What is a Siren?

And what does Morgan le Fey have to do with it?

As my contribution for this year’s International Women’s Day I brought forth a theme for us all to explore through our writing, art and unique voice. In this post I am explaining the background of the theme which is SIREN SONGS and how it can inspire you for not only your personal inner work but also to remind you about the power that you can harness within and wield into this world.

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Decorative Siren, Apulian red-figure loutrophoros C4th B.C., The J. Paul Getty Museum

Sirens are mythic creatures, winged women with dangerously powerful voices, voices that sing of all they’ve seen, containing all they know.

They are messengers from heaven, bridging air, water and earth. Initiating deep transformation and luring into treacherous depth. Treacherous not because of literal death that awaits in listening to the Sirens but the breaking through illusions and old identities it requires to receive their songs.

The Siren’s knowledge comes with a cost. The cost of leaving behind what was deemed familiar, safe, comfortable, known.

As happened to many powerful and divine women and female characters over the past millennia, also the Sirens story got changed, distorted even.

Their origin as bird women and almost harpy-like appearance are hardly known anymore. Instead they are mainly classified as tempting mermaids, half fish, half woman, seducing sailors with their songs, luring them into the waters for their own pleasure or ways of killing men.

“[Sirens] were not seducing anybody voluptuously on the rocks. They were singing women and they had bird wings and they were intense looking. They were not hot. They were in their own way but they were dangerous because of the potency and immensity of what they sang and what they knew.”

Sylvia V. Linsteadt

in her course When Women Were the Land.

Odysseus and the Sirens (1891) John William Waterhouse

Interesting is that the Sirens were variously said to be the daughters of the sea god Phorcys or of the river god Achelous by one of the Muses. Now, Muses have access to knowledge and inspiration themselves but convey it to male artists and don’t sing or create themselves.

Whereas the Sirens don’t hold back their voices for convenience or benefit of others.

“‘We know all’ they sing. Just as happened with the Muses, the Homeric language again makes seeing and knowing coincide. […] What distinguishes them from the Muses, besides their monstrous body, is thus above all a voice that is audible to human ears. Simple sailors can hear from the Sirens what the Muse instead reserves only for the poet.”

Adriana Cavarero, in her book For More Than One Voice as quoted by

Sylvia V. Linsteadt

in her course (see above).

Poets in Celtic mythology are tightly linked with prophecy, wisdom and divine inspiration. Here as well, we have the linking between knowledge and seeing. Not only visually seeing but spiritually, otherworldly, divinatory seeing. Those prophetic poets are men but who did they receive their wisdom from?

From powerful, magical and life giving women, goddesses.

In the tale of sorceress Cerridwen, her servant boy Gwion Bach is reborn as the most famous Welsh bard Taliesin after imbibing the three drops of Awen, which Cerridwen brewed, originally intended for her son.

In the Irish tradition, the poet-seer Finegas fishes seven years for the Salmon of Wisdom only to be defied its knowledge because his apprentice Demne eats of it whilst preparing the fish, originally meant for Finegas. Demne becomes Fionn, as he too needs to shed his old identity to find himself anew. The Salmon itself came from the sacred stream of the river Boinn.

“Bóinn was once a woman who liberated a well, a well whose wisdom was kept secret, hidden away by her husband Nechtan and his cupbearers, wise waters these men did not wish to share. The well was surrounded by nine hazel trees whose hazelnut fruit would fall into its waters to be consumed by salmon—hazel and salmon were symbols of divine inspiration to our ancestors. Bóinn liberated the well, becoming its waters allowing this hidden knowledge to flow as a river towards those who valued the mystical wisdom of nature.”

Jennifer Murphy

in her recent Substack post Liquid Wisdom.

You can see how the divine inspiration even though given to a man is coming from women of immense meaning.

The Sirens in the Odyssey are coming from the heavens as bird women who are also closely related to water (like Cerridwen who lives under a lake or Bóinn who is the embodiment of a river) as they are known to fly across the ocean and sing to sailors on the sea. But they originate from the land as handmaidens of Persephone, yes, that flower goddess of spring who is taken into the underworld to rule as Queen half a year, an initiation rite in itself. And so the Sirens become messengers between the worlds, inhabiting not only the water, but also the air and the earth and even the realms inbetween. Divine, otherworldly, seeing and knowing all.

Sirens tempting Odysseus, detail of a storage jar by the Siren Painter, 480–470 bce; in the collection of the British Museum, London.

