hellenichaven

[hellenichaven]

Man, have I had quite the experience with the gods today! I would also love some outside input on a portion of this story!

I started off the day sitting on the couch with my partner, soaking in the sun with the windows cracked open now that it's warmer and we can get fresh air.

Out of nowhere, I got this sudden urge to go light an incense for the gods in our Altar Room. Of course, I wasn't going to ignore a call from the gods, so I went and lit an incense and said a little hello to whoever had called to me.

Not five minutes later, I look out the bathroom window and see 6 bluejays gathered together around a tree.

Now, there's a little bit of significance behind bluejays for me. For those of you who don't know, I'm trans and I chose the name Jaysyn (Jay) for myself. As I was introducing the idea of my name to the public, I often incorporated the word bluejay into my usernames and stuff to be discreet about my name. And then I grew a love for bluejays themselves, even though I loved them before as well.

So anyway! 6 bluejays directly after I was called to the gods. It was insane to me, and I was visibly shocked as I called my partner over to look as well. I thought I was going insane.

I was gonna make a while post on the experience right after that, but lost time. And I'm kind of glad! Because now I get to add the fact that it is currently thunderstorming, and my partner and I started looking at each other like "zEUS-"

I would love your input on the whole bluejay thing, though! Because while I don't think there are any greek gods directly associated with bluejays, I do wonder if there's a specific god who was trying to reach out to me? Does anyone have any input?

[hellenichaven]

☀️Apollon🎶

Physical Description

Απολλων, Apollon, or Apollo in translation, was the Olympian god of many things - prophecies, oracles, music, song, poetry, archery, healing, plague, disease, and protection of the young.

As a general descriptor, he was often depicted as a handsome and beardless youth with beautiful long, uncut, golden hair. Much of the time, he was given a wreath and branch of laurel, bow and quiver of arrows, a raven, and/or a lyre. Because of his lack of facial hair, he was described to have smooth cheeks.

I was actually able to find a few quotes that provide some physical illustrations of Lord Apollo:

"Pythagoras pointed out that boys were most dear to the divinities;... That is also the reason why the most philanthropic of the Gods, Apollo and Love, are, in pictures, universally represented as having the ages of boys." (Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras).

"As for the aspect of the god [Apollon], he is represented as unshorn, my boy, and with his hair fastened up so that he may box with girt-up head; rays of light rise from about his brow and his cheek emits a smile mingled with wrath; keen is the glance of his eyes as it follows his uplifted hands." (Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 2. 19 || trans. Fairbanks || Greem rhetorician C3rd A.D.)

"Here is the god [Apollon], painted as usual with unshorn locks; he lifts a radiant forehead above eyes that shine like rays of light." (Philostratus the Younger, Imagines 14 || trans. Fairbanks || Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.)

I would also like to include some photos of varying depictions of Lord Apollon.

Most of the information and photos included in this post are from Theoi.com. I'll include the link to Apollo's section of this website here for you to check out, if you wish!

A Greco-Roman marble statue || C2nd A.D. || Pio-Clementino Museum, Vatican Museums

Here we have a piece from the Musée du Louvre

I like this vase painting of Apollo because it captures many of his attributes in one place. There's the crown made from laurel leaves resting upon his head, a lyre in his hand, and a raven perched above. This is from the Delphi Archaelogical Museum

Post Divider Credit: @thecutestgrotto

[hellenichaven]

Okay! Wow, it really has been a while since I posted on here, and I apologize for that!

So much has been going on. Things were a bit crazy after I got back from vacation- we ended up finally getting our windows replaced (which was an absolute pain and was a week-long process), and I was down for the count with a pretty bad illness for a while where I really wasn't in good shape.

Everything is alright now, and I'm okay also

With all that being said - no, I haven't had much time to research and put together a Special Post on Lord Apollo just yet. I do plan on doing so very soon, though! I promise I haven't forgotten!

My partner and I actually just picked up some Greek Mythology books at the library yesterday that I'm excited to read! We even picked up a book on learning Greek! That'd be pretty cool!

Tldr; I haven't forgotten about you guys, I promise. I plan to make more consistent posts again going forward, but it might still be a bit spread out for a while. I'll do my very best for you all!

I hope you're all doing well, staying safe, and staying warm for those of you in cold states/areas like I am!

[hellenichaven]

Man, this gives me peace of mind. I often think about death and get very anxious about the thought of it, but honestly... the idea of having someone hold my hand (even more so the thought of Thanatos and Hermes doing so) just sounds so peaceful. I really hope that this is what ends up happening because I think this is the most at peace that I've felt about the concept of death than I've felt in quite a while - if ever.

