Artemis Melissa

Day 12. Pantheon - Warrior Gods

2012-03-11T23:15:46Z

My favorite grandfather, the one with whom I was more connected to, was a Saint George's devotee. I was born in Saint George's day. He's the warrior saint, and the people from Yoruba faith (an African religion which is followed by a lot of Brazilians) say Ogun (synchretized with St.George) is my orisha. I'm not from their religion, but it adds one more reason to make me love warlike deities.

When I was around 6 years-old I went to my brother's judo class. It was my first contact with martial arts, and I remember being sat on my heels and taking care of all the boys that came to fight me, making them fall. I was good on that, but I didn't like judo a lot, so when I was 9 I started taking karate classes, along with my brother. Our teacher said that I was better than my brother (like someone who is asking how a boy could be beaten by a girl). As we waited for our parents to take us home after class, I watched the next advanced class and learnt their Kata only by watching and trying to copy their movements. Then we moved again from a city to another and I left karate. Years later I got into girls scout, where we had some fights I loved, and later I took some classes of Taekwondo and Tai Chi Chuan. In that time I watched a lecture about the goddess Kali and felt somewhat attracted to her warlike nature too. Then we moved again and I started Aikido and Kendo, already in my adulthood. I tried Kickboxing too, but I didn't like it. I think the one I liked most was still the Karate. Now I'm not practicing any martial arts, I just keep a collection of white weapons. But it doesn't mean I don't have worthy victories and battles ahead.

Since I was a girl scout, I felt connected with Nature by our camping adventures. Later I found my connection to women (including my bisexuality), I read about the Brazilian Icamiabas (the Amazon tribe of women who lived near where I was born), I met Xena (*g*) and also became an initiated shamaness (shamans work with animals), what made my feelings to the Amazons grow up, and brought me close to Artemis. I also remember going to a fantasy party dressed as Robin Hood because of his bow and arrows.

(I've already talked about Athena here, so I'll focus on the other warrior gods in this post.)

I think I never took Ares as a god to avoid. I see Ares as a fierce protector of his followers. Ares can give us courage, strenght, strong-will, specially when we're experiencing times of privation and difficulties. Ares wants us to strive to be victorious. He makes us to get up and make a change. He makes us evolve or die. He teaches us how to make a good use of the obstacles and conflicts, looking for the advantage of having something to conquer. Even his sons, Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Dread) are helpful. It's the fear of the consequences that make us avoid to do something by whim, without care. Most times, fear motivates us and doesn't allow us to be in trouble.

I believe Ares and Athena act together. She would be the strategist and he the executor. She foresees the next moves and he acts in the heat of battle. But one completes the other.

When I do rituals to war deities, I feel an energy moving my body and making me leave inertia. Listening to their drums makes my heart beat along them and asks me for an action. This action could be voting, protesting, writing a letter, defending myself, giving a direction to my life, following my own road etc. We can fight with many weapons: blades, hands, words, silence...

I don't wanna be known as someone who crosses her arms. We are here to always improve ourselves and the world. So it's fundamental that the war gods be at our side to help us to accomplish our deeds.

Here is something I made with images of Athena, Artemis and Ares I found on web and put together:

~~~

0. 30-day Paganism Meme (Intro)
1. Beliefs - Why Hellenismos?
2. Beliefs - Cosmology
3. Beliefs - Deities
4. Beliefs - Birth, death and rebirth
5. Beliefs - Sacred sexuality
6. Beliefs - Divination, mysticism and stuff like that
7. Beliefs - The power of prayer/reciprocity
8. Beliefs - Festivals / Sacred Days
9. Environmentalism
10. Patrons - Athena
11. Patrons - Zeus
~~12. Pantheon - Warrior Gods~~
13. Pantheon - Dionysos
14. Pantheon - Dioskouroi
15. Pantheon - Every-One Else
16. Nature daimons, Heroes and Ancestors
17. My ways of worship
18. Community
19. Hellenismos and my family/friends
20. Hellenismos and my love life
21. Other paths I've explored
22. Hellenismos and major life events
23. Ethics
24. Personal aesthetics and Hellenismos
25. Favored ritual tools, and why
26. Any "secular" pastimes with religious significance, and why
27. How your faith has helped you in difficult times
28. One misconception about Hellenismos you'd like to clear up
29. The future of Hellenismos
30. Advice for seekers

~~~

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dream about the minoan civilization

2011-09-20T00:08:08Z

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...

(Click here to see Phillip II of Macedon larnax.)

~~~
Edited: I've just read these archaeological news - "Rain unearths unknown Mycenaean cemetery".

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"The Simple Woman's Daybook" meme

2011-08-07T04:18:57Z

FOR TODAY

Outside my window...
there is the crescent moon over a lagoon.

I am thinking...
about my next ritual.

I am thankful...
for how the gods have been changing my life.

In the kitchen...
there are the last pieces of a birthday cake we celebrated this weekend (not mine).

I am wearing...
white shorts, red singlet, a ring and a necklace with a Greek pendant I got today.

I am creating...
discipline to keep my agenda.

I am going...
to read before sleep.

I am wondering...
when I'll have time to travel.

I am reading...
The Firebrand by Marion Bradley, and a few other books.

I am hoping...
I can handle what the fate will bring me.

I am looking forward to...
day 16, when I complete 3 months of work and will get "tenure" in my job.

I am hearing...
the clock, the fan, myself typing.

Around the house...
there are statues and books and dvds.

I am pondering...
whether I should spend some extra money I have (and with what) or invest it to use in something else later.

One of my favorite things...
is my independence, I hope I can have it back soon after recovering my full health and get a new mean of transport (I've just sold my car).

A few plans for the rest of the week:
rituals, doctors, exams, shopping...

( Want to start your own? http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/ )

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Day 11. Patrons - Zeus

2011-07-31T22:41:51Z

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.

