet unhurriedAddressHypnosGentle SleepBrother of DeathRelationshipThe release that asks nothing back but yieldingWarningHe does not negotiate and will take the whole nightResonanceThe sleepless the exhausted those grieving
- Modern Practice
Hypnos is worked with for insomnia, for the ending of a day that will not end, and for rest that has to be defended against a culture that treats it as laziness. The practice is small and bodily: a fixed hour, the lamp down, an offering left at the bedside.
Nature and meaning
- Domain
- SleepDreamsRestOblivionGentlenessThe nightRelease from pain
- Mythology Summary
Hypnos is Sleep itself, a son of Night in Hesiod's genealogy and the twin of Death, and the old telling calls the two of them gentle. He lives in a cave near the land of the Cimmerians where the sun never reaches, and the river Lethe runs through it. In the Iliad Hera bribes him with the hand of the Grace Pasithea to lull Zeus, and he does it, which is a reminder that sleep can be used. He is neither punisher nor rewarder: he is the loosening.
Details
- Correspondences
- ColorsBlackIndigoSilverVioletScentsLavenderChamomileMoonflowerPoppyMetalsSilverLeadAnimalsOwlBatDormouse
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