Male spirits of profane nature; followers of the nature gods Silvanus, Faunus, Pan, Dionysus/Bacchus.
They represent untamed nature, licence and lust, and have human heads with horns and goat beard, human hands and arms, but goats’ bodies from the waist downwards.
They may wear the crowns of ivy of Dionysus and can carry his thyros; other attributes are bunches of grapes, baskets of fruit, pitchers of wine, the cornucopia and the snake; their female counterparts in the Bacchanalia were the Maenads.
“So Danae endured, the beautiful, To change the glad daylight for brass-bound walls, And in that chamber secret as the grave, She lived a prisoner. Yet to her came Zeus in the golden rain.”
[Source: Mythology, Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton]
“Endymion the shepherd, As his flock he guarded, She, the Moon, Selene, Saw him, loved him, sought him, Coming down from heaven To the glade on Latmus, Kissed him, lay beside him. Blessed is his fortune. Evermore he slumbers, Tossing not nor turning, Endymion the shepherd.”
From the third-century poet Theocritus.
[Source: Mythology, Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton]
Religion should be a source of comfort and security. If it isn’t, then there’s something wrong with it.
Prayers aren’t just for times of needs. The gods are always around and willing to listen.
If you ask a god for help, be prepared for surprises. The gods don’t operate on the same level as mortals. They have their own ideas for what’s appropriate and suitable for dealing with things. It makes sense to them, even though we might not understand.
It’s cool to incorporate modern interpretations and retellings, but in my opinion, those are more for fun than anything else. There’s nothing wrong with being a fan of the Percy Jackson universe, but don’t base your perceptions of the gods that have been around for millennia off of a 21st century young adult fantasy series. If you’re actually interested in being a Hellenic Pagan, at least read some Hesiod and Homer.
A Pagan religion can work hand in hand with a witchcraft practice, or it can be completely separate from one. You certainly don’t have to have both. For me, being a Hellenic Pagan fits in with being a witch beautifully. But this doesn’t apply to everybody.
You don’t have to know everything. You won’t know everything. You never will. There are people who devote lifetimes to studying this stuff. You don’t have to wait till you know “enough” to start being a Hellenic Pagan and worshipping the gods. Pick your favorite god(s), and start with them. Pick a myth or two and start reading them.
You don’t have to follow all the ancient calendars and celebrate all the ancient holidays.
You don’t have to be devoted to one god, or choose a patron deity. Being a devotee can take a bit more time and commitment, and if you’re not up for it, that’s ok!
Don’t pigeonhole the gods. There are many different sides to them. Artemis is a virgin goddess, a wild goddess, and a midwife goddess. Apollo is a music god, a shepherd god, and a medicine god.
The modern day Hellenic priests and priestesses and their ancient Greek counterparts aren’t exactly alike.
You can ask gods to adopt you, even the ones who have never sired children of their own. It is perfectly acceptable to view the gods as divine parental figures.
Your practice is your own. Your relationship with the gods is personal. Don’t let anybody tell you how to be a Hellenic Pagan, and don’t let anybody tell you how to worship a god.
Athena is another one I don’t work with anymore, but I’m a Scorpio, my loyalty runs deep, so she’s getting a post anyway.
I turned to Athena when I started Graduate School. I wanted to succeed and knew I had some negative study habits from undergrad that needed to change. I devoted time to her by studying for an hour every day for my classes, by attending classes, and such.
About halfway through my second semester I think? Or partway through the third semester, she just kinda dipped. IDK if she felt I had things down or what, but she reached out to me to let me know I no longer needed her and we parted ways.
I still associate lapis lazuli and rosemary with her, but I haven’t worked with her at all since.
There’s some amount of curiosity surrounding what it’s like to be an oathbound devotee to a deity. I thought I’d share my personal experience of being oathbound to Artemis.
For me, becoming oathbound to the goddess was a very personal and private moment. There was no ritual or ceremony involved. It simply happened. It was a very tranquil and serene time. After nearly a decade of relationship building, I knew I was ready, and there was not an ounce of doubt in my mind that this is what I want. Having severed ties with my biological mother, I turned to Artemis for a mother figure. I asked her to be my mother, and she accepted. It was then only natural that I would swear to her my perpetual daughterly devotion. As her mortal adopted daughter, I will honor her, love her, be devoted and dedicated to her for life.
