hermes-helpol - Tumblr blog

[hermes-helpol]

for Hypnos fans everytime i interact with him at daytime hes really sleepy to the point of narcolepsy and he wears a cute pastel blue and white pijama set and bunny slippers and comes with his vintage baby blanket that he puts on himself and just sleeps and vanishes when we're done talking. at nighttime he's more excited and more lively and when he tells me to go to sleep he always comes to check if im laying down puts a blanket on me and tucks me in and pets my hair sometimes and he WILL throw your phone out of your hands if you're not gonna try to fall asleep.

[hermes-helpol]

Imagine a festival for the Cthonic gods. Happens at night, with the streets lined with ghost shaped fairy lights, everyone dresses up as a Cthonic god or someone who dwells in the underworld, there’s a big altar you can leave offerings at, goth music playing for you to dance to. Activities like laurel and flower crown making bracelets and necklaces out of crystal chips. Painting offering stones, putting offering bouquets together etc. there’s an area to honour those already in the underworld, lost loved ones etc. local artists selling their works, food trucks with freshly made food. Vendor with freshly squeezed pomegranate juice etc.

I’d thrive.

[hermes-helpol]

"It's not about taking it literally so that we think "oh gee, Zeus was a huge sexual assault fiend" (incorrect btw)"

Can you talk more about that? I'm very curious to hear more on that /genq /nfta :]

@hermes-helpol

Hello! Sorry for the delayed response, I have been busy being Apollo's little instrument of healing and justice lately.

Anyway. to address your enquiry: The common perception (it seems) is that Zeus is simply some rampant sex offender, and while people quite happily give Hades "layers" despite the fact that despite what Lore Olympus may sell audiences, his relationship with Persephone has it's own concerning issues.

We also need to look at the context that the myths (& subsequently their modern adaptations) come from. In the case of Zeus and the likes, the Latin term which we may interpret as "rape", Raptus, typically means to "snatch or carry off" so when we look at classical art pieces such as the Rape of Persephone we need to remember that "rape" in Ancient Greece wasn't necessarily sexual assault (unless written as such) but rather "bride kidnapping". A Thoi article on the Rape of Persephone here.

See also:

"Persephone's contemporary dilemma: consent, sexuality, and "female empowerment." [2015] (I've used the Hades & Persephone example as that is the one that typically gets the rose tinted shades treatment.)

However, for some reason people simply forget to apply that contextual understanding or potential leniency to Zeus like they would with other Gods.

Does this mean that Greek Gods (or their Roman counterparts) did not commit acts of sexual violence? No, but it also means that some of these stories of "rape" were possibly defined by acts far less violent from the modern definition and in some instances one ancient author's "seduction" tale was rewritten as a rape tale by another for drama.

Conversely we also have a lot of tales of actual rape obscured in certain translations: Even the most horrific stories of “vis” have been euphemized in translation. In one especially brutal episode, both Apollo and Mercury rape a 14-year-old girl named Chione. Mercury makes her fall asleep with his wand, then rapes her. In my translation: “Unconscious from its mighty touch, she suffers / the god’s forced rape.” Other translators obscure the rape or give Chione agency she lacks. In Mandelbaum’s version, she “submits / in deep sleep, to his godly violence.” It is unclear how Chione can “submit” to violence in her sleep. Rolfe Humphries’s 1955 translation reframes Mercury’s “vis” as “power”: “Under his touch she lay, and felt his power.” The girl here seems awed into submission rather than bent to Mercury’s will by force.

Now when you consider factors like the definitions of rape at the time, how different translators have treated the texts, how Mortal rules and decorum don't necessarily apply to the Gods etc. it is entirely inappropriate to just make blanket claims of Zeus being a serial sexual offender or to claim that Hades was essentially a lovestruck saint. Rape within Ancient works is a complex mess.

Also note that only one or two translations of Ovid's Metamorphoses appear to be completed by women so we are mostly provided translations of many of these myths by Men (just something to consider). A modern female written translation

So broadly speaking, we can not have a simplistic view of the sexual conduct of the gods as it is not a simple discussion to have.

To simply treat any god as 2 dimensional, be it "Ares is the ultimate feminist" (despite rape having been used a war tactic) or Zeus being a serial rapist, would be disrespectful to the complex multifaceted nature of these deities as well as blatantly incorrect.

There are entire papers and articles on this topic, so I would invite Polytheists to research those alongside their readings of some of the ancient tales (please do not rely on modern adaptions alone).

Sorry that I could not provide a simple response to what is ultimately a complex issue.

[hermes-helpol]

So I’m not the only one who gets halfway through prayer and falls asleep? Love that Hypnos is just like “oh don’t worry man you don’t have to finish, I’ll just—“ *smacks you with melatonin*

[hermes-helpol]

but seriously though i’m sick and tired of those masterposts that are like “here! A reference site on Greek mythology for all your needs! Look it has all fifteen Greek gods on it!” And I’m like. tHERE WERE LIKE HUNDREDS OF FIGURES IN MYTHOLOGY YOUR CRAPPY HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL BIBLIOGRAPHY SITE MEANS NOTHING TO ME 

if you want a basic outline of Greek mythology okay sure fine??? but like. if you want an extensive fucking reference site you are looking in the wrong goddamn places

as a self-declared greek mythology snob my reference site is fucking always this fucker right here. almost every single figure ever mentioned in a Greek text is on it, it has the most obscure gods, spirits, nymphs— it’s GREAT. You really wanna extend your mythological knowledge past the basic 12 and like four others? USE THEOI.  plus plus PLUS everything is cited so you can actually read the source material written about whoever it is you’re looking at.

fucking signal boost this. i’m so sick and tired of writer’s helpers blogs referring people to sites with as much information you would get from opening a third grade mythology book jesus chriiiiiist

[hermes-helpol]

The empty void of the headspace, within it I weep alone.

