⚢ ⛥ coco ⛥ ⚢

23 | ⚢ | 🦽 | helpol that one lesbian who don’t play about Aphrodite

[thathellenicpolytheist]

✩°｡⋆ about me ⋆｡°✩

coco • he/she • butch ⚢ • 23 • audhd • wheelchair user • Aphrodite devotee • classical studies undergrad student

this blog is for all things helpol and classics topics. this is not a fandom account or for RP it is a religious blog where i talk about religion! my main blog is @lionastraea. but i haven’t used tumblr in years.

asks are open :)

[thathellenicpolytheist]

i’m never here anymore because uni is taking it out of me but hi friends

[thathellenicpolytheist]

hiii oomfs update i moved for uni!!!!!

[thathellenicpolytheist]

Hi, I just want to say how sorry I am for the amount of hate you're getting for literally no reason.

I love your blog, you're doing a wonderful job.

From a lesbian who doesn't play about Artemis to you, a lesbian who doesn't play about Aphrodite. 🩷

hi i actually haven’t been here in a hot second so any oomfies seeing this hi i am still alive just been really busy preparing for moving and uni and stuff anyway that said hi kind stranger i know what you are referring to and thank you i appreciate it but it did make me giggle a little because that happened like 3 months ago lmaooo but i do really appreciate your kind words 🫶🫶🫶🫶

[thathellenicpolytheist]

Hi I just found ur blog and I love it! I've been into my own practice for a bit now, still new tho. I wanted to ask ur opinion about this. I focus on illyrian paganism. I love researching abt it as it's sth my ancestors practiced and some things are still practiced and celebrated today! Given that illyrians had a lot of relations with the Greeks we also have some common deities that have been worshiped (mainly Zeus, Aphrodite, Artemis and Apollo), which is what drew me to ur acc!

I had started with greek deities, but I didn't rlly feel connected, but when I started practice with illyrian ones, let me tell u the experience was INSANEEE. I was like wow this is for me and I feel it.

The issue is I cannot do much research, I'm currently in practice for the God of war Medaurus, I know of other gods as well, but there is no existing scripture, mythology stories or anything related to the illyrian gods and that makes it an almost dead religion.

This frustrates me bc I feel connected, but I almost know nothing still. I only have been able to communicate with tarot cards etc here and there, but I'm stuck at a hard place bc I never know if anything I'm doing is correct, or welcomed bc there is nothing I can read to actually know. I think u had a post about how u should treat the space of deity/their offerings as a guest in ur house and that rlly helped me!

hiii anon this was an ask from so long ago so i’m sorry i have been so busy with life stuff but hiiii!

so firstly i’m glad you like my blog thank you so much i really appreciate that <3

secondly and for the actual question! i’ll be completely honest im not entirely sure what i would do in this situation. especially with the way i personally practise religion being very focused in historical context that in your situation is difficult to get. i also unfortunately don’t know enough about Illyrian religion to steer you in any direction of any information that might exist. the best thing i think you could do in this situation would be to see if you can find any other practitioners that worship the Illyrian Gods and (if they are open to questions or a conversation) speaking with them and seeing where they get their information from for things. the other thing is if you haven’t already you could try JSTOR and search for related keywords and see if any articles exist that might be a good starting place when it comes to the religion.

[thathellenicpolytheist]

sorry for being IA guys i’m in the process of signing my lease, applying for loans and enrollment shit for university i will be back soon 🙏

[thathellenicpolytheist]

hi! can you talk about your aphrodite worship? I'd love to know

hiiii i def can i have a post im putting together on papers and books about her that i enjoyed reading i only haven’t got it finished because i am getting prepared for moving for uni! but if you have any specific questions about my Aphrodite worship feel free to ask and i can talk about it :))

[thathellenicpolytheist]

So sorry if you've answered this before, but what do you do with food offerings once you need to dispose of them? Throwing them out feels wasteful but burying them could cause issues to the local flaura and fauna.

Also that honey cake thing looks absolutely delicious, very good job.

hi anon :) so for the most part don’t feel bad about eating offerings after thee have served their purpose if they are still edible! it is perfectly okay to eat the offering after you are “done with it” so to speak. infact historically speaking a lot of offerings were eaten after especially if we are thinking about how they would burn the fat of the animal for the theoi and then eat the meaty parts! there is a really awesome post about it i will link here explaining it in more depth!

alternatively you can check if what you offered is safe for the environment or not! if it is discarding them outdoors or in a composter works really really well!!

if it is a liquid offering such as water, honeyed milk, mixed wine or the like pouring it out onto the ground outside is really good!!!

if you think it isn’t safe to eat (expired somehow) or discard outside the best thing to do is just discard of it like any other food or drink.

