"To Tethys-Thalassa, Thesis of the Sea"
I sing of the great Mother of the Seas, of Creation, of all things infinite and profound!
Untamable are you - the tides flow at your command, and no man can begin to measure or rival your strength.
Awesome and terrible you are, O goddess, for you are the ocean itself; all might and magnificence is yours,
You are the primordial Creation, the venerable, ever-flowing deep, sprung not from a mother's womb but from the very first moment of existence,
And ever since, you have relentlessly, tirelessly circled the sphere of life.
Ancient are you, yet never growing old, for you are eternal, and are eternity itself.
Your name is a great melody first sung at the beginning of time and never ceasing,
Your form is vast, beautiful, awe-inspiring, striking fear into weak-hearted men,
And adulation into the courageous, who sail upon your seas, who delve beneath your shadowy depths, who stand within your crashing waves with a spirit of pure reverence.
Terrifying are you, yet kind, for you are the waters in which all life finds its origin; all health-giving springs and rivers come from and return to you.
You hold all creatures of the deep as your beloved children, teaching and sheltering them, from the bright surface to the lightless abyss.
Even to men do you push and pull, rocking them in your embrace, testing their bravery, guiding them with your holy, mysterious ways.
All the oceans' colors, moods and depths are yours, for you are all-encompassing, O holy, mighty queen.
Hail to you, who is called Thesis, the font of creation, Tethys, the mother of life, Thalassa, the great omnipotent ocean!
I sing of you in awe and worship.
*Note - within my practice, I choose to syncretize parts of Homeric, Hesiodic and Orphic cosmologies, based on both tradition and personal gnosis, which includes uniting the syncretizations of Tethys-Thalassa and Tethys-Thesis as one primordial goddess of the ocean and creation. Such is the subject of this hymn.*
