Paean

Three occurences.

In Homer, Paeon or Paean, was the physician of the gods. Twice in the Iliad he intervenes to heal the wounds inflicted on the gods Ares and Hades by mortals, respectively Diomedes and Heracles.

He thus represents the ability to heal or reharmonise the forces of the overmind in the adventurer of consciousness since the gods belong to the highest levels of the overmind. The art of healing, that is, of restoring harmony, is to erase the cause.

Sound seems to have this reharmonising capacity.

According to the Mother, some sounds can even kill or give life. On this subject, see the Mother’s Agenda where she relates her experience with Theon. Having found the sounds that could kill or give life in a trance, she refused to communicate them to Theon, who became furious and severed the subtle “cord” that linked her to her physical body.

There is, therefore, a kind of equivalence between the art of healing and sound.

This is why the Paean song appears as early as in Homer. In the Iliad, (X.391) Achilles asks his Myrmidons to sing the Paean after the death of Hector. It is both a song of victory and a song intended to restore Harmony: what had previously been divided, separating spirit from matter, was to be reunited, reharmonised.

This is also, the Mother tells us, one of the aspects that the “new Consciousness” insists on: no more exclusion. Consciousness should be all-inclusive. Not this or this, but this and this. (See Mother’s Agenda, 1969, Volume 10)

These songs were understandably dedicated to Apollo, the god of the Mind of Light and of healing through re-harmonisation which eradicates the cause of division. Apollo is also known as the ‘destroyer’ because he can destroy to fulfil his task.

Later, Paean becomes a byname of Asclepius (Latin name Aesculapius), another healer-god, a son of Apollo.

The name ‘Paean’ (παιάν) formed by the stucturing consonants Π+Ι, conveys a consciousness of balance and harmony.