To Honor and Praise

kaliya || hellenic polytheist || I just really love the theoi || apollo, hermes, ares mostly but also all of them

[teawiththegods]

Lets Have Some Fun Tonight!! Tell Me Your Unpopular Opinions About Hellenic Polytheism, the Greek Gods, Greek Mythology, and Ancient Greece! 😁👍🏻

[sisterofiris]

Here’s a few:

The dichotomy between mythology (totally just ancient fanfic) and cultus (the Actual Truth™ about Hellenic polytheism) doesn’t exist. Myths were part of cultus and people absolutely believed in them. A lot of people just can’t fathom something being both religiously informative and not literal gospel truth at the same time. Also, many people try to distance themselves from Ancient Greek misogyny, slavery, abuse (etc) by discrediting mythology; a far healthier approach, in my opinion, would be to recognise that myths hold both religious value and deeply flawed and harmful beliefs inherent to Ancient Greek society. It’s possible to appreciate the former while condemning the latter.

Similarly, the polarisation of views about Ancient Greece (and ancient civilisations in general) between “they were all horrible and irredeemable” and “some people were horrible but actually the religion was matriarchal and peaceful and racism didn’t exist and imperialism was invented by the Romans” is just as incorrect as it is harmful. We can acknowledge the flaws in a society without focusing only on them, or glossing over them. This is particularly important when studying ancient history. Painting an entire society as irredeemable, or claiming it was utopian, both imply there is nothing worth studying and learning from it.

The actual dichotomy, in my opinion, should be between religion and philosophy. Platonism isn’t Hellenic polytheism; it’s the beliefs of one specific Athenian man and his followers. That doesn’t mean philosophy wasn’t heavily influenced by religion (it was), nor does it mean you can’t follow a certain philosophy if it suits you, but reading The Symposium won’t provide you with the Actual Truth™ about the Gods as most Ancient Greeks viewed them.

Speaking of which, there is no Actual Truth™ about the Gods.

Just because you don’t like Homer and just because his epics have been over-studied doesn’t mean there isn’t value in them. Especially for recons whose practise isn’t rooted in 5th century Athens.

Revivalists need to understand that reconstructionism isn’t about inflexibly copying everything the Ancient Greeks did and nothing else. It’s about seeking historical precedent first and foremost, doing one’s best to understand the context behind ancient practises, then adapting it all to the modern world and filling in the gaps with innovation/UPG. What makes the difference between recons and revivalists is prioritisation: both groups use ancient sources and modern innovation, but recons prioritise ancient sources whereas revivalists prioritise modern innovation.

It shouldn’t be okay to insult deities. Disagree with their portrayal by certain authors, sure (hello, Ovid). Point out that certain myths are the product of bigoted and harmful societal views, absolutely. But if you genuinely think that Zeus, Hera or Poseidon is villainous, you shouldn’t be a Hellenic polytheist.

Believing that the Gods are neither perfect nor all-powerful does not equal believing that they are villainous.

Zeus is a wonderful Sky Papa whom I love, and that is a hill I will die on.

[finelythreadedsky]

this website is REALLY good at circulating mythological misinformation and alternative narratives presented as fact about certain figures (medusa, persephone, cybele/great goddess types) and honestly i think we could afford to spend a little more misinformation energy on arachne

[totopopopo]

LISTEN UP cause I’m about to teach you something historians DONT WANT YOU TO KNOW the story of Arachne that you think you know is actually INACCURATE the ORIGINAL AUTHENTIC SINGULAR VERSION of the story ACTUALLY features Arachne (whose name translated literally actually means Girlboss) who is MARRIED to the goddess Athena and they spend time weaving collabritively until a man came and told Athena and Arachne that competition breeds innovation so they were forced to weave against each other! But THEN Athena turned Arachne into a spider, which was her favorite animal (it’s what she was named after) so that she could live with Athena for the rest of her life, in hiding as a spider, free from the crushing weight of capitalism! The ORIGINAL actual story was actually MUCH more Marxist than the one they usually teach. It was actually one of the first criticisms of capitalism in fact. Trust me because I have exactly 0 sources and a fuckton of confidence to back up my claims!

