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Having a relationship with the gods feels like making your room ice cold and snuggling into all your blankets. Exposed to the outside, you are freezing, uncomfortable, unable to rest. But within the safety of the blankets you have never been more comfortable and content. In the back of your mind you know you can’t always be wrapped up in your blankets. That in the morning, you will need to leave and face the world. But just as we need sleep, we will always eventually return to their embrace, and when you do, for a moment, you don’t care about morn’ or anything outside, and you are finally present just before you take their hands and allow yourself to slip away.

#pagan #paganism #hellenic deities #hellenic devotion #hellenic pagan #hellenic polythiest #hellenism #hellenic gods #hellenic community #hellenic polytheism

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7 Virtues of Hellenism.

Xenia - This is the pillar that signifies hospitality, generosity and reciprocity. It's typically demonstrated in a guest/host dynamic.

Kharis - This is the pillar that signifies appreciation and gratitude. It entails giving to the gods and and expressing gratitude when you receive something from them.

Eusebia - This is the pillar that signifies reverence and veneration towards the gods. It can be translated to 'piety' or 'reverant conduct' meaning that you show respect for them.

Hagneia - This is the pillar that signifies purifying yourself. It entails having moral, perhaps physical too, purity and avoiding miasma where possible.

Arete - This is the pillar that signifies excellence and brilliance. It entails trying to reach your highest potential and this can be in any field.

Sophia - This is the pillar that signifies the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom.

Sophrosyne - This is the pillar that signifies self-control and prudence. It involves being of sound mind and remaining balanced, which can further lead to other positive qualities to have.

I hope these are right and that I didn't misunderstand their meanings! Hopefully this is useful to anyone, I certainly enjoyed making the post!

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Nothing you do will be the same again. My relationship with her is at minimum, lifelong. Maybe even eternal. Her blessing to me is age. Because if you allow it, age brings with it wisdom. When I run into a problem that seems endless, that seems desperate to solve immediately, she always tells me this; “Age”. And she is never wrong. She has taught me that time heals the wounds of your ignorance, not grief. If you let them in they will bless you, gifting you more time than you can even imagine. Because the extra years are not granted to my body, but rather my mind. The most divine automobile for the human soul. Each year that passes, feels like I garner wisdom double what I normally have, and am given the matching power to process it. That is not to say that I am so great, above the mortal coil and smarter than those around me. It is a gift that allows me to hold myself in high esteem, not by the eyes of others which is prone to folly, but by the eyes of my Goddess herself. Another priceless gift. My life and body is sworn to her, and for that I’ll receive tenfold. It was no easy thing, something come to after having an almost decade long relationship. She will wait lifetimes for you to cross that threshold. A measly ten years was nothing to her. “In fact, it was even longer.” She reminds me. She channels through me a message:

“What is any measurement of time in the face of all eternity? I can wait longer than the human mind can conceive. Can you imagine how long I have waited? Ten thousand years? Can you comprehend a hundred thousand? That’s how long I have waited for you to simply ask this question. I can wait, from cradle to grave, and beyond. I can wait so long that you’ve lived a hundred human lives and in that time I have not even blinked. Your body might change, your conclusions different, and yet I will persist. In this way, I will never leave and in doing so I give you all the freedom in the world to choose.”

I cannot speak on a relationship with her that is less than permanent. If she will never leave you, consider yourself honored. Her Aegis, the shield of terror, her spear of enlightenment, her sword of devastation, her olive trees of plenty, her cloaks of protection and her light of brilliance will nurture your soul more efficiently than food nurtures your body.

A relationship with her is less what you can do and more about who you are. Are you kindred spirits? Do you believe yourself made in her image? Is your thirst for knowledge greater than what the years of mandatory education can do? Are you a seeker? A thinker? Can you command your mind to use your hands for beauty and Justice? In this regard, connecting with the spirit is more important than the mind. If you can do that…congratulations! You’ve made it.

I cannot speak for anyone but myself. I do not speak for Athena, even if I channel them. The decision is yours alone how to proceed with what I’ve shared with you. We will both be here for you whenever and if ever you need.

Kharite. ❤️‍🔥

I've been feeling a pull towards Lady Athena but I'm slightly intimidated by the idea of worshipping her.

