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“My harp session turned into a Disney movie”

(Source)

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Hey, do you know which days of the lunar month are associated with each deity? I know that the 6th is for Artemis, and the 8th is for Poseidon, but I don't know any of the others.

Hey!

Unfortunately I don't. I would say check Hellenion's calendar to see if they have any information, but i believe they mainly use the Attic calendar so you wouldn't be getting information from all of ancient Greece. I like to set days to personally honor specific gods to emulate similar practices because of how hard it can be to find information like that haha.

Anyone else know of any?

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I can't decide if Aphrodite or Apollo (maybe even Asklepios?) Would be the patron of esthetics. Yes, there is healing and treatment and science, but there is also beauty and youth. What do y'all think? I'm almost thinking of simply creating a little epithet for Aphrodite and Apollo to share. Going to school for esthetics soon and I would like to nail down who my patron God(s) is.

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The frequency that I am seeing people declare Artemis to be aro/ace as though they can change the goddess has me very frustrated. I think though that it may be based on a complete misunderstanding of her and a deliberate effort by men to make her difficult to connect to

Artemis has been a goddess who swore off men from early in what we know of her. The connection with virginity came later in her worship but was connected to it. When the concept entered her worship ‘virgin’ did not mean ‘never had sex’ it meant unmarried. Since marriage was an arrangement between man and woman with the purpose of children and when concept entered her worship it was also a transfer of property from one man to another as most women were seen as property.

So the oaths she swore became better understood as a swearing off of men and an oath of virginity. Which to those who worshipped her when that concept was expanded meant that she swore to never have sex with a man, marry or have children.

Artemis’s oaths were not a childlike swearing off of all sex ever. But a swearing off of males and a declaration of her freedom. She would never belong to a man in any way and no man would ever have claim to any part of her. She declared her freedom and fiercely defended all the women who did the same and ran with her.

This is why she isn’t some aro/ace mogai character fiction. The modern understanding of virginity was not the understanding of the word when it was entered into her worship to describe an element of her declarations. She is a powerful goddess who loves those women who love her (and all women, but like particularly those who also love her) she is not an eternal child or naive. And to declare her to be so is a vast misunderstanding of the goddess.

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Feeling a pull to Artemis today. I haven't really worshiped her singularly, at least not on a more personal level. I was setting up a rotating shrine with all of the Theoi I worship mainly on it and i couldn't help but feel her telling me that I need her. And I think that feeling is right.

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Hellenic polytheism - free (and reliable!) resources

The Homeric Hymns: http://www.theoi.com/Text/HomericHymns1.html                

The premier translations by Apostolos N. Athanassakis are also available to read online for free:   https://archive.org/details/homerichymns00home and https://archive.org/details/homerichymns00atha

The Orphic Hymns: http://www.theoi.com/Text/OrphicHymns1.html

The Delphic Maxims: https://www.scribd.com/document/186693295/Delphic-Maxims

Many other primary sources from ancient Greece can be found in English translations at theoi.com, which is a fantastic resource for information about the Theoi.

Modern prayers to the Theoi:

Hearthstone https://greekpagan.com and https://greekpagan.tumblr.com/ Note: downloads of Hearthstone’s two books of Hellenic prayers can be purchased at https://www.etsy.com/shop/HearthfireHandworks

winebrightruby https://winebrightruby.tumblr.com/devotional

Some of the best and most essential books to start with - and for continuous reference, in my opinion:

Handbook To Life In Ancient Greece by Lesley Adkins & Roy A. Adkins   https://archive.org/details/handbooktolifein00adki

Greek Religion by Walter Burkert   https://archive.org/details/greekreligionarchaicandclassical

The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook: Sacred Texts of the Mystery Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean World by Mavin Meyer   https://archive.org/details/ancientmysteries0000unse_p7i2

The Homeric Gods by Walter Otto  https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.4448/page/n5/mode/2up

The free student guide to Classical Mythology by Mark Morford, Robert J. Lenardon, and Michael Sham: https://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780199997329/

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Part 1. Hello! I feel drawn to Roman Gods, but I'm facing some problems. I'm a non-binary person. Also I'm of slavic descent and neither English nor any of Romance languages are my native. As far as I understand Roman religion was strictly orthopraxic, so I don't know to how to reconcile my identity with it. I refuse to identify in binary terms, I can't use Latin in my practice (well, technically I can, but that way prayers won't make any sense to me?)...

Part 2.... I will not able to choose "pagan" name, because I can't find any gender-neutral ancient names. I'm scared that Gods will abhor and detest me or even destroy me if I try to approach them, because I can't follow all the rules. I was wondering if you might be able to give me some advice. Thank you! 

Hello, Anon, and welcome! I am pleased to be able to reassure you that your concerns pose no impediments to worshiping the Roman deities. 

