may you always be safe.

When our time runs out And the clock strikes The hour of our end, May our death be swift, May it be careful, without pain, And may it carried out By Your Gentle hands!

Position

When praying to underworld deities, we should direct our prayers downwards. An example of this is seen in the ninth scroll of the Iliad when Althaea prays to Haides and dread Persephone by kneeling and beating her hands on the ground. Whereas women wore their hair up or covered for ouranic rituals, they wore their hair down in chthonic rituals. The prayer should be murmured.

Offerings

Chthonic Theoi received special nighttime offerings of black animals, unmixed wine and special libations of milk and honey. Animal sacrifice was always done in a holókaustos--a sacrifice where the entire animal was burned and none of the meat was saved for human consumptions.

Homer in the Odyssey writes Circe advising Odysseus how to perform a libation to the dead:

"Draw near then, as I bid you, hero, and dig a trench two feet square, then pour a libation all around to the dead, first of milk and honey, then of sweet wine, thirdly of water, sprinkled with white barley meal."

Prayer format

The format is the same as when praying to any other theoi: Invoke the god, introduce yourself, make an argument as to why they should listen to you, and make a request .

Who are the underworld deities?

- Haides, King of the underworld

- Persephone, Queen of the underworld

- Hecate, Goddess of magic

- Thanatos, God of death

- Hermes Athanatus Diactorus, the chtonic aspect of Hermes in which he guides souls to the underworld

- Nyx, primordial Goddess of the night

- Hypnos, God of sleep

- Charon, ferryman of the dead

- Cerberus, guardian of the underworld

- The Furies, goddesses of vengeance and retribution

Sources:

- http://hadesandtheafterlife.weebly.com/respecting-hades.html

- http://baringtheaegis.blogspot.com/2015/03/how-to-pray-to-khthonic-gods.html?m=1

with your sheathed sword,  you come to us quietly. wreathed in poppies  you come to all with your black feathered wings and envelope us at the final hour

the last tender embrace.

with your sheathed sword, you come to us quietly. wreathed in poppies their fragrance putting us to our final slumber to embrace the velvet darkness. 

When I started working on the Hades 101 series I quickly realized that most of the basic knowledge was already circulating out there. Most of it was scattered and needed to be collected and contained in one place, but still, a “list of offerings suitable for Hades” is something that you can find pretty easily nowadays. 

What was harder to locate were insights from long-term practice and devotion, and this is what this next 102 series is about.

A word of caution, as always- I am basing the next episodes on my personal experience and practice in the last 9 years I have been devoted to Hades. Your experience might be different.

So this time: Hidden myths

 and…

this

is

so

wholesome???

A devotee who does this may say their deity is their own person with their own thoughts and lives, but then only ever view that deity within the scope of that deity’s public personification—which is always more simplified and idealized than that deity actually is.

Jane believed Hekate was over her shoulder 24/7. Apparently, Hekate hated Jane’s boss and would constantly tell Jane catty things about the boss. When the boss talked about doing yoga, Hekate would tell Jane that the boss didn’t even do the poses properly. This worked out great, because Jane hated her boss too and having an ancient primordial goddess shit-talking her boss’s fashion sense was apparently very validating.

I enjoy that Paganism (at least, the sort I’m familiar with) often encourages very close relationships with deities. But I think that it’s constructive to always maintain that they’re incredible, divine forces who always deserve to be treated with great respect. “You guys won’t believeeee what Hekate said about my boss’s new manicure!” doesn’t feel like it rings true to that ideal.

Today I want to talk about a deity in the Hellenic Pantheon that is unfortunately one of the more obscure and less talked about deities despite her importance especially as an opposite of Nyx. Ever since her sudden appearance in my life this year I’ve been itching to make a post like this, a guide and overview of a deity that’s the light of my life (/j) both historically backed as well as UPGs to make up for her lack of an official cult, readily listed epithets, or symbols of worship. Think of this as almost like a starting point for a goddess so important and invaluable in our lives to anyone that might read this that worships her or wants to worship her and is at a loss. 