I wanted to ask anyone who worships or works with her; what is she like?

#athena devotion #athena devotee #athena deity #athena #pagan #paganism #hellenic polythiest #hellenic deities #hellenic pagan #hellenic devotion #hellenism #hellenic gods #channeled message

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I wanted to have a nice ambience and light some candles, so I asked nicely to return at least one of the 500 lighters the faeries had taken because my matches were crappy and I would prefer a lighter. I left to get ice cream with my partner. When I came back, instead of returning my lighters, they took my matches too. 🥲

Now all I could manage was fake fire 😭:

#pagan #paganism #faeries #the kobald and brownie are just like they were described in the old stories 😭 #which means MISCHIEF #faery witch #faerie

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Present is she, that was shunned by the sexless.

“What could a goddess of sex have use of me?”

But just as Athena is wisdom and war,

And Hermes is both wit and wandering,

Aphrodite of the Sea-Foam is brilliance,

Fierceness, lacking frivolity she is.

Teaching the scripture of wholeness,

To those with broken, blood-tinted glasses.

Ask thyself, “what use was I without her?”

And then the journey can begin.

#I channeled the energy of Aphrodite to make this in her honor #may I learn how to best please her moving ahead #aphrodite deity #aphrodite devotee #aphrodite #pagan #paganism #hellenic deities #hellenic pagan #hellenic devotion #hellenic polythiest #hellenism #hellenic gods #hellenic community #hellenic polytheism

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Transsexuality, genderfuckery, and subverting norms is encoded in their very BEING. I second this, aggressively. If anyone has a hint of phobias or ism’s on my page, I demand unkindly that you fuck off.

how tf are you homophobic/a terf if youre working with deities bro the gods are queer as fuck if i see anymore of that lgb/ fighting for biological womens rights bulshit people on my fuckin timeline imma pour some sriracha on a lemon and were gonna have a fuckin problem

#pagan #paganism #witchcraft #deity work #greek gods #aphrodite #aphrodite devotee #hellenic worship #hellenic devotion #hellenic polythiest #hellenic deities #hellenic paganism #athena devotion #athena devotee #hermes devotion #hermes devotee

[apple-piety]

Pride history posts on here seem almost exclusively to revolve around Stonewall which can leave the impression that America is the only place where anything important ever happened and obviously is not true so I have compiled a few links where you can learn about LGBTQ history in other countries! Feel free to add

The Brunswick Four and the Toronto raids in Canada 🇨🇦

Queer icons like Virginia Wolf, Oscar Wilde, and Freddie Mercury in Britain 🇬🇧

Cultural revolution in Weimar Germany 🇩🇪

The drag scene in Nigeria 🇳🇬

Gay and lesbian Mardi Gras in Australia 🇦🇺

Frida Kahlo and Mexicos fraught history 🇲🇽

Gay samurai in Japan 🇯🇵

Queer narratives erased by colonialism in Pakistan 🇵🇰

The modern world’s first legal same-sex marriages in the Netherlands 🇳🇱

The honoured Mahu (transgender individuals) in traditional Hawaiian culture 🌺

Hidden queer communities in communist Poland 🇵🇱

Husbands in ancient Egypt 🇪🇬

The Athens pride festival in Greece 🇬🇷

The Homosexual Movement of Liberation in Chile 🇨🇱

Gay rights protests in India 🇮🇳

[apple-piety]

Lady of the Piercing Grey Eyes, I adore you. I love feeling your embrace in my times of need, and feeling your presence while I craft in your honor. I love how I am made in your image, scholarly, forever chasing intelligence and wisdom, with a sense of Justice fierce enough to boil blood and light fires in my eyes. I love how even when it feels like you’re millions of miles away, you make it clear that a million miles is nothing to a goddess. My hands are blessed with your guidance as I create. My mind is protected by your Aegis. My body shielded by your spear and sword.

Great Athena I will love you all the days of my life.

