Endymion – He Who Finds Himself Within
Endymion was a shepherd boy so beautiful that the moon fell in love with him. Selene, Goddess of the Moon, placed Endymion under a spell so that he’ll sleep eternally in a mountain cave; never aging, never dying. Selene spends her days with him in the cave; all they do is make love. Endymion experiences his life as a dream, but their love is real as is the sex: Selene constantly conceives and bears their children.
Endymion is more than just Selene’s lover: he was venerated as a deity on Mount Latmos in Caria (now part of modern Turkey.) Endymion sleeps eternally but simultaneously generates loads of children: he is as much a source of fertility as Selene and may be invoked independently or together with her.
He may be more than just a shepherd boy, too. Alternative myths hint that he was really royalty or that Zeus put him to sleep for daring to put the moves on Hera. Selene discovered him already sleeping in the cave and fell in love.
Endymion and Selene’s children include the fifty Menae, the goddesses who rule the fifty lunar months of the Olympiad (a basic unit of time in ancient Greece.) Their human children are the Lorialets, also known as moon children or lunatics, although that word was not initially imbued with the modern meaning of insanity. Instead these moon-touched children are prone to fantasies and psychic vision. Lorialets are mortals. If you or someone you know is a Lorialet, then Selene and Endymion are your spiritual guardians.
ORIGIN:
Greece
SEE ALSO:
- Hera
- Selene
- Zeus
SOURCE:
Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses– Written by Judika Illes Copyright © 2009 by Judika Illes.