Artemis Melissa

Yesterday at the sunset I performed a ritual to the dead. Later in the night, I was reading about the Chaldean Oracles and Theurgy in the book "Hekate Soteira" of Sarah Iles Johnston. Then I slept, and this morning I dreamt about a basket where there were instructions regarding some knowledge recorded in the scrolls that were in that basket. I took one of the scrolls at random. It had a picture I identified as from Crete and it had some words too, from what I just remembered "Lanax". I opened the scroll over my bed to take a picture and it turned into another picture so I couldn't register the real image because it was for my eyes only. (OK, the strange thing is that the new pic was a Baphomet one, which has nothing to do with me. Maybe it was related to the difference the book was pointing between theurgy and magic.) When I woke up, I looked for the word related to the Minoan or Crete. Google gave me the first page about Larnax (just an R more of what I thought have seen in my dream). It said the larnakes (plural) were a kind of chest containing human remains or cremated ashes, put inside a tomb in Ancient Greece.

"A larnax in the Early Minoan Period is elliptical in plain and relatively low in elevation. It has no legs and is never painted. In origin, it is probably a copy in clay of a simple wooden trough. Burial in larnakes beings in EM III. At Pachyammos and Gournia in east Crete, larnax burials consist simply of larnakes being placed in individual pits cut into sterile soil or bedrock. At other sites in north Crete, larnakes are deposited inside of built tombs of the 'house' type. By the Middle Minoan period, this custom has been extended to tholoi of the EM or Mesara type, especially at Archanes (notably in Tholoi Epsilon and Gamma). Larnax burial in the Early and Middle Bronze Age Aegean world is peculiar to Crete. Within Crete, it reflects a trend at the end of the EM period toward individualized burial."

In another point of the text:

"In the EM III and MM IA periods, burials in larnakes and pithoi began to be placed in tombs. The appearance of individual larnax and pithos burials and the roughly contemporary multiplication of 'cells' at Ayia Varvara and Chrysolakkos indicate a concern for individualized burial which is absent in the fully communal tombs of EM II."

I had never read about "larnax" before, nor had seen this word, for I can recall. And it was very curious that I dreamt about a Minoan burial-related word after my ritual to the dead, specially because the rite was directed to a couple from Crete (that one I have already told you about in my Zeus post). If you follow my Facebook, you will also see there a picture of a golden bull figurine where this couple appeared reflected. (Now, the reason to the scrolls being related to what I read about theurgy is something that stays for being told in another time. Maybe.)

I never stop marveling myself at my dreams. A day before I dreamt I was in Greece and Portugal and it was so real that it left me satisfied with this glimpse of being there as I hope someday to be.

I thank the Gods a lot for these experiences, and I wish my sharing of them can comfort people who need to read histories like this to strengthen their belief...
 

I'll have to tell a brief of a very personal history here (which is something I don't like very much to do), or the explaining of "why Zeus" would be lacking something meaningful to me and you could not understand how he happened to be my patron. When I was a little girl, between 5 and 7 years-old, my family met a mystic woman who claimed to be like this after coming back from death in a hospital room. This old lady died again with 102 years-old, but before then she gave us a golden medal with a multi-rayed sun and the Greek letters alpha and omega inside of this sun. Each one of the medals disappeared: my uncle lost his one, my brother's was stolen etc etc, and mine vanished misteriously in a swimming pool where I was alone and looked for it all over the water. Many years later, I was already a young adult, a couple of spirits appeared to my girlfriend and I, using the same symbol of the medal: she with it in her hand and he in his belt. He was a former priest of Zeus in Crete, she was from Caucasus and she gave birth to me in Makedonia - I was their daughter in another life. At that time of this life, I already knew how Orpheus called Zeus "the alpha-and-omega", but I didn't knew the Makedonian flag was a multi-rayed golden sun. There are many others little histories inside this one, and as a former psychologist I know how it can be a delusional thing, but I prefer to believe in it since it gives meaning to some things I didn't know how to explain till then. If I can't prove it's true or false and it doesn't make me bad and I won't be disappointed if I discover it was fake after dying, I can choose keeping this belief without any damages.