~~~

0. 30-day Paganism Meme (Intro)
1. Beliefs - Why Hellenismos?
2. Beliefs - Cosmology
3. Beliefs - Deities
4. Beliefs - Birth, death and rebirth
5. Beliefs - Sacred sexuality
6. Beliefs - Divination, mysticism and stuff like that
7. Beliefs - The power of prayer/reciprocity
8. Beliefs - Festivals / Sacred Days
9. Environmentalism
10. Patrons - Athena
~~11. Patrons - Zeus~~
12. Pantheon - Warrior Gods
13. Pantheon - Dionysos
14. Pantheon - Dioskouroi
15. Pantheon - Every-One Else
16. Nature daimons, Heroes and Ancestors
17. My ways of worship
18. Community
19. Hellenismos and my family/friends
20. Hellenismos and my love life
21. Other paths I've explored
22. Hellenismos and major life events
23. Ethics
24. Personal aesthetics and Hellenismos
25. Favored ritual tools, and why
26. Any "secular" pastimes with religious significance, and why
27. How your faith has helped you in difficult times
28. One misconception about Hellenismos you'd like to clear up
29. The future of Hellenismos
30. Advice for seekers

~~~

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Day 10. Patrons - Athena

2011-07-24T20:05:30Z

Since I was a little girl, I loved to study. I went to swim at 9 months-old, to an art school at 3 years-old, I started to write songs at 7, to cook and weave and fight martial arts and play music around 9, to sell some paintings at 10, to write poems at 11... just to mention some classes I asked to take and things I wanted to do beside regular school when I was a child. As a teenager, I was always interested in priesthood and religious stuff, even having a lot of love(sex)-affairs here and there. In High School, they applied an intelligence psychological test in my class and I got the result "superior superior". My very first e-mail address had as username Athena and my year of birth. I always loved owls; the city I lived for more time had many of them.

One time I was walking with some friends from our city to a farm (I just did it once, it was very far and dangerous) and we found a owl in the middle of the street, and we took her to the zoo to not be killed by the cars (even if we almost could be killed stepping there). We thought it couldn't fly, but the veterinarian of the zoo said it was OK, it could be released and it flew away. I think it just wanted to meet us, heheh. Another time, I was leaving college and was going to take my car when an owl flew over me, poking me in the back of my head with its paws. Unfortunately, I don't see a lot of owls where I'm living now, althought the owls here are more beautiful than the ones in my former city. There we had that brown owls who lives in holes and are seen in the daylight, here we have that big white owls who appears at night. But I just saw one once, when I was teaching English to the Air Force last year.

I have a post-degree in Jungian Psychology, but I know having a patron god doesn't exactly mean to be related to him as an archetype. However, I recognize that when we live with someone for a long time, we start to be similar to them, even physically. I was already identified with Athene and Minerva statues by some people who didn't know I worshipped the Greek gods. Of course I'm not comparing myself with a goddess, but I'm saying that maybe I have some things that some people would say it's because of her archetype, which is not. I believe it's from her itself, because she exists (she's not only a personality concept). My friends and acquaintances use to say that the way I use logic and my rational way of thinking to answer the doubts people post in our forum is "very Athena's".

But let's do something more organized here. I'd like to talk about some of their aspects, because I think it's a better way to tell something about her as a deity and about her as my patroness. Here they go:

₪ Athena is the goddess of Wise Counsel. Till I was around 15 years-old, I thought the things I knew (or could conclude) were the same of everyone knew, that everyone could arrive to the same knowledge of things I had. But I noticed it wasn't true, when I started to talk more. Friends told me about their lives and I took the liberty of saying what I thought of it. For my surprise, they got surprised with my perception of their histories and how it always made sense. So I decided to start speaking more, because I was very quiet. It took a long time to change, since till now I'm still a silent person, but much less than that days.

₪ Athena is the goddess of Warcraft. I was a girl scout, I loved martial arts, I liked white weapons. But I'm weak with blood. I used to faint by seeing it. So I think I'm not an Ares girl very much, I'm more that mind behind the curtains planning the plot. Like Athena. I could tell you some moments in my teens I acted as the strategic mind behind "war games" other people were involved, but I confess I'm not very proud of some of these moments, specially because people have prejudices and misconceptions about war.

₪ Athena is the goddess of Weaving and Crafts. I always loved crafts. Althought I don't know how to weave anymore, I still work with wood, I draw, I paint, I mould, anything I can make to create beauty.

₪ Athena is the goddess of Olives & Olive Oil. My last name means Olive Tree, in Portuguese. The Portuguese olive oils are among the best of the world. My grand-grandfather was from Portugal.

₪ Athena is an Urban goddess. I lived in the capital of my country for many many years. I'm on an island now, but it's still a capital of a state, not the countrysite. And I try to travel to the biggest metropolis here every year. A lot of my friends are there.

₪ Athena has Green/Gray Eyes. When I was 14, a friend asked me "what the hell is the color of your eyes at all? Some days they're brown, some days they're green, somedays hazel, and I've already seen them black and even blue." Well, that time I didn't know what to tell her, but today I think I can say they're a kind of olive-brown. Others has asked me about their color other times, but there's a long time I don't listen it anymore, so I think their color got stable now. Sometimes I think Her gray eyes come from the storms of her father Zeus, but, since Zeus is the next topic-post of this meme, I'll let to talk about him then.

₪ Athena love Owls. Me too. They're cute and wise. People I don't even talk a lot use to tell me they always remember of me when they see an owl. When I was taking English classes in my youth, the teacher asked us "are you larks or owls?", explaining that some people work better in the daylight and others at night. I always was a 'creature of the night', that's the time I think better and have the best ideas and dreams. I hate waking up too early.

₪ Athena invented the Flute and the Trumpet. I like those, specially to listen to flutes, but I only know how to play keyboards and guitar and some percussion instruments. I remember I used to set the keyboards to copy the sound of flutes, it was my favorite tune.

₪ Athena invented the Ship. When I was a girl scout, I was from the sea-group. We had to learn how to sail. Before there, I used to go fish with my grandparent, and I had traveled by ship through the Amazon river. I love to watch "water movies", like Master and Commander, Titanic, Poseidon etc. I only don't like terrifying ones, like Jaws (it's more focused on the beast than in traveling by water in a boat). Sometimes I still hope having my own yacht/launch someday.

₪ Athena invented the Horse-bridle and the Chariot. The last time I rode a horse was 25 years ago, but I still miss it. I tried to compensate it with motorcycles, but there was almost always another person guiding, because people think motorcycles are too dangerous to girls, and I'm not very strong or healthy to guide heavy stuff. Anyway... There are some books with scenes about amazon warriors (The Last Amazon, The Firebrand etc) that I feel as I'm remembering something I lived before (maybe some other life). Another day I was reading how the character was following the tail of the horse in front of her because the fog was too dense to see all the horses of the women who were in the herd. I was totally transported to the moment as I had already gone through it.

₪ Athena invented the Plough and the Rake. As a urban person, I don't feel related to these. At least not yet. Who knows...

₪ Athena is a Virgin, in the sense she doesn't belong to any man. I know I could belong to a woman then, but I don't. Since my soulmate died 2 years ago, I only had some affairs, and the sex became something less important to me. I still have people who say they want me, that I'm a great lover etc, and maybe I could sleep with them, but I don't feel like I need to be in love and share my days with someone and blabla. On the contrary, I think the people I love most I have less physical desire for them. I don't mind to say I'm without sex for more than a year, and if there were nowadays an ordination of virgin priestesses of Athena with votes of celibate, I would consider doing/taking it. You could say it's only because I'm still mourning/grieving my beloved-one death, but I know for sure it isn't. Anyway, I think I don't need to go further because I've already written about sexuality here.

Besides that accounts, there are some other histories I could share about Athena in my life, but I believe it's better to keep them between me and her. I imagine you can understand it. :))

---
PS.: I have a tumblr with modern pictures related to Her. It's not updated, but it still has a lot of images to be seen there (11 pages), if you haven't visited it yet. - http://womenofathena.tumblr.com/

~~~

0. 30-day Paganism Meme (Intro)
1. Beliefs - Why Hellenismos?
2. Beliefs - Cosmology
3. Beliefs - Deities
4. Beliefs - Birth, death and rebirth
5. Beliefs - Sacred sexuality
6. Beliefs - Divination, mysticism and stuff like that
7. Beliefs - The power of prayer/reciprocity
8. Beliefs - Festivals / Sacred Days
9. Environmentalism
~~10. Patrons - Athena~~
11. Patrons - Zeus
12. Pantheon - Warrior Gods
13. Pantheon - Dionysos
14. Pantheon - Dioskouroi
15. Pantheon - Every-One Else
16. Nature daimons, Heroes and Ancestors
17. My ways of worship
18. Community
19. Hellenismos and my family/friends
20. Hellenismos and my love life
21. Other paths I've explored
22. Hellenismos and major life events
23. Ethics
24. Personal aesthetics and Hellenismos
25. Favored ritual tools, and why
26. Any "secular" pastimes with religious significance, and why
27. How your faith has helped you in difficult times
28. One misconception about Hellenismos you'd like to clear up
29. The future of Hellenismos
30. Advice for seekers

~~~

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Day 9. Environmentalism

2011-07-23T18:17:50Z

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:

"Nymphs, daughters of great-hearted Okeanos, you who have your homes in the moist recesses beneath the earth; you of secret paths, nurses of Bakchos, chthonic, joyful; growers of fruits, you of the meadows, of the winding paths, pure; delighting in caves, lovers of grottoes, wandering the air; you of the springs, roaming ones, dewclad with light steps; visible, invisible, you of the glens, with many blooms; leaping with Pan on the mountains as you cry out; flowing from rocks, clear-voiced, buzzing like the bee, mountain haunting; girls of the wilds, you of the gushing water and the woodlands; sweet-smelling maidens, clothed in white, fragrant in the breezes; you of the goatherds, you of the pasture, dear to the beasts, you of splendid fruit; lovers of frost, tender ones, you nurture and foster growth; girls joined with the trees, you delight in play, you of the wet paths; you of Nysa, ecstatic, healers, you who love spring, who bring grace to mortals with Bakchos and Deo. Come with joyful heart to the holy offerings, pouring wet streams in the seasons of full growth."

