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.

PBP: O - Olive Oil

Olive oil was not only considered as a health product in ancient Greece, but something that had in essence a divine power embedded in it. It was a gift of the goddess Athena to the Athenians, therefore, it had the emblematic presence of the goddess. This stems from the myth of how Athena became the patron goddess of Athens by making an olive tree grow on the Acropolis.

"Kekrops, a son of the soil, with a body compounded of man and serpent, was the first king of Attika . . . In his time, they say, the gods resolved to take possession of cities in which each of them should receive his own peculiar worship. So Poseidon was the first that came to Attika, and with a blow of his trident on the middle of the acropolis, he produced a sea which they now call Erekhtheis. After him came Athena, and, having called on Kekrops to witness her act of taking possession, she planted an olive tree, which is still shown in the Pandrosion. But when the two strove for possession of the country, Zeus parted them and appointed arbiters, not, as some have affirmed, Kekrops and Kranaus, nor yet Erysikhthon, but the twelve gods (dodekatheoi). And in accordance with their verdict the country was adjudged to Athena, because Kekrops bore witness that she had been the first to plant the olive. Athena, therefore, called the city Athens after herself, and Poseidon in hot anger flooded the Thriasian plain and laid Attika under the sea."

- Apollodorus C2nd A.D

It was not only used in the Olympic Games to anoint the athletes, but whenever somebody would be in the gymnasium or the palaestra, they used to apply olive oil on their body. The people of that time period had a particular type of scraper (strigil) that they used to then collect all the olive oil and sweat and so on that had accumulated on their skin surface.

Olive oil was also considered a necessary item for daily sustenance. It was used to cook with and also used in the raw form in a salad dressing. In fact, a salad dressing of the ancient Greeks involved olive oil, extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, sea salt, and some honey and that then was shaken well, and it was drizzled over salads that they were preparing for eating.

Another usage of olive oil was that it was used as a base for making perfumes because it has the tendency to stay on the human skin for quite some time as it is fat soluble.

A definite proof that olive oil had a predominant place in daily lives of people in ancient Greece is the number of references to it in comedy plays of that period. For example, in the play Pluto, by Aristophanes, it says that the container is full of white flour, the wine jar is run over with great wine, and the tank is full of oil, the vials with perfumes.

It also had various medicinal usages in ancient Greece, with Hippocrates using olive oil-based ointments for all kinds of uses and for treating trauma, scratches, wounds, and concussions that are not too deeply penetrating, as the oil has healing power.

Source

Reassessing

I have been a lazy pagan, there I said it and as much as I would like to have it otherwise, actually doing something about my beliefs has taken a back seat. Through my own fault and no one else's of course.

When I first found paganism, it was in that rebellious teenage stage where it all looked so 'new' and strange enough to be 'cool'. Religion had never been a big part of my life outside of school, being blanket Church of England never really stuck out for me. I tried to do the church group thing but it just felt like a place to go and play games rather than something iconically religious.

So I started with Wicca, thought it would be the path for me with all its rules and set list of accoutrements. Do this, don't do that, but it introduced me to the other aspects that sit under the paganism umbrella and all the other cultural pantheons and practises. By this time, perhaps 15/16, the idea of being a 'witch' was still the cool thing and I tried a few spells, small rituals here and there. I went through a period of touching on shamanism when everyone was raving about totem animals, even spent some time on a Therian forum board trying to decide if I fit in there. Although, while feline energy will always be a big part of my life and my spiritual energy, I don't believe that it 'means' what I thought it meant, or more importantly what I HOPED it meant.

I tried tarot and runes and focusing on the Lord and Lady and while I do believe that the world relies on the duality of the genders, that is more of a blanket truth, if you get my meaning. For me, that's got nothing to do with religion, it just is. When I feel the need I ask the Goddess for help because she covers a lot of ground, gods, entities, whatever you want to call it, and perhaps she acts more like the reassuring mother figure.

Even as I write this, I'm still uncomfortable using the word 'religion'. It comes with so many expectations and connotations that it sometimes smothers the beliefs. It's for this reason that I'm hesitant to classify myself as a Hellenist. I have had a connection with the Greek pantheon for as long as I can remember, I've just never...approached them as my one and only. I don't know if I can be strict with myself and say that the ancient ways, or the re constructionist view would be the one structure that I stick to.

I crave structure but want to be careful about restriction. If that makes any sense.

I think the Delphic Maxims and the ethics of Hellenismos are pretty easy to follow, most of them are common sense in life. And if I want to uphold piety then I have to make an effort to make a connection with the Theoi. Actually get off my butt and start giving them something so that I can work on that relationship.

I live at home at the moment, so space and privacy are issues and I am battling my hesitance over how openly to set up. My parents have never really done much with religion and thankfully, they are open and understanding but I'm still nervous about having to explain about the ever burning hearth light to Hestia, or the  food offering to Zeus Ktesios. Also, ancestor 'worship' has never been something that I have focused on before, though I see the sense behind it.

Despite my doubts, I want a base to come home to. Something real and regular so that I feel like I'm doing something with my life that the gods gave me.

That's my rambling for the day.