Also called Mousai, Calliope, Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polyhymnia, Urania.
Their story
The Muses are the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. They met Hesiod as he herded sheep below Mount Helicon, gave him a laurel staff and breathed a divine voice into him. They sing for the gods on Olympus, led by Apollo. Hesiod names them as Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polyhymnia, Urania and Calliope, the chief of them all.
Best times to give to them
- Before writing, singing or any creative work
- The Mouseia, their festival at Thespiae on Mount Helicon
- At the end of a finished work, in thanks
What they like being given
- A poem, song or piece of art
- Fresh spring water
- Honey
- Laurel or flowers
How to honour them
- Begin creative work by calling on the Muses, as Homer and Hesiod did.
- Read or perform something aloud in their honour.
- Give a first copy of your finished work to them on your altar.
How they can help you
- Creative block
- Study and performance
- Remembering
Symbols
- lyre
- scroll
- masks
- laurel
- spring of Hippocrene
The assignment of each Muse to a single art is mostly Roman and later.
Sources
- Hesiod, Theogony 1-115
- Homeric Hymn 25, to the Muses and Apollo
- Homer, Odyssey 1.1
- Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.29-31
More Greek spirits
- The Anemoi The four winds
- The Moirai Spinners of the thread of life
- The Charites The Graces of joy and charm
- The Horae Keepers of the seasons and order
- The Erinyes Avengers of blood and broken oaths
- The Harpies The snatchers
- The Gorgons The three sisters of the terrible gaze
- The Centaurs The wild horse-men of the hills