~~~

0. 30-day Paganism Meme (Intro)
1. Beliefs - Why Hellenismos?
2. Beliefs - Cosmology
3. Beliefs - Deities
4. Beliefs - Birth, death and rebirth
5. Beliefs - Sacred sexuality
6. Beliefs - Divination, mysticism and stuff like that
7. Beliefs - The power of prayer/reciprocity
8. Beliefs - Festivals / Sacred Days
~~9. Environmentalism~~
10. Patrons - Athena
11. Patrons - Zeus
12. Pantheon - Warrior Gods
13. Pantheon - Dionysos
14. Pantheon - Dioskouroi
15. Pantheon - Every-One Else
16. Nature daimons, Heroes and Ancestors
17. My ways of worship
18. Community
19. Hellenismos and my family/friends
20. Hellenismos and my love life
21. Other paths I've explored
22. Hellenismos and major life events
23. Ethics
24. Personal aesthetics and Hellenismos
25. Favored ritual tools, and why
26. Any "secular" pastimes with religious significance, and why
27. How your faith has helped you in difficult times
28. One misconception about Hellenismos you'd like to clear up
29. The future of Hellenismos
30. Advice for seekers

~~~

comments

Day 8. Beliefs - Festivals / Sacred Days

2011-07-23T14:02:49Z

I won't explain how a ritual is done in a festival day, first because my readers probably already know the basic structure of it, second because you can find it at my website (or others, since mine is in Portuguese), third because each festival has some particularities, fourth because beyond the basic people use to vary a lot in their practices; so - specially because of this lack of a rigid recipe - I just want to tell you about how I follow the calendar and how I do when we have a sacred day.

Every year, near the end of the civil year, mostly in November, I prepare the Hellenic calendar to put in our website. The first years I made that, I had to calculate stuff (since we have many types of year, some with an extra day, some with an extra month), but today I don't need it, because we have more sources on web to help me with it.

I consider the fixed days (like Noumenia, Dikhomenia etc), the ancient festivals by hellenic month, some secular days that can be adapted (like Earth day, mother's day, father's day, independence day), modern festivals (like Heliogenna, Herakleia, Prometheia), Hellenion monthly libations, and some modern festivals of other organizations (like Anadikia of Neokoroi, Kyklos Apollon, Philokoria of Cataleos, 12 Days of Dionysos of HellenicGods). Of course I never get to celebrate all of them, but at least I know they're happening and I put my mind in the deity that is being praised that day. This year I started to use my smartphone to remind me of the festivals in a better way.

The festivals I like more to celebrate are the ones of Dionysos, Zeus, Artemis and Athena. If we could put it in a family way, Zeus and Athena are like my parents and Dionysos and Artemis are my godparents. I also like the fact we have many new-years, so I try to (re)start things in Athenian New Year, Laconian New Year and even in Boeotian New Year. Besides being new beginnings, new-years are sort of one of the most civic days, in a sense of polis. I feel more connected to the festivals os "polis" than of "pagus". Even the Dionysiac festivals, I took them more by the matter of a shamanic ecstasy than the matter of vines and vegetation. In the case of Artemis, I focus on being the queen of the amazons and mistress of the animals than her aspect of the woods. And Artemis can be viewed in a shamanic way too - of a wild nature.

I didn't use to celebrate the seasons, mostly because I live near the equator line and because I didn't use to have an income to feel/see it as a crop. But now I'm celebrating the solstices together (in mind and soul) with the Greek group Thyrsos, and I have a nice job to celebrate the money I got with my work.

All my celebrations are being physically alone. My hellenic friends live far from me, and I like to do things alone. I have watched some pagan groups in a public space a couple of times, and I noted that people around got too curious (in a bad sense), some of them were participating there only to take pictures to put in their social-network albuns, and the whole thing seemed as a theater, which I'm not very fond of. (Even if you tell me theater comes from "theaomai" = to behold, look upon, view attentively, contemplate.) It's OK if we gather with good friends to perform rituals, I understand we have to show the new ones how do things properly too, and I would be glad doing all of that, but I still rather celebrate by myself. I'm not being dull, I just mean most of times we do things better when we do them ourselves. And the gods deserve the best of what we have.

Even then, I don't feel really alone. Sometimes we make an appointment of a ritual and we all feel/see/smell the same things the others (miles away) are feeling/seeing/smelling. It happens when we have a strong soul-connection in the gods. It's amazing! I believe, if someday we could transpose this experience to the physical world, it would be great indeed.

~~~

0. 30-day Paganism Meme (Intro)
1. Beliefs - Why Hellenismos?
2. Beliefs - Cosmology
3. Beliefs - Deities
4. Beliefs - Birth, death and rebirth
5. Beliefs - Sacred sexuality
6. Beliefs - Divination, mysticism and stuff like that
7. Beliefs - The power of prayer/reciprocity
~~8. Beliefs - Festivals / Sacred Days~~
9. Environmentalism
10. Patrons - Athena
11. Patrons - Zeus
12. Pantheon - Warrior Gods
13. Pantheon - Dionysos
14. Pantheon - Dioskouroi
15. Pantheon - Every-One Else
16. Nature daimons, Heroes and Ancestors
17. My ways of worship
18. Community
19. Hellenismos and my family/friends
20. Hellenismos and my love life
21. Other paths I've explored
22. Hellenismos and major life events
23. Ethics
24. Personal aesthetics and Hellenismos
25. Favored ritual tools, and why
26. Any "secular" pastimes with religious significance, and why
27. How your faith has helped you in difficult times
28. One misconception about Hellenismos you'd like to clear up
29. The future of Hellenismos
30. Advice for seekers

~~~

comments

little poem to Persephone

2011-06-29T23:49:18Z

You who dwell the realm of Aidoneus
And rest in your sacred field of asphodels,
Be my protector while in life and a shelter in my death.

Don't let the fear of pain stop me from the fight
Grant me strenght to pass my days till the night
And a healthy life before finding you at my last breath.

Queen Persephone, that I can be
Iniciated in your mystery,
to my ancestors be reunited
and to their rites be invited.

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Justice is Seductive

2011-06-29T06:12:07Z

I had a dream last night. I was with aktaios and petraios and a friend who worships the Fauns. We were doing some group work in the living room of my previous home in another city. petraios left to go to a restaurant and didn't come back. In this dream, I had a collection of statues made in dark stone, maybe dark marble. I remember one of them was Apollo. Then I noticed the Themis statue was not the way she is used to be depicted. She was half-naked and laying down on her side. My faun-friend said she was "hot". But, guess what, she was alive. First she could move to other poses, then she was truly a woman, dressed with a kind of net-dress, that ones which look like threaded holes, revealing a lot of her body. Her dress was golden and red, and she was putting a red jewel/gem in it. She was smilling and I played of touching her in her breast coming from behind. We were having fun and amazed by her. There were some black-and-white drawings in sofa cushions that were made by petraios. But I couldn't stop watching Themis. Anyone would be in love with her if they could see what I saw.

I woke up thinking how justice is seductive. I started to review my last actions when I refused to take advantage of something because I was willing to be fair. And every time I do so, I want to do more of it, I feel like I'm being seduced by justice.

Later, when I was talking to aktaios, he reminded me Aristotle's views about virtues. That, since Justice is a moral virtue, it has to be seen as pleasant/pleasurable - for being good in it, not for being good in someone else's point of view. Then almost everything I read about it came back to my mind.

The statuette I have of Themis is indeed kind of sexy [see it above]. But I don't use to do many rites to her or have a declared relationship with her, maybe only when I do some patriotic prayers in civil holidays to her and Athena, or when I read some oracle. I never thought in her in a way that recalls a little of Aphrodite.

I know her justice is more of a "divine law and rules of fate", but it just amazes me even more, specially because of what I related to you in my last post. (I was called to a job I never thought I would have because it was very different of everything I’m into, but I’m loving it! Sometimes I think ‘why did I study so much something to end up working in another thing?’, but it’s mostly an useless pride we humans have, and sometimes we can’t be stagnated in one group of skills. It attachs us to the past, to the things we studied, instead of learning new ways of dealing with life. I consider it a brand new "fate" given by the "divine" in a perfect timing to me.) (And, let's face, we don't use to find other depictions of Justice besides Themis. At least I never saw a statue or a bust of Dike, Eunomia, Nemesis etc in a store.)

Theoi.com also says "themistes" means "divine voice". I had never dreamt with her before, only with other gods and daimons, some of them many times. This is the second deity that makes their debut in my dreams this year, the first one was Hermes. I truly hope more gods can come to widen my circle of closer deities. And I wish I can find a way of "dating" Themis more often, so she can be proud of me and satisfied for seeing me following her path. I believe I have already accepted the challenge of doing so.

I'm still thinking about the meaning of her red & golden dress & gem, the dark marble/stone and so on. If anyone can help me to figure something out related to it, please let me know...

For now, I let you with my desire of having another night of nice dreams.

comments

Hermes's [good] tricks

2011-06-13T01:13:26Z

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...

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Day 7. Beliefs - The power of prayer/reciprocity

2011-02-27T05:09:50Z

"One ideally needed to be able to offer a god some sort of recompense in return for his help." (Simon Pulleyn, 'Prayer in Greek Religion')

Prayer had three parts in Homer: invocation, argument and request. Those reminds a lot the principles of Kharis (reciprocity) and Xenia (hospitality, friendship, protection). For the Ancient Greeks, it was a matter of reason and respect (eulabeia), not of faith (pistis). The verb pistestai can be translated as "to convince" or "to be convinced" of something, and they didn't need to be convinced of the Gods and of the importance of prayer - the Gods were everywhere and it was fair that they were grateful to Them.

Sometimes we ask ourselves if a so quick and simple ritual is worthy. And They show us it was. It's like a little gesture to remind someone that we care about this person. It means a lot more to have such moments many times of your year than only declare your love on his/her birthday with the biggest party ever. And the more you do for them on a daily basis, the more you will be able to feel them near and helping you find your daimon to be happy (happyness = eudaimonia).

In ancient times, it seemed to be more usual to make your sacrifices and say your prayers even before needing something. A prayer of gratitude after the thing had happened was more rare. People first gave the Gods their gifts and then expected for Their help, in memory of the friendship their kin had maintained since a long time ago till that day they were worshipping the same deities. So we can think they were more sure of Their power than some folks who expect for the good fruits of something before showing that they were thankful with the results.

Another day I was talking to a guy who insisted that what he practiced was magic, so I asked him to define what we were talking about. He said "I make a request, I do something to 'pay' for it and I receive something for what I had paid". Well, as I told him, in my point of view it's prayer (make a request) and kharis (reciprocity), not necessarily "magic" - specially because he made clear it didn't involved the hybris (reckless pride) of imposing his will, like by manipulating others. The fact is that prayer/reciprocity has so much power that some people take it as some magical stuff. It's not. It's part of having a good relationship with the gods, daimones and heroes.

You know, They really answer our prayers... Sometimes even exactly as we asked (what can be a problem, hehe)! If you ask for more patience, They will probably give you a lot of situations where you have to be patience so you can train this virtue until improve it. So it will be painful, but it'll work.

If everyone knew how to deal with it and how great it is, we would do our most to never let pass an opportunity of prayer and/or sacrifice to our deities.

