#pagan temples

[broomsick]

My personal thoughts on the temple of Thórr as described in the Eyrbyggja saga

This morning, I was elated to stumble upon a better, more detailed description of a temple of Thórr! It’s present in the fourth chapter of the Eyrbyggja saga and it’s at least a few paragraphs long. How lucky for me! Depending on the amount of credit we can give to the saga’s anonymous author, this can help us to better picture temples as they were built and used in Germanic pagan Scandinavia. There were a few fun observations I felt compelled to note down while reading the saga, and especially during this chapter. First, I’ll list my observations, and then I’ll provide you guys with the exerpts containing information on the temple and the holy area which surrounds it. (I’ll try not to make this post too long, after all, it’s pretty early in the morning and I don’t mean to be writing some university paper!)

Now, my first thought was that Thorolf Mostrarskegg (Most-Beard), the Norwegian who built said temple, chose where to first dock in Iceland in a very unconventional manner and I was quite fascinated by it! He’d torn down his temple to Thórr in Norway, so that he could re-build it once he’d reached Iceland. He cast overboard the pillars of his old temple’s high-seat (which were engraved with depictions of Thórr) and waited for them to reach land, deciding that he would build his temple where they drifted. 

An interesting aspect of the actual temple is a space that’s described as a “frith-place”. No explanation’s given on the exact shape or purpose of this room, but just by the name, we’re able to guess that this was a space where to nurture frith! Which is very interesting, because it would make it a designated space for believers to talk, share and simply have fun, even within the bounds of a sacred place. Though we might not have much information on this frith-place, I think these sorts of activities are a great way to honor Thórr! It would indeed be a great idea to have a room within the temple that’s meant for community building, casual conversations and such. 

cw // mention of blood

An aspect of Thorolf Mostrarskegg’s presence in Iceland which stuck with me is the rule of shedding no blood on what he’d named holy grounds (meaning: not only inside the temple but also in the surrounding area). Now, I should specify that this rule applied not to Thórr’s temple in particular but to the fell which Thorolf Mostrarskegg considered sacred, but at this point, the fell, the temple and the ness itself were part of the same holy area. In any case, this law which forbids Thorolf’s people from engaging in fights on sacred ground might ring a bell if you’ve done a bit of research on Yngvi-Freyr and his worship in history. Indeed, he’s come to be particularly associated with bloodshed ban, further consolidating his reputation as a peace God. It was said that fights and bloodshed were especially disagreeable to Yngvi-Freyr, which meant such displays of violence were entirely forbidden on his holy grounds. Weapons were even to be discarded before entering his temples. Still, the ban of fighting (spilling of human blood) was common to all places which were considered vé (from the word vígja, “to consecrate”). Vé were the holy places (enclosures, or shrines) where violence was entirely prohibited, and they could be dedicated to any deity. In fact, they gave their name to places such as Óðinsvé (Óðinn’s vé, today, Odense). If a vé’s rule of no bloodshed was broken, the person who’d broken it became outcast. This same type of law seems to apply on Thorolf Mostrarskegg’s Holy Fell.

The mention of the oath ring also gives credit to the Eyrbyggja saga’s description, since oath-rings were an important element of heathen temples. They were to be worn by the goði at all gatherings and upon them, men would make oaths during ceremonies, exactly as described in this saga and in the Landnámabók’s description of the pagan law-code implemented in Iceland. I personally know people who bought oath rings for their own practice: to us, contemporary pagans, they can be a symbol of dedication to one’s faith, as well as a material testimony of our honor. An oath made upon the ring one keeps on their altar, hörgr, or even on their arm is sacred.

I’d have more to say, especially concerning the blood-bowl, the county Thing, the so called “Gods’ nails” and the altar, but I’ll stop here for today, else I fear I’ll be making this most a little too long. Thank you all so much for reading!

“Thorolf Most-Beard made a great sacrifice, and asked of Thor his well-beloved friend whether he should make peace with the king, or get him gone from out the land and seek other fortunes. But the Word showed Thorolf to Iceland; and thereafter he got for himself a great ship meet for the main, and trimmed it for the Iceland-faring, and had with him his kindred and his household goods; and many friends of his betook themselves to faring with him. He pulled down the temple, and had with him most of the timbers which had been therein, and mould moreover from under the stall whereon Thor had sat. [ ... ]

Thereafter Thorolf sailed into the main sea, and had wind at will, and made land, and sailed south along and west about Reekness, and then fell the wind, and they saw that two big bights cut into the land.

Then Thorolf cast overboard the pillars of his high-seat, which had been in the temple, and on one of them was Thor carven; withal he spake over them, that there he would abide in Iceland, whereas Thor should let those pillars come a-land. [ ... ]

Thereafter they espied the land and found on the outermost point of a ness north of the bay that Thor was come a-land with the pillars. That was afterwards called Thorsness.

