✦ Health and Hearth ✦

Dedicated to the guardians of home and health, devoted to the Theoi. 𖤓 Asks are always open! 𖤓

[theoikosoracle]

χαίρετε friend . . .

Welcome to my little blog! You can call me O! ⋆˚࿔

𖤓 I am a Hellenic Polytheist, and this blog will be used to share a myriad of things surrounding household worship, The Oikos (household) Theoi and Health Theoi.

This is first and foremost a safe space for all, anything hateful or harmful will be removed! ⋆˚࿔

𖤓 I am an adult with a few years of experience in this religion, I have my own 'personal pantheon' but for the sake of ease the gods I will be talking about here are Zeus, Apollon, Hermes, Hekate and Hestia as well as minor gods and spirits related to households and health like Hygeia! (i'm not actually an oracle, just thought it was a nice title) ⋆˚࿔

My asks will always be open so feel free to send in any questions about helpol!

✦ Things I am steadfastly against: AI, Bigotry, Hate/Disrespect, Appropriation. ✦

[evanxhunter]

The Epithets and Epicleses of Hestia pt.2

Pt.1

EPEKOOS - [Επεκοος] - Attentive

This epithet means in a very general sense "listening", and contextually "listening to prayer".

More than an epithet, it was a formula widely used in Ancient Greece for prayers, deep wishes and supplicating requests.

Several sites bear witness to this: anatomical ex-votos, more precisely parts of human faces such as eyes, ears and more occasionally the mouth can be found as offerings.

Epigraphically, the epithet is also found in inscribed formulas: "may she/he listen to his/her/my voice" as a thank you.

Votive plaque with three eyes, limestone, Louvre Museum, Paris, France.

Painted votive plaque dedicated to Theos Hypsistos, limestone, Louvre Museum, Paris, France.

Votive plaque with three eyes, limestone, Louvre Museum, Paris, France.

Votive Ear, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Votive plaque with two ears, limestone, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, UK.

Sometimes isolated, sometimes in pairs or even associated with each other, the archaeological finds that bring back these ex-votos come in particular from ancient cities of the Cypriot valley: Chytri, Voni Arsos, Tamassos, Idalion, Mathiatis, Kition.

Moreover, on the same site, there were in fact ex-votos of two different peoples: Greeks and Phoenicians. These two peoples have historically succeeded each other: first, the Phoenicians from 1200 BC to 322 BC, then in a second time, the Greeks, following the conquest of the region by Alexander the Great.

Nevertheless, the main stakes of these offerings reflect the same interfaces between believers and deities for both peoples. The offering was the image either of the "organ" solicited from the deity (more precisely, the meaning: listening, seeing), or of a diseased organ represented to the deity in the optisue of a healing. This is particularly the case in the Asclepieia. Moreover, in this conjuncture, the image could just as well be given after the fact, as a thank you.

Sources:

Inscriptions, votive ears and eyes: do the Gods of Cyprus listen and look ? - Anna Cannavo and Hélène Le Meaux (2021)

Listening to the Epekooi Gods in Egypt and the Aegean Islands in the Hellenistic Period: Sanctuaries and Agents - Thomas Galoppin and Sylvain Lebreton (2021)

Dedications without Palmyran theonym -Aleksandra Kubiak-Schneider (2021)

Uoregon : Greek-Romance religions / archives - Greek terms

Belleten : Labrys and Ears on the Orthostat Block in the Southern Cella Wall of Zeus Lepsynos Temple at Euromos : An Iconographic Approach - Abuzer Kizil (2024)

[korrioak-deactivated20260717]

Apollo, guardian of Troy 🌞

[theoikosoracle]

whats a personal pantheon? I would love to learn more about this

Hey Anon! So this concept is something super simple - its just the gods that I worship. The Greek pantheon is very big and it isn't manageable to venerate every single god, so I took my time to choose who to incorporate in my practice regularly so that it was easier for me to do. This is something most people do but I just used a simple term to describe it being 'Personal Pantheon'. My personal pantheon of gods that I worship includes gods I am yet to worship and gods I have been worshipping for years, they match my hobbies, home/environment and job! (it also includes minor and major gods as well as spirits/daimons) They basically fit into my life perfectly whereas the gods outside of my personal pantheon do not (but are equally worth worship). I hope this makes sense to you! And thank you for your question! By health and hearth, χαίρετε!

[oracleofhemerasia-deactivated20]

[dockhus3t]

y’all should pray to zeus rn bc he’s the god of foreigners and justice for crying out loud

like seriously esp with what’s happening here in america rn

[theoikosoracle]

⋆ Who do you pray to when you're sick?

✦ Did you know there are gods you can reach out to? A whole family tree of them in fact... ✦

𖤓 ⤑ There were a few gods you could reach out to while sick, to help you get better! These gods were Apollon, Asclepius and Hygeia.

✦ Don't know how to pray to these gods for help with sickness? Don't worry, I'll guide you through it! ✦

Firstly lets learn about who these gods are and which epithets we would use when reaching out to them about our health! ⤑ Apollon is the god of prophecy, the arts and healing (among many other things). The epithets we'd reach out to would be ones pertaining to healing!

Παιηον/Paiêon meaning 'Healer' Ακεσιος/Akesios meaning 'Of Healing' Courtesy of Theoi.com

⤑ Asclepius is the god of medicine and doctors, he is also the son of Apollon. The epithets we'd reach out to will concern all his domains!

Ιατρος/Iatros meaning 'Healer/Physician' Ηπιος/Êpios meaning 'Soothing' Courtesy of Theoi.com

⤑ Hygeia is the goddess of good health, and the daughter of Asclepius! The whole family tree of healing haha!

Hygeia doesn't have many known epithets (according to my sources), though you can use her domains as her titles - as well as her parentage for invocation. I refer to her as "Hygeia of good health, daughter of Asclepius the Physician".

Now that we know what to call upon them as, lets talk about how we would go about praying to them!

𖤓 To begin with we must note that all of these divinities are Ouranic, which means when you are praying to them you would raise your hands to the sky.

If you're unaware of basic prayer structure within Hellenic Polytheism then you can check out this post.

𖤓 If you are too sick to give offerings, you can vow to give offerings upon the ending of your sickness. If you are too sick to pray, you can ask another Helpol who isnt sick to pray for you!

⤑ You can also pray to these gods when you're not sick to keep you in good health, which I heavily recommend! Especially to Hygeia! Your well-being is important and the Theoi are able to provide you with support! By health and hearth, χαίρετε!

[gayeilgeoir]

Xenia means you help your neighbours escape immigration police

Xenia means you feed, house, and respect the homeless, regardless of what got them there

Xenia means you do the work to unlearn racism, misogyny, homophobia, ableism and transphobia

Xenia means (with obvious exceptions) you treat criminals and felons as human beings worthy of dignity and respect

Xenia means you make your environments less overstimulating if you know you’ll be with an autistic person

Xenia means Fuck the police

Xenia means you talk to the elderly neighbour who’s living on their own, and has nobody in their life

Xenia means respecting your trans friends identity even when they’re not present