[thathellenicpolytheist]

hi! you mentioned that you make honey cakes and oat cakes and i was wondering what are they?

my honey cakes are essentially sponge cake mix but with honey added to the batter and then a honey syrup soaked into the cake once it is baked, either as cupcakes or as a full cake pan! here is a photo of some i did last year which i could then use squares of as food offerings!

the recipe i use will obviously be slightly different to the honey cakes historically eaten in ancient greece but cake recipes have existed for many years and what we do know of aincent honey cakes is that they were flat, molded cake and that they were made from honey, flour and eggs. i use all 3 ingredients in my honey cakes and when i do them as cupcakes i can also use cake molds for cute shapes or whatever else!

as for oat cakes unfortunately i don’t have any photos of ones i have made but i also make them differently depending on the day and what i have available to me i either make what are essentially pancakes made with oats, flat round biscuits made from oatmeal mixed with some binding agents to form a dough that is then cut into circles and baked into buscits, or i do another sponge cake type of a recipe with oats mixed into the batter!! i find biscuits last longer and preserve better so i can make them in advance more easily so i do tend to make them more often but yeah :)) hope this helps

[thathellenicpolytheist]

Can you talk about your academic work as devotional acts? 🙏 I'd love to know

absolutely!!!

so devotion for me is the act of meaningfully dedicating something in reverence to the theoi. not all academic work will be something i feel worthy of deeming a “devotional act” but a lot of my academic work, especially as a classical studies student, does to me feel fitting to use as such. i think a lot of it comes down to how and why that acedemic work would be something worthy of doing in honour of the theoi.

for example, dedicating acidemic work i do in my classes on ancient greek language to the theoi is fitting in my opinion because 1) it is something that as a dislecic person i find really time consuming and difficult to do and so it is something that shows a lot of effort into doing and 2) i can use what i learn going forward for other acts of worship such as singing hymns in their original language.

alternatively if i am writing an essay on a specific classical topic related to that God or Goddess in one way or another it might be fitting to devote it that God or Goddess. such as an essay on the cultic worship of Dionysus or an essay on the cultural customs of marriage in antiquity that i might dedicate to Hera as the Goddess of marriage.

there is also the aspect of how a lot of knowledge of how ancient societies functioned has been lost to time and so classists and others in similar jobs are how we know a lot of what we do regarding the way this religion was practiced historically. that combined with the way the subject of classics is being studied less and viewed in a continuously worse light as anti-intellectualism rises more and more makes studying it feel even more important to me. my studies are something i am immensely proud of and are something i put a significant amount of effort in. me studying and me wanting to go into the field of classics is something i do because of my love and respect for the theoi which in my opinion makes a lot of my studies a good act of devotion.

but there will also be modules that are about things i wouldn’t necessarily connect to the theoi and as such would not devote to them such as the class on failed states: category and critique. or if the assignment in question is something i don’t find all that intresting and am doing solely because it’s required for my studies and i am not putting all that much effort into it and am not overly proud of the work i am doing outside of having put effort into it for the sake of doing well in class.

in the same way that i wouldn’t give an physical offering of something i wouldn’t be proud of giving the theoi i wouldn’t dedicate an act to the theoi that i wasn’t proud of doing.

as for the way i go about devoting acts to the theoi i typically start by invoking the God or Goddess allowed while stating that i plan to devote that act and all the time spent on it to them, that any praise or appreciation that act earns me from others is as much praise to them as it is mine since that peice of work is something i dedicated to them. and then proceed to do my absolute best at the academic work i produce. in a lot of ways i view dedication of acidemic work i am proud of a continuation of living my life upholding the concept of ἀρετή (arete) and σοφία (sophia)

[thathellenicpolytheist]

Hiii

Do you think doing my homework or studying can be a devotional act for some deities? 🤔

it absolutely can be i have done academic work as devotional acts before! it will always depend on what the work is and why you are devoting it to the theoi but it can absolutely be used as a devotional acts before

[thathellenicpolytheist]

i love having books arrive feeling very excited about my new additions to my bookshelf even if it wasn’t the best financial decision

[ombrokharis]

Apollo is famously a twink tho... a blonde, skinny hairless boy kisser bro that's literaly his thing? Everyone agrees. I mean everyone. Not everyone can be wrong

Can't tell if you are being serious rn because it's like saying Poseidon didn't live in the sea, Artemis wasn't a lesbian or Aphrodite wasn't born from the sea 💀💀💀

First, the fact that you conflate being a twink with being blonde is fucking racist. Twinks aren't just skinny white gays. Any skinny, hairless gay guy is a twink, regardless of race or hair color.

