Apollophanes

Hello there, and welcome to my blog! You may call me Apollophanes. I am 19 years old and use he/him pronouns.

I am a late antique Hellenic polytheist, Neoplatonist, and theurgist. My Leader God is the shining Apollon. I also worship many other deities.

You can expect to see content about all Hellenic polytheism here, as well as occasional content on Neoplatonism and theurgy.

I strongly support the Xenia Declaration. All good people are welcome to worship the Gods with us.

DNI

If you fall under any of these categories, stay far away from this blog because you are not welcome here: Racists, xenophobes, sexists, fascists, ableists, homophobes, transphobes, queerphobes, transmedicalists, pedophiles body-shamers, antisemites, bigots, and anything similar.

May the Theoi bless us always as we align ourselves with them and ascend upon the path of henosis 🙏

A bit of a silly and less serious post than usual, but I find it funny thinking that SpongeBob characters genuinely may be Graeco-Roman polytheists

Neptune canonically exists as the ruler of the seas in the show. The characters revere him and praise him. They even use his name in expressions in place of "God". There was that one fish who literally fell to his knees and said "Neptune be praised!" And not only that, but iirc, Amphitrite also shows up sometimes. They quite literally worship Neptune and Amphitrite. Those right there are Graeco-Roman polytheists without a doubt /lh

When we are good, we are connected with the gods through likeness, but when we become evil, we are separated from them through unlikeness. And when we live according to virtue, we cling to the gods, but when we become evil, we make them hostile to ourselves – not because they are wrathful, but because our wrongdoings do not allow us to be illuminated by the gods, but tie us to punitive daemons.

And if we can find atonement from our wrongdoings with prayers and sacrifices, if we ‘appease’ and ‘change’ the gods, it is really through our own actions, and through a reversion towards the gods, that we heal our evilness, and enjoy the goodness of the gods again. Thus, to say that the god turns away from the evil is like saying that the sun hides itself from the blind.

With these points, the question of sacrifices and the other honors that are given to the gods has been solved: the divine itself stands in need of nothing, but the honors are given for the sake of our own benefit.

A lot of people have often asked me how the Gods are seen within Neoplatonism. Some ask if we see them as aspects of the One, as parts of the One, etc. But to be completely honest, the answer varies a lot depending on the philosopher. But one very common and widely followed view amongst modern Neoplatonic polytheists is Proclus' teaching of henadology. Essentially, the Gods are each a particularised One. But even this can be a bit tricky to grasp. So I wrote an analogy a couple of months ago to try and explain things in my own words.

Imagine many shades of red. Myriad shades of red. They are all unique shades of red, separate and distinct. But what do they each hold in common? Redness. Redness is the principle that explains and unites all these shades of red. And because all of them are shades of red, each shade of red contains all of redness within it. All in each. And so this is how the henads work. The Gods are unities. Distinct and unique unities. And the One is the principle of unity. The difference is that of a particular versus a universal. And each God contains all other Gods. The Gods are distinct, and the manner in which they are united is the One.

Now, our minds can comprehend and understand any shade of red. But redness itself? How can we possibly see redness if redness is not red itself, but the cause of every shade of red? While we cannot see redness in its entirety, each shade of red reveals redness.

And that is why the Gods are essential in our journey to henosis. The One is ineffable. We cannot comprehend it, the very source of unity. But the Gods are unities and we can comprehend them. They are henads (particularised Ones). Therefore all Gods reveal the One. Every God is a path to the One.

Iuppiter, Iuppiter

O Iuppiter Rex

Iuppiter Optimus Maximus

O Rex, O Rex

Rex Deorum

Ὦ Ζεῦ Πάτερ

Ὦ Βασιλεῦ

Ὦ Ζεῦ Ἄναξ

Ὦ Βασιλεῦ

Δόξα σοί, δόξα σοί

Laus tibi, laus tibi

Δόξα σοί, δόξα σοί