~~~

0. 30-day Paganism Meme (Intro)
1. Beliefs - Why Hellenismos?
2. Beliefs - Cosmology
3. Beliefs - Deities
4. Beliefs - Birth, death and rebirth
5. Beliefs - Sacred sexuality
6. Beliefs - Divination, mysticism and stuff like that
~~7. Beliefs - The power of prayer/reciprocity~~
8. Beliefs - Festivals / Sacred Days
9. Environmentalism
10. Patrons - Athena
11. Patrons - Zeus
12. Pantheon - Warrior Gods
13. Pantheon - Dionysos
14. Pantheon - Dioskouroi
15. Pantheon - Every-One Else
16. Nature daimons, Heroes and Ancestors
17. My ways of worship
18. Community
19. Hellenismos and my family/friends
20. Hellenismos and my love life
21. Other paths I've explored
22. Hellenismos and major life events
23. Ethics
24. Personal aesthetics and Hellenismos
25. Favored ritual tools, and why
26. Any "secular" pastimes with religious significance, and why
27. How your faith has helped you in difficult times
28. One misconception about Hellenismos you'd like to clear up
29. The future of Hellenismos
30. Advice for seekers

~~~

comments

Religious service

2011-02-19T04:07:02Z

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...

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Since everyone is answering to this... here it goes:

2011-01-11T17:40:32Z

B A S I C S //
Do you have a magical/Pagan name? Alexandra Nikasios
What does it mean? The first name is "the one who helps the humanity/men" and the last one is "victorious (from Nike)".
How did you find Paganism? When I was 12, my friends asked me if I would be a witch when I grew up, but the Paganism itself I found when I was 19, reading mythology and searching on web if there would be people who still worshipped the gods.
How long have you been practicing? More than 10 years. (I won't say my age, *g*.)
Solitary or group practitioner? Mostly solitary. First because I prefer being alone; then because I live in the 5th biggest country of the world and it's hard to find people worshipping the gods similar to me and living close.
What is your path? Hellenic Reconstructionism.
Are you out of the broom closet? Only to my friends, not to my family, although they probably have their suspicions.

D E I T Y //
Who is your patron God? Zeus.
Who is your patron Goddess? Athena.
What Gods do you worship? The Greek Gods (Zeus, Athena, Dionysos, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaistos, Hera, Apollo, Hestia, Eros, Hekate, Poseidon, Persephone, Kouretes, Demeter, Herakles, Mouses, Pan, Tyche, Hades, Leto, Hypnos, Gaia, Morpheus, Themis, Asklepios, Psyche etc) and - very rarely - some Hindu ones (Krishna, Ganesha, Shiva, Kali).
Do you fear darkly aspected Gods/Goddess, or rather respect them? I respect them as part of what They are, and part of a balance the world needs.
Do you worship the Christian God? No. I was catholic before Hellenismos, but I would not include their god in my worship, even because I believe the approach is totally different.
Do you ever worship animals? No, only daimons shaped as animals (like the serpentine agathos-daimon or totemic animal spirits).
Or plants? No, maybe only deities metamorphosed in plants or related to them (like remembering Apollo by seeing Daphne, Narcissus, Hyacinth.)

N A T U R E //
Do you regularly commune with nature? Sometimes, but I'm more an urban person. I'm living in an island and I use to spend my vacations in a metropolis. Greek religion is more of "polis" (cities) than pagus, actually.
Ever walked barefoot in the woods? Yes. And I made love to my soul-mate in a pine wood under the rain. O:)
Taken a camping trip just to talk to nature? Yes, some of them were amazing, but one of these times I fell over the rocks of a waterfall (and a huge blue butterfly flew in circles over my head, it was beautiful but still painful), then I stopped to try to be a forest person. I like big cities.
Describe the moment you felt closest to Mother Earth? I cried a lot inside a cave because I felt as I was in a womb again - and mother figures are a big issue to me.
Do you have a familiar? If it means a pet, only my brother's female dog; but if it means a trained animal to deal with energies, no.
Have you ever called upon the powers of an animal in ritual? Not in Hellenismos. Maybe in Shamanism, many years ago.
Or a plant? No.
Do you hug trees? I don't hug, I salute the dryads/nymphs.
Give them gifts? I don't use to.
What is your favourite flower to work with? I don't "work with" them. I have some essence, incense, and at most herbs (rosemary to the lustral water, laurel to oracles etc).
What is your favourite tree to work with? I didn't know trees had jobs. :-p

W H E E L . O F . T H E . Y E A R //
What is your favourite holiday? The ones related to Athena or Dionysos, and Noumenia.
What is your least favourite holiday? The Eleusinian Mysteries, because we have few information about them.
Have you ever held a ritual on a holiday? Yes.
Ever taken a day off work to celebrate a Pagan holiday? I didn't have to.
Do you celebrate Yule on the 21 rather than the 25? I don't celebrate Yule, I do Heliogenna and Dionysia, that include both days.
Have you ever felt the veil thin? Yes.
Ever danced the Maypole? No. But played a game with a ball stringed to a pole. And pole dance also counts? heheh
Know what the Maypole symbolizes? Its symbolism is still debated, some say it's the nordic Yggdrasil, some say it's a phallic symbol, others say is the growth of crops after the return of summer...
How do you usually celebrate the Pagan holidays? By myself. But if/when I'm working in an English school, I celebrate Halloween with everyone there.

D I V I N A T I O N //
Do you use Tarot? Yes. Mythic Tarot, Etruscan Tarot... and Mythic Oracle (which is not tarot, but is a deck of cards).
Do you use runes? I use a Hellenic alphabetic oracle to Apollo.
Do you use a pendulum? I have one, but rarely use it.
Do you use dowsing rods? No.
Do you use astrology? Yes and no. I got my natal chart to know myself better and to think about planets/gods influence in my life, but I don't follow closely the changes in the stars through the year.
Any other form of divination? Bird watching. And read the signs everywhere.

S P E L L S //
What was the first spell you did? I think I was 11 years-old, so I won't remember, but probably a love or money spell.
What was the latest? One I did dealing with Aphrodite and she "spanked/beat" me for it, so never more.
Ever done a love spell? Read above.
A job spell? Probably, in my teens.
A healing spell? Most likely.
What was the most powerful spell you’ve ever performed? I won't tell about it, but it was a healing one.
What deities do you usually call on? I don't call them and I hope I never need to.

C R Y P T O Z O O L O G Y //
Do you believe in Vampires? Depends on how you define it.
Werewolves? Less likely.
Shapeshifters? Maybe.
Elves? Why not?
Faeries? Yes.
Dragons? Maybe.
Nymphs? Yes.
Sprites? Yes.
Mermaids? Naiades.
Sirens? Yes.
