BECAUSE OF HER ENCHANTMENTS, CIRCE HAD THE POWER TO MAKE THE TREES AROUND HER MOVE AND TURN WHITE; THE GROUND WOULD TREMBLE UNDER HER STEP. SHE WAS ABLE TO DARKEN THE HEAVENS BY HIDING THE MOON OR THE SUN BEHIND THE CLOUDS AND WAS KNOWN TO DESTROY HER ENEMIES WITH HER POISONOUS DRINKS AND CALLING TO HE AID NYX, THE GODDESS OF THE CROSSROADS. HER FAVORITE PASTIME WAS WEAVING AS SHE SANG. SHE WAS A POWERFUL WITCH WHO, WITH THE HELP OF HERBS, INCANTATIONS, OR PRAYING TO THE GODS, COULD TURN MEN ITNO ANIMALS (MAINLY PIGS). HER POWERS OF SEDUCTION ARE BASED ON HER KNOWLEDGE OF POSITIVE FEMININE MANIPULATION.
SHE LIVED ON THE ISLAND OF AEAEA WHERE SHE HAD BEEN BROUGHT BY HER FATHER AFTER SHE HAD POISONED HER HUSBAND. THE NAME OF HER ISLAND IS SAID TO COME FROM THE GRIEF WAIL. IN HOMER'S ODYSSEY, HER HOME IS DESCRIBED AS A STONE MANSION WHICH STANDS IN THE MIDDLE OF A CLEARING...SURROUNDED BY DENSE WOOD. THE AREA IS PROWLED BY LIONS AND WOLVES...VICTIMS OF HER MAGIC. CIRCE WAS WORKING AT A LARGE LOOM WHEN ODYSSEUS CREW ARRIVED, AND SHE INVITED THEM TO A FEAST...BUT THE FOOD WAS LACED WITH ONE OF HER MAGIC POTIONS, AND THE MEN TURNED INTO PIGS. ONLY ONE MAN ESCAPED--EURYLOCHUS; HE RAN TO TELL ODYSSEUS WHAT HAD OCCURRED. ODYSSEUS SET OUT TO RESCUE HIS MEN, BUT WAS INTERCEPTED BY HERMES WHO TOLD OF AN ANTIDOTE--A PLANT CALLED MOLY WHICH HAD A BLACK ROOT AND A WHITE FLOWER.
ODYSSEUS FOLLOWED THE INSTRUCTIONS, AND CIRCE, SEEING HER DRUGS ROBBED OF THEIR POWER, IMMEDIATELY CHANGED AND BECAME FRIENDLY AND HELPFUL. WITH HER MAGIC GONE, THE MEN WERE TURNED BACK INTO HUMAN FORM. SHE LATER FELL IN LOVE WITH ODYSSEUS AND ASSISTED HIM IN HIS QUEST TO REACH HIS HOME AFTER HE AND HIS MEN HAD SPENT A YEAR ON HER ISLAND.
"If we look at Circe as a personification of the unconscious, destructive and regressive until it comes into contact with the wholeness represented by the black roots and white flower of the Moly plant. In the myth, we find that once Odysseus has been able to neutralize Circe's powers, She becomes helpful rather than the hinderance She was prior. What this tells us is that once the ego is able to face what appears threatening and destructive in the unconscious (the Shadow Self), the that unconscious energy can be used for growth and transformation."
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