#greek polytheism
If you feel distant from the Gods…
It has happened to all of us once or twice, whether we are new worshippers, experienced worshippers, or even priests. There has come a time in our lives when we’ve felt that we didn’t do as much as we wanted to do, where we told ourselves that the Gods would be mad at us for how little we’ve done, that you felt as if your life has been disconnected religiously and spiritually.
Here’s my few little tips as an initiated devotee and a long-term practitioner to help curb those guilty feelings.
- Whether or not you feel their presence, the Gods are always with you, watching your journey. Helios is the sun upon your skin, Artemis is the deer in the woods that you haven’t noticed. You might feel as if they have abandoned you, but the world itself still blesses you with its beauty, all crafted by the Gods themselves.
- There is nodaily requirement of how much you need to worship in order to be considered a “good” Hellenic polytheist. Even the Ancient Greeks did not worship every single day. Sometimes holidays for certain Gods only happened once a month; they had to struggle with worshipping 12+ Gods, too!
- Start off small. If you haven’t been practicing your religion for a while, don’t feel like you have to throw yourself head-first into elaborate rituals to try and make up for lost time. You’re going to burn yourself out! Instead, try to devote daily activities such as brushing your hair and cleaning your room to the Gods you wish, or perhaps even saying a little goodmorning to the Gods whenever you wake up.
- The Gods will nothate you for taking a break. The Gods will nothate you for doubting your spirituality and your faith. These experiences are all such intimate parts of being human, and you are not the first person to question what you are feeling - and you won’t be the last!
- Try to turn your absence, no matter how long, into a little story to catch up with. One night, try to sit down and light a candle and talk to your God about everything that has been happening while you were away. What happened in your life? What did you struggle with? What did you succeed with?
- Remember that, in the end, the Gods have been with you from the beginning and they will not leave you now. Time is relative to them, and a few months, or perhaps even years, that you were absent to them will not impact them as much as the return of a wonderful, unique worshipper will. You are worthy of this religion. You are enough.
And, if in the end, if you decide that religion isn’t for you, may the Gods bless you on your new journey.
Khaire!
Evil Eye ( μάτι ) Charging Ritual
note: this is just MY personal way of charging them and invoking the Gods to help protect me! This is not, by any means, a set in stone method or an attempt to fully or accurately recreate historical practices!
- Get the pieces of your evil eye or the materials that you wish to use.
- Invoke the Gods that you with to reach while holding some or all of your materials.
- Recite a prayer, whatever you’d like, but I’ll write an example up for those who can’t think of one: “Khaire, O Apollon, Healer of Greece, Bringer of both Plagues and Health, please allow me to bless this mati with your strength to cast away miasma and protect those I care about.”
- Get water that has been purified (khernips). This can be done by either charging it under the moon or sun with intent (just leaving it out), cleansing it with sound (playing music near it), extinguishing a flame in it, etc etc, however you want and feel like you can purify it.
- Grab some of the water and flick it over the evil eye, or you can dip the whole charm in it if the material allows.
- Finish making your evil eye
- Recite a banishing phrase, whatever you’d like, but here is an example. “With the power and blessings of the Theoi, I spit away the evil eye. This xematiasma” (evil eye banishing) “will release the evil on those the eye gazes upon. Khaire O Theoi."
- And you’re done! Feel free to put it anywhere. Also feel free to cleanse it with sun/moonlight or sound or anything as you deem necessary. Take care of your charms and they will take care of you!
Post link
Olympians:
Other gods and daimons:
While I have not been posting much, I have been busy! I have many, many books that I am reading and I found some information I did not know about the Goddess of Love and Beauty; Aphrodite:
- In some places she was counted among the Erinyes
- Had many death related epithets like Killer of Men [Androphonos], the Unholy [Anosia], Gravedigger [Tymborychos], The Black One [Melania/Melainis], and Dark One [Skotia]
- Other names she was believed to have been called are She Upon The Graves [Epitymbidia], addressed as Queen of the Underworld as Persephaessa, and some affiliation with the moon as Far-Shining [Pasiphaessa].
Cling to Discipline
Man this is a hard one for me, perhaps it’s for the best that this one shows up now as I struggle to get this blog going again. It is what it is, cling to discipline, do not become lax, especially in things that deeply matter to you.
Hello!
I am a student at Stockholm University conducting a small study to gather information for my bachelor thesis. The form is directed at worshpiiers of Persephone and Hades and mostly focuses on how you experience the deities and their relationship to one another. Concerning the study it mostly focuses on how neo-pagans here on tumblr approach their deities and what sources they consider valueble for their spirituality/religion. Filling the form could take anywhere between 10 minutes and an hour depending on how many of the qustions choose to answer and how much you write in the free form questions, it can also be completed anonomously.
If you are interested, please take the form! I would also appreciate it if you could reblog this post and spread it. Also, if you think this subject sounds interesting feel free to shoot me an ask/dm as I’m always down to talk about it :)
directionally challenged
athens is the only city
her feet knows,
she wanders down alleyways
undiscovered
but familiar
and sits beneath an orange tree.
she takes one plump
sunset shaded fruit,
peels back thick skin,
juice gushes down her arm.
yet she smells cypress trees,
olive oil offerings, and cinnamon.
she whispers prayer,
nimble fingers pressing
a golden owl.
-for Athena, Kelsey Ray Banerjee
Things Y'all Care Too Much About
1. Godspousing/godconsorting
2. Emoji spells
3. Cosplaying/dressing as/RPing as the theoi
4. Who’s a REAL witch?
5. Gendering & portraying the theoi “innacurately”
6. People ignoring your weird praxis-specific rules & not being recon
7. Religiogenders
Things Y'all Should Actually Care About
1. Fascism, gatekeeping, appropriation, & bigotry in the Hellenist community
“Hymn to Nemesis Nemesis I call, Almighty Queen whose piercing sight sees all the deeds of mortals, Eternal and much revered. who alone judges the deeds of mortals. Wise counselor, who changes the course of the human heart, forever transforming, working without rest. Every mortal knows Your influence, men groan beneath the weight of Your righteous chains. You know the thoughts in every mind, and the soul ruled by lawless lust, unwilling to obey reason, is judged by You. Divine Equity, Yours is the power to see and hear and rule. Come, Holy Goddess, and listen to my prayer, and take these mystics under Your protection. Far avert from us, Oh Nemesis, dire and hostile impious counsels, arrogant and base. And give us beneficent aid in our hour of need, And abundant strength lend to our powers of reason.”— Orphic hymn to Nemesis
e-offering #039 for Apollo was presented physically in the form of self-willing charity not done purely for the sake of those I worship, but from my own heart and spirit