Thereafter Thorolf fared with fire through his land out from Staff-river in the west, and east to that river which is now called Thors-river, and settled his shipmates there. But he set up for himself a great house at Templewick which he called Templestead. There he let build a temple, and a mighty house it was. There was a door in the side-wall and nearer to one end thereof. Within the door stood the pillars of the high-seat, and nails were therein; they were called the Gods' nails. Therewithin was there a great frith-place. But off the inmost house was there another house, of that fashion whereof now is the choir of a church, and there stood a stall in the midst of the floor in the fashion of an altar, and thereon lay a ring without a join that weighed twenty ounces, and on that must men swear all oaths; and that ring must the chief have on his arm at all man-motes.

On the stall should also stand the blood-bowl, and therein the blood-rod was, like unto a sprinkler, and therewith should be sprinkled from the bowl that blood which is called "Hlaut", which was that kind of blood which flowed when those beasts were smitten who were sacrificed to the Gods. But round about the stall were the Gods arrayed in the Holy Place.

To that temple must all men pay toll, and be bound to follow the temple-priest in all farings even as now are the thingmen of chiefs. But the chief must uphold the temple at his own charges, so that it should not go to waste, and hold therein feasts of sacrifice.

Now Thorolf called that ness Thorsness which lieth between Swordfirth and Templewick; on the ness is a fell, and that fell Thorolf held in such worship that he laid down that no man unwashed should turn his eyes thither, and that nought should be done to death on the fell, either man or beast, until it went therefrom of its own will. That fell he called Holy Fell, and he trowed that thither he should fare when he died, and all his kindred from the ness. On the tongue of the ness whereas Thor had come a-land he made all dooms be held, and thereon he set up a county Thing.

And so holy a place that was, that he would nowise that men should defile the field with blood-shedding, and moreover none should go thither for their needs, but to that end was appointed a skerry called Dirtskerry.”

[temple-of-hermes]

My Favorite Epithets of Hermes

Ktêsios - The protector of property

Eriounios - Giver of good fortune

Oeopolus - Sheep-tending, shepherd

Clepsiphron - Deciever

Athanatus Diactorus - Immortal Guide

Mechaniotes - Trickster

Pheletes - Thief, Robber, Rustler

Poecilometes - Full of various wiles

Poneomenus - Busy one

Charidotes - Giver of Joy

Dotor Eaon - Giver of good things

Euscopus - Keen-sighted, watchful

Eriounes - Luck-bringing, Ready-helper

Ericydes - Famous, glorious, splendid

Pompaeus - The guide

[beautyofaphrodite]

Aphrodisia

What is Aphrodisia?

Aphrodisia is a festival to honor Lady Aphrodite, specifically Her epithet Aphrodite Pandemos (Lady of All)

When is Aphrodisia?

We don’t know exactly when Aphrodisia is or was in ancient times. Some things that came up in my research were: the third week in July to the third week in August, the summer solstice, and July 13. Because I personally need a specific date to celebrate, I will be celebrating on July 13, which happens to be tomorrow.

Traditional Celebrations

Traditionally, to start the festival, a dove was sacrificed to purify Her temple, and a statue of Her would be brought to the sea and washed, followed by a procession. Feasts were very common during Aphrodisia.

Modern Celebration Ideas

So of course we probably can’t sacrifice doves and parade a statue of Her from a temple to the sea nowadays, but there are many ways we can still celebrate Aphrodisia. These are a few ideas, you don’t have to do all of them or any at all.

🐚 Purify Her Altar

🐚 Spend time with Her

🐚 Bake something

🐚 Offer a libation or some sort of food

🐚 Do whatever makes you feel close to Her

🐚 Offer incense and/or light a candle for Her

🐚 Have a self-care day

🐚 Spend some time researching Her

I will be wearing a color that reminds me of Her, lighting Her candle, enjoying the small things in life, spending time with my partner, painting my nails, listening to music that reminds me of Her, and I may watch a romance movie. I will try to bake something or offer her something if I can.

Remember that no matter what you do for Her, or even if you don’t do anything extra at all, She will be happy. You do not need to do any elaborate celebrations or offerings in order to please Her. Just do what you can, Lady Aphrodite understands ❤️

Khaire!

[j0celynh0rr0r]

Daughter of Satan.

[gods-and-accolades]

I know a great thing about paganism and keeping ancient religions alive is how individual it can be as we all follow our own path but man, sometimes I really wish we still had temples for our Gods.

[livieluna]

Did some doodling 🪽

I can’t remember the last time I draw on paper, I mostly do digital art now days lol

[thequeer07puss]

Pagans need community!

And I don’t mean the stuff we do on Tumblr or in Discord servers of whatever. I mean real life, face-to-face, communal practices that can be done in public. This is the only way we can get stuff like state recognition and temples to pray in.

