[carrykerykeion]

If you're confused why I followed you, ask me about my sideblogs.

I'm about 30 years old, and I've been a Hellenic Polytheist since I was 19.

I am not terribly active on this blog, and I keep most of my life & practice off social media, but I'm still around!

[carrykerykeion]

I have a kind of fondness for this blog, in the abstract, but it's hard to ever really engage with it. I'm in such a different place than when it meant so much to me.

Sure, I'm still a Hellenic polytheist, but not one that engages in any community about it. My social circle and community, many of my hobbies, my ambitions and life goals, my outlook on myself and the world... everything has changed to some degree.

This is, of course, a natural consequence of the passage of time.

Regardless, it can still be difficult to identify in any way with a platform I so lovingly crafted over a decade ago.

I mean, for one very small (& personally humorous) example, I met an ex-girlfriend for the first time through this blog, and yet, some years ago, I finally accepted my homosexuality.

No matter how many times I return to it, this blog feels like it contains the wandering ghosts of former selves.

There was a time when Tumblr felt so important to me, particularly as a teenager and young adult. But my piques of nostalgia or curiosity that lead me back here only bring me the kind of awkwardness that comes from donning an old favorite piece of clothing, only to discover that it no longer fits as it once did. After all, I no longer need an online escape hatch.

[literatureandtrees]

Living well is an art that can be developed: a love of life and ability to take great pleasure from small offerings and assurance that the world owes you nothing and that every gift is exactly that, a gift.

Maya Angelou

[redlipstickresurrected]

Brooks Anderson (American, b. 1957, Santa Monica, CA, USA, based Santa Rosa, CA, USA) - Portal, No. 2, Paintings: Oil on Canvas

[tubapun]

Note how these columns are designed to perfectly allow the climbing of small lizards up and down their faces. This is a typical example of Gecko-Roman architecture

[theoi-crow]

Hey, to all the people who are sad we as Hellenic Polytheists don't have a temple to worship in:

We never had temples to worship in, that was never a thing.

I keep seeing posts of people lamenting that we no longer have places to worship the gods in, in the same way people use churches and other places of worship today, but as someone with a degree in this, that was never officially a thing. This is what I mean when I say people need to deconstruct from their previous religion because the religions are different and what you might miss from one, you'll bring to the other, like missing a place of worship.

The temples were solely places to either hold things given to the gods, like thank you offerings, etc. or in some cases, where you got your prophecy told (Delphi), or some people slept in temples for Asclepius in order to dream of cures they believed the god would give them.

The ancient Greeks worshipped the gods in nature and had little altars in their homes.

This is why there were so many sacrificial altars outside in nature or outside the temples.

I understand it can be frustrating not having a place to worship because religious places of worship are great places to find like-minded people and find community, but the ancient Greeks didn't have to do that because the religion was a government mandated religion. Their literal governments would do things with the whole city-state outside of the temples. The closest thing we got to that were mystery cults but those were usually for the elite and still did things outside just in more secluded areas: (LINK)

Most of the time people weren't allowed to go into the temples, just priests, and the very few people that were allowed (to either drop off a gift, dream of a cure or get their fortune told) had very strict rules on making sure they were super clean because the priests would have to clean after them and they really didn't want to do that.

My point is that if you are worshipping the gods in nature (especially outdoor areas that inspire you because they believed a god resided in those areas) or in front of your altar at home, you're already doing what the ancient Greeks did.

Places of worship later got popularized with the rise of mystery cults in Rome and Roman Christians needing a secret place to worship, usually in someone's house which would later get converted as official places because of the persecution.

I understand it can be frustrating to not have what more modern religions around you have but I need Hellenic Polytheists to understand that official places of worship were never a thing in the ancient Greek world.

They are worshipped in nature because the gods ARE nature itself.

So understand that your place of worship is all around you, and the gods will always be with you whenever you need them, as soon as you need them, and I think that's beautiful.

[thvampire-deactivated20170215]

[lionofchaeronea]

A Robe for Hera from Mother and Daughter

Anthologia Palatina 6.265 = Nossis of Locri (fl. ca. 300 BCE)

Note: “Lacinian”: Hera’s shrine on the Lacinian promontory at Agrigentum (modern Agrigento), Sicily. O much-honored Hera, you who often Come down from heaven and look upon Your Lacinian shrine full of the scent of incense, Receive this garment, made of fine linen, Which Theophilis, Cleocha’s daughter, Wove for you with the aid Of her own noble daughter Nossis. Ἥρα τιμήεσσα, Λακίνιον ἃ τὸ θυῶδες   πολλάκις οὐρανόθεν νεισομένα καθορῇς, δέξαι βύσσινον εἷμα, τό τοι μετὰ παιδὸς ἀγαυᾶς   Νοσσίδος ὕφανεν Θευφιλὶς ἁ Κλεόχας.

