this mess is a place

First as in caring for them, sheltering them, providing, uplifting. Last as in knowing the whole world doesn't revolve around your household and sometimes sacrifices must me made for broader society and to do what's right.

Make sure your house has food to eat, but avoiding excess to ensure your neighbours are also eating even if it means taking food out of your pantry. First and last.

making reaction memes is really the only thing that keeps me sane. also my migraine stopped when i was drawing it so... glad that i can go to sleep now

Tegea was a notable settlement of ancient Arkadia in the Peloponnese, mentioned in the Catalogue of Ships in Homer's Iliad.¹ It was an important religious center, having the famed Temple of Athena Alea, a deity who was also worshipped in nearby Alea and Mantineia.² This temple was known and respected across the Peloponnese as a refuge for those seeking sanctuary.³

While Alea became an epithet of Athena, it was originally the name of a unique Arkadian goddess.

First digital drawing of Lady Iris <3

[a Roman coin inscribed with MATER DEUM - Mother of God(s)]

Origins of Metroac worship

Kybele was worshipped by the Phrygian people and nation, Phrygians were an Indo-European people who dwelled in lands that in older times were part of the western dominions of the Hittites during their new kingdom period. A Goddess or some kind of power seated and flanked by lions was known to the people of prehistoric Anatolia, so by my reckoning Kybele was a Goddess worshiped since the most ancient times in western Anatolia. She was also worshipped on a popular and state level in Lydia.

Her worship was transmitted to the Greeks, then Romans, and from the Romans the entire greater Mediterranean world and beyond. In classical and Hellenistic Greece we see her depicted in votives seated within or standing in the threshold of a naiskos (small shrine entrance), giving the worshipper a direct gateway to the Goddess (and this image is as very enduring as we see it in Roman examples). In Roman times, her cult was given the highest degree of importance, and it simultaneously represented Roman nostalgia for a mythic Trojan past and extreme anxiety toward her Phrygian mode of worship. The Metroac cult of Kybele and her mysteries were likewise credited as influencing Orphicizing traditions, and Kybele was said to be the initiator of Dionysus into her mysteries. While this is perhaps not archaeologically literal, it is spiritually true, as both the Phrygian and Orphic mysteries focused on a core concept we will discuss later.

Apollodorus, Library, 2ndc CE, 3.5.1

“Dionysus discovered the vine, and being driven mad by Hera he roamed about Egypt and Syria. At first he was received by Proteus, king of Egypt, but afterwards he arrived at Cybela in Phrygia. And there, after he had been purified by Rhea and learned the rites of initiation, he received from her the costume and hastened through Thrace against the Indians.” [Dionysus in myth conquered India]

Strabo, Geography, 10.3.15-16

“They [the poets] invented names appropriate to the flute, and to the noises made by castanets, cymbals, and drums, and to their acclamations and shouts of "ev-ah," and stampings of the feet; and they also invented some of the names by which to designate the [daemon] ministers, choral dancers, and attendants upon the sacred rites, I mean "Cabeiri" and "Corybantes" and "Pans" and "Satyri" and "Tityri," and they called the God "Bacchus," and Rhea "Cybele" or "Cybebe" or "Dindymene" according to the places where she was worshipped. Sabazius also belongs to the Phrygian group and in a way is the child of the Mother, since he too transmitted the rites of Dionysus. (Line break) Also resembling these rites are the Cotytian and the Bendideian rites [of Bendis] practiced among the Thracians, among whom the Orphic rites had their beginning.”

The Great Mother was also apart of the Samothrakian Mysteries alongside the Kabiri-Daktyls, Korybantes, and Hekate, which I will elaborate on another time due to the length at which I would be required to exposit on the topic.

Souda “Samothrake” (Byzantine eastern-Roman Greek lexicon, 10thc AD)

“Samothrake - An island; it lies directly opposite Thrace. They say that Samians settled it and gave it this name; and [the story] has been told as follows by Antiphon, in the Samothracian Speech: ‘in fact those who settled the island in the beginning were Samians, from whom we were born. They were settled by necessity, not from desire for the island: for they were exiled from Samos by tyrants and enjoyed the following fate. Taking plunder from Thrace, they arrived at the island. But if any of you [is] an initiate in Samothrace, now it is well to pray that the feet of the fetcher be turned back.’ In Samothrace there were certain rituals which they believed were performed as averting spells against certain dangers. There, too, were the mysteries of the Korybantes, those of Hekate, and the cave of Zerinthos in which they used to sacrifice dogs. The initiates were thought to be saved by these things from dangers and storms.”