Satyrs? Yes.
Ever “seen” any of the above? A purple & blue fairy; the "curupira/caipora" (a Brazilian spirit of the woods that has red hair and backward feet); and 2 giants.
Ever talked to any of the above? Yes, but not the ones I've seen.
Ever used any of the above in magic? "I may see and talk to invisible creatures, but I'm not crazy." (nice answer, I second that)
Do you have one of them as a personal guardian? In Shamanism I had shapeshifters as guardians, and now I'm fond of Nephele (a cloud nymph), but she's not a personal guardian.

R A N D O M //
Do you see a rabbit, a man or a woman in the moon? An ant. Really, since I was a child.
Own a cat? I wish I could.
When you meditate, what does your happy place look like? My shamanic world, or my vision of the Elysian Fields...
Do you work with Chakras? Not lately, only when I was taking music-therapy or yoga classes.
Do you believe in past lives? Yes. When I was Christian I thought it was an absurd and impossible, because of the population growth; but then - as a pagan - I had some experiences that made me believe in a way that for me now is impossible not to believe in it. Besides, we can have new souls to make the population grow, but still have old ones coming back to earth. And I think there's also that ones that reachs a level of not needing to come back again.
If so, describe a few briefly: I'd rather not to, there's too envious people around there.
Do you believe in soul mates? Yes, althought maybe we have more than one.
Do you have a spirit guide? Yes, two.
Is it always love and light? No, everything needs its opposite to keep the balance ("Nothing in excess!") and to make us value the good part.

comments

Visitors

2011-01-06T19:47:40Z

Today, when I was waking up, I saw a bald male giant with a lantern searching something on my bedroom's floor. Last time I saw a giant (I mean some huge humanoid that is as high as my ceiling) was in July 9th, a woman with dark hair.

Till some minutes ago, I had no idea what he was looking for. But then a friend (aktaios ) came to talk with me about the Deipnon/Noumenia ritual we did (each one in their houses) last night. When he mentioned a moth (you know, that dark "butterflies") that came to his room, I remembered that there were two moths and a gecko here (it's the second time a gecko appears to me in a Deipnon's day), one of them was high on the wall and the other was crawling on the floor. This one of the floor couldn't fly, just kind of jump, and my female dog hunted the moth till break it apart, and I had to take it with a paper and put it in the trash can. So, when he made me remind of this, I thought that maybe the giant was looking for the moth, like they sent it to me and it didn't come back. I went to look to the other one which was up on the wall and it's not there anymore, maybe it went away back to the place from where the big guy came.

I just wanted to know if there's something I should learn from this, where to look for, who he was... But I don't have a clue; at least not yet. The only giant related to Hekate I've found is Klytios, who was immolated by her torches - "Hekate got Klytios with fire-brands" (lantern?), according to Pseudo-Apollodorus - in the gigantomachia, the war against the gods. He had a panther-skin cloak, but he was not depicted bald...

I feel more comfortable to talk about this things here in DW than in my Portuguese blog, because there it seems like some pagan people believe I don't have "sixth sense", that reconstructionists are too geek and rational and serious and scientists to have this kind of ~~"trip"~~ experience. But the thing is - being real or only remains of a dream - it was there and meant something to me.

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Day 6. Beliefs - Divination, mysticism and stuff like that

2011-01-03T05:28:57Z

First of all, I didn't include "magic" here for the same reasons already explained by aingealoreiad in her blog, where she clarifies very well the difference between magic and mysticism. I do recognize there are other definitions of magic that may lead people to argument that even a Christian mass has its magic, since it has candles, incense, recitations of formulas and so on, but I could call it by another name too. And, even knowing that in Ancient Greece there was magic and witches as Kirke and Medea, it still can be put in a way that brings us to think of it as a "hubris" too (and you should read what youngsoulrebel has written about it).

I know that in almost any culture cults and beliefs that deal with some kind of "magic" are not well seen. Here in Brazil, people who worship the Yoruba orishas (African deities) suffer prejudice all the time. However, when I think in all the technologies we have now, I imagine that they would be considered witchcraft in ancient times. Maybe we just don't know how to create things (and/or make things work), then we see such stuff as "magic" and mostly from an evil source, when it's only a lack of knowledge on the subject.

But, anyway, I don't make use of magic spells (considering that spells aren't only powerful words as the mantras from hinduism are), I don't make recipes with herbs, I don't even carve curse tablets or do the "homeric magic", and none of these. The only thing I do is some divinations, since the ancient "mantis" did it too. Sometimes I practice the traditional watching of birds's flight, but mostly I read tarot and oracles related to the Mediterranean region (like Mythic Tarot, Mythic Oracle, Etruscan Tarot, Greek alphabetic oracle to Apollo...). I almost never cast other kind of oracles (such Runes, Shamanic decks...). Nevertheless, I must say I'm always aware of the signs sent by the Gods in the world around me, if you consider it a kind of reading too.

I have (or had) some experiences that are usually called as: Premonitory Dreams, Intuitive Psychography, Materialization, Clairaudience, Claircognizance, Clairsentience, Clairscent, Clairempathy, Transfiguration, Aura Vision. The most frequent of those are the dreams and the clear hearing. I don't know if the last one is from spirits or radio waves in my head, but I believe the dreams come from the Gods, and it's a great way to keep in touch and get answers from Them. Everytime I recognize in the awake world something I had dreamt in the night before, I think I'm in the right path. And it doesn't interfere with other people's free-will.

I've been reading the book "Hekate Soteira: A Study of Hekate's Roles in the Chaldean Oracles and Related Literature" (by Sarah Iles Johnston) to an online study group about Hellenismos Mysticism. It starts comparing Hekate with the Cosmic Soul mentioned by Plato. It have been a very interesting reading, and maybe I would have a lot more to say on this subject after finishing the book, but for now I believe it won't change the way I see these questions of Divination, Mysticism and related stuff.

