#queer hellenismos

Aphrodite Lesbian Flag

Aphrodite Lesbian: A lesbian who prefers sexual acts and affection, or who centers sexuality in their relationships

I made an Aphrodite lesbian flag as a devotional act for Aphrodite and especially Aphroditos, because I learned the most popular flag was made by a proud TERF and had a whole stripe for only being attracted to vulvas.

...yeah. It's bad.

So, here they are!

The stripes' symbolism is as follows:

As some of you know, I celebrated Lenaia this past weekend, and part of that celebration was henna tattooing some maenad tattoos on myself as a devotional act to Dionysos. The process was both very easy and very difficult.

So, first, we do know maenads had tattoos--especially those known as Thracian. We see it in art of the time; we have pottery showing tattooed Thracians killing Orpheus, and in Dionysian ecstasy.

Step one went great! We know of tattoos!

Step two was to select and pick a design. Which is much harder.

See, the maenads with tattoos in pottery often followed a theme, but two depictions showed exactly the same design. Snakes, and animals in general, were common. So was the sun sign, interestingly. Sometimes, though, there were just arrow shapes going down arms, or checked patterns on forearms and legs. This could certainly just be an artistic choice, making figuring out the design even more difficult.

Finally, I picked my design. It was modeled off the two depictions below (with what I replicated is in pink); One snake, two suns on the ankles, one sun on my arm.

The first thing I realized was that this would be MUCH easier with the help of a friend.

The second thing I realized was, wow, I want to be a devotee of Dionysos.

And finally, henna is excellent, and I should do this for every holiday. (I already try to, but I often forget).

So, my results:

I forgot to share, but my legal name change went through at the end of last month. My new middle name is Dionisos, and I'm so happy and grateful.

Praise Zeus Nomos, praise Themis, praise Apollon Boedromios, and praise Dionysos Androgynos & Eleuthereus!

I need to make an offering, but for now, I'll just share my joy and gratitude.

Note: Androgynos here refers to the Ancient Hellenic religiogender, not the Jewish gender by the same name. They’re simply both Greek words for similar concepts.

I hadn’t seen any androgynon flags, and since I identify as androgynon—especially in context of my worship—I thought I’d try my hand at it.

Androgynon is, boiled down to its bare bones, "a Hellenist religiogender for individuals who are nonbinary, intersex, androgynous, bigender, and/or bisexual." The term acts as a gender and epithet. For example, an androgynos god may be bisexual and a "switch" (ie Adonis and Dionysos) or intersex (ie Hermaphroditos).

Meanings:

Gold: Hermaphroditos, the divine

Wine red: Dionysos, blurring of lines

Rose: Adonis, the bisexual androgynos

Navy: The wine-dark sea

Green: The Makhlyes, the intersex androgynon

The first symbol is the symbol for the Divine Nonbinary/Androgynous, the second for the Divine Neutral/Agender, and of course a no symbol version is last.

[DO NOT post my terms/flags to the LGBTA+ Wiki.]

The Divine Transgender is almost definitely not my original term--I'm sure someone else has used the name. But regardless, I wanted to coin it, because I've never seen it defined

A Divine Transgender person is any theistic trans person (of any religion, if you believe in divinity as a concept or as an entity) who considers their transness to be divine because, for example:

they believe the divine chose for them to be trans

they believe transition to be a divine act or to be desired by the divine

they believe transness brings them closer to their deity/divinity

Only theistic people may identify as Divine Transgender because the identity is based on the belief that divinity exists and has power, and belief in divinity is theism. However, one does not need to adhere to a specific religion. You only need to believe in some form of deity.

The best illustration of what the Divine Transgender is the quote that inspired the term;

“God blessed me by making me transsexual for the same reason God made wheat but not bread and fruit but not wine, so that humanity might share in the act of creation.” ― Daniel Mallory Ortberg, Something That May Shock and Discredit You

This term is trans exclusive and not just "Divine Gender" because, frankly, cis binary people already have their divine genders. The point of the Divine Transgender is the belief that trans people are just as sacred and blessed as cis people. No one needs to be convinced being cisgender is divine. So please respect the Divine Transgender being deeply significant and meaningful to theistic trans people, and do not coopt this term for cis folks. Everything else is for cis people. Trans people deserve our own sacred role in theism.

Symbols under the cut.

If you don't like xenogenders or religiogenders, good for you, keep scrolling! This is for people who do like them, or would like another way to merge praxis and identity.

This is a list of every genuine, non-bigoted gender I could find based on Hellenismos and its deities.

First, we'll start with some simple definitions! Hellenismos is the religion of Hellenic Polytheism, wherein one worships the Ancient Greek theoi (gods). Cultural genders are genders restricted to members of a specific culture. For example, boi is a cultural gender exclusive to Black transmascs. A religiogender is a gender based on or rooted in one's religion, like the Jewish gender tumtum. Not all religiogenders are xenogenders--for example, it may even be offensive to call tumtum a xenogender. A xenogender is a gender falling outside of what is generally considered to be a gender.

This list will be split into three sections: Modern, Ancient-Inspired, and Ancient. Modern is a term that is fully modern without historical basis, though it may use historic language; Ancient-Inspired is a term directly named after a real Ancient group or individual, but that may bend the concept it's named for; Ancient is a term that has largely retained its ancient meaning (as far as we know.)

Some, but not all, of these terms are exclusive. If a term does not say it's exclusive to a certain group or related to worship, it may be used by non-Hellenic Pagans or anyone who identifies with it! Importantly, you do not need to be trans or nonbinary to use a xenogender! If a term isn't noted as trans/enby/AGAB-specific, you can identify with it.

The summaries are brief and do not fully capture the terms they're about--click the names if you want details!

With that out of the way, let's crack in!

No hate on the original Sappholatryc flag or @pupyzu, its creator, the flag is beautiful, but I wanted to make my own version with a meaning!

Sappholatryc is simply “a gender connected to the worship of Sappho,” which I relate to. I consider my lesbianism, worship, gender, and the work of Sappho to all be closely linked, and I truly love the term.

I devoted the creation of this flag to Sappho, and by proxy Aphrodite.

Meanings:

Deep purple: Ink, Sappo’s hair, the kthonic/hero worship

Purple: Violets, sapphic love

Lavender: Peace, the ouranic/the heavens

Cream: Clouds, the muse

Beige: To resemble the original flag, paper

Gold: The theoi/deities, immortality

Rust: Roses, Aphrodite’s blessing, mortality

The emblem is directly from the original Sappholatryc flag, and the bottom four stripes are modeled after it because. It's gorgeous.

[DO NOT post my terms/flags to the LGBTA+ Wiki.]