Eyes of Aphrodite

Only 7 Eyes of Aphrodite were made, with 6 being offered for sale, and 1 being kept of my personal Aphrodite-Venus shrine. 

Aphrodite-Nepherieri, the Radiant Lady of the Heavens, is a face of the Goddess encountered within the Graeco-Egyptian magical papyri, where her secret name appears in spells of love and attraction. Associated with Hathor-Aphrodite, She is a power of beauty made numinous, desire given form, and the irresistible radiance that draws one soul toward another. Nepherieri is the sweetness of affection, the charm of a pretty face, and a deeper and more intense current by which fascination takes root, longing awakens, and the heart is turned toward the object of its desire. She is the pearl formed in friction atop the frothing foam of the sea, the glimmer atop the shining waters of life, and the hidden splendor that makes a beloved unforgettable. Through Her, the mysteries of Aphrodite-Venus become more intimate and virtuous: a beauty that enchants, a presence that lingers in the mind of all that she interacts with, and a desire that reaches beyond the visible to stir the secret places of the heart.

They Eyes of Aphrodite are points of contact, adoration, and worship to dispense the graces and virtues of Aphrodite-Venus, and as allies in works of love, attraction, enchantment, glamour, and the cultivation of irresistible personal magnetism. 

Beyond this, the Eyes of Aphrodite acs as a devotional icons to the Mother of Loves, capable of allowing praises, prayers, and offerings to be received by this beneficent Mother on High. In essence, these Eyes of Aphrodite are meant to fill the role and space of a fully charged, consecrated, and empowered “statue” on Aphrodite-Venus shrines, to allow all of your petitions, praises, and works to be performed at her feet and to receive the fullest array of her blessings. 

These fully formed devotional pieces are built in the body of Venus Comb shells, with its delicate fan of radiating ribs and scalloped edges, bearing a natural resemblance to the sacred shells long associated with the mysteries of Aphrodite-Venus, She who arose from the sea foam and was born upon the waters of the shores of Cyprus. Its graceful form evokes the opening petals of a sea-born flower, while its marine origins speak to the Goddess’s dominion over the generative waters, the pleasures of the flesh, and the hidden fecundity of the deep waters. 

Sitting at the heart of each Eye is a stone that was plucked from a river on Friday in the hour of Venus and subsequently consecrated with and alongside a stone gathered by my dear friend Sfinga of With Cunning and Command from the same beach - from beneath the very rock where it is said Aphrodite was born in Paphos, Cyprus. This stone is the closest we might get to a relic of Aphrodite, for this rock comes from the beach where the Lady of Foam was born, and as such is imbued with the numen of that location and infused with the grace and fire that is Aphrodite-Venus - a fire that is very much imparted to these other stones that it has sat alongside of and shared the wine of its communion with in ritual. 

Beyond imparting the graces of Aphrodite’s birthplace to these other consecrated stones, this sacred rock bears a more intimate virtue that it passes on. For three years, it has occupied a central place upon my own shrines to Aphrodite-Venus, serving as a vessel and focal point for innumerable prayers, workings, offerings, and adorations made in Her honor. Through this continual devotion, the stone has become steeped in the mysteries of the Goddess’s holy place, as well as in the accumulated force of the rites performed before it, becoming a repository of petitions, a witness to devotion, and a vessel bearing a tide of the living current of Aphrodite-Venus as it has been cultivated upon my own shrines.

Each of these stones is set within the Eyes of Aphrodite upon a bed of wax gathered from the hives of my own bees here on the farm. This is no ordinary beeswax, but a complete expression of the hive’s accumulated labors, bringing together the beeswax itself, brown wax, being the deep brown wax aged within the hive and steeped in the remnants of years of ceaseless industry, and the intensely fragrant propolis whose rich, resinous character is unlike anything one might find in a commercially purchased beeswax. Together, these substances recount the living history of the hive: the industriousness of the bees, the accumulation of their labors, and the precious resins with which they preserve and protect their home. Such wax is a treasure in its own right, a materia of considerable rarity and personal significance, whose worth to me is beyond measure. It is, in its own fashion, as precious as gold.

Before the stones were set in wax, the wax itself was liquified and allowed to macerate and infuse with a large host of Venusian materia including: Sparrow, Swallow, and Dove, Rabbit, Goat, and Sheep; powdered Bull Horn and Goat Horn, Civet, powdered White Coral, Mother of Pearl, Pearl, and powdered Honey and Eggshell; Apple Wood, Rose, Myrtle, Mandrake root and fruit, Rosehip, Vervain, Damiana, Hibiscus, Jasmine, Linden, Fig, Lady’s Mantle, and Queen Elizabeth Root, Vanilla Bean, Cardamom, and Cinnamon. Additionally, Sumatran Benzoin, Sandalwood, Storax, Aloeswood, Frankincense, and Copper among other materia left unnamed. Beyond this list of materia, the wax also contains the powdered hearts of seven doves offered to the goddess, alongside the powdered ash of the doves in their entirety. 

While the wax contains all of that materia and more, it also contains portions of Haus’ Exalted Venus Oil and  With Cunning and Commands Oil of Nepherieri which is a devotional oleum dedicated to the mysteries of Aphrodite, conceived as a liquid embodiment of the blessings encountered at Her holy sanctuary in Paphos, Cyprus. The Oil is rooted in historically attested offerings to the Goddess and informed by the Venusian correspondences of Agrippa.

Once the heart charge of the Eyes of Aphrodite had fully solidified, each was settled into its base: a copper vessel inscribed with the characters of Venus from the Picatrix. These vessels were then filled with an additional blend of waxes, prepared and formulated to sustain and strengthen the virtues of Aphrodite-Venus, giving Her presence a firm and enduring home in the culmination of this work.

Each Eye of Aphrodite is mounted with a single freshwater pearl and a piece of green jade that received the offering of seven doves to Venus. Within the wax of each vessel are further embedded freshwater pearls, garnet, and carnelian, each additionally consecrated with the Oil of Nepherieri. 

Each Eye of Aphrodite measures between 4-7 inches tall and will arrive in a keepsake box with detailed instructions and suggestions for use printed on a cloth scroll. Each Eye also arrives with a bottle of Oil of the Eye of Aphrodite.