on reaching the end be without sorrow

A very yummy spice cookie that has olive oil and honey as the base. It has the texture of a small cake and comes out relatively small. The perfect offering size.

I didn’t have any orange juice when I made them this year so I subbed water and had to use closer to two cups of flour to get the right consistency. I also omitted the chopped nut topping because I’m not a fan of that.

Servings: ~20

Cal/serv: ~107

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup orange juice (or water if you want it less citrusy)

1/4 cup honey (plus more for drizzling)

1/4 cup brown sugar or raw cane sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves (optional but very traditional)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Chopped walnuts or pistachios (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, orange juice, honey, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, and baking soda.

Slowly stir in the flour until a soft, oily dough forms. It should be pliable but not sticky—add a little more flour if needed.

Scoop about 1 tbsp of dough and shape into small ovals or rounds. Slightly flatten and place on the baking sheet.

Bake for 12–15 minutes until just golden and set.

While still warm, drizzle with extra honey and sprinkle with crushed nuts (if using).

Transfer to a cooling rack after five minutes

Hope you enjoy and your gods do too!

You would've been right in this a few hundred years ago. That is no longer how the term is used in academic or pagan circles. Paganism generally refers to contemporary religions, particularly "dead" religions that have no continued line of practice being revived, typically in North Africa/Europe. To name a few, it includes Celtic, Norse, Slavic, Hellenic, Roman, Kemetic, and Sumerian paganism (as well as other New Age religions like Wicca).

Indigenous religions and other polytheistic but still-practiced religions are grouped separate because they are fundamentally different from those listed before. They never stopped being practiced.

Ill be entirely honest, I'm confused by those that know that the new temple of Zeus and Pan was opened by a violent antisemite ultra-nationalist and are somehow saying things like "they're terrible but at least we have a temple and hopefully more will open!"

We do not have a temple.

WE do not have a temple.

Those of us that aren't Greek do not have a temple.

This is not a "win."

And to hold these values while building a temple for Zeus, the god of foreigners, you're ridiculous, and you're lame.

There are lots of reasons people feel this way, and you're certainly not even close the the first or the only one who does.

In our society now, we tend to view deity and god figures as scary, and if you mess up, you get punished.

even if you weren't raised religious, it's hard to let go of that idea sometimes. but.

there is no punishment for not worshipping. there is no punishment for honest mistakes.

in the myths, many times the person who gets punished by the gods, has done something directly and intentionally against them. for example, Sisyphus chaining Thanatos, or Tantalus cooking up his son to feed to the gods.

Even Arachne, claiming to be better at weaving than Athena.

You being new is not going to incur the wrath of the gods. you don't do anything wrong by not knowing things.

The gods are immortal beings, they've seen it all. And I mean this in the kindest way, you're not uniquely important to them.

Do your best. Build Kharis, do your research, and worship with good intentions. That's all anyone can ask.

You're mortal, and imperfect, as we all are, and that's a good thing.

We are building practice from scraps of information. This religion is very small, and hasn't been practiced on a wide scale in an extremely long time. there's no way for any of us to know everything, some information is just gone.

none of us are perfect.