Also, hey there! I'm not dead! I apologize for my disappearance. I'll be making a separate post on that whole situation!

I'd like to think that when we die, we never die alone. I believe that Thanatos waits beside us, there to hold our hand as our souls leave our bodies. I believe that Hermes takes our other hand, guiding us from this life to the next. I believe that Charon sits us down on his boat, transitioning fully from the world of the living to that of the dead. I believe that when we enter through Haides' gates, even then, we are not alone as we're accompanied with other souls - maybe some people we know, and others we don't. And when I take my rest in the Fields of Asphodel, there'll be other content souls, resting amongst the flowers beside me as we spend our afterlives in peace within King Haides' beautiful kingdom.

[hellenichaven]

Hello, my friends!

I just wanted to let you know that starting in a couple of hours, I'll be in a spot where I cannot access the internet until sometime on January 4th. That being said, during that time, I'll be unable to make posts. So, it'll be a short little break! I just wanted to let you all know so that you didn't think I died,,, again.

A couple things:

1. I'm not going to try and bang out the rest of the 31 Days of HelPol posts before I leave soon. That's not to say I won't finish them! They'll just be posted when I get back to the internet world.

2. Apollo was the winner of the next Special Post poll! Again, I'll start to work on that when I return to humanity!

3. I'm going to be overseas during this period of time, so... Poseidon, be kind, please ♡

4. Happy New Year to you all. I can't thank you all enough for the support and love that I've gotten from you all this far.

I shall return!!!

[hellenichaven]

31 Days of Hellenic Polytheism

Day 12:

Do you do food offerings or libations? What do you do with the food/drinks after you've offered it?

So far, we've only really done food offerings in terms of food and libations. We took some grapes and blackberries from our garden out back to offer to them! I don't know if this counts as food or not, but I've also offered honey to Aphrodite, and we've used spices in our food offerings as well.

When we finish with the offerings and need to replenish them, we take the used offerings and bury them in our backyard. What we did last time was bury them in the snow since it had snowed a decent bit where we reside. Otherwise, we would probably just bury them in some dirt out there.

Post Divider Credit: @sweetmelodygraphics

[hellenichaven]

31 Days of Hellenic Polytheism

Day 11:

What is the clearest sign you've received from a deity?

Very funny story.

Not from either of my main deities, but there was one from Apollo (who might as well be one of my main deities honestly-)

My partner and I both experience burn-out easily. And when I'm not burnt out, I try to get other things done and often lose my train of thought along the way. We put offerings on the altar a while back, but then we either had no energy to switch them out, or I would think of it but then get distracted with something else. As the days passed, I would go for drives to work, and I would see some groups of crows now and then - more so than usual. I would say a hello to Apollo, and tell him "yes, yes, I know,,, I'll take care of the offerings later on today."

Some more time passed, and my partner and I were out for a drive. I kid you not,,, in the sky as we were driving, we saw the most amount of crows flying in the sky and landing in trees nearby us than I have ever seen in my life. It was almost a little scary- Needless to say, we took care of the offerings as soon as we got home. I looked to my partner in the car and said "we need to take care of those offerings before the gods strike us down" jehhdh

Post Divider Credit: @sweetmelodygraphics

[hellenichaven]

31 Days of Hellenic Polytheism

Day 10:

What's something that you've learned about Hellenic Polytheism that you wish you knew sooner?

I think that one of the things I've learned about Hellenic Polytheism that I wish I had known sooner is that the gods are very forgiving and understanding. And they'll make themselves known!

At the very beginning of my practice, I was very worried that what I would be able to do wouldn't be enough for them. That when I inevitably experienced burnout and had no energy or motivation whatsoever, they would be disappointed in me for not praying or not providing offerings. Though, I've quickly come to learn that they are extremely forgiving, and they really understand. They're not going to judge you, and they're not going to get upset at you over that kind of thing.

Post Divider Credit: @sweetmelodygraphics

[hellenichaven]

31 Days of Hellenic Polytheism

Day 9:

Is there a practice that's common among other Hellenic Polytheists that you're skeptical about?

Honestly? Not that I can think of... though, I'm sure there may be some. Like I said, I'm still toward the beginning of my HelPol journey, so I'm still figuring out the ins and outs of specifics! Short answer this time hhdhfj

Post Divider Credit: @sweetmelodygraphics

[hellenichaven]

31 Days of Hellenic Polytheism

Day 8:

Do you have altar(s)? If you do, how do you use it? If you don't have one, do you want one? Why/why not?

