daughter-of-beauty

[daughter-of-beauty]

Statue of the goddess Aphrodite bathing in the garden of the Reggia di Caserta, Italy.

[daughter-of-beauty]

the path of trying to find the balance between your personal life, work, obligations, personal relationships, healthy outlets, and then a dutiful worshiper is hard for a reason. 

The ancient Greeks had not to worry about as much nonsense as we do. Their society was designed around worship. Do not worry or punish yourself over not being able to celebrate every single festival, or every single moon cycle or even have the mental capability to give a full chested prayer every day. 

the world we are in is not designed for the beauty we are trying to recapture, but our faith and resilience in that, still finding time to whisper the gods name in joy and sorrow and pleading, that is enough to stand the time. And the Gods know it too.

[daughter-of-beauty]

✨Polytheism Asks!✨

What’s your least favorite myth?

What’s your favorite myth?

What pantheon(s) do you worship?

Who is your least favorite ancient poet/philosopher/old guy who said “smart” things?

What’s your favorite snack to share with the gods? (Curtesy of @luminarycanary)

Do you pray daily? If so, do you have a prayer schedule?

Do you do any rituals or celebrate any holidays/festivals?

How often to you make offerings, and what is your most common offering to give?

How many altars you you currently have up, if any at all?

Have you ever made a travel altar?

What deity do you think your taste in music best represents, regardless of who you worship?

What has been your favorite interaction with a deity so far?

What is your favorite devotional act?

Would you say there’s a certain “type” of deity you follow? Or are you more broad, without rhyme or reason?

Have you ever worked with a deity? 

Have you ever been to a religious site (for your deities)?

Do you have any UPGs?

What is your favorite way to communicate with the gods?

Do you just worship deities, or do you worship heroes, spirits, etc. as well?

What’s something new you want to try in your worship?

What would your ideal practice look like?

Have you ever received a dream/a big sign from a deity?

Are their any new deities you want to contact?

How do you define devotion vs worship?

What is your favorite symbol of your deity(ies)?

[daughter-of-beauty]

Friendly reminder that "pagan" and "polytheistic" aren't synonyms and shouldn't be used interchangeably. Not all polytheistic traditions were historically referred to as "pagan," nor do they call themselves "pagan" today.

Also, "witchcraft" and "pagan" aren't synonymous, either. Christians may have accused pagan religions of being witchcraft, but that's because they were just trying to demonize these traditions, not because these were "witch religions" or something.

[daughter-of-beauty]

Bearded Dionysos

[daughter-of-beauty]

[daughter-of-beauty]

i love practicing recon hellenistic polytheism.  i said it, and i meant it. i love it. studying and researching the culture, history, and myths gives me a meaningful way to spend my free time that applies in so many other areas of my life. i love the traditional prayers, i love calling upon my favorite epithets of the Theoi, i love offering historically verified offerings. my heart sings when i light frankincense for lord Apollon, when i leave him a libation of cold water or when i offer the steam of my homecooking to him and the other Theoi i worship closely. the requirement of ritual cleanliness has been what’s been keeping me on top of cleaning my apartment – admittedly an issue my adhd ass struggles with. if i can’t do it for myself, i can do it for the Theoi because i know it matters to them, and i want to honor them in every way i can for their blessings to me, my loved ones, and the world itself. practicing recon has given me more discipline in my life; it’s been so good for me. it just feels so special and raw and real to connect with the Theoi in the ways they used to be worshipped and praised, like reconnecting to ancient powers buried beneath the earth and long forgotten, waiting to be stirred again, waiting for someone to notice them again. it feels so special, and i feel so honored every single time i pray or offer just to participate and even have a single glimpse of the Theoi’s grace, kindness, and ethereal nature. praise the Theoi!

[daughter-of-beauty]

I am once again asking people to please not tag the religious posts by Hellenic Polytheists with "PJO" or any other fandom related tags.

You can enjoy your fandoms. That's totally fine. But please be respectful because this is our religion and we want to talk about religions on our blogs.

[daughter-of-beauty]

Personally I like to know how consistent the artwork is - Ive bought many a deck that had gorgeous art on the displayed cards only for the majority of the deck to then be very poorly designed or completely different. Very often decks that display gorgeous artwork on the major arcana but then dont bother with the minor arcana.

I like to know if the artwork has meaning that matches up with the card it is meant to represent or if the company just got a bunch of pretty artwork and made cards at random (my Jane Austen deck is like this).

For me personally it is also important that the numbers and names match up - the reason I personally prefer tarot to oracle is because tarot has much more clear guidelines so when a deck just arbitrarily changes the guides I have memorized it does bother me.

And yeah, I do like to know if there’s any nudity on the cards as that does personally make me uncomfortable and it’s something that the card company won’t exactly warn you about.

When you folks are looking at reviews of tarot decks, what's the most important things to know? Whether the pips are fully illustrated? If there are nips or penii hanging out? Whether any of the cards are renamed? Whether any cards are switched to different numbers? Something else entirely?

And for oracle decks, is it mostly the theming? How many cards? Again, if there are nips or penii hanging out? Something else?

Given that I have 50 tarot and oracle decks, it's time for me to start writing long reviews, so I'm looking to cover what people most often look for in their decks.

Feel free to either send an ask or reblog this post to answer my queries!

[daughter-of-beauty]

I just remembered this 🍁Zeus🍁 I made some time ago. I based his portrait in a friend of mine who is pure Greek beauty. I think this is one of my favourite works, specially because of the anatomy, the expression and the fabrics.

[daughter-of-beauty]

[daughter-of-beauty]

Ancient Greece included areas like modern Turkey, Egypt, Italy, and Bulgaria among other places, so the "only ethnic Greeks can speak on Hellenic paganism and are the descendants of ancient Greeks" is in fact, a bit of a red flag.

[daughter-of-beauty]

hot take, we don’t have to hold myths about Deities up to modern moral standards.

The stories told about the gods are written through the lense of that culture in that time period. cultural norms and standards shift and change over time- and i don’t believe the gods are tied to the morals of those stories, but rather the stories are a snapshot of how the gods were perceived at that time.

seems kinda disrespectful to go around labeling whole pantheons as “problematic” because you disagree with the norms of the culture that wrote stories about them.

[daughter-of-beauty]

The Nine Muses

Trade cards from the "Goddesses of the Greeks and Romans" series (N188), issued in an unnumbered set of 50 cards in 1889 by W.S. Kimball & Co. (The Metropolitan Collection, Public Domain)

[daughter-of-beauty]

Unpopular Opinion: The Gods would never let a trickster spirit claim to be them. Most religious people are not scared of malicious entities masquerading as their God(s). Have more faith that your Gods will take care of you.

[daughter-of-beauty]

[daughter-of-beauty]

cozy life, happy life