“Now stop your ship and listen to our voices. All those who pass this way hear honeyed song/poured from our mouths. The music brings them joy/and they go on their way with greater knowledge.”

Emily Wilson’s translation of Homer

The Sirens present their all-knowing through their song. Odysseus instead of resisting the song by putting wax in his ears lets himself bind to a mast so he can withstand the temptation to jump into the dangerous waters and instead can hear what they sing.

He has to go through an intense rite of passage, such as Gwion Bach and Demne needed to experience.

The transformation of Gwion Bach is by far the most popular and even thought to describe a druidic initiation: He is moving through all elements by shapeshifting into a hare, then a bird, a fish, and finally a grain that is swallowed by Cerridwen who herself transformed herself into a hen to eat him. His old self has to die, in order for his new form to be reborn in the womb of the goddess.

In order to receive this divine inspiration you have to let go off your old identity, have to move through intensity and breaking of what you have previously thought to be true.

In Ovid’s Metamorphoses we are told that the Sirens were human companions of Persephone. After she went into the underworld, her mother, earth goddess Demeter had them look for Persephone. They sought her everywhere and finally prayed for wings to fly across the sea. In some versions Demeter turned them into birds to punish them for not guarding Persephone. In art the Sirens appeared first as birds with the heads of women and later as women, sometimes winged, with bird legs.

The Sirens seem to have evolved from an ancient tale of the perils of early exploration combined with an Asian image of a bird-woman. Anthropologists explain the Asian image as a soul-bird—i.e., a winged ghost that stole the living to share its fate. In that respect the Sirens had affinities with the Harpies.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Siren-Greek-mythology

Harpy by Emile Corsi

The Harpies carry the souls of the dead and the Sirens, also having been depicted on tombs plus their connections with Persephone, queen of the underworld makes them messengers between life and death if not ghostly figures themselves.

“In ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures—as far back as 7,000 years ago—birds were often depicted carrying spirits to the underworld. […] These are the Sirens the Ancient Greeks would have recognized: bird creatures of the underworld, bridging the human world and what lies beyond. The Sirens—and their fateful songs—then offered a glimpse behind the veil, a chance to hear how earthly glories would echo in eternity. “The question of what song the Sirens sing, what is this forbidden knowledge, what's wrong with it, what's the temptation—the text leaves a lot of open space there,” Wilson said. Therein lies the seduction.”

Asher Elbein writes in this article and interview with Emily Wilson, Audubon, 2018

Figurines of bird-faced women, female bird paintings and masks were fund until Minoan Crete, the last stronghold of matrifocal and matrilineal culture before patriarchal cultures and violent tribes arrived. The depictions of bird women suddenly stopped at this time of transition but they continued in the merging of stories and pictures in fragments.

Talking of merging stories, I want to bring it back to our contemporary stories of both Europe and the United Kingdom. Our ancient European indigenous ancestors as well as the Celtic tribes that meandered their way to the British Isles have mother goddesses, honoured the waters and even all the way into heavily Christian influenced medieval culture magical women were - albeit not goddesses anymore - connected to great knowledge and power.

In the Arthurian Romances it is Morgan Le Fey who first appears, together with her sisters, as shape shifter who is flying on “strange wings”, a healer and woman highly trained in all arts and sciences.

Morgan le Fey is Queen of Avalon, daughter of King Afallach, like the Welsh deity Modron. Morgan is often seen as the High Priestess (more about this archetype next week as my contribution for International Women’s Day), the most skilled of 9 sisters or even the ultimate Mother Goddess framed by the others or or as a title they all share as the Nine Morgans.

According to Celtic scholars her predecessor is the old Gallo-Roman Goddess Matrona. She gave her name to the river Marne and in general is connected to water. RS Loomis argues in Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance that Morgan was originally "entirely distinct from the nine island priestesses, of whom she later became the chief". Meaning she either predates the ritualistic aspect of nine women or existed independently from the importance of the 9.

Medieval literature however can’t seem to let her stay a healer, death doula and impressive woman, so her character soon gets changed from benevolent sovereign of her fortunate island of apples (aka Avalon) into a dangerous seductress, an evil enchantress and woman who wants Arthur’s death - although she still takes him to her otherworldly healing island after he is deadly wounded through her doing.

The stories become obviously distorted to the disadvantage of the powerful women. It’s something I am most passionate about and keep highlighting when talking and writing about myths and social conditioning.

