#acts of devotion

absolutely!!!

so devotion for me is the act of meaningfully dedicating something in reverence to the theoi. not all academic work will be something i feel worthy of deeming a “devotional act” but a lot of my academic work, especially as a classical studies student, does to me feel fitting to use as such. i think a lot of it comes down to how and why that acedemic work would be something worthy of doing in honour of the theoi.

for example, dedicating acidemic work i do in my classes on ancient greek language to the theoi is fitting in my opinion because 1) it is something that as a dislecic person i find really time consuming and difficult to do and so it is something that shows a lot of effort into doing and 2) i can use what i learn going forward for other acts of worship such as singing hymns in their original language.

alternatively if i am writing an essay on a specific classical topic related to that God or Goddess in one way or another it might be fitting to devote it that God or Goddess. such as an essay on the cultic worship of Dionysus or an essay on the cultural customs of marriage in antiquity that i might dedicate to Hera as the Goddess of marriage.

there is also the aspect of how a lot of knowledge of how ancient societies functioned has been lost to time and so classists and others in similar jobs are how we know a lot of what we do regarding the way this religion was practiced historically. that combined with the way the subject of classics is being studied less and viewed in a continuously worse light as anti-intellectualism rises more and more makes studying it feel even more important to me. my studies are something i am immensely proud of and are something i put a significant amount of effort in. me studying and me wanting to go into the field of classics is something i do because of my love and respect for the theoi which in my opinion makes a lot of my studies a good act of devotion.

but there will also be modules that are about things i wouldn’t necessarily connect to the theoi and as such would not devote to them such as the class on failed states: category and critique. or if the assignment in question is something i don’t find all that intresting and am doing solely because it’s required for my studies and i am not putting all that much effort into it and am not overly proud of the work i am doing outside of having put effort into it for the sake of doing well in class.

in the same way that i wouldn’t give an physical offering of something i wouldn’t be proud of giving the theoi i wouldn’t dedicate an act to the theoi that i wasn’t proud of doing.

An act of devotion

I'm of the mind that it's good to involve your passions in your practice when possible and appropriate. Elvish holds a significant amount of my brain space so naturally I thought about how to refer to Lucifer in Sindarin, here are some of the ones I've come up with.

1: Calacholon

lit. "Lightbringer"

From: Calad ("Light, Radiance") + Col- ("To Bring, to bear") + -(r)on (agental suffix, roughly akin to -er or -or in english)

2: Aurelen

lit. "Morningstar"

From: Aur ("Day, morning") and Elen ("Star") *

*youn can also use "Aurel" here as "el" on its own also means star I just prefer this way.

3: Leidhron

"Liberator"

From: Leitha- ("to Set free") + -(r)on (agental suffix)

4: Adarúl

"Father of Knowledge"

From: Adar ("Father") + Gûl ("knowledge")**

**you can also use "ist" here to make "Adarist" as it also means Knowledge, but "gûl" has connotations of something occult or deep so I prefer it in this instance.

5: Dúrgon

lit. "Dark Prince"

From: Dûr ("Dark") + Caun ("Prince")

Let me know if you like these or have any questions :3

I'm making prayer beads in honor if Óðinn. The colors are more meaningful than the materials. I associate blue, black, grey, and white with Him. I decided I was going to make it in this sort of chained style, like an expensive rosary. It will have four strands, maybe five, that look just like this. Four of them will be spaced out by short stretches of chain, four for the four domains/aspects of Óðinn I most closely associate with and commune with Him about— Mad Wisdom, Creative Ecstasy, Wandering, and Allfather. Plus possibly a fifth one to balance a pendant. Each of the four core strands will be spaced away from each other by oak beads as well, because oak is more plentiful in my area than ash and oak plays into my localizing mythcraft.

Dear Diary, Last month Crowley and I both happened to be in Edinburgh, and he insisted I visit a local graveyard at midnight. He had come upon something he said that might amuse me.

Mother aphrodite whose love is never ending

I have returned to the place of your birth

I am in awe of the majesty of the waves

The sea foam is as soft as your touch

And the water is cool against my skin