[Hellenistic era Samothrakian coins of the Great Mother]

Attributes and Iconography

The Mother of Gods coalesces around a variety of images and beings relating to her offices; mountains and mountainous rocky earth and wild nature filled with untamed animals, sacred trees (pine especially and the oak), poppies and bull heads, caves, bee nymphs and their honey, the Goddess seated upon a throne flanked by lions (this particular image is prehistoric), or in a lion drawn chariot, with a small lion upon her lap, holding a hand drum, holding a patera and pouring libations as Hera does, sometimes a cornucopia, she is near always wearing the polos or kathalos crown or a crown of city walls, the crescent moon and stars (her moon associations are rather ignored), she is depicted often with thick flowing hair. In fact the seated Goddess, with her tall cylindrical headdress, flanked by lions and wearing flowing robes, can evoke the silhouette of a mountain peak.

Her daemons are Kouretes and Korybantes, Dactyls, Satyrs, rustic Nymphs, and fire possessing Lions (see flavius julian’s hymn), her animals are lions and big cats, bulls, honey producing bees, wolves, serpents, Aelian says her sacred bird is the mérmnos (an unknown type of hawk), I theorize it may have been the Eurasian sparrowhawk, which is extant in Asia Minor. This is because the name is similar to the Mermnadae who ruled in Lydia, and the female of the species is noticeably larger than the male. Her plants are the pine, the vine, and the oak. Her stones are the amethyst, a black meteorite in Pessinus, and certain cylindrical stones reportedly found in Phrygian rivers. Her numbers are two and eight.

Name and Identity

Kybele was named after the mountain Kybela in Phrygia.

Souda - Kybele (Byzantine eastern-Roman Greek lexicon, 10thc CE) :

"Kybele : Rhea. [So named] from the Kybela mountains; for she is a mountain goddess; that is why she rides in a chariot drawn by a team of lions…effeminates [eunuchs*] are present in the mysteries of Rhea."

*Gallai

Strabo, Geography 12.5.3 (trans. Jones)

“There is also a mountain situated above the city, Dindymon, after which the country Dindymene was named, just as Kybele was named after Kybela.”

Agdistis was regarded as Mother, likely so named after a local mountain in Galatia-Phrygia. But in some places as a certain Goddess of her own.

Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.4.5 (2ndc AD, trans. Jones)
“Well then, the Pergameni [city of Pergamon] took Ancyra and Pessinus [which had been settled by Galatian Celts] which lies under Mount Agdistis, where they say that Attis lies buried.” (Interestingly he then reports that the Pergamese locals say their country was sacred to the Kabiri).

The Mother of Gods received many names from her holy mountains.

Strabo, Geography, 10.3.12 (trans. Hamilton)

“But as for the Berecyntes, a tribe of Phrygians, and the Phrygians in general, and those of the Trojans who live round Ida, they too hold Rhea in honor and worship her with orgies, calling her Mother of the gods and Agdistis and Phrygia the Great Goddess, and also, from the places where she is worshipped, Idaea and Dindymene and Sipylene and Pessinuntis and Cybele and Cybebe.”

Before I continue need to briefly mention the three kinds of theology, because it’s an analytic that makes discussing ancient polytheology and practical religion very easy. There is the mythic theology of the poets which fashions the stories of the Gods and their genealogies, the natural theology of the philosophers which is what we call theology today, and the civic theology of each local cult, town, and home. When resuming where the ancients left off, many modern worshippers are confounded because the natural and civic theology of religion does not always match with the stories and genealogies of Homer, Hesiod, etc. This is for two reasons - speaking of them narratively and understanding their place in the Universe use sceparate but related forms of analysis, and secondly practical religion is not bound by the poets genealogies and never has been.

In the case of Kybele, there is a modern and very firm insistence that her and Rhea are two separate Goddesses merely sharing a title or syncretized with each other, and that equating the two is an error worthy of causing frustration and anger. In the traditions of our forebears this is flat out wrong, and it was regarded as common knowledge that she was the same Goddess as Rhea, not a separate Phrygian Deity akin to Rhea, but the very same Goddess; having two names and one nature, just as she had one sacred name for two holy mountains (Ida). Although the Cretan tradition was a kind of its own, deeply ancient, likely originating from Minoan times, and focused on Rhea and the youthful Zeus (elaborating on Cretan forms of Hellenic polytheism deserves a separate article). To sum her up in three words;

She is Earth

In that Kybele is Rhea, she is also more broadly Earth (Ge / Gaea) and Demeter. Rhea being a chthonic pantheistic Goddess (the All Mother of the cycles of life and death) is a teaching derived from the various Mysteries. The epithet given to Rhea “Mother of Gods and Men” in the hymns is especially indicative of this, because Rhea as the mother of human beings (as Earth is) is not apart of the mythic genealogies of Homer or Hesiod.

Derveni papyrus row 22, 4th century BCE copy of 5th century original.

“‘Earth,’ ‘Mother,’ ‘Rhea,’ and ‘Hera’ are the same. She was called ‘Earth’ by convention, ‘Mother’ because everything comes to be from her, ‘Ge’ and "Gaia" in accord with individuals' dialect. She was called ‘Demeter’ like ‘Ge Meter [Earth Mother],’ a single name from both; for it was the same (name). There is a statement in his [Orpheus] Hymns too: ‘Demeter Rhea Ge Meter Hestia Deio.’"