Roman Matrons Making Offerings to Juno, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, ca. 1745-50

[awanqi]

"Hermes Psychopompos"; the guide of souls to the Underworld.

Process, speedpaint, hi-res vers., etc. on my Patreon.

Prints

I also make pins! This month's pin (Feb) has 1 week left to get, so don't miss out.

Bluesky | Instagram | Artstation | Twitter | Website

[k1llerfr0sst]

(ง'̀-'́)ง I drew lord Ares !!!

[ilookattextile]

Hello! How did you learn about clothing repair/mending? When I try looking on YouTube I often mostly only find confusing and useless "guides" produced "5 minute craft" style, if you get what I mean. My kingdom for someone to actually teach me different ways to make my clothes last longer. My pants have holes. My jeans' belt loops tore off. My t-shirts have holes. If I patch/reinforce things, how to choose compatible fabric, for example? I'm new to sewing, mostly just knit & crochet, and only weave a little. Sorry to ramble. I'm looking for resources, basically.

I think I saw photos of mends on instagram mostly and just tried to recreate those kinds of mends. I admire @ rrepairsshop and @ alyxjacobsrepair (on IG). Celia Pym is a well-known textile artist who does big time mends, also great inspiration. Sometimes I get to look at historic repairs/mends because I work in museum collections and that's also a great source of ideas, sometimes you can find images in museum online collections. Officially there's no "correct" way to mend as long as it functions for you as a repair, it doesn't have to look like one of those perfect "swiss darns" that blends right in to the knit stitches. I once had my mind blown by an acquaintance who was repairing a sock (in public, at a meeting) using a scrap of old t-shirt fabric as a patch for the sock heel, and using a spoon instead of a darning egg. I also saw in a museum collection an old Ukrainian embroidered pillow cover that was patched on the inside with a scrap of Donald Duck printed bedsheet. Very much in the spirit of repair - use what you have and make do.

I do think finding a patch fabric of a similar weight and material as the garment you're mending is important (for example t-shirt fabric is knit and similar in weight to this person's sock). If the patch you use is too light-weight or too heavy it might not last long or might cause more damage. Same goes for yarn choice.

[ilookattextile]

Re: Ukrainian embroidery with Donald Duck patch

They actually used 2 layers of patch fabric to get the weight they needed (see Daisy Duck through the Donald fabric)

[carrykerykeion]

Thank you for your thoughtful response! I'll check out those IGs you mentioned :)

[reejindeed]

A little Dionysus doodle

[orangejuicekiddo]

my tapestry of bacchus. impulsive make, i found the pattern on a wonderful website and *had* to have it, so i started it immediately. it took me a month (time well spent) and i nearly didn't finish all my christmas gifts in time because of it. it's very dear to me

[carrykerykeion]

Are there more like it on whichever website it was? I'd like to make one, but perhaps of a different theos. Please drop the link, if you still have it, Orange.

[tactfullyinappropriate]

It's like we all collectively forgot as a society that friendship and just connection in general takes effort. Even if you meet someone you immediately click with, it takes hanging out about 20 times (!) to become friends. And guess what, some of those 20 meetings might be awkward or unimpressive.

We all want to reap the benefits (having a friend circle, having a partner, getting married) without doing the work (going to events, interacting with people, learning to handle conflict maturely, dating). Myself included. If I could, I'd never leave the house or go on another mediocre date again... except, that's part of the process.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, the cure to the loneliness epidemic is touching some grass and building tolerance for tedious in-person interactions.

[maythestormsnevertakefromme]

I don’t know which current pagan needs to hear this but your life doesn’t have to revolve around your religion. Every act of self care doesn’t have to be devotional, every meal you make doesn’t have to lose a portion to sacrifice.

You’re allowed to be casually religious, a “Yule Pagan” if you want to steal “Christmas Christian” from the Jesus club. You’re allowed to dedicate a day or two to worship and just stare at the sky or ground and mutter the rest of the week.

Just because the world sees your religion as invalid doesn’t mean you have to go into overdrive and let it consume every aspect of your life.

[draconym]

Sure, you know how to self-flagellate, but do you know how to apologize? Saying "I'm a stupid idiot" is not the same thing as saying "I did something wrong."

[draconym]

People who want an apology pretty much never want to hear "I'm a stupid idiot." If someone is actually trying to get you to say you're a stupid idiot, it's not because it will make up for a mistake you made or harm you caused. It's because they want you to feel like a stupid idiot. People who care about you do not want you to feel like a stupid idiot and it hurts them when they see you putting yourself down in their name.

[elucubrare]

i hate attempts at euhemerism in historical fiction 90% of the time but there's a special exemption for explaining the minotaur as Crete taking a tribute of athenian youths for the bull-leaping team

[honorthegods]

Agreed!