[finelythreadedsky]

oh my god guys i do not know how to explain that there’s a difference between the organic evolution of oral traditions within the culture that produced them and attributed some degree of religious significance to them and someone making stuff up two thousand years removed from the cultures in which those oral traditions circulated organically, after a significant period in which the stories have been widely considered static, fixed, exclusively literary, and wholly non-religious

[verdantlyviolet]

Hera Epithets of Life Stages

Hera Ataurote • Hera the pure/virginal or unmarried (unbulled)

Hera Gamelia • Hera of marriage

Hera Khera • Hera the widow/separated woman

Hera Nympheuomene • Hera the betrothed bride

Hera Pais • Hera the girl

Hera Parthenia • Hera the maiden (or river Parthenius)

Hera Teleia • Hera the grown/adult woman

Hera Zygia • Hera of marriage (yoked)

[ X ]

[star-of-zeus]

Misconceptions of Zeus

@adri-le-chat​ has very kindly passed on an ask to me for an informative post taking about some misconceptions of Zeus and some epithets that counter them. I’m very excited for this opportunity to talk/rant about how great Zeus is and how he doesn’t deserve the bad rep he gets, so here goes! I’ll just be listing the misconceptions and explaining the epithets/general things that counter them below

      1. He’s an absolute jerk. I would like to first point out Zeus’s epithet Panellenios (of all the Greeks) to counteract the jerk part in a way - he’s a very “accessible” god, contrary to popular belief. He’s not elitist, you don’t need to have specific qualifications/traits or anything to worship or work with him - you just need dedication! He is also called Zeus Pater (father), god of fatherhood/parenthood as well. How could I counteract this misconception without also talking about Zeus Xenios (of hospitality) and Zeus Phyxios (of refuge). How could a god of hospitality and of refuge be a jerk? He was the one that punished the jerks for being jerks and being mean to guests/refugees and such. 

      2. He will get angry at you easily. I saw someone on one of the discord servers I’m in talk about someone that said Zeus will sic demons on you if you misbehave and… what? Zeus Melikhios can translate to “merciful” and not just “mild” - his wrath could be appeased even if you incurred it. He isn’t an unnecessarily rage-y god, he is fair and just and if you got the punishment he doled out…. honestly you might have deserved it! He’s divine justice you’re not gonna be stuck down by Zeus for making a small mistake. He’s called Zeus Palamnios (punisher of m-rderers) not Zeus “punisher of you who forgot to give offerings that one time”.

      3. Zeus is always a bearded old man This one is a more harmless misconception of course, but the thing that disproves it is quite interesting so I’m going to talk about it anyways. Zeus was worshipped as a giant snake and a child. Yes, you heard me correctly, a giant snake and a child.

Even if in one perspective Zeus Meilichios was simply one aspect of Zeus, in another he had to be treated as an independent figure. He was often portrayed differently too, as a gigantic snake. - p.91 of On Greek Religion by Robert Parker

Meilichios/Melikhios is a Chthonic epithet of Zeus, and it can also counteract the notion that Zeus is only an Ouranic god. In actuality, quite a few Ouranic gods had Chthonic aspects! Hermes, Demeter, and Persephone are “mixed” gods as well in that they have both Chthonic and Ouranic aspects.

There are at Aegium (in Achaia) other images made of bronze, Zeus as a boy and Heracles as a beardless youth, the work of Ageladas of Argos. Priests are elected for them every year, and each of the two images remains at the house of the priest. (Descriptions 7.24.4) - p. 38 of Priesthood by Leopold Sabourin

So, not only was Zeus worshipped as a boy, he had a whole priest for his worship as a child!

