florid and gay

Sometimes a myth plays out a certain way because that’s the way certain aspects of our world seem to play out (The Eleusinian mysteries).

Sometimes a myth is a reflection of the societal norms of the culture that created it (sexual coercion of mortal women by gods).

Sometimes the author of a particular myth wrote it the way they did because they had a personal investment in writing it the way that they did (Ovid was known to exaggerate the brutality of Hellenic myths in his retellings).

Sometimes the myth doesn’t seem to line up with the cult practices of the culture in which the myth originates (Homer’s treatment of Zeus vs the Greek’s absolute adoration of Zeus).

Sometimes particular myths are taken as rote fact despite contradictory myths from lesser known authors (the birth of Aphrodite as extolled by Hesiod, Homer, Apollodorus, and Cicero).

Sometimes a myth just happens to be the one that survives the passage of time.

Sometimes a myth is used to teach a mortal lesson (literally every instance of a mortal being punished for their hubris).

Sometimes the translation of a myth reveals a quality not intended in the original work (the rape vs the abduction of Persephone).

The Temple of Bacchus at Baalbek, Lebanon, ca. 150 AD. This stunning Roman temple, still very well preserved, is actually larger than the Parthenon of Athens.

I receive asks and scroll past conversations of new pagans worrying about not hearing their gods or trying to figure out how to be able to develop the ability to hear their gods. What I most often say or what others often explain is that everyone is different and we encourage new pagans to not worry about it. Some of us don’t hear or sense our deities at all and that is perfectly okay. Remember that divination methods are a great way to communicate with entities and may be a bit clearer than a simple sensation.

That being said, it’s recently occurred to me that in the past couple of years I seem to have become more in tune to sensing my deities. Over three years ago when I renewed my vigor in my exploration of paganism and my spirituality, I couldn’t make heads or tales if a deity was knocking on my metaphysical door and I certainly had no clue if a deity approved of an offering I selected for them, but today I quiet often feel soothed and comforted when I think of Morpheus and approval from Bast and amusement from Djehuty. It isn’t something I’ve attempted to make better since I primarily assumed it was what it was, yet this ability to sense our deities could be similar to our muscles in that the more that we use them the more tuned they may become.

The character and nature of the Charites are sufficiently expressed by the names they bear: they were conceived as the goddesses who gave festive joy and enhanced the enjoyments of life by refinement and gentleness. Gracefulness and beauty in social intercourse are therefore attributed to them. (Horat. Carm. iii. 21, 22; Pind. Ol. xiv. 7, &c.) They are mostly described as being in the service or attendance of other divinities, as real joy exists only in circles where the individual gives up his own self and makes it his main object to afford pleasure to others. The less beauty is ambitious to rule, the greater is its victory; and the less homage it demands, the more freely is it paid. These seen to be the ideas embodied in the Charites. They lend their grace and beauty to everything that delights and elevates gods and men. […]  Poetry, however, is the art which is especially favoured by them, whence they are called erasimolpoi or philêsimolpoi. For the same reason they are the friends of the Muses, with whom they live together in Olympus. (Hes. Theog. 64; Eurip. Herc. fur. 673; Theocrit. xvi. in fin.) Poets are inspired by the Muses, but the application of their songs to the embellishment of life and the festivals of the gods are the work of the Charites. (source)

The Kharites, or Graces, are the embodiments of kharis, one of the fundamental religious principles of Hellenic polytheism. Given that they aren’t one of the ‘main twelve’ Olympians and there aren’t a lot of myths about them, I can understand why they don’t get more attention. But their entire deal is making life enjoyable.

You like having friends? Having conversations? Flirting? Texting? Taking pretty pictures? Eating delicious food? Wearing clothes that look great and feel great? Brushing your hair? Doing your makeup? Taking a hot shower? Giving or receiving gifts? Writing thank you cards? Sending postcards? Getting letters? Listening to music? Looking at beautiful things? Having good experiences? Literally enjoying anything ever at all?

That’s them. That’s the Kharites. It’s all the Kharites. There is no pleasure great or small that is not connected to their influence. They attend Aphrodite, Hera, Dionysos, and every gathering of the gods, because no gathering can go well without their presence. 

There are lots of Kharites named in different historical works and in different areas of Greece. Most people, if they know any, know the three that Hesiod names in the Theogony: Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia. But I’m increasingly coming to think of the Kharites as similar to the nymphs: a category to which plenty of different goddesses/daimones belong. (I think of the mousai similarly, for that matter, and I think there’s some overlap there, but my thoughts aren’t coherent enough yet.)