I do have an altar! It's kind of a shared altar between my partner and I. On the right side, things are placed for Ares and Aphrodite, and on the left side, things are placed for Apollo and Hera - mainly. In the middle of it, we have a holder to light incense as well as a candle that we can light. There's a chest sitting on a runner carpet in front of the altar that we can use to sit on it and pray/talk to the gods if we so please. It's a really nice set-up!

We do have future plans for the Altar Room! Eventually, we want to set more things up. We want to design a mural for the gods/goddesses to paint on the wall as well! I think it's going really well so far, and I truly do hope to continue expanding things in that room. I would like to have a little bit of space for them all!

Post Divider Credit: @sweetmelodygraphics

[hellenichaven]

Man, the past few days have been eventful, to say the least. I just thank the gods that things went... as smoothly as they could have. It certainly could have been worse!

For the holidays, I have flown down to Florida to spend time with some family, and my partner flew to his hometown as well in a different state. With it being his first time flying, I was tagging along with him to fly to his home state first before immediately catching another flight to Florida. The flights were connecting flights. 2 plane rides ro my partner's home state, and then I would catch 2 more flights to get to Florida.

The first flight was so incredibly smooth, I was actually quite shocked. No issues, no delays... but then came the second flight that was delayed a couple of hours. And that would have made me late for my other flights. Luckily, my partner had a good idea of what to expect now that he had experienced the first flight, so he said he was okay to do it on his own so I could stay and catch my next flight.

We both got to our locations safe and sound on Monday evening, and that's what's important. Now we're just hoping for smooth sailing for the duration of our trip left.

With that being said, I will be getting out some more posts later on to catch up with my 31 Days of HelPol, but bear with me!

Also, Merry Christmas! While it's technically a Christian holiday, I still celebrate. So, to anyone else who does as well - Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! I hope you all have a great day ♡

[hellenichaven]

I find it really funny that Apollo and Hermes are battling for the win in my most recent poll. That's so in character for them bhdhfj

[hellenichaven]

31 Days of Hellenic Polytheism

Day 7:

Are you openly a Hellenic Polytheist offline? How does being open/not being open affect your worship?

Yes and no. I'm openly a Hellenic Polytheist offline with a select few people - mainly some close friends and my partner. My partner and I practice Hellenic Polytheism together.

It's nice being able to mention things about my practicing to the people I trust the most, even if I do still feel a bit anxious about it sometimes. Not because I'm ashamed of the religion or anything! More so because the main religion that's practiced around me is Christianity, so it just feels like people won't understand sometimes.

It's a little hard navigating things with those I'm not open with just yet. There are some people that I would really love to tell and just don't entirely know how to bring it up, but there are also some people that I'm hesitant to tell solely for the fact that I don't know if they would understand.

Post Divider Credit: @sweetmelodygraphics

In a way, I feel like denying the fact that I'm religious and/or posing myself as an atheist to those I'm not openly a Hellenic Polytheist with yet is a betrayal to the Gods. I know that this isn't true by any means, but it's one of the struggles that I go through being a partially-closeted Hellenic Polytheist.

Likewise, it affects my worship sometimes, as well. When those I'm not open with yet ask to look around and whatnot, I often try and hide our Altar Room or things we use for our worship just to avoid having to answer questions that I'm not ready to answer yet. It's like... walking on eggshells sometimes, unfortunately hejfjrj

[hellenichaven]

31 Days of Hellenic Polytheism

Day 6:

What's one way you incorporate Hellenic Polytheism into your routine?

One way I incorporate Hellenic Polytheism into my daily routine is thanking the gods and/or goddesses. If I experience something that reminds me of them, then I give them a thanks for being here and doing what they're doing. For looking after me.

Something I've been trying to get better at doing (for Ares in particular) is drinking water as a sign of devotion to him, which doubles as self-care. Taking my meds at night for Apollo. All the things I have trouble doing, but I try to remind myself that it can also be a sign of devotion to the gods in order to help encourage myself!

Post Divider Credit: @sweetmelodygraphics

[hellenichaven]

31 Days of Hellenic Polytheism

Day 5:

How Much Have You Bonded With Your Deities?

I have to say I haven't been able to bond with my deities as much as I would like to. I simply never seem to have the time to pay them respects in the ways I would like.

However, with the new year rolling around, I've started to think over methods that will help me navigate my days smoother than I have been. With that being said, I hope to be able to gain more time to bond with my deities as well ♡

Post Divider Credit: @sweetmelodygraphics

[hellenichaven]

My goodness! I am so sorry for disappearing for so long! Between feeling a bit ill and just generally having low motivation, I couldn't bring myself to do too much.

However!

I will be posting a few times today to try and catch up with at least some of the 31 Days of Hellenic Polytheism posts!

Again, I'm so sorry to keep you all waiting. You'll be hearing from me real soon, I promise!