moth!

he/him, hellenic polytheist, terfs DO NOT TOUCH!!! icky!!!

[seafoam-starlight]

mrowwww

[what-even-is-thiss]

There’s a difference between something being spiritually or culturally true and something being literally true and a lot of people who don’t live with this kind of belief system can’t seem to wrap their heads around it or they seem to think that people who function like that can’t tell the difference between fiction and reality.

[what-even-is-thiss]

In literal reality there is no evidence that the Israelites were wandering in the desert for 40 years. I accept this as fact. However as a Christian I also hold it as true in a spiritual sense.

Whether or not Moses literally existed is irrelevant to me. If you somehow prove to me that Moses was not a real person with sufficient evidence I will believe you. I trust science and I trust the scientific process.

This will not change in any way the spiritual truth that Moses represents to me. He is still real in every way that is relevant to my life.

There’s a lot of things this applies to. The earth was formed by gravity pulling a bunch of space debris together. Many people know this is reality while also knowing that the world is made of bones, or was risen from a primordial ocean, or was risen out of mud.

You can know that there’s no magic and still cast spells. It makes no real difference either way. The reason the spell is important has nothing to do with actual results.

[what-even-is-thiss]

Why do you think that historians still bring up Romulus and Remus when talking about the founding of Rome? Romulus and Remus didn’t exist. And yet they did. They still stand as very real figure in our cultural consciousness all these thousands of years later.

There is the archeological record. That is real. There is Romulus and Remus, being nursed by a wolf. That is also real, but in a different sense.

There were no five good emperors. There have always been five good emperors. George Washington never cut down a cherry tree, but then again of course he did. Both truths are exceedingly important.

[charl0ttan]

its so amazing that the sky is just There and nobody even talks about it. At All

[thedansemacabres]

dear fellow pagans you cannot "revive" a religion that is still around. zoroastrianism, mesoamerican faiths, ancient chinese religion...come on sometimes literally all it takes is a single google search to find that these communities still exist.

[cursingcrona]

I'm so tired of practicing alone. Physically, yes; but i also just feel so separated from the community.

I want people to stop saying there's a specific way to pray, worship, work with, devote, honor, or practice within hellenic polytheism.

But on the physical hand, i want people to dance in the sunlight with me as we pray to our gods. I want to be surrounded by like minded people as we practice what makes us and our religion ours.

[cryptotheism]

A niche occult term you can use to sound mystical and pretentious at parties:

"Decknamen" is German for "aliases" but in the context of occult history, it specifically refers to the coded terminology used by alchemists to obscure their work. For example, "The Green Lion" is a common decknamen for Aqua Regia, a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid.

"But why not just say codewords? Why have a special term?" Because alchemical manuals were often presented as narrative, poetry, or even as a recorded debate, so decknamen function as both explicit references to chemical processes, and literary devices. They are both codewords and allegory!

[evilios]

Magic has no gender.

Women are not “more magical”, men are not “devoid of magic”. In many cultures of the world, men have made most of the input into the development of magical craft. You don’t need to be a cisgender woman to do magic or call yourself a witch; witch is a gender neutral term.

Magic is a craft and a skill, not a chromosome - not to mention that people who believe in bioessentialism in magic have a very shallow understanding of genetics.

[delphicsacrifice]

Advice for the baby Hellenic Polytheists

I’ve got just about a year under my belt now, so I’m very much still a baby myself. But here’s a few things I wish I’d known, or think might be helpful.

Just make khernips with a match. No really. It’s the extinguishing of a flame in the water that makes it lustral. Don’t worry about the rest unless you really want to and have the time.

You don’t have to introduce yourself to any gods. They all want to be worshiped; just get to it.

We’re not as intimidating as you think we are. We just…read a lot. You can read a lot too. You’re welcome here. We’ll even help.

Books are expensive. Theoi.com’s library is free.

Statuary is nice. It is also wicked pricey. Here’s what you need on an altar: A bowl for offerings, a vessel for khernips (can be near the altar rather than on it)

Wine, olive oil, honey, water are pretty universal libations. You’re welcome.

Dispose of offerings however works for you. Just do it with respect, and you’re fine. Oh but don’t consume offerings to cthonic (underground) deities, alright? That’s bad times.

The gods demand Arete. That is your personal best, not the best of the person next to you, or your mother, or somebody you idolize on tumblr. Do your best.

This is a religion of Kharis. When you ask the gods for something, give them something. Then, do not forget the thank you. Offer again if you are granted what you asked for.

Our tumblr community is pretty great, but we also are sometimes wrong. Find sources, and for gods’ sake do not try to replace your studies with Tumblr. Read for yourself, learn for yourself, build your religion such that it best honors the gods and works for you.

