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/ˈɔrfɪk/ Listen

Orphic

adjective

Ascribed to Orpheus or characteristic of ideas in works ascribed to Orpheus.

Having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding. Synonyms: mysterious, mystic, mystical, occult, secret. "The mystical style of Blake" , "Occult lore" , "The secret learning of the ancients"

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"Orphic" Quotes from Famous Books

... were civilised: by witchery of the Orphic fiddle-bow, and Euterpean rhythm; by the Graces, by the Smiles! Thermidorian Deputies are there in those soirees; Editor Freron, Orateur du Peuple; Barras, who has known other dances than the Carmagnole. Grim Generals of the Republic are there; in enormous ...

— The French Revolution • Thomas Carlyle

... which they call calasiris; above these they have garments of white wool thrown over: woollen garments however are not taken into the temples, nor are they buried with them, for this is not permitted by religion. In these points they are in agreement with the observances called Orphic and Bacchic (which are really Egyptian), 71 and also with those of the Pythagoreans, for one who takes part in these mysteries is also forbidden by religious rule to be buried in woollen garments; and about this there is a sacred ...

— The History Of Herodotus - Volume 1(of 2) • Herodotus

... talking more and more quickly, and gesticulating with a little piece of bread and butter in his right hand. "It is ze entire liberation from the laws of logical perspective that makes movement—the Orphic cubism—if you will allow me to ...

— Bird of Paradise • Ada Leverson

... part of their appointed destiny—at moments flashes on the human child the intuition of the unutterable secret. In the spangled glory of the summer night—in the roar of the Nile-flood, sweeping down fertility in every wave—in the awful depths of the temple-shrine—in the wild melodies of old Orphic singers, or before the images of those gods of whose perfect beauty the divine theosophists of Greece caught a fleeting shadow, and with the sudden might of artistic ecstasy smote it, as by an enchanter's wand, into an eternal sleep of snowy ...

— Hypatia - or, New Foes with an Old Face • Charles Kingsley

... Mutes.' The institution is in the most flourishing condition, and its usefulness greatly increased. We are sorry to perceive, by the following 'specimen of composition' of a pupil in the eighth class, that the 'Orphic Sayings' of Mr. A. BRONSON ALCOTT are taken as literary models by the deaf and dumb students. The ensuing is certainly much better, internally, than anything from the transcendental 'seer;' but the manner too nearly resembles ...

— The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, June 1844 - Volume 23, Number 6 • Various

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