sillysybilsden

[sillysybilsden]

Hey Sybil, hope you don't mind me dropping in again, I was wondering if you had any advice on how to use Nova Roma as a resource? I can't seem to find many table of contents type pages so the random links everywhere is a bit overwhelming.

I was trying to research household worship for example and I feel like I missed a bunch of pages because I was just jumping between page links.

Thank you <3

hey there! thank you for your ask! I apologise for taking so long to reply, but I've been kinda away from Tumblr lately. 😔

first and foremost, I do want to state that I do not endorse Nova Roma at all (due to the transphobic allegation you mentioned) and I thus recommend using their website strictly as a resource.

secondly: unfortunately the lack of a comprehensive index makes navigation on Nova Roma indeed. the closest thing to that would be this page. however, as you may be able to tell with a quick glance, it does not contain links to all of their posts on Roman polytheism. so here's a few solutions I've been using in my practice:

check out the older version of their website, which you can find here. the index on there seems to be clearer, so it should help with your research. do keep in mind that employing this website has a couple of downsides, though: it is pretty old, so the interface is a bit of a pain to interact with + the info on there might be slightly outdated.

use other sources as your index and use Nova Roma simply to cross-reference. one website I really recommend, for example, is Ad Maiora Vertite (I myself have interacted often with the founder of this association and he's incredibly knowledgeable). yes, the website is originally in Italian, but at the top right side of the screen you will be given the chance to select the language. keep in mind that, most of the times, the translation is automatic... so it may not be perfect when it comes to grammar and vocabulary. but! it is a lovely resource, so I'd suggest giving it a chance nonetheless. in this case, too, there isn't a comprehensive index, but there's different categories (for example, one on ritus romanus, one on festivities, etc) you can pick and will show you all related blogs. so, what I am suggesting with this point is: you check out the Lararium page on Ad Maiora Vertite (or any other resource of your choice) and you then read the corresponding page on Nova Roma. if you want to check out a longer list of resources you could cross-reference, you can check out my Cultus Deorum resource list.

aaaand this would be pretty much it! I hope that these advices will come in handy. happy researching! 👀💗

[sillysybilsden]

How do you research lesser known gods? I been looking into Fontus and I found some stuff about him but it almost little to nothing about him.

hey there! thank you for asking this question, it really gave me some food for thought!

personally, I think that you can research lesser-known gods (or any gods, really) in two ways:

using academic tools. unfortunately, there's a lack of good info on Roman gods online. while, say, Greek polytheists have access to websites like theoi.com (which is incredibly reliable as all info there is backed up by historical resources), we Roman polytheists are not necessarily as lucky*. many websites who supposedly talk about Roman deities actually discuss their Greek counterpart** (I've read "Jupiter is the father of Minerva" one too many times). even more so with lesser-known deities. to prevent all of this, I would personally recommend checking out academic websites like JSTOR and Academia. sure, some of the papers are not available to non-scholars; others are incredibly boring. but, sometimes you'll find some amazing hidden gems that will provide you with fresh info supported by historical evidence (that happened to me when researching Minerva)!

create a database. this is an extremely time and effort demanding project. but hey! great difficulties require great solutions. the database I am suggesting to put together can be as simple as a notebook and as complex as a notion webpage. you choose! what's important is that you create a wiki for any and all gods that you are interested in and, whenever you are reading a book, or watching a documentary, or listening to a podcast on Roman polytheism, you add any and all info that you have run into into the corresponding deity-wiki. this can be extremely useful especially for lesser-known deities indeed, as they are only given a mention every once in a while (and not a monograph). but! dozens of mentions together will eventually start looking like a monograph, as some point!

*this is not meant to discredit or bash other people's practice. I could have said the same about Norse and Celtic gods. but, being a Roman polytheist, I'm most familiar with our HelPol "neighbours" and have employed some of their resources once or twice.

**if you wish to conflate Greek and Roman gods, that's okay! personally, though, I am interested in reconstructing a pre-hellenisation practice.

last but not least, remember not to obsess over finding tons of info on lesser-known deities. while Janus, Jupiter and Juno have tons of associations, cults and theological complexities, "minor" gods do not.

for example, Vagitanus/Vaticanus watched over a newborn's first cry. and that's it. he did not have further functions, nor did he have a flamen or a temple. that's not because information on his is lost, but because it was never there in the first place. in Roman polytheism some gods can be dense and complex; others are more straightfoward... which is okay!

aaaand this should be it! let me know if these suggestions are going to be useful! and let me know if you have any further suggestions in the comments.

love y'all! Sybil out! 💗

[sillysybilsden]

Hi Sybil, I had a question and I hope you'd be able to answer or give your thoughts on? I've started researching Roman polytheism (thank you sm for all your resources, working my way through Roman Religion (the book)!) and something i've come across is the essential-ness of covering their head during ritual/sacrifice.