~~~

0. 30-day Paganism Meme (Intro)
1. Beliefs - Why Hellenismos?
2. Beliefs - Cosmology
3. Beliefs - Deities
4. Beliefs - Birth, death and rebirth
5. Beliefs - Sacred sexuality
~~6. Beliefs - Divination, mysticism and stuff like that~~
7. Beliefs - The power of prayer/reciprocity
8. Beliefs - Festivals / Sacred Days
9. Environmentalism
10. Patrons - Athena
11. Patrons - Zeus
12. Pantheon - Warrior Gods
13. Pantheon - Dionysos
14. Pantheon - Dioskouroi
15. Pantheon - Every-One Else
16. Nature daimons, Heroes and Ancestors
17. My ways of worship
18. Community
19. Hellenismos and my family/friends
20. Hellenismos and my love life
21. Other paths I've explored
22. Hellenismos and major life events
23. Ethics
24. Personal aesthetics and Hellenismos
25. Favored ritual tools, and why
26. Any "secular" pastimes with religious significance, and why
27. How your faith has helped you in difficult times
28. One misconception about Hellenismos you'd like to clear up
29. The future of Hellenismos
30. Advice for seekers

~~~

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Obligatory end of 2010 meme

2010-12-27T16:56:09Z

( seen at http://youngsoulrebel.dreamwidth.org/1261917.html )

1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?
I took one experimental class of Kickboxing. I have martial arts experience, but I had never tried boxing.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't. I just hope to do things, but I don't promise to do them.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, a friend, she is kemetic.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes, one of my cousins.

5. What countries did you visit?
None, but I have on-line friends in some countries.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
Lose weight, read/study more, get something to do with my life.

7. What date from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
The week I spent in filhotedelua 's house. I think it's because some things got clear to me...

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I got my second major, I got a netbook from my parents, I had time to make art/handicrafts with my pyrography machine, and I finally was able to organize my hellenic books (they are a lot).

9. What was your biggest failure?
Didn't get into the master course yet.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I fainted once and almost fainted other two times because of a low blood pressure.

11. What were the best things you bought?
Books (always) and a light table (it helps to make my drawings).

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
My mother, she took a letter in the post office and gave an expensive Christmas gift to a little girl we didn't know and who wrote to Santa Claus. The whole history is long and beautiful, a friend of mine cried when I told her all of it.

13. Whose behaviour appalled you?
People with prejudice/bias and closed minds, as usual.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Travel tickets.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The statuette of Athena I got as a gift from new friends I made from Greece. :D

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
"Mou Kanei Plaka O Theos", by Xryspa.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
Happier, less worried, but more anxious.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Travel and exercise.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Spend time on Internet.

20. How will you be spending New Year's Eve?
I've been doing the 12 Days of Dionysos.

21. Did you fall in love in 2010?
Maybe I fell in and out...

22. How many one-night stands?
Only a "two-nights stand" with the same person.

23. What was your favourite TV program?
Life Unexpected, The Big Bang Theory, Xena (it's in a rerun again here).

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
"Not really; just a few people I lost serious respect for." (I second that.)

25. What was the best book you read?
Finally (and in English), "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I don't think there was one.

27. What did you want and get?
See my brother moving out from my house.

28. What did you want and not get?
A Playstation 2? heheh

29. What was your favourite film of this year?
I love movies, it's difficult to pick a favorite, specially because this year we had Robin Hood, Centurion and other epics, but maybe I'll stay with the light romantic comedy "Eat Pray Love", because of its message.

30. What did you do on your birthday?
I don't remember. Probably I went to have dinner in some restaurant.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Having something set up to next year.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Indian shirts and jeans.

33. What kept you sane?
Maybe my "niece", a little female dog my brother got and always visit me (and she loves me). Pets make us happy.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I was happy to see Sandra Bullock winning an Academy Award.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
In a good sense, the election of a woman as the new president of Brazil.

36. Who did you miss?
A soul-mate deceased in 2009 and my friends who live far away from me.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
Off-line I think it was a lady from my Philosophy study group. On-line was a couple from Greece.

comments

quick notes

2010-12-14T16:20:02Z

# Several months ago I gave to a Kemetic friend three wood sticks to her shrine, I had written in them (with a pyrography machine) the hieroglyphic names of her main gods: Bastet, Sekhmet and Horus. Last week she told us a bird came over and took the Horus stick away, probably to its nest. She was kind of angry, but I laughed. It's interesting that the bird didn't touch the feline sticks and took only the one of the falcon god.

# The day before yesterday I was with my sister-in-law's dog here. It was first hidden under my bed and later followed me till the kitchen, then back to my room under the bed. It's a cute female dog. A thunder roared and she left her place. I told her "it's just a thunder, you can come back", she looked at me and went to sleep under my bed again. It made me think about how sometimes I feel like a pet which is taken care by the gods...

# December 9th I asked for Dionysos help in a matter and took my Mystic Dreamer Tarot to read. The result was clear as water, clear as a Zeus bolt. If Heraclitus says "The lord at Delphi neither speaks nor conceals, but gives a sign." I wonder why I haven't recurred to Dionysus instead of Apollo before.

# By the way, I was coughing and my doctor sent me a herbal remedy. It was written its latin scientific name on the box, and I haven't figured out it was ivy's scientific name till this Sunday. I've been drinking dry essence of ivy without noticing. I smiled on how lately Dionysus has been surrounding me...

comments

letter to Dio:

2010-12-06T01:49:26Z

(written first in Portuguese and translated to here)

Beloved Mister D.,

I know the nights with you have been indescribably enrapturing, but the other hours of the day - when you leave me lost in your mountain woods - are about to let me crazy in a way that unbalances all of me, and it's not always that I know how to deal with it.

Consider my nightmare this morning, and grant me that moment I need to make things out, in this net where I have thrown myself waiting for something that didn't come and that eventually has trapped me as a web.

Remember Athena has carried your heart to Zeus and help me to restore mine, which not only palpitates (as the "pallein" of Pallas) but also bleeds before your presence.

Recognize among your maenads what is causing this tension unprovided with sacred furor and provided with negligent transgression, and purify us with your dance, percussion and trance.

Reveal us through 'mantiké' the divine 'manía' that promotes the 'maieutiké', turning us into new beings, full of you.

And, specially, Bacchants's consort, show me the purpose behind this vertigo that takes my mind and soul, which constantly have been struggling against my wills.

May we both lengthen the delight of the night through our days, and share it with those creatures that are closer to you. Bring them near, together with me, and consume us in holy smoke so we can dilute/dissolve in you.

I deliver myself to you, take me as I was an amphora, and suck away the poison of the profane disturbance, to make me a sacred instrument in your attendance.

Lord of nocturnal eyes, I crave to sail in your wine-colored sea, escorted by your pirate-dolphins and entangled of sacred ivy.

Lead me with your thyrsus now, and give me your blessing...

A.
~ December 5th, 2010. ~

comments

Day 5. Beliefs - Sacred sexuality

2010-11-24T20:14:51Z

As 47% of women in the world, my first sexual experience was forced. Maybe because of those bad long times in my childhood and early teens, I got used to not blush in front of naked people, sex was kind of natural to me. In my late teens, I was dating men and women, and some friends used to think I was too "don-juan/casanova" to be faithful and get married. And everytime I tried to do it (be loyal), it happened to be with the wrong person. I believe the only ones who loved me for real (as a love should be) were a dark guy who cried when I broke up with him and a blond girl who cried and got truly sick when we broke up. She and I were together for six years and we even got a pagan marriage although we didn't live together. I had other girlfriends before her, but - since I couldn't choose my first man - I wanted to choose my first woman to have sex with, and it was her. I tried other people after them, but no one was like that girl. Then my heart was broken over and over by those people. I thought I could fix my practical life and have a job with good payment so I could move from here and go live with her someday. The last three individuals I was with did a terrible damage to me (of course we kind of let people do this), so I had a vision with two hindu gods and started to practice yoga. It helped a lot, I was putting myself together, I was learning about the celibacy (brahmacharya) as a way to channel energy to higher purposes, and it really made me have more spiritual experiences. Then that soul-mate I hoped to live with someday... got cancer and died. In 2009. It just made me desire to stay mourning and without sexual relationships. I got closer to my friends, I experienced for the first time what was a peaceful friendship without "benefits", which sounded me much more comfortable than that feeling we have when we consider we can get that person to bed, because we're always alert if we're presentable if happens to be naked with them. I do like someone right now, but I understand I can't have her because a lot of reasons that are irrelevant to mention for now.

Today I believe there are moments and time to everything. When we want to celebrate a hierogamia, a sexual experience can be made sacred because of the intentions on doing it. Also, we can offer the beauty of a sex act to some deity. Or even a masturbation to Priapus. On the other hand, if we want to pay homage/tribute to a pure goddess or if we want to offer a sacrifice, or if we desire to increase our spiritual energy/perception, it's very worthy to try being celibate.

My patron goddess is Athena, and I believe her "virgin" title is more in the sense of someone who doesn't belong to any man than in the sense of someone denying their sexuality. Another goddess I'm very connected with is Artemis, who is "virgin" too, so this situation of not having a compromise to anyone attracts me to them a lot.

I don't believe celibacy is only something repressing that denies life. The sacred celibacy (like the brahmacharya of the hindu) is not about repressing sexuality or avoiding it. It's kind of being beyond sexuality to use such energy in another thing, in a bigger thing - spiritually spoken. Because sexuality (and its energy) is truly sacred, but it's still too focused on the body. We should be able to take it to the soul.

For example, when you compete on Olympic Games, your trainer will say you can't drink alcohol, you can't eat heavy food, you can't have sex, you can't go party some time before the games. And why an athlete agrees with that? Because they want to win. No-one tells them it's wrong to not have sex, that they are repressing themselves or it's a violence againts their natural desires, because it has a purpose. We understand their purpose and praise their behavior.

But, again, you have to do it for your own will, not because people say it's right. Then you won't be suppressing anything, only liberating yourself of the imposed demands of other people. Having sex or not having sex can't be something forced to anyone. The choice has to be yours, not from the society or as a request to be a priest or something like that.

In the same way nowadays we're not compelled to be fertile and procreate (because - among other things - we have advanced in avoiding death in childhood) and we can choose to be with a partner of the same sex, I believe we can choose being with a lot of people (poliamory) or not being with anyone at all too. Sexuality is something natural, despite how it's being used. The only exigence/demand here is that all people involved are aware of what is happening, that they agree with that and want to join it. We have to respect other's will and conscience. That's why it doesn't include children and so on.

As a Taurus ruled by Venus, I feel very connected to sensuality and love in everything I do. I'm always trying to follow my desires and moves, and this is my way to be satisfied and in peace with myself.