Community is how the Abrahamics stay alive, community is what brought Wicca and neopaganism to the light, community is what we need. In the olden days the gods would be worshipped by whole states, cities, villages and households, but today it seems that we mainly have household worship, making ourselves content with the individualistic and private (hence relatively hidden) nature of our respective practices. But this won’t further any hope we may hold of getting back the temples and stuff.

Find other pagans in your area, form group chats, meet up and discuss, do rituals together, found and grow your community together. Pagans are closer than you think, and we are here when you least expect it. You just need to ask the gods to help you find them, or to help them find you, and they will steer you towards the right path. Ask and you shall receive.

Community starts with us. May the gods be with you

[P.S: I’m only speaking about what I’ve observed within Hellenic and Kemetic pagan spaces. I don’t know about other traditions but I think it’s a pretty universal message for those of us who yearn for temples and a blooming pagan community.]

[the-suns-temple]

🔆 Honoring the Sun 🔆

Today I would like to explain some ways in which you can incorporate honoring the sun into your daily routine. All of which are rather low effort, and can be done without contributing too much energy. These are all based on my personal practice, of course.

Honoring the Sun in your daily life:

🔆 Wearing jewelry with depictions of the Sun - a necklace, hair pin, earring, rings, any form of accessory. 🔆 Eating sunflower seeds. 🔆 Putting honey in your drinks instead of sugar. 🔆 Say good morning to the sun whenever you wake up and goodnight to the sun whenever it sets. 🔆 Incorporate the colors brown, orange, yellow, and red into your outfits. 🔆 Wear gold jewelry - doesn't have to be real gold. 🔆 Wear bronze jewelry - doesn't have to be real bronze. 🔆 Wear a veil. Even though the Sun is traditionally masculine, veiling is a good way to protect your scalp while being out in the sun. 🔆 Wear outfits authentic to yourself. 🔆 If you can, pick up gardening. Plants feed on the Sun, and by being outdoors gardening, you can feed off of the sun, too. 🔆 Go for a hike. Or simply go for a walk through your neighborhood. 🔆 Try waking up at sunrise to rise with the Sun. Or go outside and watch the sunset. Not everyone can wake up at the crack of dawn. 🔆 If you can, put your bed near a window facing East so you can wake up to the sun shining in.

Please feel free to contribute your own ideas and methods of honoring the Sun in the comments and reblogs. Thank you so much for reading.

Best wishes, and blessed be, from Rafael.

Khaire

[rue-with-the-tarot]

I will never, ever trust anyone who calls themselves a priest(ess) unless they have a myriad of qualifications and experience behind them. Are you aware of the kind of responsibilities you’re accepting? Are you able to comfort the downtrodden effectively and not just say “the gods love you” and leave it at that? Are you able to keep your composure and not allow the plights of others to affect you so you can better be of service? Do you have experience in counseling and leadership? Are you prepared for when someone comes to you with a pile of woe upon their shoulders? Do you have experience or knowledge about community building? Are you well studied in both the culture, history and religious traditions of your chosen religion? Are you able to guide and nurture countless individuals and modify your knowledge and beliefs to fit into their lives? Are you able to continue the work of uplifting a whole community even when you are tired, depressed, or going through hardship yourself? If you are not able to be initiated and guided under a trove of elders and the more experienced, what are you going to do to combat that problem? Who are you responsible to? What are your morals for leadership? Are you able to admit when you are mistaken? Have you been acknowledged by others to be worthy of that title? How are you enriching someone’s life and practice outside of the culture of doomscrolling on the internet? Do you know how to write sermons? Do you know how to lead prayer and ritual for a lot of people? What will you say when a congregate comes to you, devastated by death? Rape? Trauma? Mental illness? Can you recognize the signs of spiritual psychosis? Do you know how to navigate that? Can you spot cultural appropriation? Have you deconstructed from white supremacy and colonialism? Do you have connections with others that have experience in other belief systems so you can direct people to where they need to go? Have you and the gods ever discussed what you are willing to sacrifice in order to hold this position? Are you aware that you will make sacrifices at all and that this isn’t just a cozy, fun thing? Are you even old enough? Do you have enough life experience? Are you able to guide someone older than yourself effectively? How will you serve your community outside of religion?

I know everyone is different in their religious lives, but for me personally, it took me 5 years to answer the call of priesthood, and I AM STILL NOT A PRIESTESS. I am unable to be initiated, so my path involves seminary and intensive theologian study for what will likely be about the next 10 years of my life. Under no circumstances will I set up a group chat and call myself a priestess, no disrespect, but the ease of it takes away from the sacredness. In ancient times, priests were educated from CHILDHOOD and assumed their duties in ADULTHOOD.

