Deity Work & The Classics✨
Why Consult Classic Literature?
Classical literature can tell us a lot about the lives of the people during the time it was written. Myths from the ancient world can give us insight into the treatment of the sexes, rites of passage, common practices and even superstition of the time. We can consult the classics for guidance, clarity and use them to understand the responses of our deities. For example, even though Apollo is considered a sun god, he is also the god of prophecy so it may be more common to receive messages from him in your dreams than during the day. In his mythology, you would be able to see by what means he most commonly communicated with mortals and be able to base your signs on his historical representation. We can apply this method to every god who has written mythology (for gods without, it may be more difficult to pinpoint what is historically accurate).
Another important reason to consult the classics during deity work is to understand the cultural context of your deity. Deities change over time as do their associations. For example, Hecate is known as a chthonic deity but also as a deity of childbirth, knowledge, guidance, protection and more. Each of these aspects come from a different region or group and understanding how these associations came to be is important. Each god will have different epithets associated with them and although each speak to a different quality or group, they are all important and all contribute to our understanding of that god.
Incorporating Ancient Practices:
The myths will often provide us with different rituals or practices that ancient people performed in honour of the gods. These are especially important when we consider their importance to ancient societies. The people depended on these practices for their livelihoods (i.e performing a certain ritual or offering to a certain god during planting would provide a bountiful harvest). The gods were also depended on for serving justice or retaliation against wrongdoers.
Many ancient practices, like giving libations, are practices that can still be performed today. For example, when working with greek chthonic deities, the ancients would have dumped their offerings into a pit. This may not be entirely practical for everyone (apartment dwellers) but a variation on this may be. Other practices like leaving offerings at certain places (ie. leaving offerings for Hecate at the crossroads) are practices that can be more easily incorporating into our modern veneration. Remember, if a practice was important to a god in ancient times, then they will likely appreciate you trying to incorporate it (or something similar) while working with them.
🖤For more information on the greek/roman gods, check the website Theoi
Welcome to the Theoi Project, a site exploring Greek mythology and the gods in classical literature and art. The aim of the project is to pr
🖤For accessible (audio included) retellings of ancient myths from all around the world, check out the website Storynory
Myths of Greece, Rome, ancient Norse legends, and stories from around the world.
🖤For more information on the poetic Edda, check out the website Sacred Texts (not sure on the accuracy of this translation as I do not work with the Norse gods. If someone has a better version, pls let me know)
The Poetic Edda, tr. by Henry Adams Bellows, [1936], full text etext at sacred-texts.com
*All images are from Pinterest*
🖤If you know of any other websites, please let me know and I will add them to the list!
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