PBP: R - Reincarnation

The idea of which didn't originate in Ancient Greece but the topic was brought into a better light by some of its most famous philosophers. The earliest Greek who mused on the topic of 'metempsychosis' was Pherecydes, the purported teacher of Pythagoras.

The idea of reincarnation is explored in the Orphic tradition which appeared around 6th century BC in which the mythic figure of Orpheus claims that the soul is divine and unfairly tethered to the prison of the body. After death, the soul and the body are separated but not for long, and it is once again joined with mortal flesh. The soul must live several lives in other to become enlightened and truly divine until it can exist free of the body.

Plato was another famous philosopher who believed this to be true, using one of his works, The Republic, to retell this idea in the guise of an experience/myth. Er, the son of Armenius returned from the dead after twelve days and retells what he saw of the death realm. He tells that he went to the place of judgement and saw other souls there choosing another body, another reincarnation for their soul in order to return to the world of the living, both human and animal. Orpheus, Thamyra and Antalanta were supposedly some of the souls amongst these. They chose there next form and then drank from the river Lethe (oblivion, forgetfulness) and shot away to be reborn.

Plato also believed that the number of souls was finite, so that new ones were not created, every one transmigrated from one body to the next.

PBP: Q - Questing

Q is a terrible letter and I've already used Queen so this was the only thing I could think of that would be remotely interesting. I've already mentioned a lot about my 'quest' so far in my first post but perhaps this will be more of an update.

Looking more into Hellenismos and its rituals and structure has been a nice introduction into Reconstructionism, even if I don't fully agree with all of its points. After reading A Beginner's Guide to Hellenismos I've tried to put more of a foundation on my beliefs. I re-decorated my altar, which had become more of a shelf for knick knacks over the last year or so more than anything else.

I have my hearth light for Hestia (an electric candle in the glass holder.) The round candle next to it holds a real flame for during offerings and prayers. The oil burner is a safe place to burn cone incense as an offering, the wooden disk holds joss sticks. The candle stick on the left belonged to my great grandmother and the egg cup holds some of my grandmother's rings and this is my small section in honour of my ancestors. The small dragon ring which you probably can't see represents the serpent of the Agathos Daimon.

Also on the right, I have a small representation of a Greek urn I bought while on my trip to Greece. It's a small touristy thing but I think it connects me to the homeland of Hellenismos as a whole. The keys represent Hekate, the citrine stone represents Apollon (with his connection to the sun and enlightenment) and the feathers represent Hermes in their household epithets.

So it's small and simple and I would really like some proper statues on there but it's something I make do for now. I also have a metal bowl I use for my khernips but that lives under the bed instead.

I'm following a lot of others who lean towards Hellenismos and there's a considerable amount of newbie feeling all over again but we all have to start somewhere and they are excellent people to learn from, even if I'm just reading their blogs. There is that backbone to the core practise however, the ancient texts that can be used as a solid basis, though this doesn't necessarily discount UPG.

As far as contact with the gods goes, I haven't had anything in depth occur but just the general worship of them all is grounding.

Noumenia Playlist

I've been trying to find ways of connecting with the Theoi that work for me, and through the wonders of Youtube, I've found a collection of their hymns sung both in Greek and English. I think it's something about the traditional music or just the language that really sets the mood, especially during offerings and libations.

I've already touched on the significance of Noumenia here, and this is a short collection of hymns I found for it.

Apollon

Selene

Hekate

Hermes

Zeus

Hestia

PBP: Q - Queen of the Gods

Seeing as I'm focusing on the Greek pantheon, this would of be Hera. (Ἡρη)

Sister and wife of Zeus, she is the patron of women and marriage, goddess of the sky and starry heavens. Her most well known myths are her involvement with the beauty contest judged by Paris, she offered to make him the king of all men but he found Aphrodite's offer of the most beautiful woman most appealing and we all know what happened after that.

She helped Jason and his Argonauts through the dangerous sea trials of Skylla and Kharibdis, the Clashing Rocks on their journey to claim the Golden Fleece.

Though I think MOST famously Hera is known for her jealous rages against the offspring and lovers of her husband (not that she can be blamed really) even for a goddess it must be rough to have a husband with such a prolific wandering eye. To name a few of the ladies, Leto (mother of Artemis & Apollon), Semele and Alkmene and their offspring like Herakles and Dionysos.

Zeus and Hera do have children of their own, Hebe, Ares and Eileithyia. Arthur Bernard Clark argues that Hebe was fathered by a lettuce and Ares by a special flower and I'm not exactly sure where he got those assumptions from but it sounds questionable.

