#hellenisticismos

Also that honey cake thing looks absolutely delicious, very good job.

hi anon :) so for the most part don’t feel bad about eating offerings after thee have served their purpose if they are still edible! it is perfectly okay to eat the offering after you are “done with it” so to speak. infact historically speaking a lot of offerings were eaten after especially if we are thinking about how they would burn the fat of the animal for the theoi and then eat the meaty parts! there is a really awesome post about it i will link here explaining it in more depth!

alternatively you can check if what you offered is safe for the environment or not! if it is discarding them outdoors or in a composter works really really well!!

if it is a liquid offering such as water, honeyed milk, mixed wine or the like pouring it out onto the ground outside is really good!!!

my honey cakes are essentially sponge cake mix but with honey added to the batter and then a honey syrup soaked into the cake once it is baked, either as cupcakes or as a full cake pan! here is a photo of some i did last year which i could then use squares of as food offerings!

the recipe i use will obviously be slightly different to the honey cakes historically eaten in ancient greece but cake recipes have existed for many years and what we do know of aincent honey cakes is that they were flat, molded cake and that they were made from honey, flour and eggs. i use all 3 ingredients in my honey cakes and when i do them as cupcakes i can also use cake molds for cute shapes or whatever else!

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.

Do you think doing my homework or studying can be a devotional act for some deities? 🤔

I'm not too sure, but I'm wondering if this would qualify as a sign from a deity?

hello anon!! i have many thoughts on this question but first my usual preface:

i am sharing my opinion based on my understanding and research and my personal experiences in my practice. no one is obligated to listen to me, no one is obligated to hold the same opinions as me.

firstly, for sake of transparency i want to be clear i personally don’t use the term “work with” in my praxis. (this is no hate to people that do i just don’t use the term myself) and that’s because i wouldn’t consider the way i practice religion as working side by side like colleagues, but rather me worshiping the Theoi and building up a relationship of reciprocity. because of that i don’t necessarily have advice if the type of practice you are aiming for is more of a “working” dynamic because it is not the dynamic i have in my religious practice.

however if you are also talking about worshipping specific Gods and Goddesses more centrally when referring to “working with” (as i know some people do) i would say the concept of asking the Theoi if they want you to worship them doesn’t really have any historical backing. the Theoi will never not want to be worshipped, their very existence and presence is higher than us, they are Gods they are ment to be worshipped. if you have Gods who you feel drawn to worshipping simply out of “i think this God is cool i want to worship them” then start! start praying and offerings and research their historical worship! start building up kharis!

as for signs. your personal experience is yours and yours alone. i have had dreams that i fully believe were messages based on how they presented and the surroundings and differences etc etc but one thing i will always say about potential signs of any kind is think about them critically!

i live in the country side and i see dear multiple times a day. that’s not a sign from the Theoi, i just live in the country side and as such there will be dear roaming around.

your example of a rainbow i would ask was this rainbow out of the ordinary? for example a rainbow with no rain in sight, if it was raining then year chances are there will be a rainbow. do you live in a place where it’s common to rain this time of year? if the answer is yes it again makes sense you might see a rainbow.