wisdom-devotee

[wisdom-devotee]

Hi Mells!! I've been asking around so what are something's you're devoting to your deities/heroes this summer??

I’m going camping in August so I’ll probably dedicate that to Odysseus! And I’ve been doing a lot of college work so that’s been dedicated to Athena. I’m also visiting a long distance friend of mine after camping so I’ll be devoting that to Penelope because I’ve told her a lot about that friend. The travel there will probably also be debited to Odysseus.

Thank you for the ask! I hope you have a good summer

[wisdom-devotee]

Devotional Acts for Athena For Someone Outside of Education

Craft projects

Personal research on topics of interest

Reading/analysing books

Combat related video games

Being aware of what’s going on politically in your area + outside of it

Visiting Athens

Learning a new skill

Studying the Anicent world

Reading the Greek plays or epics

Putting spiders outside instead of killing them

Using olives or apples in food

Make her a playlist

Draw her

Wear colours you associate with her

Get devotional jewellery

Exercise

Plan things before you do them

Don’t procrastinate on tasks

Look after your mental health

Learn about her myths or the heroes that she favours

[wisdom-devotee]

hi! i wanted to ask as a newer helpol, is it alright to still celebrate other culture/religion holidays like christmas, halloween, lunar new year etc?

ive seen some people dedicate them to the greek gods instead as worship (like dedicating halloween to hecate, if i remembered correctly) so if i were to do that, do you have any suggestions on how? thank you for your work!

Sorry this is kind of late! It’s absolutely okay! I also don’t personally think they have rot be dedicated to a Hellenic deity (though I personally really enjoy devoting those holidays to my deities because they’re easy to remember and I already have ‘traditions’ I can devote to them)

I obviously can’t include every single holiday ever but I’ll include the ones I know enough about to give an idea

Any new year traditions have chthonic deity vibes to me, so Persephone, Hades, etc, I personally devote it to Melinoë

Christmas could probably be turned into a celebration of Zeus’s childhood/birth and victory against Cronos but I don’t know if that’s really Christianising Helpol which I shy away from. Alternatively if looking at it through the lens of celebrating family, probably just all the Olympians?

Any spring-related holidays could be dedicated to Persephone and Demeter

Halloween could also be chthonic deities or hero worship

There’s a lot of Jewish holidays that are very much based on celebration/remembrance of things that Jewish ancestors have been through such as escaping slavery in Egypt, and those I think could all remain as they are and be done in a hero worship sort of way of those ancestors

Ramadan has a lot of associations with like, Dawn to Dusk, and lasts from one crescent moon to the next, so I think it would be good to devote this one to any moon goddess.

Those are all the ones i have ideas on. Hopefully none of it is disrespectful?? It’s hard because obviously the major religions are monotheistic so it’s definitely hard to respectfully celebrate them in a Helpol way.

[wisdom-devotee]

do you have any advice about building kharis with gods?

The best advice I can offer is that it’s probably far easier than you think it would be.

Prayer counts as offering/devotional acts, so you can do that to build kharis.

Anything can be an offering. They don’t even have to be personalised, though it’s nice if they are.

You don’t need an altar, if you do have one it doesn’t need to be special.

You can use everyday activities to build kharis. Make going on a walk a devotional act. Do the same if you play a certain video game with a theme a deity might appreciate (like any fighting game could be dedicated to any war god).

Write them letters. This really helped me.

Set days where you promise to do something for the diety.

Those are the things I could think of off of the top of my head, but there’s definitely more. If anyone else has advice, please add on!

[wisdom-devotee]

Hi! Do you know any other accounts suitable for people who wanna do hero worship?

Hopefully I’m making sense..

@hero-shrine has a ton of guides to specific heroes and a basic info post. They reblog a lot of other hero worship content too and post digital offerings they’ve made to heroes.

They’re the only one I’m aware of, but if anyone else has made resources or shared tips about hero worship, please let me know!

[wisdom-devotee]

Athena Anemotis 🌬

(subduer of winds)

E-offering for Lady Athena🦉

[wisdom-devotee]

I am starting at a college this year and I only started worshiping this year and I veil, my worry is that starting in a new school people will be confused or judge me due to my veiling practices as I do a combination of veiling and binding so some days you can see my hair but others you can’t. Do you have any advice or anything for my new school year and my religious belifs like should I exclusively veil or exclusively bind to make everyone around me happier?

Hey anon! Thanks for the ask

I don’t have any experience veiling or anything, so I also don’t have experience with the way that social stuff can impact comfort in doing that.

I think it’s really easy for me then to tell you to just be yourself, dress how you feel comfortable dressing, and don’t pander to what other people want. Which is all true! Of course it is! It’s your life, your religion, and your clothes. Whatever brings you joy and comfort is frankly nobody else’s business.