Souda “Demeter,” (Byzantine eastern-Roman Greek lexicon, 10thc AD)
“Demeter : The earth, as if being Ge-meter (earth-mother). Since the earth is a foundation of every city, as holding up the cities she is represented wearing towers [as a crown].”

In a choral passage of Sophocles’ Philoctetes too (409 BC)

“All-nourishing mountain mother Earth, mother of Zeus himself, you who live and rule in great Pactolus [a river in Lydia], rich in gold, most dread and sacred mother, over there I called on you, in Troy, when sons of Atreus heaped all their insults on this man, while they were handing over his father's armour to Odysseus, paying highest honours to that man — such awe-inspiring things. Hail, blessed goddess, as you sit on your splendid decorated throne, where carved-out lions slaughter bulls.”

The Titaness Themis was also the Earth. As Aeschylus writes in Prometheus Bound "My [Prometheus'] mother Themis, or Gaea (Earth) - though one form, she had many names." Her and Gaea also were powers behind the Delphic oracle prior to Apollo; many oracular powers are found in chasms of the earth, from caves, from trees rooted in the earth (Dodona), and through springs flowing from underground. The link between Themis, Gaea, and Kybele is probably why the Orphic hymns speak of her as the teacher of Bacchic mysteries.

Orphic Hymn 79. To Themis (trans. Athanassakis)

“Amid reverence and honor you shine in the night, for you were first

to teach men holy worship, howling to Bacchos in nights of revelry”

Also, the earth Goddess was central in the Cretan mysteries of Idean Zeus and Zagreus. The mention of mountain Mother with her band of Kouretes makes it clear that the mistress Earth paired with Zagreus is none other than Rhea-(Kybele).

Fragments of Euripides, the Cretans

“Night-ranging Zagreus, performing his feasts of raw flesh; and raising torches high to the mountain Mother among the Curetes”

Fragment of the lost Alcmeonis

“Mistress Earth, and Zagreus highest of all the Gods.”

In Platonic philosophy, she is discussed in her Hypercosmic (transcendent) role as the Mother of the intellective orders of Gods (those pertaining to the transcendent intellect that orders the Cosmos), Intelligible Life (preceding Intelligible Intellect), source and co-sovereign with Zeus the intellective and cosmic demiurge. This is explained pretty directly by Flavius Julian in his 4th century hymn (and essay) to the Mother of Gods;

“Who then is the Mother of the Gods? She is the source of the intellectual and creative gods, who in their turn guide the visible gods [planetary Gods]: she is both the mother and the spouse of mighty Zeus; she came into being next to and together with the great creator; she is in control of every form of life, and the cause of all generation; she easily brings to perfection all things that are made; without pain she brings to birth, and with the father's aid creates all things that are; she is the motherless maiden, enthroned at the side of Zeus, and in very truth is the Mother of all the Gods.”

Origin myth of her Athenian cult

Julian also tells an origin myth for her cult in Athens, which spread during the 5th century BC. I will combine it hence with a similar one given in the Souda entry for Barathron; A long time ago in Athens a Phrygian who was a mendicant and one of the Gallai arrived to spread the cult of Mother, and the cult received many initiates among the women of Athens. But the Athenians seized the Phrygian faithful and threw them in a great chasm full of hooks, a gruesome end. These renowned men of Athens did this perhaps because they feared influence from another culture would disrupt their control of the city, and also because they were ignorant that Mother was “that very Deo whom they worship, and Rhea and Demeter too.” Well, those men were wrong, and as much as the Earth is Kybele she is Themis, and for violating her sacrosanct laws her wrath followed on swift feet, and a famine struck the land. Athens was only saved by the decree of the Pythia - enshrine the Mother of Gods and seal the murderous chasm. The cult statue made for her temple was carved by Pheidias himself [Paus. 1.3.5] and the image of her enthroned, flanked by lions, with a libation bowl and drum became the archetypal statue of the Goddess in the Hellenistic world. When you look at basically any cult statue of Rhea, just know you are looking at her.

It’s worth noting that Julian was a masculine man of his time, a skilled general who commanded armies, and we know from his work ‘Misopogon’ that he did pride himself on his masculinity in contrast to “delicate living.” In contrast the Gallai were the opposite; eternal outsiders to custom and norm in ways that repulsed and in the words of Ovid even frightened Roman men. Yet in his treatise he does not step one toe out of line to insult the Gallai. This is possibly because he was also an initiate into the mysteries of Eleusis and worshipped the Great Mother. So even by his silence, he’s more respectful than a host of authors ancient and modern.

