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Circe

Okay, so maybe we are now getting into "Compleat Witches in Mythology"!  Circe was a beautiful witch who could seduce men and turn them into animals, so I feel she has a place on our list.......

This witch Goddess from the Hellenic days, daughter of Helios and Perse, was feared for her ability to turn men into sacrificial pigs. Her magic included commanding sorceries of creation and destruction by use of braiding and arranging her hair. She was one of many moon Goddesses, also attributed to the cauldron, dark magic, sensuality and general enchantment. Other myths have said her to be the daughter of Hecate herself.
Circe's shrine was a funerary one, the isle of Aeaea, which literally meant, “wailing.” She was believed to be a spinner of fates, a weaver of destinies of mankind. She was also considered a star goddess. Pliny called her a Goddess who “commanded all the lights of heaven.” She was said to be proficient in the use of herbs and drugs.
In her myth, it is said that she intercepted Ulysses and his men, changing the men into swine, but falling in love with their captain. She had also found Glaucus attractive, when he came to her for an herbal potion. He had fallen for the nymph Scylla, and when she continually refused him in his seaman form, he had thought the Goddess, with her many enchantments, could aid him. Circe advised him to pursue a willing object of affection, and when he said that he would love the nymph, and no other, she became indignant. Unable to vent her fury on Glaucus, who she cared for, she instead aimed it at his love, turning her body into a monstrous form.


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