Now, going to a more rational point, I'd like to do the same as I did with Athena's post -- let's take each of Zeus's aspects and comment it, trying to relate them to myself:

Zeus is the King of the Gods. I can't say I was always a leader, first because I didn't like the exposure and responsability of it, second because people didn't use to choose as a leader a strange fat introverted girl. But when I grew up and got a better shape (physically and mentally) and could write my thoughts on Internet, I begin to notice I couldn't avoid having fans and followers, people that not only admired me but toward who I felt strongly responsible for. Sometimes when I talked about my poor health with my friends, they told me I had to take care of myself because a lot of people counts on me, my work, my knowledge. Many times I tried to decentralize what I do, but I never found people disposed/willing to keep a constant help, to form a real team. They started to do something and later stopped, maybe for lacking perserverance or interest, maybe because of a high auto-critic that never think their own work is good enough. I don't know, but I haven't give up. We are always trying new ways to reorganize things, I hope someday this "queen" can have a great counsel of "first-ministers".

Zeus is the god of Sky and Weather - storms, lightnings, rains, clouds etc. I love all of these. The city I lived for the most time of my life is said to have one of the most beautiful skies of the world. I love to fly by airplane, I feel more connected to Zeus over the clouds. I feel something strong when I listen to "Το Τανγκό της Νεφέλης" - The Tango of Nephele, which tells the myth of Zeus helping the cloud-nymph. The only time I made love in a forest under the rain was with my true soul-mate. (Also, there was a time I got to control a wind which was coming in a bad direction for me and then it turned to the other side, lol.)

Zeus was a seductive god, a kind of Don-Juan/Casanova. I used to be one in my youth. With girls and boys too. I even got a "Juan" nickname from it. *g*

Zeus is a god of Fate. Only the Fates themselves are above him. I have seen many proofs of the weaves of destiny in my life. I use to have premonitory dreams - last year I had 33 dreams which happened for real later, mostly in the same day. It's not that I believe in "predestined" things in the way people think, but that I believe our destiny is to become what we really/trully are, so we make choices to transform ourselves in what it is, this true self, this kind of personal 'daimon' we have/are.

Zeus is the Giver of Signs (Semaleos). What I wrote in the previous paragraph is related to it too. I'd have other examples to give to you, but it could be boring or be seen as I was a full-of-imagination show-off. heheh

Zeus is the god of Hospitality and Friendship. My friends are one of the most important aspects of my life. I have spent much money traveling to see the distant ones. I have felt their "xenia" many of these times. Once, a friend I met watching Xena couldn't receive me in her house because she was traveling too, but she decided to let the keys of her apartment for me to use it. And we weren't that much close of talking with some frequency at all! I appreciate a lot this confidence we share with people we barely know but already feel connected in the first contacts (and, believe me, I'm not very likely to trust people so easily). I love how we dream about each other, how we feel when the other is needing us, how we can mindly travel through time and space to meet others somewhere...

Zeus is the god of Cities and People, a god of all-greeks. Regarding the cities, I already talked about it in Athena's post. By being "Greek" I believe in that saying - I don't know who wrote it originally - "Έλληνας είναι ο κάθε άνθρωπος που γίνεται κοινωνός της ελληνικής παιδείας." ('Greek' is any human-being who shares a hellenic education.). So Zeus is the god of all people who feel themselves as hellenics. And I tend to be fond of all them too.

Zeus is the god of the Wolves (Lykaios). The wolf is my animal on shamanism. Wolves are professors - I was a teacher till some months ago. I have a dog. I think it's all I can say about it for now.

Zeus is the god of Rules and Order. And this is the point I feel more related to. Not in the sense of being an organized person, but in how I feel everything has an order. Even the fractals - that seem to be a chaotic structure - have an intrinsical order. I feel very moved by it, by looking for the order and the meaning of all things; because I believe the order brings a significance to everything. When I was studying languages, I read this:

"It is, I think, absolutely impossible to conceive of meaning without order. There is something very curious in semantics, that the word ‘meaning’ is probably, in the whole language, the word the meaning of which is the most difficult to find. What does ‘to mean’ mean? It seems to me that the only answer we can give is that ‘to mean’ means the ability of any kind of data to be translated in a different language. I do not mean a different language like French or German, but different words on a different level. [...] Now, what would a translation be without rules? It would be absolutely impossible to understand. Because you cannot replace any word by any other word or any sentence by any other sentence, you have to have rules of translation. To speak of rules and to speak of meaning is to speak of the same thing; and if we look at all the intellectual undertakings of mankind, as far as they have been recorded all over the world, the common denominator is always to introduce some kind of order. If this represents a basic need for order in the human mind and since, after all, the human mind is only part of the universe, the need probably exists because there is some order in the universe and the universe is not a chaos." (Claude Lévi-Strauss, 'Myth and Meaning', highlights in bold by me)

How can't we stop and think in the logic behind what we're seeing, smelling, hearing etc? Even apparently subjective things like smells have a logic - in this case, based on chemistry. Scientists should look for this order/logic/rules in their object of work. The structure, the patterns, and yet the possibility of freedom in it (Zeus is called Eleutherios - of Freedom - too). And, since Zeus is the god who brought order to this world, he can be seen in anything we do a halt to contemplate. I couldn't look to this property of things without thinking of him.
 

I know, I tell my friends I'm not a "neopagan", but a... neopolitan! But this doesn't mean I don't have environmental awareness. Like Ruadhán well said: "Urban spirituality is not about avoiding environmental realities, but simply having a different understanding of them, and thus different ideas on sustainable living."

Some people could feel strange how much I say I'm an urban person when I was born in the Amazon, I was a girl scout, a member of Greenpeace, WWF, Keep da Ocean Clean, I'm shamanically a "granddaughter" of Michael Harner (since he initiated the woman who initiated me), and so on. But that's exactly the point: these things doesn't mean almost anything at all regarding my relationship with nature. Specially religiously speaking, because politically speaking they can mean something. Although, even then, environmentalism should not be an idea we use to brag how "green" we are. One thing is to show your children (by example) how to save resources, another one is to tell everyone all the little things you sometimes do to protect nature and be angry to those who doesn't follow your invitations of signing petitions to save the Earth. I just don't like how folks seem to be against humanity as it were the enemy of nature, not a part of it. It reminds me of a cartoon someone posted here before: http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/123/e/7/mother_gaia_by_humon-d3fh24i.jpg *g*

When I think about environmentalism in our beliefs, I recall mostly of the nymphs. Nymphs not only take part of the physical world in wild places - like rivers, mountains, caves, trees, springs, clouds etc - but also of human concerns - like fertility, childbirth, childcare, healing, war (similar to some heroines) etc. Other beings, like satyrs or silens, some animals and products (like the bees and their honey) were also related to the nymphs in their cult. Whenever I remember, I hail the nymphs of a place I'm passing by. I pray that these places can be conserved so their nymphs can live longer among us. I don't think the cities have less nymphs than countryside, it's us who become more likely to shut our ears and eyes to them while walking in urban places. I really don't need to go to a farm to feel their presence.

We can note how some rustic people have transformed old nymphs into christian ladies or folkloric creatures. Many of them could be recognized in those new depictions/stories. It's interesting, for example, how "Mother Mary" was seen in caves, grottoes, clouds, and how her image was found by fishermen in rivers or the sea.

So, environmental awareness to me goes far beyond waste management, like closing the tap and using biodegradable garbage bags to preserve the world to next generations. It has to do with keeping the home of deities who have helped us through all these millenniums, and to whom we should be thankful and practice our "kharis", because They always showed "xenia" toward us.

That's why I'd like to finish this post with the Orphic Hymn 51, to the Nymphs, with an incense of aromatic herbs. Maybe it can help people (I hope so) to figure out who They are and how we can feel closer to Them anywhere:

