B WRLD

have you...

1. killed or maimed someone

2. killed or maimed an animal for purposes other than consuming/processing it

3. knowingly and purposefully hurled vile obscenities or insults at any god or gods

4. made it a life goal to be a terrible person

5. been a terf

I mostly just wanted to state this because I feel like sometimes people apply this strange pressure to others and themselves to go above and beyond as worshippers, when in reality, I feel like you just need to try your best (your best will not look the same every day, and that's ok). Yes, do devotional activities and give offerings if it feels right, but remember that the gods are likely wanting to know you as you are. You don't have to put on a formal mask for them. You can be yourself.

Excerpt from an essay on Patreon.

Religious syncretism has simultaneously fascinated and baffled me ever since I learned of its prominence in the ancient Mediterranean. On one level, it makes sense; after all, different cultures were bound to see their own gods in those of their neighbors. But the more I read and researched, the more it seemed like the names or identities of the gods didn't really matter. I am reminded, for instance, of the goddess Isis in The Golden Ass, when she describes herself as being "worshiped by all the world under different forms, with various rites, and by manifold names." Does it really make a difference, then, whether one prays to Hekate, Artemis, Kybele, Rhea, or Isis? After all, these goddesses were all identified with one another at some point over the course of history.

I might have been stuck on this for many more weeks and months had I not recently learned of a more obscure form of polytheism: polycentric polytheism. Strangely, it took me six years of exploring polytheism and paganism to discover this polytheistic structure, which asserts that all gods are in every god, and that each god is supreme, containing all of the universe within themselves. This essentially allows every god to be placed at the "center" of things. In the Hellenic tradition, for example, Artemis, Hermes, or even Selene can be seen as the "ruler of all" instead of just Zeus, who is generally considered to be the universal sovereign. This structure—all gods in every god—stands in opposition to the more commonly accepted structure of pluriform monotheism, or all gods in one god, i.e. all gods are aspects or emanations of a singular divinity.

Syncretism makes a lot more sense when viewed through a polycentric lens. If all gods are in every god, then it's easier to see the "Isis" in Hekate or the "Hermes" in Anubis. And that is where the concept of counterpoint comes into play.

Welcome your transgender neighbor

Welcome your poor neighbor

Welcome your disabled neighbor

Welcome your immigrant neighbor

Welcome your sick neighbor

And sometimes she holds me gently. She reminds me of memories framed in childlike wonder. She tells me I don't need to hope for her blessings because I already have them. She is there for me and trusting in her has brought me many opportunities, much clarity, and incredible community.

Zeus Eleutherios, divine liberator of mankind

You who breaks chains and brings freedom to the masses

It is you who gives us the strength and the understanding to free ourselves from tyranny

And it is you who intervenes to free humankind from the yoke of slavery and oppression

In these times of trouble I turn to you, that you might grant to us your guidance and intervention now

To you I pray, oh lightning-wielding patron of the freedom struggle

I beg of you, bestow upon us the strength, the skill, the power, and knowledge to free ourselves

To free our world from the tyranny of fascism, imperialism, and zionism,

To overcome and destroy oppression in all its forms

Grant the people inspiration, that we might be able to rise up and defeat those who hold us down

That we might be delivered from all those who exploit, murder, and marginalize

Just and Revolutionary Zeus, who with your son Dionysos, carries the title of Liberator

May all the enemies of the people be laid low, may they be disarmed and disempowered

May they pay for their crimes in this life, in this generation, and not the next

Bring swift justice and vengeance on those who deceive us,

and upon the forces that render us complicit in violence and the destruction of our siblings

May all who defile the Sacred Earth with bloodshed and pollution be cast into the deepest depths of Tartaros

Oh great King of the Heavens, wolf-like and serpentine, avenging the wrongs and corruption of mortal leaders

It is to you I pray, that we shall arrive at freedom in our lifetimes

And that through your divine inspiration we may build the struggle to create a better world

Strike down with your shining scepter all those in power who subdue the coming of justice

That our path to freedom be one not far from us, but near at hand

Oh Lord Zeus, you who delivers freedom and justice, hear this my prayer

Anything that leaves a trace, physical or digital, counts as material. If something isn't literally in your mind, it's probably material.

I want my body to be buried as it is and an apple or walnut tree planted over me. I want to go back to being a part of mother earth and I want my body to feed that tree so that i can continue to care for my loved ones well after my death.

I want my grand babies' grand babies to pick the fruit of that tree, knowing their mammaw is buried underneath, feeding, and caring for them the way I would my own babies. I want them to climb into the branches like they were climbing into my arms so that I can hold them and let them know they are loved even after I am dead.

When branches die and fall from my tree, I want them burned to provide my family with warmth in the winter. I want the children to roast marshmallows and cook over the fire that is fed by the wood from the tree I am buried under. I want to never not be a part of the family bon fires. My children will drink beers and tell stories around the fire as we do now, always knowing Mama's spirit is there.

I grew my babies in my body fed them with my body as infants, and when I die, I want my body to continue to provide for and nurture my family for countless generations to come.

Not being Christian is now not the default, & in many ways, non-Christians are mistreated, however this was not always the case. There was a time when worshippers of gods familiar to us were the colonizers, & the oppressors, who martyred Christians.

On top of this, when you see yourself as inherently better than Christians, you are likely to fall into the fallacy of being unable to see your own Christian influences. Many of you speak of divinity in a way reflective of Christianity, many of you hold onto the idea of humans as inherently dirty. Sometimes, you’re influenced by other traditions & you don’t even notice- for instance, I’ve seen Wiccan practice touted as if it’s something ancient or inherent to Hellenism.

Sometimes I see people lamenting the fact that there are churches instead of temples, saying outright that it would be better if everyone was a Hellenist. I feel people forget what it was once like when there was only temples- it was not free, it was not safe for women, for foreigners, for the lower class. Believers in the Theoi did not become more moral then Christians solely though their faith in the Gods.