Hemera, one of the Protogenoi, and one of the Theoi Ouranioi was one of the first gods and the personification of day: both the daytime and the daylight always found in the sky during that time frame. Her parents typically are listed as Nyx and Erebos together, but sometimes Khronos (Time) and Nyx, or Khaos on her own are listed as her parent(s). Hemera’s brother and husband is Aither (personification of light and the bright, blue ether of the heavens) and their daughter is Thalassa, and in more rare cases Gaia and Ouranos are also listed as their children too. Hemera’s home is shared with Nyx in Tartaros but is only occupied by one of the two at a time where one rests and the other is active and playing their role in the universe.

Hemera’s role as a goddess in effect is akin to metaphorically leading everything and everyone that falls under her domain as the one ushering day in, the first one that gets the ball rolling every morning. She greets Nyx for but a moment or two as night recedes and falls day in and day out in an eternal cycle as she parts the veil and dispels the mists so the blue sky and all the light that comes with it and the sun become known to those that inhabit Earth. 

Typically, other goddesses associated or closely tied to her are Hera for her position as Queen of the Heavens in a similar manner to Zeus’ connection to Aither. Eos as the goddess of dawn is also connected with Hemera where their names would be used interchangeably. There is not a lot of art depicting her from ancient Greece, and we do not have any signs of her having a cult or temple more in line with what’s typical for the first deities outside of a few exceptions. Interestingly despite the lack of a cult, a shrine to Hemera and Helios was found on the island of Kos. Unimportant tidbit, but interesting and a little fun that based on context her description as ambrosial-faced most likely means she has a pleasing face and she’s easy on the eyes, beautiful and potentially invoking warmth and light. 

Alternate ways her name is spelled: Hêmerê (Ionian), Amera (Doric), and Amara (Locrian) 

Colors I associate with her: 

Any shade of yellow Lighter/softer shades of orange Pink Purple Sky blue Gold

UPG sacred animals and plants: 

White horses The dawn chorus - comprised of birds like the Dartered trogon, Red-winged blackbird, Song thrush, Common chiffchaff, American robin, Tufted titmouse, Common pheasant, Baltimore oriole, Northern cardinal, Common chaffinch, Chipping sparrow, and the Yellow warbler Sunflowers Black-eyed Susan  Zinnia Yarrow Hellebores

Epithets (Almost all UPG since she has none): 

Light-bearing  All-surrounding  Bringer of light Light giver One who bathes us in light Golden-winged Dispeller of night Night chasing  Chaser of night Ambrosial-faced The one that holds all-seeing light Radiant  Far-shining Horse-driving

* The last five epithets are the rare ones actually historically tied to Hemera

If your feminism doesn't include trans women, you're defining women by their reproductive organs just like the misogynists you claim to oppose.

This is of course April's fools day, and I thought it would be fitting to celebrate Hermes, the God of jokes and pranks, today. I even pranked my sister, which I never do.

But I see Hermes as so much more than that, of course. To me he is the God of human culture, of media and internet memes, of communities and friendships. He is the one to freeze my computer when I need a break from work, and he usually makes sure all my documents are neatly saved. He is the one that to encourage me to go socialize even thought I am burnt out, and of course I end up having a great time.

We go back a long way and his presence in my life makes it worth living them. I wanted to celebrate this month I dedicate to him with something he would've appreciated.

New project!

If you don't already know I'm a data analyst. That's my day job and I love it. I have my own business in which I offer data services to activists and social initiatives. And to some extent, I perceive Hermes as the ruler of all data- fast, insightful, and the key to every good decision. But data analysis itself is not enough, I wanted to come up with something special. So, I figured, why not data analyze the Hellenic community?

I have build a questionnaire, and I plan to circulate it around the community here and on reddit, and collect data from Hellenists and Hellenic pagans from all over the world. Of course everything is done anonymously.

The finished review will include a lot of information about the community itself- how people are practicing, what are the popular opinions, what are the controversial topics, what we aspire to, and even how do we call ourselves and which Gods are being honored by us. I will publish the finished review in every platform I am on. Free of course. Information should always be free.

I won't be able to thank each one of you that answers it personally, because anonymity, so I want to thank you all in advance for contributing a few minutes of your time for a great cause.