      4. He sleeps around a lot.

This is probably the most common misconception that people have about him, so let’s get down to it! As Zeus is a very powerful god and the king of all, kings and warriors alike would claim him as their father. Alexander the Great claimed that he was the son of Zeus-Ammon. As Ken Dowden puts it in “Zeus”:

If someone wishes proudly to claim that some hero or tribe is descended from Zeus, another adultery will usually be added to his list. This is how family trees (‘genealogies’) work

Quite a few of his supposed adulteries simply stem from men who didn’t know their fathers and wanted to lay claim to importance through their heritage. People who also wanted explanations of how a place or thing came to be would do the same. Additionally, even when looking at the myths, Zeus doesn’t have a sh-t-ton of children at once, they take place over time, here’s an explaination that I found on labrandeus’s blog:

I’m not stating anything new when I say that in popular culture people like to portray Zeus as this horny guy who just can’t keep it in his pants. But what is new I think is when I say that the myths actually don’t support this. Yes, you heard me right. If you look at the myths carefully, it turns out that Zeus isn’t the hopeless womanizer many people think it is. The key factor here is time. When we think of the Greek myths, we often don’t have a clear time frame so we imagine them all taking place at the same time. But that’s not the case. The myths take place over a long period of time. I’ll give you an example to make it more clear: The Iliad names two living mortal children of Zeus: Sarpedon and Helen. Heracles lived one generation before them, he is already dead at the time the Iliad is taking place but one of his sons is fighting in the Trojan war. So, Alcmene, Heracles’ mother, is said to be the granddaughter of Perseus, son of Zeus and Danaë. Danaë again is a descendant of Epaphus, son of Zeus and Io. Epaphus and Sarpedon lived about 480 years apart (the Wikipedia page of Epaphus also has a nice illustration). That’s a long ass time.

So, even in the adultery that Zeus does commit (also keep in mind, of course, that the myths are a product of their time and do not reflect the gods in their full capacity) it isn’t a series of children in quick succession, it’s some children over time. His children in myth also had importance and a role: a lot of them moved on to defeat monsters that were plaguing humanity. As Adrian and I like to say, Zeus plays 5-D chess.  I hope that this post helped clear up some misconceptions that people had. Zeus is a wonderful and multi-faceted god who I am honored to serve and call my patron. He doesn’t deserve the bad rep he gets in pop culture and modern media, and I hope a few of you understand that better now then you did before. :)

[garlandedspirits]

So I just found out that sculptures of baby Dionysus hanging out with satyrs was a thing back in ancient Greece and Rome

 and…

this

is

so

wholesome???

which is a word I’d never thought I’d use in the context of Dionysus and satyrs

[sunshineandsisyphus]

if u aren’t treating ur girl like a goddess wyd

[sunshineandsisyphus]

Hello there! So, I'm just getting into Hellenic polytheism, and coming from someone who has followed the law of attraction for a while now, I wanted to ask: how much of the events in the world are caused by the gods, how much is from humans, and how much(if any) is just pure Iuck?

Hey anon! That is the question, isn’t it? I honestly don’t feel fully equipped to answer it, because it’s a massive theological debate in any religion and I have no formal theological training. Even what I do have as far as knowledge toward this debate comes from the lens of Christianity, due to how I was raised. What I do have for you, though, is this post! It’s something I was thinking about a while ago, and I think it might sort of maybe start to answer some of your questions. At the end of the day, it’s up to you to determine what the gods mean to you in your personal practice. This is how I see them in mine, and maybe that jives with you! Maybe not! Both are ok, but at the end of the day, your life and your relationship with the Theoi is what you make of it. Welcome to the community, and good luck!

[sunshineandsisyphus]

Quotes from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land that remind me of the Theoi

Zeus

Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.

Hera

The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne,

Glowed on the marble, where the glass

Held up by standards wrought with fruited vines

From which a golden Cupidon peeped out

(Another hid his eyes behind his wing)

Poseidon

A rat crept softly through the vegetation

Dragging its slimy belly on the bank

While I was fishing in the dull canal

On a winter evening round behind the gashouse

Musing upon the king my brother’s wreck

And on the king my father’s death before him.

Hades

A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,

I had not thought death had undone so many.

Persephone

In this decayed hole among the mountains

In the faint moonlight, the grass is singing

Apollo

O City city, I can sometimes hear

Beside a public bar in Lower Thames Street,

The pleasant whining of a mandoline

And a clatter and a chatter from within

Where fishmen lounge at noon: where the walls

Of Magnus Martyr hold

Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold.

Artemis

The wind

Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed.

Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.

Aphrodite

Under the firelight, under the brush, her hair

Spread out in fiery points

Glowed into words, then would be savagely still.