Understanding this all Mystically

In his work on cult statues and their meanings Porphyry explains this in a less Platonic way, and more in line with what the average worshipper can use - Hestia, Rhea, Demeter, Themis, these Goddesses are not exactly all identical to the Earth in a 1 to 1 sense. They are all divine powers that manifest from her order, within and about the earth. While Porphyry (in the footsteps of his teacher) assigned Hestia to the ruling principle, we do not. We maintain that Kybele is the earth Goddess in her eldest and most primary sense. In the Cosmos she is mother of the creative Gods who shape the physical Universe (identified with the Olympians in Platonic tradition), in our tradition we call Empyrean triple Hekate “Ananke, Rhea, Adrasteia.” What Hekate is to the Sublunar sphere as a whole, Kybele is to the earth proper; a Goddess of the moist black earth, the soil that births all, nourishes all, and consumes all. Hence, the name Rhea mystically signifies “all things flow from me and are torn apart,” as Chrysippus says Rhea comes from ῥέω (“to flow”) and great rivers are divided as they flow from their source. This represents her essence, and one of the principal truths of the Bacchic and Kybelian mysteries; all things are divided, and all things are reunited, for there is no discontinuity between Heaven and Earth. The Great Soul is divided into many souls, but within the divided body is the restitution of the immortal soul, the black earth upon which we are torn apart is the engine of immortal regeneration - the deifying power of the Underworld, as our world under the Moon is the locus of all spiritual realization and ascent.

The Ecstasy of Kybele

Both Dionysus and Kybele inspire theia mania (divine madness) - God given altered states of ecstasy, frenzy, realization, and vigorous “fury,” those of Bacchus and Mother especially had an effect on women. Plato (through Socrates in Phaedrus) says of madness there are two kinds; one coming from human diseases, and the other from “a divine release from the customary habits.” He also says “the greatest of blessings come to us through madness, when it is sent as a gift of the Gods.” And that these gifts are known by their fruits; they improve people’s lives. Of divine madness he lists four kinds assigned to four Gods; the Apollonian madness of prophecy, the Dionysian madness of mysticism, the poetic madness of Muses, and the lovers madness of Aphrodite and Eros.

Dionysus is gynaimanes "he who drives women mad” and Kybele is the one whom Catullus at the end of his poem begs to spare him, “spare me this ecstasy.” This was none other than the Kybelian ecstasy, which is both Dionysian and Apollonian, mystical and prophetic. Dionysus turns women into fearsome maenads by striking them with his thyrsus, the Korybantic rituals of Kybele and Sabazios summon her divine presence with music and dance; the piping of sharp flutes, the clashing of cymbals, the pounding of drums, the clacking of the castanets as her worshippers dance, whipping the hair wildly with each toss of the neck [Porphyry Oracles fr. 43. “Some of those who are ecstatic, hearing the flutes, cymbals, drums, or some melodies, become inspired, like those who carry out Corybantic rites, those who are possessed by Sabazios, and those who revere the Mother of the Gods”].

“The roaming thyrsus-loving Gallai of the Mountain Mother clash their instruments and bronze castanets.”

The bacchantes are women, and likewise the Great Mother delights in flutes, the beating of drums, and crowds of women (Porphyry Oracles fr. 7). A unique and singular fragment of Nichomachus of Gerasa detailing the Pythagorean theology of numbers gives the Dyad and Octad to Mother and her many names (Theoretical Arithmetic in three books trans. Thomas Taylor). Among them is Themis, Rhea, Dindymene, and “the maker of women” which has multiple meanings; in a Pythagorean sense “the maker of even things,” Taylor’s conservative interpretation is that like mortal women she is the source of all life. But her sacred names are bound to her cult (like City-Protector and Dindymene) - and in the mode of theia mania she is “the maker of women” in another sense, the Galla of her Phrygian cult. It is for that reason we use the feminine Galla and Gallae (lat.) not Gallus. This also has a double meaning, because Galla is pronounced the same as galla, the Latin word for the oak-apples formed by mother gall wasps, signifying the Goddesses sacred oak and her generative powers over plant and animal life. This is also found among the cults of the Assyro-Palestinian Goddesses Ishtar and Ashtart, the Syrian Atargatis, the Punic Tanit-Caelestis, and possibly Ephesian Artemis and Carian Hekate. The Apollonian side is simple, Metroac worship involved religious ecstasy that allowed for oracular prophecy, which involved possession by the divine presence of the Goddess. This was called μητρίζω, to be as the Mother. If I had to use the phrase divine feminine, then its highest religious expression is here; the union with the Mother of Gods and the Bacchic fury of the Gods of transcendent Life itself.

We covered this because it’s relevant, but also in our research we found that in the conversation around the ancient Galla there is a level of obtuseness (weather ignorant or intentional) that in a circular fashion insists upon the maleness of the Galla. The funeral epigrams of Galla like Trygonion (the original epigram of Philodemus 7.222 as far as I can tell speaks of her in the female, contrary to the deliberately hostile Paton translation, Roller also interjects an overtly negative reading of her name where it doesn’t exist) and Aristion [7.223] make it clear, the bacchantes of Kybele were transgender women (who are also mentioned briefly in Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos although the male author is hostile), it’s very obvious and we can abandon deliberate obtuseness disguised as academic convention. I’ll end this section with the funeral epigram of the dancer (and party animal) Aristion.