Alone deep within, a time of terror before me.

I hear His voice, He calls me His angel.

Hypnos weeps with me, right before me.

I ask why He cries, He says to me

My angel, your tears fall in endurance to the mortal plane, I cry with you because I love you, I love you because you are love. Never will you feel the loneliness, for I am there. And this sadness you will not endure in solitude. There is a reason why crying makes it easier to sleep.

[hermes-helpol]

I think I’m so fucking funny

[hermes-helpol]

One thing I think I must credit Plato for is the fact that he apparently had no truck with our modern division between "the Apollonian" as rationality and "the Dionysian" as esctasy or mania. He instead associated both Apollo and Dionysus with frenzy or mania. In Plato's Phaedrus, Socrates describes four kinds of divine madness. One of them comes from Apollo, and another comes from Dionysus. Apollo's divine madness was the mania of prophesy, while Dionysus' divine madness was related to religious mysteries, or at least more particularly his own mysteries.

That's one thing that's genuinely admirable, or rather relatable even, about Platonism: in Platonism, the gods are supposed to make you sort of mad, because madness, of a certain sort, means knowledge. Which means that divine inspiration and knowledge are linked with personal disinhibition.

[hermes-helpol]

Do you think Hypnos relishes in cradling newborns, asleep more often than they are awake?

Do you think Morpheus smiles at lucid dreamers as they explore his realm, mesmerized and delighted by the beauty of it?

Do you think Hypnos runs a gentle hand through your hair as you nap away a headache?

Do you think Morpheus shapes a child's dream after their favorite bedtime story, just to bring them joy?

Do you think Hypnos holds you in his arms just a bit closer when someone tries to wake you but you still need more rest?

Do you think Morpheus watches encouragingly as you lay in bed in the morning, trying to remember what you dreamed about?

[hermes-helpol]

Hypnos, collecting plurals as devotees: spectacular give me 15,000

[hermes-helpol]

It hasn't even been a month but Hellenism has already massively improved our life and there are no words to describe the overwhelming.. everything, that comes with it.

We applied for college again, we got a new job, we improved relationships inside and outside of the system and became a better emotional support, we're excited about reading and creativity/crochet again (made a very sizeable cat plushie)..

And sleep. Not only have we fallen asleep super easy unless there were outside factors triggering our Autism/misophonia, we're excited about sleeping. In the past we'd look forward to not being awake but now we look forward to sleeping because sleeping is fun and successful and it isn't draining like it managed to be before.

[hermes-helpol]

The violent aspects of Dionysus and Ares are extremely comforting to me. I know they don't judge me for the thoughts in my head and the images my brain invents when I close my eyes. I know that not only do they not judge me but they understand, and that even in those thoughts there is still something holy and divine.

I am not only worthy of love despite my intrusive thoughts, or if I do enough to "redeem" myself, but in them too, and it is because of Dionysus and Ares that I can see that. They provide me with a comfort I hadn't known possible.

[hermes-helpol]

Can you believe I've heard people call Hermes a USELESS god...

HERMES! Thee Hermes!!! You know, the...

God of travel

God of communication

God of languages

God of athletics

God of cunning

God of merchants

God of trade

God of MONEY!!!!

He's also a god who can help you with fertility issues, help you communicate with your gods, help you with your magic, sleep, help you communicate with the dead and will help you cross over when you die 'cus he's a psychopomp!

Plus he's a god I often pray to about my dysphoria because his child is Hermaphroditus (Hermes' name is there combined with Aphrodite's which is super cute!)

And he's a STORYTELLER!

I can't believe the amount of people who, over the course of my life have been like, "yeah he's funny but, like, what else?"

WHAT ELSE?! He's the father of LUCK!!! In some versions his daughter is Tyche (Fortuna)!

So he is also the god of making your own luck!

Plus in some versions of his myths (because myths are regional and depend on their cultural context and time period) he invented the Lyre and gave it to Apollo as a peace offering and in some versions even made the pan pipes! Which makes him a god of music!

HERMES IS A JACK OF ALL TRADES AND IN THIS EVER CHANGING WORLD YOU NEED A JACK OF ALL TRADES BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT'S COMING!

Hermes is a fucking Olympian for a reason! Sorry for the foul language but I love him so much!

Anyway, Hermes is amazing!

He is an amazing god to work with and he's a damn good storyteller! He works for both Zeus and Hades and is known to favor humans even in ancient times where the gods were seen as crueler, Hermes has always been a comforting break from the storm.

Pray to Hermes, it will literally change your life!

[hermes-helpol]

I turn to Ares.

Thanks to Tyler Miles Lockett who allowed me to draw inspiration from his ARES piece for page 2! Look at his etsy page it's SICK

⚔️ If you want to read some queer retelling of arturian legends have a look at my webtoon

[hermes-helpol]

"ares is a very masculine god and his presence will feel as such!!"

yeah youre not wrong, but also personally, my ares playlist is full of lady gaga and barely anything else so idk maybe his wrist is just a liiiiitle limp 🤭

[hermes-helpol]

[hermes-helpol]

Sitting outside during a storm, watching, listening; enjoying the rain and the lightning and the thunder and thinking of Lord Zeus.

Thinking about his stories; what I know and how much I know I'm oblivious to. Wondering what I can learn from him. Reminding myself to research him later.

Thanking him for the storm. For every drop, every flash; every rumble.

Thunderstorms are something we have always adored both collectively with my system and together with our family/mother. But this one was truly magical because I got to experience it with Lord Zeus in mind.

I love religion 💜.