Huzzah!
Good morning, and welcome back fair travelers.
I hope that you all are well and ready to dive in!
If you have not yet sourced your tome, no worries, you can always catch up to us.
Let us begin learning this classic through a new set of eyes~
For grit and glory,
Sir Kadean
P.S. If you are new here, you can find all the past editions of the herald here, still held by our previous overlord.
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Description
(sourced from GoodReads)
“In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child--neither powerful like her father nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power: the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.
But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or with the mortals she has come to love.”
Sourcing note:
Adventurers, before venturing to the vast empires of online booksellers, consider stopping by your local library or a small bookshop first!
Supporting these havens of knowledge keeps the magic alive in our communities—and libraries have much more to offer than just letting you borrow tomes for free. If your book is elusive in the wild, then by all means, turn to the larger markets, but let’s give the smaller and more communal options our first allegiance!
Resources for ye:
pages ~1-95
Now we enter the tome
Our Voices Pt 1
Early in the book, Circe is mocked for her voice: too mortal, too plain. Yet her voice becomes the very thing that shapes this tale. Reflect on how voice is used here, both literally and narratively. What does it mean for a woman to claim her own story and sound in a world like hers?Divinity and Dismissal
In the halls of Helios, power is ever-present, but so is pettiness. How does Circe’s divine setting heighten the emotional stakes of her childhood? How does it shape your understanding of power, cruelty, or even boredom among the gods?All that Power
Circe’s first spell is an act of pain, loneliness, and jealousy. What does this say about how power first arrives in her life? Reflect on the way magic is introduced in this section—what emotions are tangled up in its discovery?
Differing Tongues
The gods in Circe often speak in elevated, archaic language, while mortals are plainer. Analyze a moment of dialogue from Segment One. How does Miller use diction to signal status, distance, or emotional intensity? What do you notice about how power is encoded in speech?
Court of Immortals
The halls of Helios shimmer with pride, beauty, and poison.
Action: esign your own divine court. What are its aesthetics, its hierarchy, its vices? Is there a place for you in it? Is your voice heard, or silenced? Write, draw, or map it.
Our Voices Pt 2
As mentioned, Circe’s voice is a topic of ridicule, but also power.
Action: Record yourself reading a single paragraph aloud from this section—your favorite one, or one that made you feel seen. Be as dramatic or flat as you wish. Listen back. Reflect on how your voice shapes meaning. If you prefer, choose a passage and write how it would sound in your own speech or dialect.
Rewrite the Record
Circe’s story in myth is a footnote. Here, she takes the pen.
Action: Choose a moment from your past where your actions or intentions were misunderstood. Write a short account of it, in your own words, with your voice at the center—not as an apology or a defense, but as a reclamation.
Mute the Court
The halls of Helios are filled with voices that talk over Circe.
Action: For one hour, turn off anything that talks at you—TV, podcasts, music, notifications, etc. Notice what fills the silence. Write down what voices (your own included) come forward when you mute the outside world.
Name that Ingredient!
Before Circe casts, she observes. She learns the names of plants and what they can do.
Action: Choose a spice, herb, or ingredient in your kitchen you’ve never used intentionally. Research its history or properties. Use it today—cook with it, make tea, or create something small (a spell mayhaps?). What effect did it have?
Rewards for this week’s quests: 🏺
(a note- you may want to keep track of these, they could be of use to you later in the guild)