The castanet dancer Aristiŏn, who used to toss her hair among the pines in honour of Cybele, carried away by the music of the horned flute ; she who could empty one upon the other three cups of untempered wine, rests here beneath the poplars, no more taking delight in love and the fatigue of the night-festivals. A long farewell to revels and frenzy ! It lies low, the holy head that was once covered by garlands of flowers.

The Rebirth of Attis

Attis is the Sun, as is mentioned in a late 4th century screed Carmen adversus paganos against Deity worship in Rome “We have seen eminent senators following the chariot of Cybele which the hired band dragged at the Megalensian festival, carrying through the city a lopped-off tree trunk, and suddenly proclaiming that castrated Attis is the Sun.” To keep it simple he is among the Solar Gods united by the synectic power of Lord Helios. In a worldly sense he is a power set over the shoots of plants and their budding fruits, also those that do not reach full completion (hence castration). This includes ephemeral spring flowers like crocuses, narcissuses and hyacinths, whom the Greeks attributed legends of beautiful young men who died tragically, all that jazz. But in a mystical sense Attis is among the greatest and mightiest of salvific Gods, those who lead us back toward community with the Divine in its highest sense - taking the divine within us and lifting it back to its source so that we may be divine too. He is an intellective Hypercosmic God who proceeds from the Empyrean realms, into the Milky Way galaxy (represented allegorically as the river Gallus) and finally down to the world of generation where we are born, live, and die, into the world where the “river” of phenomena flows. This is why Attis is called “Greatest of the Gods, Attis Tyrannus” in a Latin curse tablet from Roman Germania and in his lunar-generative aspect Attis Menotyrannus, the Lord of the Months.

In myth the mortal Attis was born of a virginal Phrygian river Nymph, the daughter of Sangarios. The nymph daughters of rivers and oceans (like Kalypso) in myth are sometimes used as symbols of binding to generation since life is ruled by the watery element [see Porphyry “on the cave of the nymphs” for an example]. The castration symbolizes the checking of the unlimited course, that the divine union of matter and form is Attis unbound, who rules life and death and presides over the procession and reversion of all souls back to their source. The power of the highest creator reflected in the lowest root here at the lowest circle of reality, where he reaches down and pulls us back up. And that is the essence of Theurgy which is what makes Kybele and Attis such powerful theurgic Gods of salvation and why their mysteries are so raucous, for the promise of continuity with the Gods is the most joyous promise in the world. And the weeping too on the day of mourning before the day of blood. For when Kybele appears as the union of generative powers with chthonic Attis she is Agdistis, the bringer of the madness. That madness is the truth of the world of sensation, of embodying, experiencing all the beauty and the horror. Because, as Hekate teaches, all those who wish to cross the river of life and death must first experience it. No exceptions. And when we have crossed the madness and wonder of life, we celebrate the Hilaria - the Day of Joy which was originally called ‘the Ascent.’ For the words of Hekate, Kybele, Attis, and Dionysus too are the promise and the fulfillment.

Abandon ego, all ye who enter here. You are not above me.

All things flow from me and are torn apart.

*this is specifically related to practicing aspects of the ancient religion not just worshipping Greek Gods. I call this "Hellenic Thriskeía" based on the Greek language name for the modern religion— info.

Please respect Greek people, this is a living breathing culture and language. Do not refer to your religion as "Hellenismos" or "Hellenism," and do not refer to yourself as a "Hellene" or "Hellenist" due to your religious identity. Information here & here.

I am not a religious authority of any kind. I have no higher eduction in classics. These are my ideas that I want to share. This is a highly edited version of an old post that I no longer like.

Greek God = Theos (singular) Theoi (plural)

Know you do not need to suddenly know everything to begin worship— studying & worship can happen side by side.

🌺A Basic Act of Worship

"Ancient texts and material finds attest to its quintessential role for the libation, the most ubiquitous ritual in Greek antiquity. The religious act of intentionally pouring out liquids, whether water, wine, milk or honey, onto the ground, an altar or another surface was performed on numerous occasions" — The Greek Libation Bowl as Embodied Object by Milette Gaifman pg 450 Link

A libation is a ritual outpouring of liquids. Libations were part of all sacrifices but could also be performed as independent rituals. The common terms for the rituals are spondai and choai. The former term is most frequent and referred to a controlled outpouring of a small amount of liquid for the Olympian gods by the help of a jug and a phiale. Choai were poured out entirely and were used for libations to the gods of the underworld, the heroes and the dead. — Libations, Greek by Gunnel Ekroth Abstract

Whether you do separate techniques for "Olympian" vs "Khthonic" is up to you. I don't since many Gods can be considered both depending on the situation, like Hermes.

The most common liquid for this is red wine, but water, honey, milk, or oil are also common. — Link

🔹I’m using Zeus as an example.

Wash hands.

