A Collection of Greek Keywords for Hellenic Pagans (kharis, miasma, etc.)
Kharis means 'grace' or 'favour' and it is in reference to the reciprocal nature of our relationships with the gods.
Liddell and Scott describe it as, "A grace or favour felt on the part of the doer but more frequently on the part of the receiver in the form or thankfulness and gratitude."
It essentially means a favour done in delight. This can be both the offering we give to the gods, and the favours and blessings the gods bestow upon us.
Kharis is both the action of offering and worshipping and also what is built between a worshipper and a god through the actions of offering and reverence. It can be used like this:
'Giving an offering to the gods is an example of kharis.'
'I have built up kharis with Apollo over the years.'
Khaire or khairete are words that mean 'hail', 'farewell', or 'blessings'.
It can be used to greet someone, either as hello or farewell (I use it at the end of some of my posts). It can also be used at the end of a prayer.
Khaire is used to address one person or god, and khairete is used to address a group.
Miasma means 'stain', 'pollution', 'defilement', or 'stain of guilt'.
It is a type of spiritual pollution that a person or a place can collect through either happenstance or deliberate action. It makes us spiritually unclean but there is no damnation involved in miasma and thus is not similar to sin. Sin is more comparable to agos, which is mentioned later.
We tend to collect miasma while going about day-to-day life, almost like getting our hands dirty while working. The stain it refers to is always one of a spiritual nature; miasma is a strictly spiritual concept.
It makes a person or place ritually impure, hence it is inappropriate to interact with the divine while in a miasmic state. The gods are said to reject the offerings of a miasmic person or to vacate a miasmic place until it is cleansed.
Human blood is also considered to be miasmic when spilled outside of battle, though this is not the case for menstrual blood (although I tend to avoid praying and doing rituals during that week anyway as I consider it to not be my cleanest state possible. I use this time to tend to my altar physically instead, cleaning it and reorganizing it).
Miasma is very common, everyone gets it, mostly due to plain daily life, though sometimes due to deliberate actions. Miasma can always be cleansed.
Sources of miasma include:
Death in the home - Pollutes the grieving and the home. People and home need to be cleansed before interacting with the gods or going to temple.
Birth - Because of the blood involved. Mother and baby are considered by traditional standards to be miasmic for three days postpartum and both are generally cleansed at five days postpartum.
Intercourse - Both parties are polluted by the act and must be cleansed before interacting with the gods or going to temple.
M*rder/m*nsl*ughter - This collects both miasma and agos. The m*rderer becomes miasmic, and a place can become miasmic if a m*rderer is free and unpunished there. This does not apply to blood spilled in battle.
There is a line in Hesiod's Works and Days that refers to the action of cleansing oneself of miasma before interacting with the gods. It reads, "Never pour a libation of sparkling wine to Zeus after dawn with unwashen hands, nor to others of the deathless gods."
Khernips means 'handwash', or 'lustral water'.
It is basically Hellenic holy water. It is used to purify ourselves of miasma before interacting with the gods.
It can be made by dropping burnt herbs or laurel leaves (bay leaves) in clean water, or by dropping a lit match in clean water. Simply washing our hands in plain water can work symbolically as well if done with the specific intention of purifying oneself.
Agos means 'curse', 'pollution', or 'abomination'.
It can be considered as a step up to miasma and, while not quite the same, it could also be considered comparable to sin. It is brought about through deliberate actions and it is very difficult, if not impossible, to cleanse. Agos can also invoke the divine wrath of the gods, so it does involve a form of damnation
Some things that cause/invoke agos include:
Having intercourse inside a temple
Bloodshed inside a temple or on sacred grounds
The refusal to properly bury a family member or a soldier (even an enemy soldier)
K*lling someone who is under the gods' protection
Offering human blood to the gods (due to its miasmic nature)
Agos is hardly as common as miasma, so it is not something the general practitioner should worry about.
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