#athena devotion #athena devotee #athena deity #pagan #paganism #hellenic deities #hellenic pagan #hellenic devotion #hellenic polythiest #hellenism #hellenic gods #hellenic community #hellenic polytheism #prayer

[apple-piety]

Never be afraid of not being “genuine” if you have to set reminders to worship or pray. It counts all the same. 💚

#pagan #paganism #hellenic deities #hellenic pagan #hellenic devotion #hellenic polythiest #hellenism #hellenic gods #hellenic community #hellenic polytheism #hermes deity #athena devotion #athena devotee #athena deity #hermes devotee #hermes devotion

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Swift-footed Hermes, darling friend of humankind. Today I reach out for you, worried about the distance, but you flew over and embraced me. It felt like the warm, protected embrace of a much older brother, something I’m unfamiliar with despite having an older brother in the flesh. I honor your name with reverence, but mostly adoring love. You keep me vigilant, you sharpen my wit, you keep me safe as I travel great distances. You are there in the beginning, the in-between and to the very end. Grief of not feeling you doesn’t last long, for when I call out, you answer. To be adored by a god is ineffable. To be adored by you is a treasure. I will hold you in my heart, all the days of my life. Let us continue to meet in the throes of new lives as my soul weaves through the infinite, eternal tapestry.

Khairete.

#hermes deity #hermes #hermes my beloved #pagan #paganism #hellenic deities #hellenic pagan #hellenic devotion #hellenic polythiest #hellenism #hellenic gods #hellenic community #deity veneration #polytheist #hellenic polytheism #polytheism

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It being my birthday, I’d like to finally confess that yes, it was I who stabbed Julius Caesar in the Senate this day 2,000+ years ago. Everyone born on this day was there and was involved in the coup.

#ides of march

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do you have to be greek to be Hellenic pagan?

Nope! The Greek pantheon is open to anyone who is called by them. I’m not Greek at all and yet I am called to them more than any other pantheon.

#pagan #paganism #hellenic deities #hellenic devotion #hellenic pagan #hellenism #hellenic polythiest #hellenic community #hellenic gods #athena deity #greek gods #hellenic worship #hellenic paganism #polytheist #polytheism

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I’m sick of having to censor my language and beliefs in order to save face in my community. I am polytheistic. I am pagan. I believe in many gods. I worship many gods. I speak to the gods and they speak back. I can hear them. I can see them. I have conversations with them. I believe in faeries. I have faeries that are my friends and live in my house. I give them offerings and they help with the chores. They also take my things and play other practical pranks, just like the old stories said. I know their names. I speak to them and they speak back. I believe in ghosts and spirits. I grew up in a haunted house. I’m psychic. I can speak to the dead. I have spoken to both living and dead animals. I’m superstitious. I find comfort in old wives tales. I am spiritually powerful. I will speak my truth, even if it makes me yet another witch on the outskirts. So be it. That is my destiny.

Khairete.

#pagan #paganism #hellenic deities #hellenic devotion #hellenic pagan #hellenism #hellenic polythiest #hellenic community #hellenic gods #witch #pagan witch #witchblr #witchcraft #faeries #I believe in fairies #fairies #fairy tales #superstitious #superstitious beliefs #embrace superstition #polytheist #hellenic polytheism #polytheism #roman pantheon #roman deities #greek gods #hellenic worship #hellenic paganism #psychic #i am psychic

[apple-piety]

This is already a great and profound message. But I want to chime in and add that it’s okay to be superstitious. The old superstitions went to the wayside and fell into the category of foolishness and ignorant primitivism. The old ways became burdened with the misogynistic label of being “silly old wives tales”. While not all of this knowledge is always accurate or reliable, many of recently been backed by even the patriarchal science structures as having merit, centuries after they were labeled as poppycock. The old practices of consulting spirits and faeries for guidance and out of respect is almost extinct in the world with very little regard given except in cases like Iceland and in areas further out from capitalistic civilization. For many, belief in a singular god is considered outdated and even intellectually flawed. For others, belief in the “wrong god” is an inexcusable practice. I don’t think I have to mention how polytheistic, animistic, etc. beliefs are treated. We are burdened with the image of the medieval fool who were backwards thinkers, despite that being the image of forceful Christianity. We are left with the imprint of a long dead ancient people, and I think that a lot of people have a Christian worldview that their polytheism was a reason for their extinction. With that in mind, we are seen as backwards, foolish, primitive, and not as intelligent as modern secular thinkers. I disagree. I embrace superstition. Not to an unhealthy degree, but in a way that I have respect for the more unseen, unexplainable aspects of the world. I’m proud to be labeled superstitious, because that doesn’t mean I reject science. It means I accept more into my heart and mind rather than be exclusionary based on the opinions of others. Embrace your worldview!