Prepare a glass of water or other liquid

Go to the altar if you have one

Wipe hands with Khernips [if you use it, see below]

Sprinkle Khernips lightly on the altar space [if you use it]

“O Mighty Zeus, King of the Gods, you are strong and powerful. I have come to honor you”

Hold up the glass of water

“Zeus, Lord of lightning, I offer you this water out of gratitude and love. I have given to you before and I will give to you again”

Pour the water slowly either into a separate bowl, onto the ground, into a fire, or down a clean sink.

“Zeus, strong and powerful, I ask that you help me get through today’s conference call. I thank you and say farewell.”

🔹Simpler form:

Wash hands

Take glass of water and hold it up

“Zeus you are mighty and powerful, I seek your help for this meeting, this water I have brought is to show my desire to honor you”

Pour water out into bowl, ground, fire, or clean sink.

“Thank you, Zeus, King of the Gods”

🔹For those of us with minimal energy you can do this at a sink or in a shower:

The above is important because it builds reciprocity Kharis— the relationship between Theoi and mortals info (by @/verdantlyviolet)

🌺 Altars

Altars in Ancient Greece were places of sacrifice and ritual worship

...vases began to depict altars in a variety of scenes. These altars were shown either in the context of standard mythological vignettes that were set at or near an altar or in scenes of cult activities, libations, offerings and/or sacrifices focused at an altar. This fairly common practice was continued on red-figured and white ground vases through the mid-fourth century B.C. — Blazing Altars: The Representation of Altars in Attic Vase Painting" By David W. Rupp Link

They were located in land/area specificlly set aside for the worship of the Theoi

A Greek cult-place needed to be set off from the surroundings, to be a temenos, but also to have an altar or a sacrificial installation. This was the bare minimum for its effective use as a location where communication with the divine sphere could be achieved. A temple or a statue of the god was not a prerequisite. — Rings, Pits, Bone and Ash: Greek Altars in Context by Gunnel Ekroth Link

An altar, therefore, constitutes the emblem for holy ground, the presence of the gods and the connection with the divine — same as above

Thus modern altars are used to commune with the divine, a place for them in your home & life, and a place to present offerings & libations. Whether you want to call in an altar, a shrine, or a scared space in English is up to you.

To set up an altar:

Intentionally designate a space for your worship, big or small, and make sure it is clean.

While this is not necessary it is frequently used in modern worship: Choose an item for the Theoi you wish to worship. Such as a picture of them, a statue, or some other object. Place it in that space.

Add anything you might like: candle, incense, flowers, cloth to cover surface, decorations, etc.

Many Hellenic Polytheists will also keep Khernips (by @/forthegloryofthetheoi) purified water on their altar. Though this is not necessary— post here. About purity vs consecration here (by @/sisterofiris)

You might keep a cup and bowl for libations at this space

You might keep a prayer book or religious journal here also

🌺Further Worship Aspects

Say longer prayers and use supplication, supplication is a natural part of Kharis Guides here.

Offer food, which can be similar to the libation formula. Hellenic Polytheists disagree on what to do with the food afterwards which is why I always suggest a libation at the beginning.

Say a prayer when lighting incense to state that it as an offering.

Meditate at the altar. Let thoughts and presence of the Theoi help calm your soul.

Dance or sing for the Theoi at your altar or play them music.

Read the myths aloud to the Theoi.

🌺Reconstructed or Common Practices

🔹I highly suggest Labrys Household Worship book here is an article that has a lot of the book.

🔹Practice the 3 day new month rituals

Hekate Deipnon, Noumenia, and Agathos Daimon,

Info here (by @/verdantlyviolet), here from Labrys, here from Hellenion.

🔹Create a Kathiskos.

I’m not sure if this is truly historical, see here (by @/verdantlyviolet) however it is used often by recon/revive Hellenic Polytheists. Guide from Hellenion. Video Guide (by @/baringtheaegis.)

🔹Following a reconstructed calendar

These can include regular days scheduled for a particular Theos. Almost all are based off the Ancient Attic calendar. Here is Hellenion's version. There is an app to track the Attic calendar and it overlays Hellenion's festivals/month days (but you can toggle that off) here. Also the HMEPA Calendar Here.

🔹Partake in modern versions of Ancient Festivals

The Hellenic Polytheist community celebrates a variety of different reconstructed festivals. Which you partake in may be dependent on which Theoi you wish to honor. There are practically an endless number.

Common ones I've seen are Dionysia, Anthesteria (by @/khaire-traveler), Theogamia, among others.

🔹Do not stress about calendars or festivals this is just an idea.

🌺Miscellaneous

Practicing Xenia, hospitality, is considered a ubiquitous aspect of this religion see here. Xenia is not a synonym for "social justice." It is an aspect of Greek culture, referred to as Philoxenia in modern times.

Miasma is not something humans incur unless you commit heinous acts. Lyma is the naturally occuring "dirtiness" of everyday life that can be removed away by washing your hands. Info here (by @/sisterofiris)

The "7 Pillars of Hellenimos" are a modern concept created by a bigot and are in no way a necessary part of this religion. See here & here.