Ares

But at my back in a cold blast I hear

The rattle of the bones, and chuckle spread from ear to ear.

Athena

And we shall play a game of chess,

Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door.

Hephaestus

What is the city over the mountains

Cracks and reforms and bursts in violet air

Falling tower

Jerusalem Athens Alexandria

Vienna London

Unreal

Hermes

Who is the third who walks always beside you?

When I count, there are only you and I together

But when I look ahead up the white road

There is always another one walking beside you

Demeter

What is that sound high in the air

Murmur of maternal lamentation

Who are those hooded hordes swarming

Over endless plains, stumbling in cracked earth

Ringed by the flat horizon only

Dionysus

My friend, blood shaking my heart

The awful daring of a moment’s surrender

Which an age of prudence can never retract

By this, and this only, we have existed

Which is not to be found in our obituaries

Hestia

At the violet hour, the evening hour that strives

Homeward, and brings the sailor home from sea,

The typist home at teatime, clears her breakfast, lights

Her stove, and lays out food in tins.

[kissingagrumpygiant]

did i fall into a silly lil ariadne and dionysus hole. perhaps 

[proletariangothic]

Nazis do not belong in Hellenism

Refrain from evil not out of fear, but because it is right. Μη δια φόβον, αλλά δια το δέον απέχεσθε αμαρτημάτων. — Democritus, 470-370 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher You can&#82…

Recently, a website called the Xenia Declaration has been floating around. This website declares that marginalized groups are welcome in the faith and has a section where individuals and groups can sign in agreement, and try to run their organizations towards the  Hellenic value of Xenia, or hospitality, towards those oppressed by society.

Within 24 hours of the website being up and running, a prominent blogger by the name of Sannion accused Xenia Declaration of harboring pedophiles by allowing a pedophile apologist to sign. Once evidence of this person indeed being a pedophile apologist was found, this persons signature was removed from the Xenia Declaration.

Unfortunately, Sannion’s signature also had to be removed. This is because various photos of Sannion have surfaced of him wearing a Nazi black sun pendant and doing the White Power OK hand gesture, and allowing such a person’s signature to stay on the Declaration is contrary to it’s spirit.

Because of all this:

1) Various extreme right wing people have gone the predictable route of conflating LGBT acceptance and pedophilia being allowed.

2) Various people have become hostile to Sannions accusers of Nazism, even with clear photographic evidence of Nazi symbolism, pendants, shirts, and hand gesture.

3) People have insisted that since Sannion is Blackfoot, everyone sounding the alarm about these photos are just evil social justice warriors trying to destroy him. It should be noted that the source of these photos, who runs the link above, *is jewish*.

4) Some vague conspiracy talk of people trying to appropriate and ruin the “““Ethnic Greek Religion”““ by including “““references to Genitals”““ upheld by the now removed pedophile apologist signature. It should be noted that this person is not as well known in the greater Pagan community as Sannion is and they’ve been associated with a pedophile scandal active since *1964*, before the makers of the Xenia Declaration were even born.

So: Pedophilia is bad, obviously. The Signature of the pedophile apologist was removed as soon as the claims were corroborated with evidence.

Nazism is also obviously bad and so is being buddy buddy with them, buying their merch, and posing using their hand gestures. Sannions signature was also not allowed to stay on the website because why would an anti hate declaration allow it on considering the photographs?

In conclusion: No, the LGBT community isn’t not out to turn Hellenism into a pedophile thing with this declaration. Yes, Sannion probably harbors some shitty views in private. Neither signature is being reinstated, and *listen to Jews if they’re telling you someone is a Nazi or a sympathizer of Nazis*

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

The link above has the Nazi Photos, and no I’m not the author of that page so you will need to contact them for more info.

Here is the Xenia Declaration: http://www.xeniadeclaration.com/

Here is a link on the pedo apologist: https://breendoggle.fandom.com/wiki/Don_Studebaker?fbclid=IwAR06g18L13krJkvKPLJ5uv5dn673RSigIbTjsFDTIXxLvBYOgBjL7nreek4

[riverenodian]

Just to let ya all know that the Nazi claims Dionysos told him to wear a Nazi symbol like that would ever be a thing.