Listen. Abandoning the idea of what a proper pagan is was the most rewarding experience. Your intuition is stronger than you think.

This isn't a science. You don't have to treat it like one. Go with your heart, go with your intuition. It will help you grow more than you've ever dreamed of.

#letters to my younger self #patron speaks #embrace superstition #superstitious beliefs #superstitious #pagan #paganism #pagan witch #witchblr #hellenic polytheism #helpol #norse heathen #polytheist

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After years of suffering, today I underwent surgery to permanently alleviate the cause of my prolonged pain. As would be expected, I am in a fair deal of discomfort and pain following the procedure. So much so, that opiates are barely touching the surface of it. What is a polytheist to do when the science of humanity fails? Carry on the old superstitions, and pray of course.

Diana heard my prayer, and dipped my spirit into her sacred spring, sealing a promise to aid me in this recovery as this was a surgery related to my reproductive health.

Epione, goddess of soothing pain and wife of Asclepius, was the next name I called upon. Wish for the family of medicine to bless me. I prayed for the efficiency of the painkillers to be twofold, and the glorious wife soothed my pain more effectively than three rounds of painkillers. I was inspired to offer them up a song!

🎶Epione, Epione, what thanks could I say?

That you’ve come to embrace me at the end of the day,

Epione, Epione, may your spirit be praised,

My darling bright goddess, from my pain I’ve been saved.

The doctor’s hand was guided, by your husband’s practiced hand.

Your faithful children sighted, now it all feels so simply grand.

I sing to the family, the shining Aslcepiades.

Helping healing freeing, no forceful paying fees.

No demands of money, for you know such trade is wrong.

This instead I offer, and you gladly take this song.

This Holy Family I do praise, and I will continue to do so to the end of my days!🎶

#pagan #paganism #hellenic deities #hellenic devotion #hellenic pagan #hellenism #hellenic polythiest #hellenic community #hellenic gods #asclepius #Epione #healing deities #healing spell

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If you were raised Christian, I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase; “no one comes to the father except through me”. And honestly, I feel like that phrase exemplifies Hera’s role very well. You do not win my husband’s approval without mine as well. You do not garner his blessings without my approval. You do not join Olympus or receive any birthright to join my Oikos without my say so.

Hera is synonymous with power!

Hera as a goddess of legitimacy and a force of legitimisation

A lot of stories featuring Hera (not that many, to be honest, but the most famous ones) portray her as relentlessly attacking both gods and demigods sired by Zeus, which has partially inspired people to think of her as a “jealous wife” archetype, but most of these people ignore the main thing that Hera represents: legitimacy.

Hera as the goddess of marriage rules over legitimate unions, and as a result, may choose to pursue those who betray these kinds of unions in some kind of way. An example would be the speed with which she withdrew her sponsorship of the hero Jason why he broke his oath of love and loyalty to his wife Medea in favour of a crown which he was no longer eligible for.

Speaking of Jason, Hera was pretty much his only patron deity during his quest for the Golden Fleece, which was started as a way for him to claim his rightful place on his father’s throne, and this sponsorship started as soon as Jason’s quest started. No prayer was prayed, no offering was offered. Hera just showed up as soon as Jason’s quest for legitimacy started, and helped him as soon as he proved himself to her by carrying her (in the form of an old woman) across a river.

Also, Hera is a goddess who is known for testing the worth of both gods and heroes, especially when they are destined to enter Olympus (her home and domain), and especially when they were born out of an illegitimate union on either her or Zeus’s part. The torments endured by the various children of Zeus at her hand, and even her own (for the purposes of this essay I will take Dionysus, Apollo and Hephaestus)

Apollo

Apollo’s ordeal started even before he was born, as his mother Leto has been denied the right to give birth on any island attached to the land, and was relentlessly chased by a giant snake. Here Hera imposes herself and shows her might as the definitive and legitimate wife of Zeus (Leto was Zeus’s previous wife), and brands any child born from Leto as being under her in terms of status. When Apollo is born and slays the serpent Python, Hera is then forced to recognise that his trial is complete and that he has a claim to the Olympian seat.

