Bees & Wine

Imagine: Someone comes in and asks me which aisle coffee is in. I look at them, roll my eyes, and say:

"Look at the signs. Holy shit, people like you are so annoying."

.... Unhinged, right? Even if I've had a rough day or am going through something, you don't treat people like that.

There are signs posted, the information is out there, but maybe this person is overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information being thrown at them. Maybe this person has never been in the store (i.e. website/social media) before and is just a little lost. Maybe they tried looking for the coffee, but couldn't find it. The store is big. It's easy to miss things.

Or maybe they walked in, saw a worker - someone who knows the store well - and said, "hey, can you point me in the right direction? I've never been here before."

And for every customer that asks a question, there's a handful who came in, saw the signs, and found the coffee themselves. Good for them.

my queer rendition of Joseph Kuhn-Régnier's painting "Bacchanal and Panthers"

I really love the original painting, but I wanted to add my own style and make it more modern and Dionysian

Details of “Apollo & Dionysus” by Leonid Ilyukhin

In some psychological & artistic disciplines, Apollonian & Dionysian are words used to describe opposite impulses- artistic, controlled, skillful, vs hedonistic, emotional & wild.

It is said that the strawberry tree was important to Hermes because he was nursed under one.

There's this misconception going around that Hermes loves strawberries and they'd make a great offering 🍓. At first, I thought so too, but actual strawberries grow on bushes, not trees. Misleading in name, the strawberry tree (also known as the cane apple tree) produces round, red, and lychee-like fruit called koumara, not strawberries. Strawberry plants aren't even closely related to this tree! 😅

However, with this particular fruit being native to the Mediterranean and Western Europe, they're hard to come by if you don't live in those areas, so I can't imagine Hermes will be upset with an offering of strawberries. Simply use your discretion there. It's just important to know what fruit is actually sacred to him. 😊

{aka "things i think of adding}

the inside decorated with fabric

tiny candle {white}

smaller crystals

tiny jars with herbs {rosemary, chamamile}

dry herb/leaves {mint, lavender}

tea bags, each different

I’ve been wanting to make something like this for a long while, and talking to my friend @olympianbutch today gave me the push I needed to do so. When I was starting out as a Hellenic Polytheist years ago, this is the kind of resource I needed. So I hope you all enjoy and find this helpful!

Introductory Reading:

Ancient Greek Religion by Jon D. Mikalson

Athenian Popular Religion by Jon D. Mikalson

Greek Religion by Jan N. Bremmer

On Greek Religion by Robert Parker

Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship by LABRYS

Comprehensive Guides:

Greek Religion by Walter Burkert

Companion to Greek Religion edited by Daniel Ogden

Understanding Greek Religion by Jennifer Larson

Rethinking Greek Religion by Julia Klindt

The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion edited by Esther Eidinow and Julia Klindt

Polytheism and Society by Robert Parker

The Gods and Theology:

Ancient Greek Cults by Jennifer Larson

Theologies of Ancient Greek Religion edited by Esther Eidinow, Julia Klindt, and Robin Osborne

Underworld Gods in Ancient Greek Religion by Ellie Mackin Roberts

Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World (Routledge Series)

Offerings and Sacrifice:

Personal Experience and Materiality in Greek Religion by K.A. Rask

Singing for the Gods by Barbara Kowalzig

Smoke Signals for the Gods by F.S. Maiden

Sharing with the Gods by Theodora Suk Fong Jim

Primary Sources:

Theogony & Works and Days by Hesiod

The Homeric Hymns

The Orphic Hymns

Sources for the Study of Greek Religion by David Rice and John Stambaugh

Greek Religion: A Sourcebook by Valerie M. Warrior

hey guys! i know i haven't been quite active here, and as the title of this post suggests, you might already know why :') i know this is something that may happen to all of us, so i wanted to start by saying that it is completely normal and that you shouldn't beat yourself over it. so here are a few things you can do to honour your deities, even on days where you feel at your lowest <3

have a cup of tea in their name. you don't necessarily have to offer it, just have a nice warm drink in their name

drink water. you have to take care of yourself either way, so better keep yourself hydrated!

have a small meal in their name. just eat something, for their sake, and for yours.

light a candle. even an LED candle is fine. let its warmth embrace and its light guide you

listen to music. now's the perfect time to listen to your devotional playlists, even if you're just laying in bed.

pray. just pray to them. out loud, in your head. doesn't matter. you can do this from your bed, too, they'll understand

wear devotional jewellery. it doesn't have to be anything fancy, just a small ring or necklace or whatever that reminds you of them.

just take care of yourself. it'll pass. and they will welcome you with open arms once you recover your usual energy and go back to your usual self.

They didn't go anywhere.