~~~

0. 30-day Paganism Meme (Intro)
1. Beliefs - Why Hellenismos?
2. Beliefs - Cosmology
3. Beliefs - Deities
4. Beliefs - Birth, death and rebirth
~~5. Beliefs - Sacred sexuality~~
6. Beliefs - Divination, mysticism and stuff like that
7. Beliefs - The power of prayer/reciprocity
8. Beliefs - Festivals / Sacred Days
9. Environmentalism
10. Patrons - Athena
11. Patrons - Zeus
12. Pantheon - Warrior Gods
13. Pantheon - Dionysos
14. Pantheon - Dioskouroi
15. Pantheon - Every-One Else
16. Nature daimons, Heroes and Ancestors
17. My ways of worship
18. Community
19. Hellenismos and my family/friends
20. Hellenismos and my love life
21. Other paths I've explored
22. Hellenismos and major life events
23. Ethics
24. Personal aesthetics and Hellenismos
25. Favored ritual tools, and why
26. Any "secular" pastimes with religious significance, and why
27. How your faith has helped you in difficult times
28. One misconception about Hellenismos you'd like to clear up
29. The future of Hellenismos
30. Advice for seekers

~~~
P.S.: I have edited the list because I've noticed I hadn't changed it to the one I had made to myself before, althought I was following mine.

comments

Day 4. Beliefs - Birth, death and rebirth

2010-10-25T23:41:54Z

I believe the soul is eternal, it was there since ever and it will still exist somewhere and someway/somehow, even if it doesn't reincarnate anymore. Birth is a pain (maybe that's why everyone borns crying), it's coming to the sensible world to learn and evolve. Death is to be freed from the prison of the body and reach another world. Rebirth happens after a meeting with Tyche and after drinking from the waters of the Lethe.

Regarding this "other world", there was a time when I dreamt about Zeus showing me a lot of little places above the clouds and telling me that people go to where they believe they'll go, and that I was in a place to where people who are sleeping (not dead) go. It's not like that we go to different spots over the clouds, but that - even if we are in the same place - we'll probably believe that place is the one we know and how we call it, and we'll gather with other souls who have beliefs similar to ours.

The ancient Greek philosophers told us that we had two possibilities: 1) there's nothing after death, so we'll not suffer at all; 2) there's a place we go after death, so we'll meet a lot of already deceased interesting people and it's a good thing. That's why we don't have to worry about death. I think death is worst to the ones who stay. It's awful to know you'll never see or hold or talk to that person again.

I am very curious about what is like in the other side, so I'm not afraid of dying at all, especially because I miss some people who had gone and I look forward to re-gather with them (I hope it truly happens in an afterlife). My only concern is the people I would leave behind. And, since everything is cyclic, someday the wheel will turn and I'll find out why I'm useful to this world and what I'm still doing here...

~~~

0. 30-day Paganism Meme (Intro)
1. Beliefs - Why Hellenismos?
2. Beliefs - Cosmology
3. Beliefs - Deities
~~4. Beliefs - Birth, death and rebirth~~
5. Beliefs - Sacred sexuality
6. Beliefs - Divination, mysticism and stuff like that
7. Beliefs - The power of prayer/reciprocity
8. Beliefs - Festivals / Sacred Days
9. Environmentalism
10. Patrons - Athena
11. Patrons - Zeus
12. Pantheon - Warrior Gods
13. Pantheon - Dionysos
14. Pantheon - Dioskouroi
15. Pantheon - Every-One Else
16. Nature daimons, Heroes and Ancestors
17. My ways of worship
18. Community
19. Hellenismos and my family/friends
20. Hellenismos and my love life
21. Other paths I've explored
22. Hellenismos and major life events
23. Ethics
24. Personal aesthetics and Hellenismos
25. Favored ritual tools, and why
26. Any "secular" pastimes with religious significance, and why
27. How your faith has helped you in difficult times
28. One misconception about Hellenismos you'd like to clear up
29. The future of Hellenismos
30. Advice for seekers

~~~

comments

Day 3. Beliefs - Deities

2010-10-15T03:43:47Z

It made sense to me this topic coming just after Cosmology. I think the fact you believe in one god, two deities, many of them, the divine everywhere etc, has to do with the kind of cosmology you took in consideration. (It's curious that a Brazilian girl I know posted something about it in her blog yesterday.)

I believe in many gods because there were a lot of them from the cosmogony till now and they're immortal (althought not eternal, what implies that they always existed, when indeed they were born someday). But I was arguing once with a Philosophy teacher about it, because she said Hesiod's Theogony was monotheist since everything came from one deity (Chaos or the Eros/Phanes at the Cosmic Egg), and I told her at most she could think about a henotheism, because "mono" means/implies "only" and there isn't only one god there, so - if she insists every other gods came after the first one - it would be more likely she would be stating about an "heno" (one) form of theism. However, henotheism brings another thing besides the creation/cosmogony, it says that this one god is superior to all others, and it's not true inside Hellenismos. Even if we think Zeus is the ruler of this generation of gods, he isn't exempt of the Fates/Moirai's decisions, and he can't break a vow made by the Styx River, for example.

Regarding paganism in general, it isn't polytheist in all of its forms. Mithraism was monotheist and Wicca can be duotheist (all goddesses would be the triple one and all gods would be the hunter one), in the same way that having a lot of saints and "one god in three persons" doesn't make Catholicism polytheist. Besides these, there's also the pantheism, which is the view that the Universe or the Nature and God are the same thing.

So, our deities are hundreds, they really exist and aren't only book characters, we also have "daimons" (spirits) and demigods, and each one of them is not an aspect of the other - they have their own "life"/history/etc. I think it summarizes what I understood by this title "Deities" here.

~~~

0. 30-day Paganism Meme (Intro)
1. Beliefs - Why Hellenismos?
2. Beliefs - Cosmology
~~3. Beliefs - Deities~~
4. Beliefs - Birth, death and rebirth
5. Beliefs - Sacred sexuality
6. Beliefs - Divination, mysticism and stuff like that
7. Beliefs - The power of prayer/reciprocity
8. Beliefs - Festivals / Sacred Days
9. Environmentalism
10. Patrons - Athena
11. Patrons - Zeus
12. Pantheon - Warrior Gods
13. Pantheon - Dionysos
14. Pantheon - Dioskouroi
15. Pantheon - Every-One Else
16. Nature daimons, Heroes and Ancestors
17. My ways of worship
18. Community
19. Hellenismos and my family/friends
20. Hellenismos and my love life
21. Other paths I've explored
22. Hellenismos and major life events
23. Ethics
24. Personal aesthetics and Hellenismos
25. Favored ritual tools, and why
26. Any "secular" pastimes with religious significance, and why
27. How your faith has helped you in difficult times
28. One misconception about Hellenismos you'd like to clear up
29. The future of Hellenismos
30. Advice for seekers

comments

A little fun

2010-10-12T03:33:31Z

Zeus talks about his children:

₪ Athena - “She gave me a lot of headache at the beginning.”

₪ Dionysos - “I just slapped him together in my tighs.”

₪ Persephone - “One day my little girl was picking flowers, and on the other day she had left with a sinister guy.”

₪ Artemis - “Every time she saw a pet, she asked me if she could keep it.”

₪ Apollo - “He's brilliant, but Hermes was able to steal his plushies anyway.”

₪ Ares - “Always getting into fights.”

₪ Herakles - “Even when everyone else couldn't get a job, he always had a lot of work.”