Secondly, Apollo isn't skinny, hairless, or gay.

He's lean and muscular, just like how ancient Greek boys were expected to be. He has a luscious bush, just like ancient Greek men were expected to have. You call him a "boy kisser" (infantilize homosexual intimacy much?) but he has MANY more female lovers than he does male ones, and "Twink" is GAY SLANG SPECIFICALLY.

Never mind the fact that his relationship with Hyacinth is straight-up pederasty. And conflating pederasty with being gay is homophobic.

Artemis also isn't a lesbian. You are attributing identities to ancient gods that literally didn't exist in antiquity, LMFAO.

"Gay" and "lesbian" are identities that queer people deliberately assign to ourselves. They are identities that exist in context, and pretending that homosexuality existed in the same form that it does now in the ancient past is revisionist history.

[ombrokharis]

Hey, no need to dive so deep into Demeter's story. My actual question was about Zeus if you actually read it. Like, why did he let Demeter's whole 'withholding food from humans' thing slide? We've seen Zeus punish other gods for way less. Hera, Prometheus, and Hephaestus come to mind. So, what's the deal? Why not just assign agriculture to someone else? The gods' roles aren't set in stone. They're basically rassigned, like when the three brothers drew lots to determine who'll rule over what. And you'd think Zeus, being the literal all-wise and all-knowing king, would avoid setting up a situation where one god beneath him (any god, not just Demeter) could wipe out humanity.

Ignoring the fact that, no, it wasn't at all clear that the ask was about Zeus, let's get into this.

Zeus punishes the other gods when they challenge his authority or violate the customs associated with his honors.

Hera tried to dethrone him—a direct challenge to his kingship—, so he hanged her from Olympos in chains.

Prometheus stole from Zeus's house—a violation of xenia—, so he chained him to a mountain and sent a bird after his innards.

I'm not even going to touch on Hephaistos because the version of the myth where he throws him off Olympos for interrupting a domestic dispute between him and Hera comes from the Iliad, and interactions within the pantheon in the Iliad are very obviously meant to be comedic (at least it's obvious to me).

If Demeter wants to withhold her gifts, then that is completely within her rights as a goddess of agriculture. She is not violating his honors or challenging his rule by inhibiting agricultural processes because agriculture is hers. Zeus can't punish her for operating utterly within her sphere of influence.

There's also the fact that, whether we understand his process or not, Zeus is always playing 5D chess while the rest of us are playing checkers.

In other words, he is always 1000 steps ahead.

By setting up the events that would lead to the blight, he ensured the creation of the seasons and the Mysteries, which guaranteed humans a better life after death.

Another way of thinking about it is that momentary chaos begets better order.

Also, as an aside: You are seriously misunderstanding the point of the lot-pulling myth if you think it indicates that Zeus can re-apportion honors and spheres of influence as he pleases... The myth is meant to show that Zeus's kingship was a matter of fate, not that he can reorganize the pantheon all willy-nilly.

[khaire-traveler]

If you're a kid, please take some time to disconnect from your phone today (and every day). Phones aren't necessarily The Enemy™, but I think you'll notice a positive difference in your mental health and overall well-being if you take time each day to read a book, go outside, play with any pets you have, etc. It might sound kinda silly, but I promise you that these things are helpful. Frankly, I wish I knew this as a kid, specifically as a teen. Be safe out there, and take care of yourselves. 🧡

[ombrokharis]

demeters strike makes no sense to me, when she went through that tantrum why couldn't the other gods just grow the food like Gaia, Dionysus etc their domains don't seem to be fixed and overlap so why didn't anyone else do it if it was so dire. Why would Zeus even allow her to keep that domain if she could just starve the world over any minor inconvenience? Isn't Zeus all knowing? Why would he even set up a event that could lead to that?

I'll be real, I don't like the tone of this ask, nor do I like what you are implying about Demeter.

Demeter is the goddess of agriculture and wheat, not just growth. Surely things were growing during her rage, but foodstuffs weren't. That's why cattle and humans died.

Zeus doesn't strip her of her honors precisely because he is the head of the pantheon. He would throw the whole system into chaos by ousting her. Who else would perpetuate agriculture besides the goddess of it? Wheat is also the building block of most Mediterranean food, lmao.

Also, if you consider a mother's daughter being kidnapped a "minor inconvenience," you're sick.

Misogynistic ask.

[thathellenicpolytheist]

to the people who sent me asks i am going to answer them i promise i just have been very busy trying to fill out paperwork for uni and student loans