The Roman Empire included the modern countries of Portugal, Spain, Andorra, England, France, Monaco, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy, San Marino, Malta, Austria and the Czech Republic. In addition, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Cyprus, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Lybia, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco*...among other areas, so not everyone in the ancient world who worshiped the gods of Rome did so in Latin. 

In fact, the mythical founders of Rome, Aeneas and his son Ascanius, were from Troy, and their native tongue was probably Luwian, an Anatolian language. Today, I believe that most of us worshiping the Roman gods do so in our native language, not Latin. I use a few formulaic Latin phrases, but the majority of my worship is in my native language and, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic began, my prayers have often been emotional, passionate, and unscripted, not formal Latin prayers.

The orothodox/orthopractic dichotomy is a modern academic debate, and one to which I don't pay a lot of attention. I think it may have been useful at one time in explaining polytheism to cultural Christians, but the different polytheistic religions across the world share many similarities in praxis. Having said that, we have only a few remaining prayers, a few household rituals, and a few discriptions of Roman public rituals upon which to base our reconstructions od ancient practices, so complete replication of ancient Roman praxis is impossible in the modern world. Each of us does the best we can and, since we each make different educated guesses, there is no absolute orthopraxy. 

 Having a "pagan" name is completely unnecessary in Roman polytheism.  Some people have one, for various reasons - I do not. 

 The main thing the gods ask from us is virtuous conduct. Thus, nationality, language, gender, sexual orientation, ability, socio-economic status, etc. do not constitute impediments to having a respectful and reciprocal relationship with the deities of Rome. 

 Again, welcome to our community, Anon! Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have. The #Roman polytheism, #Roman polytheism 101, #Reliio Romana, and #cultus deorum tags on my blog, and at tumblr in general, may be of interest to you. May your path be blessed!

* From: https://www.reference.com/history/countries-were-roman-empire-bb0b32370f9fe987

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Stater: Tripod (obverse), 550-480 BC, Cleveland Museum of Art: Greek and Roman Art

Size: Diameter: 3 cm (1 3/16 in.) Medium: silver

https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.985.a

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$5 10-Card Tarot Readings

Hey guys! I am in a financial crunch right now and will be doing 10-card tarot readings for $5 for a while! I use PayPal, just so you know! My other readings are open as well, including scrying and stichomancy among other methods. If you aren't sure if I do a certain reading, just message me!

Each reading comes with an indepth explanation of your cards in regards to whatever you're asking about, a custom spread, and one on one communication to really ensure it's the best reading it can be.

During this time, I will be free pretty much all day everyday, which is somewhat unfortunate because my job doesn't provide compensation. This is why I am really needing some support financially. I hate asking, but I love doing readings so it's not too different, right? 😅

Thanks so much, y'all. DM me or email me at witchthatiam@gmail.com!

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I miss hanging out with the gods at a shrine. Lately I’ve just been offering up things in small ways, and it helped me feel like I was doing something, but I think I‘m ready to do more again. Maybe I will set up a neat little shrine and see about doing some readings. It feels good to be comfortable in progressing again. 

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I saw your post about your unique epithets and can I suggest: Hermes of the Who’s-it’s and What’s-it’s? And also, Poseidon of the Thingamabobs, since so much trash and treasure ends up in the sea. Just expanding on your Hermes of Collections ~hiddenhearth

These are great! :D

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Hi! I've been exploring my beliefs recently and have been looking through your resources. I made my first offering today and it felt really lovely and good. Just wanted to say thank you for having resources for newbies like me 💜💜💜

Aw this just made my day. I am so glad my compilations and posts could help bring you closer to the theoi! Thanks for sharing that with me!!

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Making aesthetics for the Delphic Maxims to help me remember them! My goal is to memorize all 147!

Delphic Maxim #121 - do not tire of learning

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I drew and painted this piece with Aphrodite in mind. I don't really feel like it fits how I see her, but the art itself isn't too bad! So anyway, here it is!

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This is a great post. On the discord server I'm an admin on, we create a calendar together using both ancient festivals, ones we make, and discretion in how and when to celebrate different days. For example: we celebrate niketeria, but we do so in a modified and more relevant way. We create festivals that make sense for our modern lives and even come up with our own mythos and such to celebrate! It's great because we can communicate our concerns and move dates around.

About the hellenic calendar of festivals

I see this coming up so many times on my dash and clearly it creates confusions. Questions such as “should I celebrate all the festivals for X deity?” or “I saw different dates for X festival, what should I do?” You get my point, we’ve all seen those and we’ve probably all went through this at some point. 