₪ Aphrodite - “She is lovely.”

₪ Hebe - “Very helpful.”

₪ Hellen - “There was a lot of war for her.”

₪ Minos - “He loved to play with mazes.”

₪ Hermes - “Today he would be what you call... hyperactive?”

₪₪₪

comments

Day 2. Beliefs - Cosmology

2010-10-11T04:34:06Z

Getting it way too shortly, Hesiod's Cosmogony says that first there was Chaos, then the Earth, Olympus, Tartarus, then Erebus and Night, Aether and Day, the starry Heaven and Hills, Pontus (the sea) and so on. The Orphics said something about first coming Hydros (water) then Ge (Earth) who engendered Drakon (a Serpent) with the god Chronos producing Aether and Chaos and making a silvery egg in Aither from where came the god Phanes, who were bisexual and created the world. (Phanes would be like the elder Eros of Hesiod's Theogony.) Cool, huh?

Then we had three generations of Gods and five ages of men and all that stuff I'm considering everyone knows because it kind of became pop culture (and you can find easily about it on the Internet).

Now, regarding Cosmogony x Cosmology, NASA says:

"Cosmology is the study of the structure and changes in the present universe, while the scientific field of cosmogony is concerned with the origin of the universe. Observations about our present universe may not only allow predictions to be made about the future, but they also provide clues to events that happened long ago when... the cosmos began. So - the work of cosmologists and cosmogonists overlaps."

Considering this, let's talk about Cosmology. If I think about the study (-logy) of the present universe (cosmo-), I can't avoid thinking about the natural order of things, since "cosmo" (kósmos = order, organization, beauty, harmony) also reminds us of this, from where derived the word "cosmetics".

I believe since Zeus started to rule the world he put everything in order. Even when we look into the so-called symbols of chaos, the fractals, I see they have an inner order and they have the property of self-similarity. It's amazing when we are able to note Zeus's order in the world, when we realize how from the tiniest to the hugest existing things make sense. When it happens, the ancient sentence "as above, so below" also comes into my mind.

Sannion once wrote about the Beauty, how the Hellenismos is so related to it. If someone call you "a Greek God", they are saying you're beautiful. And, since cosmos has to do both with order and beauty/harmony, seeing the order of the world is the same of seeing how it works harmonically and the beauty in it. He pointed we live in a world "full of gods" (Thales), seeing Zeus in the lightnings, Poseidon in the waves, Dionysos in the vine, Aphrodite in our hearts, Ares in our strength... Of course they're not only this, but they're there too, reminding us of their presence in the Universe and how they are always working on it.

So, studying the cosmos is to me one more reason to worship (and to be with) the Gods if I want some balance in my life and in everything else.

~~~

0. 30-day Paganism Meme (Intro)
1. Beliefs - Why Hellenismos?
~~2. Beliefs - Cosmology~~
3. Beliefs - Deities
4. Beliefs - Birth, death and rebirth
5. Beliefs - Sacred sexuality
6. Beliefs - Divination, mysticism and stuff like that
7. Beliefs - The power of prayer/reciprocity
8. Beliefs - Festivals / Sacred Days
9. Environmentalism
10. Patrons - Athena
11. Patrons - Zeus
12. Pantheon - Warrior Gods
13. Pantheon - Dionysos
14. Pantheon - Dioskouroi
15. Pantheon - Every-One Else
16. Nature daimons, Heroes and Ancestors
17. My ways of worship
18. Community
19. Hellenismos and my family/friends
20. Hellenismos and my love life
21. Other paths I've explored
22. Hellenismos and major life events
23. Ethics
24. Personal aesthetics and Hellenismos
25. Favored ritual tools, and why
26. Any "secular" pastimes with religious significance, and why
27. How your faith has helped you in difficult times
28. One misconception about Hellenismos you'd like to clear up
29. The future of Hellenismos
30. Advice for seekers

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Day 1. Beliefs - Why Hellenismos?

2010-10-10T21:18:20Z

Most of us will say that we already loved Greek Mythology (who doesn't?) in the first place. I was always in love with any kind of myth, and here in Brazil we read/listen about our folklore since childhood.

Although being raised by a ex-Freemason and ex-Rosicrucian father who also used to bring framed pictures of Yoruba-religion (Orisha worship) images to our house, my Catholic mother kind of ruled our home and made him turn into a Catholic too. I used to be with them, I gave lectures on church, served as acolyte of the bishop, played and sang in Christians bands and choirs. But ancient myths and arts use to pass unnoticed as cultural information and depiction. So my first e-mail account had the name of Athena (and my year of birth) as a login, and I noticed I could keep my altars and shrines as if they were decoration.

Before being Hellenic polytheist, I met Wicca, then tried Celtic polytheism, Shamanism, the Rosicrucian Order and so on. But -- besides Shamanism, which still moves me -- they hadn't got me. I felt attracted to the Greek pantheon. I mentioned them in school compositions (it's easy to relate almost any subject to a myth) and I clarified my friends's doubts about the Gods. I was starting to search on web if there were people like me and that could deal with it as a real religion. Then I found some yahoo-groups and started to try to follow the ancient Athenian calendar. And from the beginning I was already a recon, specially because I'm very fond of ethics and virtues and academic researches (my friends already know that - when they mention some information - I will probably ask them which are their "sources, sources, sources", heheh).

Anyway, I was dating a Viking/Norse Polytheist at that time (a serious one, that had gone through all that rune-reader training without eating for whole days under the tree of Odin and doing things to open one's mind to see the invisible world etc). During the years we were together, we found out the spirits who were with us. One of the two spirits who are still with me was a former priest of Zeus in Crete. The other one (who was travelling from Caucasus to Hellas when they met) came first to us, but the history I've got from them (about what kind of person my soul was) made all the questions I had till that day disappear; all things I couldn't comprehend before started to make sense to me at that time, and I cried a lot when I heard it. I can't tell you about it here and now, because it's a long and personal history; but that was the final touch I needed to be sure I was in the right path. And here I am, after more than 10 years worshipping the Gods.

Of course a lot of other events showed me that I was doing the right thing by being an Hellenic Reconstructionist. But this would be a subject to a "Why STILL Hellenismos" kind of question... *g*

~~~

0. 30-day Paganism Meme (Intro)
~~1. Beliefs - Why Hellenismos?~~
2. Beliefs - Cosmology
3. Beliefs - Deities
4. Beliefs - Birth, death and rebirth
5. Beliefs - Sacred sexuality
6. Beliefs - Divination, mysticism and stuff like that
7. Beliefs - The power of prayer/reciprocity
8. Beliefs - Festivals / Sacred Days
9. Environmentalism
10. Patrons - Athena
11. Patrons - Zeus
12. Pantheon - Warrior Gods
13. Pantheon - Dionysos
14. Pantheon - Dioskouroi
15. Pantheon - Every-One Else
16. Nature daimons, Heroes and Ancestors
17. My ways of worship
18. Community
19. Hellenismos and my family/friends
20. Hellenismos and my love life
21. Other paths I've explored
22. Hellenismos and major life events
23. Ethics
24. Personal aesthetics and Hellenismos
25. Favored ritual tools, and why
26. Any "secular" pastimes with religious significance, and why
27. How your faith has helped you in difficult times
28. One misconception about Hellenismos you'd like to clear up
29. The future of Hellenismos
30. Advice for seekers

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30-day Paganism Meme (Intro)

2010-10-10T19:38:34Z

I've built this DW-account specially because of this meme, althought I intend to keep this blog after finishing answering it.

You can find the explanation of the meme by clicking here in this post of "Of Thespiae" blog. But I'll be re-listing the collection of themes every time I post my thoughts about each one. (It's interesting to notice that some itens of the list you can change to your personal view of them.)

Now, first of all, it's not a 30-day sequel, so we can post any day we want, and that's why I've decided to follow the meme, because I would never be able to post every single day for 30 days, nor could I start together with all other people.

And then, I found it better to post in English because most of my Brazilian friends already know how I feel about the questions presented, and a lot of them can get what I write in English too. However, if they feel like reading it in Portuguese and ask me to translate to them, I may turn this into a bilingual DW or post a version of the answers in my lusophonic blogspot.

I hope we can share more thoughts and know each other better through here...

PS.: Some people from my dw-circle who had already joined the meme are: filhotedelua, youngsoulrebel and painandlight.

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