You may wish to study the classical philosophers of Ancient Greece

Here is a big list of resources including multiple Google Drives of information on Hellenic Polytheism.

Avoid YSEE organization they are Greek ethnic-nationalists info

Avoid HellenicFaith website for its immense disrespect of Greek people and culture info

🌺Some Ideas for Choosing Theoi to begin with:

You do not need a Theos to "call to you"; you don't need divination to pick one; you don't need divination to "confirm" if you picked the right one. You can literally just pick any. The Theoi permeated life in ancient Greece and people worshipped the ones of their family and settlement.

I’m not trying to overwhelm anyone I’m just trying to give a whole group of ideas for people. I suggest Theoi.com for easy access info on the Theoi but also be cautious of some information due to its age info (by @/dionysiandevotee)

🔹You could start with Hestia because she is Goddess of the home and thus an excellent place to start in my opinion.

🔹Zeus and Hera the King and Queen of The Theoi

🔹A Theos related to your work/studies. Examples:

Apollo or Asklepios for the health care field

Hermes for communication or information technology fields

Gaia for environmental fields

Themis, Dike, Zeus for legal fields

Athena, Metis, or Sophia for general studies

Hephestios for engineering fields

Rhea, Artemis, Apollo, Hera, or Zeus for parenthood

Nyx if you work the “graveyard shift”

🔹A Theos related to something you want to improve in your life. Examples:

Aphrodite or the Khairtes for self-love or if you struggle with body image issues

Hermes or Iris for communication abilities or interpersonal conflict

Hygeia for struggles with hygiene or disorganization

The Nymphai for building environmental sustainable life habits

Sophrosyne or Dionysos for substance abuse (You cannot convince me that his realm of drinking excludes moderation or elimination if it is a problem for a worshipper)

Demeter, Hestia, Hephaistos, Pan, Artemis for any problems surrounding food

Hypnos for sleep hygiene or sleep disorders

Soteria for easing fears

Hermaphroditos, Aphrodite, Dionysos, for LGBTQ identity and issues

🔹A Theos related to things you want to do. Examples:

Athena for weaving or other handcrafts

The Mousai for learning an instrument

Themis or Dike for activism work

Nike for sports

Apollo for divination

Poseidon for ocean or water activities

Hermes for writing

There are many more bullets that could be added and Theoi that could be added to each of the existing bullet points. Especially when epithets come into play.

🌺Modern Worship Ideas

You don't have to do any of these, they are simply ideas I conjured up in my mind that I thought I'd share.

🔹Which ever of the Theoi you chose simply give them a libation once a day with a short prayer. You can pick a time or better yet an activity to make it consistent. For example, do it directly after you finish getting dressed. Do it right before you eat breakfast or dinner. Do it before you get ready for bed. Etc, that way it stays consistent and you always have a reminder.

🔹Surrounding the passage of the day/time. The prayers can be very short letting you do them by simply pausing for a minute or two. You can offer a simple libation in the morning and/or night with the prayer.

Prayer to Hemera or Helios in the morning

Prayer Example: “Beautiful Hemera, I thank you for this day, I seek your favor and honor you with my actions. Good morning.”

Prayer to Nyx or Selene at night

Prayer to Helios at noon if you don’t pray to him in the morning.

Prayer Example: “Shining Helios, as you reach your peak this day, I remember you, I thank you for your life giving light.”

Incorporation of 12-Horai such as Mesembria at noon, Dysis at sundown, not sure if Auge would be dawn and Anatole sunrise—but you get the idea.

Prayer to one of the 4-Horai each day of the season we are in— Kheimon for Winter, Phthinophôron for Autumn, Eiar for Spring, and Theros for Summer

🔹Surrounding daily activities.

Prayer to Hemera or Auge upon waking

Prayer to Hygeia before showering or brushing teeth

Prayer Example: “Gentle laughing Hygeia, I enter this shower so I may cleanse myself. I remember your beauty and wish to honor you with my actions, so you may look favorably upon me”

Prayer to Apollo or other health Theoi when you take your medication (if you have it)

Prayer to Hestia at mealtime or before cooking

Prayer Example: “Hestia, first and last among the Olympians, home maker, I cook this food through your strength and thank you for this flame. May my body be replenished”

Prayer to Hermes, Hekate, or Apollo Argyieus, or Soteria when leaving house

Prayer to a Theos related to work/education as you arrive at work or school.

Prayer to a Theos related to a hobby or leisure activity when you start it

Prayer to Hypnos when you go to bed

You can make any combination that would follow the path of your daily activities; it could be any number too this is just an example. And perhaps one libation in the morning or night

🔹Focus on the “Household Gods” which I linked info above to Labrys' Book. Also here (by @/wayfind-er)

Hestia

Zeus Ktesios

Zeus Herkeios

Apollo Argyieus

Hermes

Hekate

This is by no needs an exhaustive list. Her common epithets listed on Theoi have been repeated many times over, so I just wanted to catalogue a few I haven't seen as often. Its been a very insightful devotional act!