Hera also conceived Hephaestus completely on her own, jealous over Zeus' solo birth of Athena. The smithy god was either lamed from birth however, or lamed when Hera cast him down from Olympos depending on which source you read. She also birthed the monstrous Typhon (at least in the Homeric Hymns) without a male's involvement. Would this be some social commentary on the abilities of a woman when compared in the same task as a man? Athena is a whole, powerful goddess of war and wisdom meanwhile Hephastus is lamed by a physical deformity making him perhaps lesser in some regards and Typhon is discribed as a monster. The Ancient Greeks were a little sexist so it could be possible.

Personally I've never spoken to anyone who has had personal dealings with Hera but I wouldn't want to offend her if I could help it.

PBP: P - Pantheon

There's a discussion on the eCauldron about this Here.

Did I choose my pantheon? To be totally honest, yes. Why? That needs more than a one word answer.

Why? Because the Ancient Greek myths pulled me in at an early age. Because the Theoi, while divine, share a lot of traits with us lowly humans in the fact that they hate, squabble, fall in love with people they're not supposed to, and do the oddest things when 'rewarding' mortals.

Do I think they're cool? Yeah, and seeing as I'm not Greek, then why else would I offer them my attention over any other pantheon? Just because I'm born and raised in the British Isles, does that mean that I'm stuck with the Celtic or Anglo Saxon practises? No. Why? Because religion is transitory, practises moved with the people in the ancient world, adapting and changing.

I see a lot of people talking about certain deities that have come to THEM and formed a connection, causing these people to take them on as patrons or what have you but that hasn't happened to me. I've not had a dream or a sign about if any particular god wants to hang out with me, and why should they? They're gods and if I want to have a chance at forming any sort of connection then I have to put the effort in first and start with the broad spectrum of the pantheon. It always feels a little wrong to pick one or a select group out of the pantheon anyway, it would be like purposefully ignoring some members of the family while heaping praise on certain others. Would Zeus get pissed if I ignored him while praising one of his siblings or children? Very possibly and that's not my intention.

I think the more I've researched under the Paganism umbrella, the more I've moved away from ritual practises including willpower and 'witchcraft' and Hellenismos isn't about that. The ancient greeks were even pretty leery about that sort of thing, who were they to try and change the will of the gods?

Hubris has always been something that has stuck in my mind (seeing as the punishment for it was pretty severe) and perhaps that is the reason that I have never felt comfortable approaching any of the pantheon directly, especially not to ask them for something in particular.

May my choice of pantheon change in the future? I can't say for sure but possibly.

PBP: P - Pan

PAN (Παν) was the god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music. He wandered the hills and mountains of Arkadia playing his pan-pipes and chasing Nymphs. His unseen presence aroused feelings of panic in men passing through the remote, lonely places of the wilds.

The god was a lover of nymphs, who commonly fled from his advances. Syrinx ran and was transformed into a clump of reeds, out of which the god crafted his famous pan-pipes. Pitys escaped and was turned into a mountain fir, the god's sacred tree. Ekho spurned his advances and fading away left behind only her voice to repeat forever the mountain cries of the god.

Pan and Syrinx by Jean François de Troy

Pan was depicted as a man with the horns, legs and tail of a goat, and with thick beard, snub nose and pointed ears. He was often appears in the retinue of Dionysos alongside the other rustic gods. Greeks in the classical age associated his name with the word pan meaning "all". However, it true origin lies in an old Arkadian word for rustic.

Pan was frequently identified with other similar rustic gods such as Aristaios, the shepherd-god of northern Greece, who like Pan was titled both Agreus (the hunter) and Nomios (the shepherd); as well as with the pipe-playing Phrygian satyr Marsyas; and Aigipan, the goat-fish god of the constellation Capricorn. Sometimes Pan was multiplied into a host of Panes, or a triad named Agreus, Nomios, and Phorbas.

Source

Pan strikes me as less of a 'god' of shepherds and perhaps more like the nature spirits that he likes to chase, just in a masculine form. As with centaurs, does this mixing of man and animal form simply a bestial creature driven by lust and base desire? Pan is linked with Dionysos and his Maenads also fall into this bestial behaviour when under the influence of their god.

Perhaps with the image of Satan and/or Baphomet taking on the goat legs and horns, this was a way of trying to demonise this wild ecstasy (from the Greek ekstasis, meaning 'outside of one self') that one could achieve from communion with the god.