Just after the beginning of the astrological year, which since March 2011 is a Mercury one, things started to become a huge mess in my life. I got an anemia that let me weak; my friend invited me to create a psychological consulting firm to help companies; my dog went through a car accident and got two pelvic fractures besides getting bad reactions to the medicines; my father was also ill because he was with the dog when all happened and he was feeling guilty; I finally figured out my diagnosis of a personality disorder; and all these things happening together made me really afraid of a huge suffering (what is uncommon to a so rational person as people think I am). Regarding the disorder, it was mostly manifested when I was much younger, because I noticed Hellenismos helped me a lot to find a balance/measure ('metron') to deal with life issues, and I haven't been behaving like a borderliner anymore for a long time - the only thing that remains is the feeling of abandonment (I was victim of sexual abuse in my childhood, I lost my most beloved person for death some years ago, I'm still single after my thirties etc). I thought about taking a master degree in another city, but I was so sick that I feared to be alone and faint; therefore, I couldn't do the thing I used to love most: traveling. Although I was hopeful of using my diagnosis to stop parasuiciding myself (now that I knew it was not totally my fault, but a symptom of the disorder), all the emotional events with my dog was disturbing me enough to not help with my physical recovering. Every time she had a health problem related to the accident, I felt weaker. The meetings to create the consulting society was not going anywhere yet (and still aren't, since my friend traveled and we didn't have new meetings to talk about it). I was unemployed since January and didn't know what to do with my life.

But then, He came. On a Wednesday (Mercury day) of a Mercury year, I got an unexpected telephone call (god of communication!). They were calling me to take office in a job I had applied to two years ago. In a federal bank (god of commerce and market, patron of traders and merchants!). Coincidentally or not, two years ago I was visiting another agency of the same bank (in another city) where there was a bust of Hermes with wings in His helmet. Here you can see the picture:
 

When I went to the address of the local agency they gave me, to take the oath of office, I saw a huge caduceus in an accounting company advertisement on my way there. In the ceremony, they played the Brazilian national hymn. I always cry in these situations, here I cried even more. I was finally starting to serve my country as I always wanted since I was a girl scout, and at that moment I thought a lot about Athena too, how I was finally getting into a strategy and management field, how I was harvesting the fruits of her blessings in my studies - since it's hard to be convoked to this position (a lot of people try), how she knows better what we need than ourselves do, and so on.

A little later, a friend shared some news saying the scientists discovered that most part of the planet Mercury's nucleus is made of iron. Anemia is a lack of iron in our blood. So I prayed to Him, along with Apollo, Asklepios, Hygeia and Chiron, to give me health. But the good news of my new so-wanted job, and how everything happened, were already making me get better. I took 20 iron shots, 3 B-vitamin shots, and I had to take pills to not menstruate because bleeding let me worse. Fortunately, I could then change the shots to iron pills. Last Friday I had the good news of not having anemia anymore, although I still have to take pills for some time, which is not a problem to me. I'll also restart therapy to deal with the new knowledge I got of myself (hey, he is the god of therapists too!). By the way, my dog has totally recovered by now, and my father is so happy with me (and her) that he is OK too.

My job at the bank is being perfect: the working hours are the best (10 AM to 4:15 PM, with 15 to 30 minutes to lunch), my workmates are great people, the building is in a high historical place in front of the sea (surrounded by police and government buildings), they put us to study their courses in the corporative university, we have a lot of benefits attached, etc etc. I'm really loving to be there, learning different things instead of always doing and talking about the same stuff.

Hermes got his own shrine in my house, he doesn't have to share a niche in the bookshelf with other deities.

I'm probably forgetting some details, like the time when I dreamt about Him running among the crowd wearing a red chlamys, like some songs that played randomly, and other synchronicities, because I didn't write anything down these last months. But I hope it has been enough to show a little of how I'm feeling blessed by Hermes and His divine family. They really take care of us in a way sometimes we can't even imagine. And it's a pleasure to have you to share this...

Next March 3rd to 9th I'll be in another Brazilian city to an annual meeting - that has been happening for 20 years - about culture of peace and religious tolerance. There's an inside event in this meeting, only for neopaganism, which is in its 4th edition. They have paid the airplane tickets and hotel to me, so I can help them by giving lectures and panel discussions. I'll give a lecture about orthopraxy in Hellenic Reconstructionism, then teach them to dance a slow Hassapiko, and later join two panel discussions: one about theology (regarding different views of the gods) and another one about civic religion (politics and religious representativeness). We'll also perform a ritual to Dionysos.

I'm at the same time excited and a little scared (and worried), like with butterflies in my stomach. I hope everything works the better way possible and that I get along well with the people there. I have a lot of plans for when I come back. I love dealing with religious things, I wish I could live only of doing this...