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Prayers to Hera

6 prayers

Hera is a goddess of the marriage contract before she is a goddess of marriage. She is called on at weddings and by cities as their patron — Argos, Samos — and the prayers ask for the stability of an arrangement rather than for affection.

What is asked
Fontes · Sources
  • Anonymous (Homeric corpus) · Homeric Hymns1
  • Anonymous (Orphic corpus) · Orphic Hymns1
  • LABRYS Polytheistic Community (adapted from Orphic) · Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship1
  • LABRYS Polytheistic Community · Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship1
  • Pindar · Nemean Odes1
  • Plethon / Mousaios adaptation · Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship1
Orationes · The texts
  1. 001

    Prayer to Eileithyia

    Pindar · Nemean Odes · 7.1 ff

    Goddess of childbirth, Eileithyia, maid to the throne of the deep-thinking Moirai, child of all-powerful Hera, hear my song. For without thee should we see neither the light of day, nor know the kindly dark, nor win the gift of Hebe, thy sister, the glorious limbs of youth.

    GreekInvocationPraise
  2. 002

    Prayer to Zeus and Hera

    LABRYS Polytheistic Community · Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship · Wedding Ceremony — Prayer to Zeus and Hera

    I invoke the Great, the Pure, the Imperishable, the Much-honoured, Father of the Blessed gods and of men; Greatest Zeus and Hera, Queen of all, Blessed wife of Zeus, Mistress of Matrimony, well-disposed Mother. Come to us and grant to the newly-weds, health and nurturing peace, a life of mirth and well-being — a life of mutual dedication.

    GreekPetitionInvocation
  3. 003

    The Prayer of Musaeus

    Plethon / Mousaios adaptation · Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship · Noumenia Ceremony — Prayer of Mousaios

    King Zeus and Gaia and sacred heavenly flames of Helios; holy light of Mene and all the stars; and You, dark haired Poseidon, earth-shaker; pure Persephone and Demetra of the bountiful fruit; Artemis, the maiden archer and farshooting Phoibos, who dwells in the sacred valley of Delphi, holding the highest honours amongst the Blessed; dancing Dionysos, bold Ares and powerful holy Ephaistos, foam-born goddess, bearer of famous gifts, and You, King of the Underworld, great and venerable God; Hebe and Eileithia and brave Heracles, and the great providence of Dikaiosyne and Eusevia; I also call the splendid Nymphs and Pan, the Great, and Hera, vigorous wife of aegis-bearing Zeus; I invoke the lovely Mnemosyne and the nine sublime Muses and the Kharites and the Horês of the Eniautos, Leto with the beautiful limbs, the modest Theio and Dione, the Kouretes, the armed Koryvantes, and the Kaveires, as well as our great Saviours, the indestructible children of Zeus, the great Idaian gods and the heavenly messenger, Hermes, the communicator, and Themis, the diviner of men, I invite venerable Nyx and brightly glowing Day, Pisti and Dike and the immaculate Lawgiver, Rhea and Kronos and the dark-veiled Tethys, Okeanos, the Great, and his daughters, the Okeanides, Atlas' and Aionos' superior power, and the eternal Time, and the splendid water of Styx, the soothing Gods and the benevolent Pronoia; the all-holy Daimona of the Gods and the malevolent of mortals, all heavenly, air and water Gods, all Gods of the earth, and of the fire, and of the underworld. Semele and the company of Bakkhos; Ino Leukothea and Palaimon, the bliss-giver, Sweet tongued Nike and queen Adrastea, and the great king, giver of tranquillity, Asclepios, Pallas, the fearsome maiden, and all the Winds and the Thunder, the steady foundation of the Kosmos, Mother of the Immortals, Attis and Mena, I call the Goddess Ourania together with her immortal pure Adonis, the Beginning and the End — the greatest of all. Come with benevolence and happy hearts, to this holy ceremony and sacred libation.

    GreekInvocationPraise
  4. 004

    Hymn to Hera

    Anonymous (Homeric corpus) · Homeric Hymns · 12

    I sing of golden-throned Hera whom Rhea bare. Queen of the Immortals is she, surpassing all in beauty: she is the sister and wife of loud-thundering Zeus — the glorious one whom all the blessed throughout high Olympos reverence and honour even as Zeus who delights in thunder.

    GreekInvocationPraise
  5. 005

    Hymn to Hera and Zeus

    Anonymous (Orphic corpus) · Orphic Hymns · 16

    O royal Hera, of majestic mien, aerial-formed, divine, Zeus' blessed queen, throned in the bosom of cerulean air, the race of mortals is thy constant care. The cooling gales thy power alone inspires, which nourish life, which every life desires. Mother of showers and winds, from thee alone, producing all things, mortal life is known: all natures share thy temperament divine, and universal sway alone is thine, with sounding blasts of wind, the swelling sea and rolling rivers roar when shook by thee. Come, blessed Goddess, famed almighty queen, with aspect kind, rejoicing and serene.

    GreekInvocationPetition
  6. 006

    Prayer to Hera

    LABRYS Polytheistic Community (adapted from Orphic) · Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship · Ceremony for Luck — Hymn to Hera

    Hera, Queen of all, blissful wife of Zeus, air-formed and seated in dark blue bays, granting to mortals the gentle soul-nurturing breeze. All begetting, Mother of rain, tender of the winds. No living thing knows the complete nature of life without you, because you partake in everything merged with the sacred air. You alone dominate all and rule over everything. Blissful Goddess, renowned queen of all, may you come with goodwill to our solemn ceremony.

    GreekInvocationPraise
Invoked alongside
Zeus4Aphrodite1Apollo1Ares1Artemis1Asclepius1Athena1Demeter1Dionysus1Eileithyia1Gaia1Hades1Hebe1Helios1Hephaestus1Hermes1Persephone1Poseidon1Rhea1the Moirai1
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