I see a lot of people say that the Theoi are pleased with their worship/offering/etc. How does one know this? What are your most tried and true methods or indicators for knowing that you’re doing it right?
Hello, Anon! I'm sorry it took me a couple days to answer this, but I wanted to answer your question in the depth it deserves.
According to ancient practitioners, the primary indicator is: did anything really weird - or actually bad - happen?
I don't mean annoyances, like the lighter didn't work or it took six matches to light the candle and the incense. I don't even mean there having been a clap of thunder because, depending on whom one is worshiping and what one asks or needs, that could be a good thing.
I'm thinking about the time the Emperor Hadrian visited Mount Casius to make a sacrifice to Zeus and a flash of lightning killed both the victim and the priest. Maybe it was a judgement on the priest, but the Bar Kokhba revolt broke out around that time, so it could have been a sign, or even one of a number of consecutive signs, that Zeus wasn't happy about something.
In general, if everything goes basically according to plan, one's curtains didn't catch fire, swarming insects didn't suddenly converge upon one's altar and devour the offering cake, etc., one can rest assured that the offering was accepted.
The second indicator is: how does one feel after worship/making an offering?
Not all of us are, for various reasons, happy people on a regular, daily basis, but, hopefully, one feels some level of satisfaction and/or happiness, similar to having talked to/spent time with/received a benign email from a friend, family member, or teacher/mentor.
The third indicator is: asking the Theoi directly through divination.
In antiquity, priests used to examine the organs of sacrificial animals for signs that the offering had been favorably received. If one or more of the organs was deformed, the priest fell back on protocol for the situation. The plan of action may have been to go ahead and repeat the ritual but, if the anomalies continued, divination was performed to find out why the deity was displeased and what needed to be done to appease them.
Today, many polytheists incorporate some form of divination in their regular worship specifically to provide an opening for communication from their deity/deities.
Whenever one feels or otherwise suspects something isn't right in one's relationship with a deity, one should ask the deity about it, through prayer, meditation, or divination. If you're not familiar with divination, you'll find a heading with links here: https://honorthegods.tumblr.com/masterpost - and, if one prefers, providers of divination services are available here at tumblr.
Ask the deity as directly as possibly if you've done something to cause offense, if there's something specific they want you to do (for them, for yourself, for others) or to stop doing, and ask what they want you to do about it. This is where divination excels over prayer and meditation, because one can confirm with repeated questions and at another time.
I will add that, while it's important not to offend the Theoi, one also needs to avoid the trap of overthinking whether we're doing enough, too much, or too little for one's deities. Because they're immortal beings, it's easy to feel like whatever one does can never be enough - but that's not true. The Theoi have been dealing with humanity for millennia and they really don't expect much from us, aside from basic respect and human decency.
In my experience, when we fall short, they let us know. They don't abandon us, but show even those who intentionally inflict injury the way to make things right, and they encourage us to try again.
In my experience, when we fall shhort, they let us know. They don't abandon us, but show even those who intentionally inflict injury the way to make things right, and they encourage us to try again.