Apart from her ability to shape shift into a winged creature, most commonly nowadays thought to be a raven or crow, and her degrading from goddess to malevolent seductress there is another similarity Morgan shares with the Sirens:

Her connection to death.

Morgan is both a literal psychopomp who ferries the souls of the dead over to their next destination and very practically midwifes the crossing of the mortally wounded king, providing presence, herbal healing and care alongside what seems spiritual support. Avalon itself as a paradisiacal island is often seen as transition place for souls to journey to and is connected to physical places on this earth that are known as burial mounds, Faery hills and islands on which the dead were buried.

The role of Morgan and her sisters as healers is important and crucial, as healing is a core theme connected to Avalon and makes it not only the otherworldly island of death and transition but also of healing and rebirth. Be it physical, emotional or mental healing, we can find personal and collective healing and inner transformation when we seek out the root of our dis-ease, in other words:

When we look deeper within ourselves and long for more knowledge, as uncomfortable as the revelations may be.

And allow change to initiate us.

Photograph by Georgia Garnett who is joining our Siren Songs this IWD and kindly contributed her images for the theme.

Water is the bridge between the worlds, between life and death, old and new, mundane and sacred, worldly and otherworldly.

It is the veil of mist that Morgan pierces through like truth pierces through illusions. Her initiations are perilous quests for only the most courageous knights and she alongside other women of the Arthurian legends know more than the men. More about them in the Wild Woman Post of my monthly Archetypes of Avalon Series.

The connection to water is not only established through Avalon being an island (one has to cross some sort of water in order to reach its shores), sacred water is also traceable in the names of Morgans sisters. Their names further allow for speculations about their connection to Greek mythology, in particularly the the lyre playing Thiten who is reminiscent of one of the muses, their group of nine being a further indicator of such relations. Her name suggests to have originated from water nymph Thetis or Tethys who in Ovid´s Fasti was the wife of Ocean and herself a mother of sea nymphs and river gods.

The Sirens by Edward Burne-Jones

More about the archetype of the High priestess on IWD when I publish my third post of the series Archetypes of Avalon on March 8th which will be available for free Subscribers until March 14th, as a gift for IWD and a way to help you embody this part within you that our world so desperately needs! Should you wish to join the movement, go and write your own piece for IWD find inspiration and topic ideas further down and share your story of transformation, initiation and rebirth with us!

How has your story been distorted and what truth do you want to reveal that lingered underneath?

The seducing woman on the rocks aka Georgia Garnett

Sea nymphs and mermaids replace sirens and are being made into sexualised objects that bring death and are to be avoided by men, when actually their sweet song (but otherworldly and wild appearance) bring more knowledge not death - more on water women in the Healer and Oracle Archetype coming September within my monthly series of the Archetypes of Avalon!

How then can we raise our voices like the Sirens, silent no more, speaking from our heart, our truth in service to greater knowledge and recognition?

Join us for this year’s IWD and share YOUR song on March 8th. All information on how to join in this invitation, feel free to share it with your favourite female writers, artists, creators and let

Substack

become our ocean of depth and transformation.

Here are some ideas for YOUR contribution

No matter in which format from personal essay, fictional story, podcast, song, workshop, educational content, art, poetry, live gathering… let it be a concert of our words, wisdom and wonders!

Write from the heart, speak, sing, curate your art or have conversations with other women about a topic that is dear to you and more people should know about!
Reflect, ponder, elaborate about…

• Did you ever let go of an old identity only to be faced with confusion before new parts of you emerged, evolved or even endangered your view of the world?

• Which distortion have you freed yourself from and changed the narrative of your life?

• What needs to die in order to be reborn?

• If the Sirens would lure you onto their shores, what would they tell you?

• What elements do you connect with most? Do you feel the air in your wings or the salt water on your lips? The earth between your toes?

• What is your piece of tempting wisdom, your seduction of heart, body and mind?

• What is your chord of coherence, your dissonance of disruption, your pitch of purpose?

• What is your vision of wisdom for change?

• What is it that you want written on the billboards or screamed into the void? What message would you sing across the ocean?

You can lead with or respond to an inspiring quote from your favourite female voice. Or tell us about the most transformative female relationship in your life so far. If you could sit in circle with 5 other women here today or gone now who would they be and why?
In a world where we are constantly pressured to ‘have it all’… how do you stay centred and connected to your SELF and what truly nourishes you?

So: what story do YOU want to tell?