Now, I very much love and respect the entire Greek pantheon, and the other gods are definitely a part of my life. I worship and follow other gods as well, and not long ago I also became a devotee of Hestia. But it is understood that Artemis is the one I’m closest to, whom I devote more of my time and activities to than anyone else. She gets the VIP treatment in my worship, in a sense. That doesn’t mean I adore my other deities less. My deities are all special to me in their own ways. However, my commitment to Artemis is one that I will never walk away from. She will always be the most important deity in my life, and I will remain her faithful mortal daughter and devotee forever. With this, I know that I will always have her guidance and protection. I have given her my love as her daughter, and she has given me her love as my mother.
I feel like I can never stress enough, how serious an oath to a god is. This post is a good one to read for some general knowledge, for a start. A while ago I also wrote a post on Hellenic Pagan Oath Taking. I remain firm in my advice that you should not swear an oath to a deity in the early stage of your relationship. And you should definitely not swear an oath for just any reason. Just because you’re ready to form a deeper bond and take your devotion to the next level, doesn’t mean it’s time to take an oath. I realize that the trend of godspouse could seem cool and tempting, but a marriage, in and of itself, is an oath. It’s why there are vows taken at a wedding. Vows count as oaths. You can be infatuated with a god. You can have a crush on a god. You can adore a god and fangirl squeal over a god. That doesn’t mean you should go ahead and oath bind yourself to that god out of romantic fantasies because you think it’ll make you more “special” to them or you believe it will make them committed to you back. This post talks about the dangers of the godspouse trend among young worshippers in particular very well. Being oathbound to a deity in any way, shape, or form is a big responsibility to take on, one that not every worshipper is up for, even after many years of worship. And if you have to ask whether you’re ready, then chances are, you’re not.
Zeus is gravity– unseeable, unknowable, defying human understanding. He holds the planets in place. He slingshots rockets back home. He cradles Earth in a steady orbit and tells them that they are safe.
Hera rests on the rings around Saturn. She drapes herself across their icy surface, riding their steady rotations, ever-watching, ever-awake.
Artemis holds the moon in her hands. Some call her goddess of the moon, but she knows that she is but a friend to Selene. She watches in awe as Selene glows, and she tries to bring that peace back to the forest with her.
Apollo lights up his sister’s hands as he rests upon the Sun. He surrounds himself with light, and he tries to find music in between the sunspots and the harsh solar winds. When he can’t find any music, he makes it for himself.
Hestia kindles the flames of the stars. She watches them grow up, and she mourns at their supernovas. She paints Earth’s skies with constellations, and she tries to keep the world aglow despite their dying light.
Poseidon takes pleasure in placing water in places where no one dares to look. He crafts great oceans in distant planets, at the center of unexplored moons. He knows that life is sacred, even if it is unknown.
Ares hurls meteors across distant skies. Asteroids are his cannonballs. Comets are his bullets.
Aphrodite watches in awe as Ares’ ammunition glides through the atmosphere. She sets them aglow and calls them shooting stars. She listens to the faraway wishes, but she can’t grant them all.
Athena plants ideas in the minds of faraway astronomers and cosmologists. She whispers of string theory, of the multiverse, of membranes, of dimensions. She smiles as ideas become theories and theories become facts.
Dionysus sends out constant reminders that the universe can never make sense. He muddles Athena’s great ideas and reminds us that the world doesn’t have meaning– it just is.
Demeter grows galaxies as if they are crops. She names them as if they are her children, “Sunflower”, “Andromeda”, “Tadpole”, and she nurtures them from seeds, waiting for the day that they will be ready for harvest.
Hephaestus sculpts quarks into atoms, atoms into elements, elements into entire nebulas. He knows that the other deities rely on him to make the universe work, but they seem to forget.
Hermes is the speed of light. He knows that he can’t be matched, can’t be broken, can’t ever be surpassed. He is infinite.
Hades sleeps at the center of blackholes. He pities those who quiver at the chaos, the terror, the horrible uncertainty of his gaping cracks in space; he knows that there is nothing to fear about darkness.
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again because I’m in A Mood. The whole “shipping” of Persephone and Hades that Tumblr created (out of insane leaps of logic I might add) set discourse on mythological interpretations so, so, SO far back.
