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runeymoon · 5 years

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The Horai

The Horai are the Greek goddesses of the seasons*. While the ancient Greeks only acknowledged three—Spring, Summer, and Autumn—this year I am including worship of these goddesses into my Wheel of the Year celebrations for the Equinoxes and Solstices also known as the cross -quarter days). I've always been really drawn to seasonal witchcraft, and as a Hellenic polytheist, this seems like a pretty natural fit to me!** Although there isn't a ton of readily available information about these goddesses and I personally haven't encountered many people who work with them, they are surprisingly multi-faceted. In addition to governing the natural order of the seasons, in some myths they are named the guardians of the cloud gates of Mt. Olympos, and they appear as midwives, nurses, and attendants to many of the Theoi. I am very excited to add them into in my practice, so I thought I would share what I have found so far regarding these Goddesses.

THE HORAI ON CROSS-QUARTER DAYS

🌱 Spring Equinox, 03/19 – Thallo

Goddess of Spring, buds and blooms, protector of youth

🌷Summer Solstice, 06/20 – Auxo/Auxelia

Goddess of Summer, protector of growth, fertility, vegetation and plants

🍁Autumn Equinox 09/22 – Carpo

Goddess of Autumn, harvesting and ripening.

🌬Winter Solstice 12/21 – Khione

While not officially an Horai, she was the daughter of Boreas, the north wind, and the goddess of snow and cold mountain winds. She was depicted as accompanying them, and many regard her as the goddess of Winter.

OFFERINGS TO THE HORAI

🍎Fruit: The Horai are very frequently depicted with baskets of fruit, and were worshiped mainly by those in agriculture, so it makes an excellent offering. Although I found mention of figs, pears, and apples being associated with them in myths, I think it would be a nice touch to use fruits that are in season for each goddess. If you have a seasonal altar, consider a rotating fruit basket as a decoration. Fruit juice would make a cheap and easy libation, also

💐Flowers: Similar to fruit, the Horai were often described as being wreathed in flowers, and in some myths were said to have clothed Aphrodite in clothes dyed with Spring flowers. Flowers are always awesome as offerings because there are so many ways to give them: fresh, dried and burnt as incense, libations of floral water or tea....

🍯Honey: Hand in hand with flowers, fruits, and the cycle of the seasons, bees and honey are also tied to many agricultural deities, and would make an appropriate offering.

🍃Incense/Perfume: As Ouranic(heavenly) deities, incense is always a proper offering. Considering their connection with fruit and flowers, and their frequent description as “fragrant,” I see perfume as an extension of this.

🎀Fabric/Cloth: There are a number of mentions of the Horai clothing and swaddling various deities, to the point that fabric seems like it would be a great offering, especially naturally dyed or fruit/floral/celestial prints. This could be an altar cloth, or scraps given as a gift.

💃Dance: The changing of seasons was called by some the “Dance of the Horai”, so dance can be an excellent way to honor them if you like to incorporate movement in your practice!

THE HORAI YEAR ROUND

Although I find it especially appropriate to honor on the Solstices and Equinoxes, those who want to follow a seasonal path might wish to honor these goddesses year-round. You can easily do this as a Hellenic Polytheist, since they are part of the retinue of quite a few of the Theoi:

💖Aphrodite – Clothed by the Horai upon her birth, they also her companions.

🥀Persephone – A heavily seasonal goddess herself, Auxo may in fact have begun as an epithet of Persephone. Either way, they were her attendants and companions.

💍Hera- Her attendants, and in some myths she was even raised by the Horai.

🌩 Zeus- Thallo, Auxo, and Carpo are daughters of Zeus and Themis in some myths, and additionally are sometimes names as the guardians of his cloud gates.

☀🌒Selene/Helios – According to other sources, the Horai were children of Helios and Selene.

🍇Dionysus – Midwives at his birth, and his nurses as a child.

🍓Hermes – Nurses as a child, they told him about Apollo's cattle!

If you worship/work with any of these deities, consider adding a small offering and thanks to the Horai as part of your regular rituals. This excerpt from Ovid's Metamorphoses is brief and might work nicely:

“Here Spring appears with flowery chaplets bound. here Summer in her wheaten garland crown'd; Here Autumn the rice trodden grapes besmear. And hoary Winter shivers in the rear.”

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Hopefully this was interesting/useful to some of you! Good luck and many blessings

(*The Horae can also refer to two other groups, one a triad of the goddesses of right order, and the other the twelve “hours,” for different times of the day.) (**I am a witch, and a revivalist Hellenic Polytheist, so this post is written through that lens. If you are reconstructionist based, some of this might not be for you. Which is cool! This is just how I will be building a practice with these goddesses)

#the horai #the horae #hellenic polytheism #hellenic polytheist #hellenic pagan #hellenic witch #deity worship #deity work #wheel of the year #ostara #floraquartz

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