Krónos

Years ago, I once dreamt that I went into the Underworld. I was to be paired with - married to - a god. To my surprise and at the moment, horror, it was to be with the Titan Cronus. Maybe I'm too quick to judge, honestly.

In the Attic calendar he is celebrated during the month of Hekatombaion, in the ancient festival called Kronia (this year it falls on July 21st) though I feel I should honor him is confusing - I've debated adding his name to honourings during the noumenia as a Khthonic deity. Some accounts place him in Tartarus with other Titans while others name him as King of Elysium.

The Romans had a different view of him, he was essentially Saturn and the merry December festivals were named after him, along with the day of the week - Saturday.

Orphic Hymn to Saturn
Fumigation from Storax

Etherial father, mighty Titan, hear, great fire of Gods and men, whom all revere:
Endu’d with various council, pure and strong, to whom perfection and decrease belong.
Consum’d by thee all forms that hourly die, by thee restor’d, their former place supply;
The world immense in everlasting chains, strong and ineffable thy pow’r contains
Father of vast eternity, divine, O mighty Saturn [Kronos], various speech is thine:
Blossom of earth and of the starry skies, husband of Rhea, and Prometheus wife.
Obstetric Nature, venerable root, from which the various forms of being shoot;
No parts peculiar can thy pow’r enclose, diffus’d thro’ all, from which the world arose,
O, best of beings, of a subtle mind, propitious hear to holy pray’rs inclin’d;
The sacred rites benevolent attend, and grant a blameless life, a blessed end.

Failure in mnemonics

I am one for having really bad memory. Now for some people this is a non-issue, but I'm an avid fan of books and history, and other tidbits of information deemed 'useless' - but it has come to a point where reading becomes a chore unless I actively use it immediately in some sort of activity. But isn't something new. For the minor stuff I suffer from the "tip of my tongue" moments, while there are people in my Facebook that I went to highschool with that I have no recollection of who they are. Worst of all, there are years of my childhood that I do not recall, including those I spent with my deceased father.

During prayers to Hermes I always highlight his aspect of helping one's memory--

Of various speech, whose aid in works we find, and in necessities to mortals kind:
Dire weapon of the tongue, which men revere, be present, Hermes, and thy suppliant hear; Assist my works, conclude my life with peace, give graceful speech, and me memory's increase.

However, I guess one should directly seek assistance to the source, the Titan Mnemosyne.

Image by Lord Frederick Leighton

Orphic Hymn

The consort I invoke of Jove [Zeus] divine, source of the holy, sweetly-speaking Nine;
Free from th' oblivion of the fallen mind, by whom the soul with intellect is join'd:
Reason's increase, and thought to thee belong, all-powerful, pleasant, vigilant, and strong:
'Tis thine, to waken from lethargic rest all thoughts deposited within the breast;
And nought neglecting, vigorous to excite the mental eye from dark oblivion's night.
Come, blessed power, thy mystic's mem'ry wake to holy rites, and Lethe's fetters break.

Daughter of Ouranus, she was said to lay with Zeus for nine nights in order to create the Nine Muses. The Orphic tablet instructs us to forgo drinking from Lethe and instead drink from the lake of Mnemosyne.

Thou shalt find to the left of the House of Hades a Well-spring,
And by the side thereof standing a white cypress.
To this Well-spring approach not near.
But thou shalt find another by the Lake of Memory,
Cold water flowing forth, and there are Guardians before it.
Say: "I am a child of Earth and of Starry Heaven;
But my race is of Heaven (alone). This ye know yourselves.
And lo, I am parched with thirst and I perish. Give me quickly
The cold water flowing forth from the Lake of Memory."
And of themselves they will give thee to drink from the holy Well-spring, And thereafter among the other Heroes thou shalt have lordship. . . .
Prof. Gilbert Murray / Critical Appendix on the Orphic Tablets

Of course there are ways to strengthen memory, which I've tried (along with my attempts to kill insomnia - Hypnus, where are you?) along with suggestions of hypnotherapy. I'll try the former first.