But negative attention from other people can be really anxiety-inducing. In my experience generally I do think most people are actually paying far less attention to us than we think they are, but also, it depends on the people.

Essentially, don’t do anything for other people’s happiness, do it for your own comfort. If you feel more comfortable sticking to one thing, do that, but if you would actually be happier just being yourself regardless of other people’s opinions, do whatever you want

I know that’s a massive non-answer, so if anyone else does veil, please add on!

[wisdom-devotee]

I am starting at a college this year and I only started worshiping this year and I veil, my worry is that starting in a new school people will be confused or judge me due to my veiling practices as I do a combination of veiling and binding so some days you can see my hair but others you can’t. Do you have any advice or anything for my new school year and my religious belifs like should I exclusively veil or exclusively bind to make everyone around me happier?

Hey anon! Thanks for the ask

I don’t have any experience veiling or anything, so I also don’t have experience with the way that social stuff can impact comfort in doing that.

I think it’s really easy for me then to tell you to just be yourself, dress how you feel comfortable dressing, and don’t pander to what other people want. Which is all true! Of course it is! It’s your life, your religion, and your clothes. Whatever brings you joy and comfort is frankly nobody else’s business.

But negative attention from other people can be really anxiety-inducing. In my experience generally I do think most people are actually paying far less attention to us than we think they are, but also, it depends on the people.

Essentially, don’t do anything for other people’s happiness, do it for your own comfort. If you feel more comfortable sticking to one thing, do that, but if you would actually be happier just being yourself regardless of other people’s opinions, do whatever you want

I know that’s a massive non-answer, so if anyone else does veil, please add on!

[wisdom-devotee]

🥂 🎭 🌞

🥂: I love offering poetry!

🎭: crying to Ares after a fight with my mum is probably still the most emotional thing I’ve done. That or sitting with Athena’s candle for hours the day after Trump was elected in the US

🌞: closest to Athena!

[wisdom-devotee]

⭐ and ❤️ 4 the ask game :)

⭐️: I wish more people knew that it was still a religion that people practiced at all. But more specifically I just wish people would do more research before spreading misinfo based on anything retelling they’ve seen

❤️: I’ve got quite a lot, but recently I’ve been thinking a lot about how whenever I’m not feeling great and I put a deity playlist on for comfort, it’s always the most relevant and perfect song that plays first when I shuffle

[wisdom-devotee]

hiii! playing the ask game! I don’t know if these have been asked yet but I’ll ask anyways: 🌎☄️ (the emoji combo looks… unfortunate ik 😭😭)

🌍: I believe all pantheons exist!

☄️: I do believe in the astral plane, but don’t know a ton about it. Never been!

Also, the emoji combo made me laugh a bit

[wisdom-devotee]

Polytheist & Pagan Asks

🙏 - Which pantheon(s) do you actively worship?

🌞 - Which deity(ies) are you closest to/do you worship the most often?

✨ - Do you believe in patron deities? If so, do you have any that you know of?

🌍 - Which pantheons do you believe exist?

📜 - Have you ever made an oath, vow, or contract with a deity? If yes, how did it go (you don't have to share)?

📿 - What are three things you're grateful to your deity(ies) for?

🖋️ - If you could say anything to your deity(ies) right now, what would you most want to say?

💌 - What is your favorite form of deity communication?

🎭 - What is an emotionally impactful or a silly worship-related experience you've had?

❤️ - What's one memory of your practice that you reflect the most fondly on?

🥂 - What is your favorite devotional act or offering to give?

🎉 - Do you celebrate any festivals? If so, which ones?

🫂 - Do you syncretize any pantheons with one another? If so, which ones?

🔮 - Do you delve into topics like the occult or the mysteries? Do you do anything esoteric?

⭐ - What is something you wish people outside your practice knew more about?

📖 - Do you like the way your pantheon is most often portrayed in media? Why or why not?

🏛️ - Do you have a favorite statue or temple to your deity(ies)? If yes, what is it?

🔥 - Do you have a favorite myth or tale from your pantheon or others?

🧭 - What led you to your practice?

🧿 - Did you have any other spiritual beliefs before discovering your current practice?

🪽 - Do you believe in angels and/or demons? If yes, do you worship or work with any?

🪄 - Do you practice witchcraft? If yes, do you keep it separate from your deity worship?

🪦 - Do ancestors or human spirits play a big role in your practice?

🐾 - Do animal spirits play a big role in your practice?

🌱 - Does nature - plants, nature spirits, etc. - play a big role in your practice?

💀 - Do you believe in ghosts? If yes, have you ever had an experience with one?

☄️ - Do you believe in astral travel/the astral realm? If so, have you been there before?