Hephaestus and Dionysus

Hephaestus was conceived as a kind of revenge plot against Zeus for conceiving Athena on his own, from the sacred bed which he shares with Hera, but without her input or approval, which prompted the goddess to do the same in order to restore the balance of power within their marriage, and to show Zeus that if he could make a child on his own, then she could too.

However, when the infant Hephaestus was born, it was either Zeus or Hera herself that hurls him down from Olympus, however godly he may be, crippling him in the process and forcing him to EARN the right to re-enter Olympus (kind of like how Hercules in the Disney movie was debuffed so that he would earn his way back into Olympus), which he ultimately achieved by capturing Hera in a golden throne (literally trapping her with one of her most sacred attributes).

Dionysus’s trial begins where Hephaestus’s comes to an end. Having met Hera in his childhood and been rendered mad by her which led to him being rescued by Rhea (whom I assume here to be Rhea-Cybele, whose cult has some of the mad and wild attributes of Dionysus’s), he must have already taken notice of the tests given to him by the goddess, and was waiting for an opportunity to finally take a seat among the Olympians after having established a very respected and feared mystery cult among mortals, so when he heard that Hera was captured by an angry Hephaestus, he jumped on the occasion and coaxed him into following him back to Olympus, where both would finally get recognised as legitimate both in the eyes of the gods and of Hera.

Hera and the sons of Zeus

Hera’s tests mostly seem to affect her husband’s illegitimate Olympian sons, as can be evidenced by the lack of trial for goddesses such as Artemis or Athena. Why is that so?

Personally, I think it’s because sons in Ancient Greece were more valued in society: they could inherit their father’s property, they had claims to the throne and could be seen as heirs to it in case their father somehow resigned. So Hera branding these sons as reformed illegitimate sons could be a way for her to negate their claims to their father’s power and nerf their chances of growing too powerful at the expense of her legitimate children (Orphic Dionysus was literally said to be Zeus’s heir, and would have been had Hera not told the Titans to dismember and eat him), while checking if they are still fit to set foot on Olympus after that serious debuff.

But that’s just my thoughts, I don’t have any source or academic paper that confirms this.

A rule of thumb when analysing Greek myths is that they don’t exist in a vacuum and that as entertaining as they may seem, there is something more to them most of the time, and that is especially the case with a goddess who has a history as long, rich and complex as Hera. It’s really a shame that people only see her as a mean shrew when she has so much more stuff going on, but I guess that with pop culture this complexity has to be diluted and thus misinterpreted by people who don’t have the religious and cultural context of these stories.

Thank you for reading if you made it this far, and may Hera bless you.

#helpol #hellenic polytheism #paganism #hera #hera goddess #hephaestus #dionysus #apollo #pagan #hellenic deities #hellenic worship #hellenic polythiest #hellenic pagan #hellenic gods #hellenic paganism #zeus deity

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NO BECAUSE YOU'RE SO RIGHT ABOUT VEILING.

I've always been rather drawn to veils. I veiled when I was first pagan back in my freshman year, and I got shit for it from some guy who went to a megachurch and I was just like.... Bruh.

THEN i started veiling again when I was getting into orthodox christianity, which felt nice!

and NOW I still like to cover my head and body when the time is right.

Anyway. Just wanted to say thanks for pointing out people's dumbassery when it comes to people veiling.

- @sugarplum-sapphic 🫂

Of course! We’re ingrained from being little kids, especially being afab, to show and give and be exposed. Children, including boys, are not given bodily autonomy. We’re forced to hug strangers, sit on laps, give kisses when we don’t want to, etc. Some children aren’t even allowed to pick their own clothes. We are treated like accessories, something to consume in a hyper-consumer culture. Veiling can be a way to take back our bodies and our autonomy! Khaire!

#pagan #paganism #hellenic deities #hellenic devotion #hellenic pagan #hellenism #hellenic polythiest #hellenic community #hellenic gods #veiling pagan #veiling #modesty #modest