Καλυκώπιδι / Kalykopis - face like a budding flower.¹ It's the second epithet used of her in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter.

Καλλίπαις / Kallipais - producer of a beautiful child.²

Μωνογενίη / Mounogeneia - only-born.³ Another variant is μουνογόνη/mounogonē.⁴

Νύμφη / Nymphē - bride.⁵ It was used as another byname like Kore in Northern Greece (where mounogonē was attested as well.)⁶

Πασικράτεια / Pasikrateia - universal queen. From an inscription in Silenus, Sicily, thanked alongside Malophoros (almost certainly Demeter) and Zeus Melinchios, among others.⁷ This is most likely Persephone. The name Pasikrata is elsewhere attested in Magna Graecia, possibly distinct from pasikrateia and thought to be local versions of Aphrodite, Hekate, and others.⁸

Μελίβοια / Meliboia - honey-sweet cow. I'm not positive on the meaning (so if anyone knows for sure, please feel free to correct me!) but its attested in Hermoine as a euphemism.⁹ With this I will also leave: μελιτώδης / melitodes - sweet as honey¹⁰, and μελινδία / melindia, another euphemistic epithet of her's.¹¹ These are mentioned on Wikipedia, but I wanted to actually look into it and see if it was right.

Περικαλλής / Perikallis - very beautiful.¹² Another epithet from the Homeric Hymn. I'm sure you can tell by now I have no order in this haha.

Κυανώπις / Kyanopis - dark-eyed.¹³

Αρρήτου / Arretou - Unnameable.¹⁴ Helen calls her "ἀρρήτου κούρας," maiden who cannot be named.

Χρυσάνιον / Chrysanion - Of the golden reins.¹⁵ This is usually an epithet of Hades, but Pindar invokes Persephone in his hymn as "Πότνια θεσμοφόρε χρυσάνιον," Law-giving mistress of the golden reins.

And... with this I shall stop haha. I'll probably make my own list of *all* the epithets I can find for personal use in my documents. If anyone has anything to add or correct I'd love to hear it! Demeter and Persephone mean so much to me and I'm overjoyed to learn more about them in any way I can.

What I'm NOT cool with is people who see religion as something useless, evil, savage, primitive, whatever or people who frame their beliefs about all religions around their personal religious backgrounds (mostly Christian) with little to no regard for the diversity and intricacy of religions all around the world.

Apollo is both the life giving warmth and the sun and scorching desert sun. Apollo protects us but he also strikes us down.

A lot of Apollo's darker epithets fascinate me. He is a healer but also the bringer of disease. He is the protector of youth (particularly of young men) and when young men die suddenly he is said to be the cause.

He has associations with death and the dead; he is not a psychopomp but he is more associated with the rituals of the dead. Making sure the dead get burial rites or protecting the deceased's bodies.

He is also called wolf-god. When you think of wolves what do you think of? You think of a wolf pack most likely. Loyalty, family, protection.

But think of how fierce wolves are; how farmers fear them. I see Apollo embodying both that loyalty and protection but also that fierce, primal fear that wolves incite in people.

For years I was taught to worship an all loving and all knowing God - who could stop the misery of the world but chose not to (for one reason or another, all of which never made any sense to me). I was supposed to believe that this humanoid god loved me unconditionally but wouldn’t lift a finger to end the abuse I suffered (more often than not, abuse I suffered I n his name).

But Apollo? He is both the Sun that grows the flowers and scorches my skin - neither act done out of love or hate, but both done out of nature. He is the burning Sun and I cannot expect him to bend reality or nature to the whims of humanity, let alone a single human such as myself.

I worship him, not because I have to - but because I choose to. I choose to see Apollo for who he is - a force of nature. I choose to see how he is both life and death - both creation and destruction - as is the way with all art. Art is not inherently good or bad - kind or cruel - art is just the act of creation, and it can take on endless forms.

“Rural, light-bearer, and the Muse's head, Noble and lovely, arm'd with arrows dread: Far-darting, Bacchian, two-fold, and divine.”

“You cast light upon the roots below and hold the boundaries of the whole kózmos: For the origin and completion are both in your care…

The cause of the blooming of all things; with your resonant lyre you harmonize the entire axis of the heavens, At one time advancing to the lowest pitch, And at another to the highest, You temper the entire axis; you keep the tribes of living creatures distinct,

You have mingled in harmony the share of all mortal men, You have mixed an equal measure of winter and summer, You have arranged the highest three strings in the winter, the lowest in the summer…”

Use code “TUMBLR15” for 15% off 😘

Rhode Pelagaios || Amphitrite Halosydne || Aphroditê Anadyomene

Skylla Epoptes || Triton Pelagaeus

Customs and commissions are also currently open! You can email me at [email protected]