[citizen-zero]

very funny when TERF pagans try to claim Aphrodite. like, there’s a whole story where the act of cutting off a penis and testicles is what leads to her birth. and not her birth as a child, but as a fully grown woman. you can easily take that as a trans allegory.

[longlive2023]

[blve-orion]

Some pictures of this years last full moon, setting behind a mountain range, shortly before sunrise on the mountain tops

And a (a bit shaky) video of the moon, seemingly crawling along the edge of the mountain

[sunshineandsisyphus]

Hello! I wanted to ask you

I am not in possibilities to do a lot of offerings other than water or some store bought candy/cookies ( i am at my parents place and they don't really respect personnal space and i can't really do big offerings without risking they throw it away or eat it...)

Do you think the gods would mind if i just write small words and put them in a small chocolate box ? I don't really have anything to ask to them i just want to start a dialogue

Hi friend!

I think that’s a really cute idea! I actually do something similar for Apollo. The gods understand personal situations, so don’t worry if you can’t do the big, extravagant offerings.

Something I do when I’m at my parents’ house is offer something from the meal we have. I offer the essence of what I’m eating, then I just eat a side dish or something for a little while before coming back to the offering. It’s essentially no different from how I offer food when I’m in my apartment, just silent! Depending on how strict recon you are, offerings made to chthonic dieties are usually buried, not eaten, which is a little less inconspicuous, but I’ve heard the chthonic gods are pretty understanding about that. Can’t verify myself, but if it applies to you, it would definitely be something to work out with the gods themselves!

If all else fails, water and candy are also perfectly legitimate offerings. Good luck!

[sunshineandsisyphus]

Hi! I have a question, and I think you'll be able to help me:( I feel like I've been called by Athena. Ever since I was a child I felt connection to her, she was my favourite goddess and someone i wanted to be like, but growing up as Catholic I thought these are just my fantasies and love for Greek mythology. But the weirdest thing happened to me lately, I was researching Athena online for fun, read a prayer (not praying i think, just wanted to read it), then I had a dream about a huge owl that came to me, and the next day i found an owl decoration which I bought and took home bc i felt like I should. But the thing is - my whole family is Catholic, and even though I'd like to start researching more about worshipping her I'm kinda... Scared? That something might happen? That I'm a stain on my family's background? Idk. Thank you for listening to my rambling lol

Hey friend! It’s totally ok to be nervous, especially with your family’s background. It definitely sounds like Athena could be trying to get your attention, and if you want to start working with her, you totally can regardless of your family’s religious background! Even if she is calling you, though, you’re under no obligation to answer if you don’t want to.

My roommate was actually in a sort of similar situation earlier this year. She’s a very devout Christian, but she felt that Psyche was calling her and wanted to explore that without disrespecting God. The way she ended up settling the cognitive dissonance was essentially through a variation of soft polytheism: if God created the universe and everything, then he must have created the Theoi, too, and therefore they exist with the intent from him to be worshipped. Personally, I don’t believe in the Christian God, so I don’t necessarily agree with that idea, but it’s worked really well for her and it allows her to pursue worship of all the dieties she chooses, regardless of apparent theological incompatibility. I don’t know if that perspective helps you or not, but there are people who are both Christian and polytheists, so it wouldn’t necessarily have to be a stain on your family’s legacy (of course, that’s assuming that polytheism is inherently bad and that it would be a stain if it couldn’t be tied in to Christianity, which i don’t believe it is, but I understand that it can be difficult to separate polytheism from “bad” when raised in that culture).

At the end of the day, while I can’t really speak for the Christian god, I don’t think he’s going to smite you for wanting to explore polytheism. Unless something has changed in the last half hour or so, he hasn’t smote my roommate. You can always take baby steps: research a little, then try pouring a libation when you’re ready, then try making a subtle little altar when you feel you’re ready to do that, etc. And if at any time you decide “hey, this isn’t the path for me,” you can leave. Thank Athena for her interest, but politely decline worship and move on. Humanity still has free will, even from the gods, and they respect and acknowledge that. I hope this helped a little!

[classical-beauty-of-the-past]

Temple of Asclepius, Rome

[teapartiez]