[wisdom-devotee]

Unrelated to the last post but I had a dream last night where I moved around my altars and replaced one. The one I got rid of was actually for a hero I don’t even have an altar for yet irl, so I guess that’s a sign to not get one because it made me realise I actually haven’t got any want to build kharis with them. I respect them a ton, but I’m not invested in worshipping them.

Anyway, then I removed that altar and replaced it with a new one, and I remember a voice talking to me in the dream about how they’ve actually been waiting for me to notice them for a while and whatnot and they’re glad I did

One problem: don’t remember who it was. At all.

Oops. Please visit me in my dreams again hopefully I’ll remember more details next time

[wisdom-devotee]

This week on “Do I actually want to worship this god, or am I just hyperfixated on them?”

[wisdom-devotee]

Teucer 🏹

(One of my fav hihi)

[wisdom-devotee]

is it okay to base my visual interpretation of the gods on retellings/greek-myth inspired media? my first introduction to greek mythology was the Hades (video game series), and even now as a helpol pagan for about a year or so, i still see those portraits as the gods. i know theres a lot of the gods that isn’t shown in those games obviously and i’ve done my research with sources, but when i imagine them in my mind i see a mix between the hadesgame art and some changes ive visualized for them. is it disrespectful to see them this way? i know its all just art made of them, but its from a videogame, is that lower to them?

- @writeomuse

As someone who really struggles with visualisation as a whole, I don’t see anything wrong with this. Of course creative liberties were taken with these games (Melinöe’s design is not accurate to her most defining feature — she has two different skin tones on different halves of her body) but other than certain epithets and descriptions of clothing/accessories for some, it’s not like the deities physical appearances were ever greatly described in any sources we still have, though there are a few consistent things across statues and cases like Apollo having a youthful appearance and long hair, but I think Hades probably kept a lot of those things in?

Anyway, everyone has a different way they imagine the appearance of the gods. I highly doubt it’s disrespectful

[wisdom-devotee]

Stop misusing Greek terms to describe Helpol

The day people stop using “Hellenistic polytheism”, “Hellenismos”, or “Hellenism” to describe Hellenic Polytheism is the day I can rest easy

For some reason this is impossible to grasp, but Hellenistic refers to a time period in Ancient Greece. From the Oxford Dictionary: “relating to Greek history, language, and culture from the death of Alexander the Great to the defeat of Cleopatra and Mark Antony by Octavian in 31 BC”. There is no other definition stated.

Granted, this website gives a second definition; “of or relating to the Hellenists”, but once you click on ‘Hellenist’, it defines them as “a person living in Hellenistic times”

I’ve had two people try to insist that it only indicates time period if the word ‘period’ comes after it, and without the word ‘period’ it is fine to use in relation to the religion of Hellenic Polytheism. This is not true. Stop spreading misinformation. I have been given no sources for this beyond ‘that’s how I use it in classics’. Okay, I also take classics, and have never used it like that.

I do not know why it bothers people so much to just adapt their language. Why are you so attached to being called Hellenistic?

Similarly, Hellenismos also relates to that period of time, specifically the culture and the religion associated with that time period — which is, again entirely different to the generic belief systems that the very vast majority of helpols subscribe to. You are almost definitely not worshipping the gods in the Hellenistic way, and therefore you are not practising Hellenismos. Because it isn’t a term for the religion as a whole, but for the religion in that very specific time frame. Don’t take my word for it, though, here’s a post by a Greek person explaining why this is disrespectful and incorrect. It’s incredibly detailed and far more thorough than my post is, so while it is long, I really recommend taking the time to read it and listen. Helpol is an open practice but we still need to respect the people and culture where it originated.

Furthermore, Hellenism simply means Greek culture. Here is a website that discusses this in detail, but especially academically, Hellenism is the term used to describe the culture of Greek people, from language to food to religion to values to art to music. Everything, as well as the way that culture influences and is influenced by other countries. Practicing the religion of Helpol does not mean you practice Hellenism. I also really doubt an actual Greek person would say they ‘practice Hellenism’ either, they’d probably just call themselves what they are. Hellenic. Or a Hellene. I beliehe this term is more for scholarly use, however if any GREEK people have corrections for me on that and do use it in other ways, let me know. But regardless, using it for the religion is incorrect. Many Greeks find it disrespectful. Unfortunately if you search the word, the horrible AI overview, Wikipedia, and a couple of other sites all misdefine it as the religion. Additionally, r/Hellenism is also the name of the Helpol subreddit. But this is modern usage, this is not what it is academically or how it should be used.

Finally, have a vocab dictionary by a Greek person.

The correct terms for our religion are Hellenic Polytheism, as Hellenic = Greek and Polytheism = multiple gods, so it is a belief in multiple Greek gods, while Hellenic Polytheist is a person who believes in multiple Greek gods. The shortened form is Helpol, not Hellenic. You can’t say I am Hellenic, unless you are Greek.