Circean (from Circe)

Four mentions.

Sri Aurobindo uses the qualifier ‘Circean,’ derived from the name of the goddess Circe, four times, linking it to an inaccessible wonderland, to a witches’ dance, to a wine that has the effect of a harmful magic potion, and to isolated places of transmutation:

In her unhedged Circean wonderland
— Book 1 Canto 5

And the summons to a Circean transmuting dance
— Book 7 Canto 3

As drunkards of a dire Circean wine
— Book 10 Canto 3

The charm of innocent Circean isles
— Book 11

In Greek mythology, Circe is a sorceress, the daughter of Helios, the sun god. By means of potions and incantations, she could transform human beings into animals such as wolves, lions, and pigs. Such a transmutation happened to some of the companions of Odysseus (Ulysses).

Men turned into animals by Circe. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Wikimedia CC 2.0 photo by Lucas

The adjective ‘Circean’ therefore refers to the astonishing transformations which are usually carried out by witches or enchantresses endowed with supernatural powers. They use magic potions of their own composition to achieve this. Witches’ dances are often mentioned in folklore.

Circe is the daughter of the god Helios, the symbol of Light or Supramental Consciousness. Helios has two children, Aietes and Circe (the later tradition added Pasiphae).

Aietes symbolises ’the power of vision of the whole’, i.e. the vision of the consequences of any action on the whole. Circe, on the other hand, is ’the power of vision of details’, however minute and however profound. This ability is also called ‘penetrating vision’ when it begins to manifest.

Supramental consciousness presupposes the possession and simultaneous action of these two powers.

This is why Circe is able to make the seeker of Truth see that which is hidden in the depths of his being, that which is not yet purified, symbolized by wild animals and especially pigs.

Acquiring this power of vision in detail requires special achievements represented by the ability to make the appropriate magic potion.

The Mother mentions these two powers of light or supramental consciousness several times:

The result of creation is a detailed multiplication of consciousness. When the vision of the whole and the vision of all the details join together within an active consciousness, the creation will have attained its progressive perfection.

— Mother's Agenda Satprem, Volume 13, 12 January 1972

I have a sort of impression of knowing the why of the creation.
It was to realize the phenomenon of a consciousness which would have at once an individual consciousness — the individual consciousness we have naturally — and a consciousness of the whole, a consciousness (how to put it?)... it could be called global. But both consciousnesses merge into something... which we have yet to find.
A consciousness at once individual and total. And all the work is to merge the two consciousnesses in a consciousness which is both at once. That is the next realization.

— Mother's Agenda Satprem, 30 October 1971

This creation's goal is that Consciousness of the Infinite, the Eternal, which is omnipotent—Infinite, Eternal, Omnipotent (which our religions have called God: for us, with respect to life, it's the Divine) — Infinite and Eternal, All-Powerful... outside of time: each individual particle possessing that Consciousness; each individual particle containing that same Consciousness.

— Mother's Agenda Satprem, 25 December 1971