If you’re like me, you’re constantly moaning “How do you pronounce THAT?”. I know, friend, I know. Try a couple of these lessons on the ancient Greek alphabet. It is NOT fool proof. It is an incredibly complex language, and pronouncing it ain’t easy. But boy it will help with those particularly tricky epithets.

Oaths are serious business. Gods are easy to fall in love with. Be careful. Be patient. 

Real life pagans are way, way nicer than the ones on the internet. Go find them.

There are exceptions to most rules. Most of those exceptions are Dionysos.

“I don’t know what to say” “I don’t know how to write a hymn” We basically have a hymnal. 

No, ___ will not get jealous if you also worship ____. It’s a fear of us recovering monotheists, but I promise it does not apply to this religion. It’s kind of what POLYtheist means, and plus, most of our gods are related. Show the whole family some love.

“What is [god name] like?” They’re pretty fucking cool. Go find out for yourself, and bring gifts.

The gods know we are mortals, and that mortals make mistakes. Apologize. Bring gifts.

[joyousmadness]

“there are exceptions to most rules. Most of those exceptions are Dionysos.”

I don’t know if there’s a truer statement out there.

[thegardenhearth]

just impulsively bought a cauldron. what do i do with it that is NOT cultural appropriation????

[lanternshadows]

make spaghettios in it

[friend-crow]

Being part of the occult/witchcraft community means watching the same discourses happen on an endless loop, but then once or twice a year you get to witness some really bizarre drama as a reward for your patience.

[breelandwalker]

-sips coffee in Annual Holiday Fiascos- 😑

-drinks a shot in Curse Shaming Puritanism- 😣

-chugs an entire bottle of wine in Help It's Murrayism Again- 😫

[heliomanteia]

As we talk I am gently taking Greek and Roman mythology from Rick Riordan’s hands.

[evilios]

Yes there are traditional ways of what an altar looks like when we talk about Roman and Greek altars. Yes, there are ones that we have the most written and archeological evidence of: altars with cult images and particular offering lists, and home larariums, and obviously structured creations by people who followed their local traditions.

Tradition is good, it shows us a blueprint to work with. Tradition is also not the only way things are done, and hell if I should elaborate that tradition of altar upkeep is something we learn from the most privileged and the richest of the past.

Think about all the effigies of wood and fabric we will never find, all the offerings of common folk we will never recover; ponder on what an altar could look like in the home of someone who had no access to gilded gifts, or marble, or stone statues. Think about all the terracotta figurines and limestone busts lost to time because those materials just don’t last as long as Roman concrete does. Wonder at what long-since-gone foods people shared with their Deities.

And remember, what we learn from archeological and written evidence is but a tiny part of history; don’t feel bad if you can’t follow it down to each and every letter.

[artemis-potnia-theron]

Artemis Apankhomene, 'the strangled goddess'

"Apankhomene, 'the strangled goddess', is another surname of Artemis. Tradition claims that in the neighborhood of the town of Caphyae in Arcadia, in a place called Condylea, there was a sacred grove of Artemis Condyleatis.

Some children had playfully tied a rope around the neck of her statue and claimed she was strangled. As a result, the children were stoned to death by the villagers. Sometime later, the women of Caphyae were struck with a disease and all their children were stillborn.

The villagers saw this as a sign of the wrath of Artemis for stoning the children, and the Oracle ordered that the children be buried properly and that annual sacrifices be made to them since they were wrongly killed. From then on, Artemis was called Apankhomene, or 'Strangled' (Pausanias 8.23.6–7). This legend embodies the role of the goddess in children’s lives.

In her position as Kourotrophos, meaning 'bringing up boys' or 'rearing boys,' she protects their upbringing and leads them to adulthood, receiving dedications of children’s toys and garments."

- She Who Hunts: Artemis: The Goddess Who Changed the World by Carla Ionescu (pg. 44)

[evilios]

I see some people still link hellenicgods.org as a source, and after this informative post sort of went down, I’d like to go over whether or not any changes were made to the website. Like @/thegrapeandthefig, the OP of the linked post, has pointed out, the author behind the website was guilty of misinformation, racism (in the past), ahistorical claims, mentions of “true religion”, and such. As of 2020 (date of the original post), the only thing removed was comparison of “pagan” to “n-word” after being publicly called out and not a minute earlier.

I see this person so often being sourced on Reddit (where they likely still have a community) and with recent migration I want to bring this back to your attention.

So, update in order of the original post. 

Keep reading

[magnetothemagnificent]

Evangelical Christians 🤝 Neo-pagans 🤝 white witches

Absolutely butchering Hebrew

[lavynder-haze]

he’s a badass guy who can definitely kick ass but he’s also a sopping wet greasy little meow meow blorbo with sad kitten eyes. he’s my dream man.

[freshmoviequotes]

Renfield (2023)