Here is my 6th divinity from my series of Deity Holiday Traditions! Hekate! The three headed hound of the moon, the one before the gate, goddess of death, mysteries and witchcraft, from the greek pantheon.
I used father winter and the flower bunny as references to make custom holiday traditions that will create sims with their own custom job (in this case “Hekate” instead of “father winter” or “flower bunny) and that will spawn to your lot on your holiday!
~note that Hekate as opposed to my other god mods will spawn at night (9pm to be exact) (the others spawn at noon)
These sims have premade personalities, but will randomly spawn in appearance. What you need to do is for the first time they spawn in game (during a holiday), use MCCC (download HERE) by @deaderpoolmc cas to paste a tray sim, and yes, it can be ANY tray sim you want! So that means you can either use the one I made or make your own, but you can’t change their name/title, this is why I will make multiple of those mods with different deity names.
If you don’t know how to paste a tray sim I made a small tutorial for this: HERE.
Sims that are Spellcasters, Child of The Island, Vampires, or Traditional Witches (mod by Zero: patreon (free)) (NOT NEEDED) love this tradition.
There are 2 versions: a and b.
The versions “a” will say “loves this tradition. (From being Child of The Islands)”, the versions that say “b” will instead say “loves this tradition. (From being a Shaman)”. This is done to go with Zero’s Traditional Witchcraft mod where Child of The Islands is renamed Shaman.
@simandyfacemask from the PAO skinblend (I don’t recommend using it without the skinblend, it will just say missing CC if you open it in cas, but you’ll be fine).
I also use @simandy PAO skinblend as default in my game (not needed).
*note: since the eyes are fp and I have default replacements, there will be a missing CC notice in CAS because of the eyes under the makeup eyes.
IMPORTANT NOTE: For some reason for now when you paste tray sim with mccc it looks like only warm skintones will paste, so you will have to go into CAS (you can do this by opening mccc menu on the sim as shown below) and change it yourself.
I will also upload this sim to the gallery for download later tonight after I’m done posting (no tray file needed if you do that) (ID: lolnyny) with the hashtag #lolnynydeity, If you make your own sims I encourage you to share them with this hashtag!
~I also take requests if there is any deity you would like to see as a tradition!
Here is my 4th divinity from my series of Deity Holiday Traditions! Selene! The goddess of the moon, or quite literally the moon herself, from the greek pantheon.
I used father winter and the flower bunny as references to make custom holiday traditions that will create sims with their own custom job (in this case “Selene” instead of “father winter” or “flower bunny) and that will spawn to your lot on your holiday!
~note that Selene as opposed to my other god mods will spawn at night (9pm to be exact) (the others spawn at noon)
These sims have premade personalities, but will randomly spawn in appearance. What you need to do is for the first time they spawn in game (during a holiday), use MCCC (download HERE) by @deaderpoolmc cas to paste a tray sim, and yes, it can be ANY tray sim you want! So that means you can either use the one I made or make your own, but you can’t change their name/title, this is why I will make multiple of those mods with different deity names.
If you don’t know how to paste a tray sim I made a small tutorial for this: HERE.
Sims that are Spellcasters, Child of The Island, Vampires, or Traditional Witches (mod by Zero: patreon (free)) (NOT NEEDED) love this tradition.
There are 2 versions: a and b.
The versions “a” will say “loves this tradition. (From being Child of The Islands)”, the versions that say “b” will instead say “loves this tradition. (From being a Shaman)”. This is done to go with Zero’s Traditional Witchcraft mod where Child of The Islands is renamed Shaman.
@simandyfacemask from the PAO skinblend (I don’t recommend using it without the skinblend, it will just say missing CC if you open it in cas, but you’ll be fine).
I also use @simandy PAO skinblend as default in my game (not needed).
IMPORTANT NOTE: For some reason for now when you paste tray sim with mccc it looks like only warm skintones will paste, so you will have to go into CAS (you can do this by opening mccc menu on the sim as shown below) and change it yourself.
I will also upload this sim to the gallery for download later tonight after I’m done posting (no tray file needed if you do that) (ID: lolnyny) with the hashtag #lolnynydeity, If you make your own sims I encourage you to share them with this hashtag!
~I also take requests if there is any deity you would like to see as a tradition!