At best it feels self-serving and at worst, cultish, to just set up a digital server, call it a temple, and give yourself a flashy title.

[a-sip-of-ambrosia]

desperately wishing for a temple because at this point, it would be the only place where i can feel safe, bask in the love and greatness of my gods and pray to my heart's content without being judged for the loyalty i have to them...

is that so much to ask?

but of course, i can only continue to wish.

[temple-of-apollon]

Temple To Apollo

Hello, welcome to the Temple Of Apollo, where we worship the God Apollo. This blog is a digital place of worship, so please stay respectful and keep fandoms away. This is a safe space for queer people, people with disabilities and mental illnesses, systems, and people of color.

MEET THE BLOGGER:

I am Coral, a hellenic and pagan worshipper. I worship many, but the main deity I worship is Lord Apollo. I go by any pronouns but masculine ones, and I am an adult, although this blog is aimed for 16+. I am not a Priestess, because I don't feel like I deserve that title and I don't want people to think I am the only person with authority to speak about Apollo.

TAGS:

#apollon temple -> all my deity posts will be tagged with this

#apollo devotion -> all the devotional posts I reblog or post

#by coral -> all the devotional posts I personally make

#apollo shines through -> reblogs of deity content or similar

#not apollo temple -> any posts I make that do not contain deity content

CREDITS:

Banners can be found here

[croww1tch]

Apollo's Digital Temple

🏹 “ you can kiss a hundred boys in bars.. “ ☀️

Information/Research

Basic Information

Deep Dive

deep dive by @stalkerofthegods

Prayers

Morning Prayer

Heal sickness

Gifts to Apollo

His playlist (Spotify)

Statue of Apollo

Photo 1

Photo 2

The Parnassus

Moodboard 1

Moodboard 2

[temple-of-hermes]

Lord Hermes Basic Info

Greek name: Ἑρμης

God of: Heards and flocks, travellers and hospitality, roads and trade, thievery and cunning, heralds and diplomacy, language and writing, athletic contests and gymnasiums, astronomy and astrology

Epithets: Epimelius (keeper of the flocks), Criophorus (ram-bearer), Agoraeus (of the marketplace), Dolius (of crafts, of wiles), Enagonius (of the games), Promachus (champion), Hermeneutes (interpreter, translator), Tricephalus (three-headed, of road intersections), Cyllenius (of Mount Cyllene), Acacesius (of Acacesium), Aepytus (of Aepytus), Propylaeus (of the gateway), Pronaus (of the fore-temple), Polygius (unknown), Paramnon (unknown), Argeiphontes (slayer of Argos), Maiados Huios (son if Maia), Diactorus (guide, messenger), Athanatus Diactorus (immortal guide), Angelus Athanaton (messenger of the gods), Angelus Macaron (messenger of the blessed), Chrysorrhapis (of the golden wand), Clepsiphron (deciever, dissembler), Mechaniotes (trickster, contriver), Pheletes (thief, robber, rustler), Archus Pheleteon (leader of robbers, thieves), Poecilometes (full of various wiles), Polytropus (wily, many-turning), Poneomenus (busy one), Buphonus (slayer of oxen), Oeopolus (sheep-tending, shepherd), Daïs Hetaerus (comrade of the feast), Charidotes (giver of joy), Charmophron (glad-hearted, heart-delighting), Dotor Eaon (giver of good things), Acaceta (guileless, gracious), Euscopus (keen-sighted, watchful), Eriounes (luck-bringing, ready-helper), Cydimus (glorious), Ericydes (famous, glorious, splendid), Aglaus (splendid, bright, glorious), Cratus/Craterus (strong, mighty), Masterius (of searchers), Pompaeus (the guide)

Job: Messenger of Zeus, guide to the Underworld

Depictions: Young, beardless, handsome, athletic; older, bearded

Symbols: Winged traveller's cap, winged boots, heralds wand, short sword, pouch, hermea (stone road-marker, wayside shrine),

Sacred animals: Hare, turtle, sheep, cow, ram, hawk, horses, mules, goats

Sacred plants: Crocus, strawberry tree (not to be confused with the strawberry bush)

Day of the week: Wednesday

Number: 4

Planet: Mercury

Celebrations: Hermea

Parents: Zeus and Maia

Partners: Aphrodite, Apemosyne, Brimo, Carmentis, Chione, Circe, Crocus, Daeira, Herse, Iphthime, The Oreads, Peitho, Penelope, Persephone, Polymele, Tanagra

God Equivalents: Odin, Mercury, Thoth

[beautyofaphrodite]

Ἀφροδίτη Ἀρεία

Aphrodite the Warlike

(all images found on Pinterest)

[j0celynh0rr0r]

The Satanic Bible

[temple-of-perunika]

Digital temples and digital shrines of Tumblr. Please interact with this post if you are still active!!!