Here’s the thing: you’re going to have to choose. There is no real “hellenic calendar”, what you really have is an “athenian calendar” or a “delphic calendar” etc… Because Greek cities were city-states, they each had their own set of events and festivals. Yes, there were panhellenic events (mostly games, like The Olympics) but for the most part, you’re going to be dealing with local information. 

So unless you actually live in Greece, or in Cyprus, where it is relevant to follow a certain type of tradition, you’re going to have to adapt and choose. There’s nothing wrong about skipping festivals that are not relevant to you or just skipping festivals because they’re time consumming and you just can’t overburden yourself. Quality over quantity. 

The thing I want to stress is this: are you following a festival just because you saw it was on some day, or are you following it with the background knowledge of why? For example, if X festival you choose to follow is closely linked to a seasonal cycle or a harvest, it might be worth changing the dates to fit the climate you live in. If you live in the southern hemisphere, swap the calendar around to fit your local cycle. It’s about the logic behind the festival, not the dates. 

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hello! great blog! i just wanted to ask if i worship Hera, do i need to worship or celebrate Zeus? like don't get me wrong, i respect him, but i can only handle worshipping one god/goddess at the moment. thanks!

Hey! Thanks, imnalways glad to see that people enjoy my blog! 💜

The answer to your question depends on one main thing: how historically accurate you want to make your practice.

In ancient Hellas, all of the Olympians and a few other theoi were worshiped. However, this was done with a whole community on your side, and they celebrated the gods by having communal rituals, festivals, and making offerings at temples when you wanted something from a specific theos. There were many ways to worship, most of which were public and very community-based. This makes reconstructionism for modern Hellenic polytheists quite difficult to replicate. However, many people have done it, myself included! Of course, it's different than before; but so is the world.

Historically speaking, worship of all the gods was the norm. However, if you want to worship select gods and goddesses, or even just one, I say that's your prerogative! I think the gods appreciate worship from all of us, regardless of how historically accurate our practices may be. If you are worried about offending any of the gods, I recommend divination with Hera! If you ask her about it and she gives you a straightforward answer, I would take it as personal advice.

Alternatively, you could make an offering once a month, or even once a year if that would work for you, to honour the other gods while still focusing on Hera!

I hope this is useful for you! Khaire, and let me know if you have any more questions!

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Hello, I really love your blog and appreciate your knowledge. Occasionally, I hear people discuss meditating with or on their deity in modern practice, but I'm not certain what that looks like (especially given the many types of meditation that exist) or how to do that. Do you know what they are discussing/how this is done? Thanks!

Hey, there!

Meditation looks different for everyone, but I'll cover a few options for you to explore!

Listening

When you sit down and just open yourself up to the gods, you may receive feelings, phrases, images, etc. as a means of communication. However, doing this does not always produce results of this nature! Making a habit of sitting quietly with an open heart to the theoi will definitely help strengthen your practice in terms of consistency, but it also feels great to just tune into an otherwise loud world. All I do to get into this meditative state is:

Sit down, take a few deep breaths; basically, calm your body and get comfortable

Send a little prayer to the gods (usually something like "Khaire, theoi [or a god/goddess' name], send me any messages you have. I am open to your voice".

Listen. Often, this just looks like me bringing the gods to my mind every few cycles of breath. If a certain thought returns to keep multiple times, I focus on it and ask for clarification!

Divination

You can meditate while divining the will of the gods! Usually, I see people do this with tarot or an Oracle deck, but you can use any medium you like. The Greek Alphabet Oracle is a great thing to try, especially if you feel close to Apollo! I love to scry with a black mirror or smoke scry with incense. It has always worked really well for me! I just send a prayer before doing the divination and ask that the answers I receive will come from the gods. If it feels off or inaccurate, I'll usually put everything away and try again later. Always thank them afterwards, of course!

Imagery Meditation

I respond well to imagery-based meditation, and I have a lot of fun building my surroundings while I do so. Here's my process:

Get comfy like you would do for the listening meditation.

Spend time "sinking" into your mind. I start by visualizing myself floating down into a dim, blank space.

Build your surroundings and ask a god or goddess (or the theoi as a whole) to be present with you. To build your surroundings, you can base them off of associations you have with the god/goddess of your choice. You can also just choose an atmosphere that feels comfortable and serene. However, it doesn't always have to be calm. For example, if you wanted to be with Ares, you might want to choose something more chaotic than a forest, right?

If you feel like the theos is listening, you can talk with them in your mind or ask questions. If you don't feel their presence, that's okay! If you want to go back to the rest of your day, simply dissolve your surroundings and float back up. Do this slowly!

You might see the theos, whether that be how you view them or how they choose to be seen.

In all honesty, I feel like these methods can be summed up as "stop, breathe, listen". I hope this helps, and sorry for the wait! I forgot to check my inbox for a while. Khaire, and good luck!