Dionysos, god whose arrival is swift

and certain, enduring friend of women and men

whose welcome is warm, bringer of light, we see you

in shadows. Dionysos, granter of great blessings,

your presence is a heady wine. Kind-hearted god,

to each you give as is fitting, each vessel you fill

only as we can bear, and yet with even a sip

we are drunk upon you, and our faith is affirmed.

Awesome god, by our own will we drink deeply,

with you we become lost, we wander, we are found.

Hello anon! Sorry for how long it took to write this up, I definitely went a little bit wild on this one :)

First off, welcome to Hellenic Polytheism! It's definitely a wild ride, but depending on what sect of Christianity you come from, it's not completely and totally foreign.

Starting off with a list of some websites, general resources, and accounts that I have found helpful:

theoi.com

Apostolos Athanassakis translations of the Orphic and Homeric Hymns

Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship by Labrys

Hellenion.org

@khaire-traveler's Subtle Worship Master List

@thegrapeandthefig's Wordpress

And now breaking them all down, because I love when people justify their choices to me :)

theoi.com The nice thing about this website is that it's about as much information about the Gods as you can possibly want in one place. Not only does it seemingly have just about every possible deity in the Greek pantheon, but it has an incredibly good collection of historical references, family trees, and even artwork from ancient Greece.

Apostolos Athanassakis translations While theoi.com is good, I'm not the biggest fan of the version of the translations that they use for the Orphic and Homeric Hymns - they're a bit too "translated" for me. This meaning that the translations in question don't sit too close to the original text, and in my opinion, if you're trying to understand a deity through some ancient work, you want to get the closest translation to the original, even if that means sacrificing some of the flowery language. And Athanassakis' translations are some of my favorite for those "close translation" hymns. You can find his work on the Internet Archives.

Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship I think this is one of those staples that every Hellenic Polytheist should take a look at at least once. It's pretty dry, but within it, there are plenty of rituals and general information on Hellenism as a religion. I don't use most of the rituals in it, but even still, I keep a copy on hand for the future when I'm able to practice more freely.

Hellenion.org This is a pretty good resource for more modern Hellenic Polytheist prayers, as well as rituals. This is a more heavy reconstructionist lean (which focuses on an accurate recreation of Hellenic Polytheism, as opposed to revivalism, which focuses on recreating it for the modern day), but still incredibly helpful, and a bit easier to understand than Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship.

@khaire-traveler's subtle worship masterlist Honestly, if a resource like this existed when I was first starting out, I would be light years ahead of where I am now. Stag has managed to fit just about every idea you'd need to get started with worship/offerings into an easy-to-digest format, and I find myself going back to it time and time again when I start incorporating a new deity into my practice.

@thegrapeandthefig's Wordpress I don't even think I could summarize how amazing Aurora is into one little paragraph. There's everything on her Wordpress from historical offerings, to modern festivals, to dissections of various ancient customs. One of the things which has helped me the most from her blog has been her Attic calendar, which shows the schedule of the various religious observations throughout the year (and there are a lot).

Finally, a few extra words of advice that I might not have included in my original post that you mentioned in the ask:

Try to have one prayer memorized for each deity, if you're easily able to memorize things. Chances are, after about a year or so, you'll probably have a prayer or two that you really like and will have memorized because you've said it enough (I definitely have my fair share). And there's definitely something nice about finding yourself in a situation that reminds you of your deity and being able to just rattle off a prayer.

Try to avoid TikTok for your spiritual knowledge. But, if you want to add a bit of Hellenic flair to your FYP, I'd recommend Bria Melitta and hesiodic (who's also on here and maybe on TikTok as well [I might be wrong, haven't been on TikTok in a hot minute] under the name @olympianbutch). Both of these creators are really good, and I especially love Dagan for his devotion to Zeus, who often gets a bad rap from new practitioners because of behavior attributed to Him in myths.

Other than the resources I mentioned, some good stuff for casual reading would be: the Iliad and the Odyssey, any ancient Greek plays (I'd recommend starting with Aristophanes, if the tragedies are a bit too heavy), and Hesiod's Theogony.

Tiktok is probably one of THE WORST places to learn about REAL hellenic polytheism because it is rampant with misinformation and most creators are only interested in views and parroting misinformation THEY heard. Yes there are some great and informative creators on there to learn about the hellenic gods but they are far and few in-between.

INSTEAD if you're new to the religion and have no clue where to start researching/learning, here are a few phenomenal creators on here with wonderful and informative posts!

@wisdom-devotee has an amazing guide for starting out in hellenic polytheism

@seasaltdevotion also recently made a fantastic post on resources for starting out

@crazycatsiren has a SUPER long list of resources and research material

@khaire-traveler has possibly the greatest list on subtle deity worship for just about every god

It is okay to not be serious 24/7 with your deity. Polytheism is a religion, obviously, and should be treated as such, but do not feel like you cannot be yourself around them. And if you yourself are a more relaxed and casual person, embrace that! To truly connect with a deity, you have to show them who you truly are!