MAIDEN
The Quatrian Symbols Explained
THE MAIDEN is the third of the four Hypogeic Powers.
The Maiden is “The Seeker Who Is Sought.” In P. Graec. Vindob. 29446 recto and 29828 recto, she is described thusly:
Not the girl, nor the mother, nor grandmother;
Containing the Word [she Speaks.]
The Maiden so called is neither;
The message of Anthuor and the Way to Anthuor.
Although “Maiden” conjures to mind a variety of different mythic/folkloric images, from Herodias to the Disney princesses, the concept in Quatria has very little similarity to how we’ve come to understand the concept of “virginal innocence” so often described in post-Diaspora literature.
In Quatrian tradition, to be a “Maiden” meant that your “Life Force” hadn’t yet been expended by dependence upon a partner of some kind. This increased what Quatrians called your “vimna.” In essence, strength, as a quality, was held primarily by unmarried women, and this is what we must keep in mind when we think of “The Maiden.”
Although some have been tempted to compare her to both Hermes and Artemis (1), she actually displays characteristics of both. Like Hermes, Messenger of the Gods, the Quatrian Maiden acts as a conduit between the Hypogeum and “reality.” And, like Artemis, the Maiden is both the act of questioning (hunting), and the results thereof (the hunted).
The Maiden is Living Information, but she is the messenger and the message.
The Quatrians didn’t see her in the “virgin/mother/crone” way we portray our “divine feminine” (that was the Triangulons). They saw her in a Fourth Way: whatever way she chose. She could manifest as an unmarried girl, but could also appear as a bearded fisherman, or one of Mavani’s large guinea hens. The point was, the Maiden got to decide.
The initiates of the Anthuor cult told a tale of initiation which later elders transformed into the tale of Actaeon. In traditional telling, Actaeon espies the virginal Goddess of the Hunt, Artemis. In a fit of rage, she transforms the interloper into a stag, which is then torn to pieces by his own dogs.
In the Quatrian telling, Iktion, the Seeker, gives up all of his material possessions in search of The Maiden, so she can reveal the greatest of the mysteries to him. Accompanied by his canine companions, he finally finds her deep in the forest, bathing in a moonlit pool. Acknowledging his efforts, The Maiden transforms Iktion into a Person of Anthuor, an initiate in service to the Hypogeum. His loyal hounds represent the compassion the initiate is now expected to provide to “the kind and the plants (2).”
Why is her symbol Wood Sorrel? Ask her, and she might answer, but her reply will be different each time.
The Symbol in Magical Practice
When traced with a Spell Stick, the MAIDEN sigil was primarily used to find that which is lost. Although this may seem a mundane use for a symbol with such a potent mythic value, consider the Quatrian relationship with all levels of being. One could call upon the Maiden to find a lost gew-gaw, but also a long-lost relative, a sense of wonder, or even a reason for living.
When divining, THE MAIDEN represents not only something lost that as been found, but also anything that was collected or learned on the way. Traditionally, this was expressed in a children’s poem:
Where’s the green stone?
Under the brown twigs,
Under the blue leaves,
Under the yellow flowers.
Twigs, leaves, flower.
The stone’s lost its power.
Notes:
- See Ballinger, “Notes From Quatria.” Notre Dame 1983.
- Jensen interprets this to mean that in the Hypogeic Mysteries, candidates for initiation into the Anthuor Cult were instructed in “social horticulture.” (“‘The Kind and the Plants: A modernist reading of the Quatrian Iktion.” Etykos: A Journal of Folklore. Vol.I:7 Chetwood Press 1996.)