I haven't fully delved into researching that specifically yet so please bare with me if this is an already pretty agreed upon thing, but I was wondering how that might apply in a modern, revivalist setting? For example, if you wanted to offer a morning coffee or it's steam as a small offering, would that be deemed disrespectful if the head wasn't covered?

As well for any quick, spur of the moment prayers - "Please help my communication be fluent in this work meeting" - how would that kind of thing fit in, or is the headcovering purely for bigger rituals like public worship would have been?

Thank you!

hey there! thank you for asking these questions!

I'd like to start out with a lil' disclaimer: keep in mind that what follows is my interpretation of ancient practices and the way it applies to the modern world - so others might answer differently to these questions. and, on top of that, I am no expert: I am still learning myself. last thing last, do keep in mind that whenever I talk of "Romans" I am mainly referring to free citizens of middle-high class: many things that were true for this category of people might have not applied to slaves, for example.

first and foremost, let's try to understand what the veil really was in Ancient times by taking a look at the following bas-relief:

here, you can see Marcus Aurelius making an offering to the gods. what I want you to focus on is the veil itself, though: as you can see, this piece of clothing was part of the toga. so we could say that the veil is part of his daily "outfit"... so the veil would be much closer to a modern-day hoodie than an entirely separate piece of clothing. the same thing would apply to ancient Roman women, as their veil was part of the palla - a mantle that used to be wrapped around the body, similarly to the toga.

why am I saying all of this? well, first: I love fashion. secondly: by reflecting on this, we understand that

the veil was nothing special: Romans probably saw it as one of the many pieces of their outfit, the same way we would feel about a hoodie or a t-shirt. translating this in today's practice, we could say that you don't really need to use anything fancy as your veil. sure: one must always dress properly when interacting with the gods; but acknowledging this gives you the opportunity to take into consideration the use of hoodies as veils, for example - other than a rectangular piece of fabric, which is still preferable but not mandatory.

the veil was always within reach: all a Roman had to do to put their veil on and, thus, get ready for ritual action was pull their toga/palla over their head. that only took a few seconds, maybe a minute. this partly answers your question already: since Romans always carried their veil with them, they used it for all ritual actions - no matter how "small": adoratio, prayers and the like were all done with capite velato.

however. we don't really get the chance to always have a veil around nowadays. so if you don't have one with you but feel the necessity to do something "small" - and by this I mean a prayer or adoratio - just go ahead and do that. in my personal experience, as long as your intentions are good, nothing bad will happen. me, I have performed several adorationes whenever I run into statues of the gods... which usually happens in museums. due to those being public and crowded places, I feel much more comfortable performing the gesture without capite velato; that has been working just fine so far.

as for offerings, I have a stricter view on the matter. offerings are a tool to create a direct channel to the gods. even though I am an hardcore defender of the idea that all gods are good and want the best for humans - see Balbus' thesis in Cicero's De Natura Deorum - they must to be approached with the correct ritual gestures. I'm not saying this because I want to be a gatekeeper, but because Romans themselves put a lot of emphasis on performing the rituals correctly - which is the reason why this religion is considered orthopraxical, not orthodox. so in my opinion, ritus romanus* is needed whenever a physical offering is made - no matter how big or small. at least when it comes to celestial gods. so, in this case, the veil would be mandatory.

*if you need an example of ritus romanus, you can check out the following blog: Rito Romano XII: Rito Base - Ad Maiora Vertite. it is written in Italian; however the authors of this website have recently added a feature that allows you to translate the whole thing.

I would really like to highlight the fact that, in the previous paragraph, I said "at least when it comes to celestial gods". that's because celestial gods live relatively far from mankind - not physically, but spiritually. in order to approach them in an effective and "safe" way, you need to ask Ianus/Janus to "open the doors" to the divine for you and ask Iuppiter/Jupiter to watch over. this is my humble interpretation of how ritus romanus works.

for domestic gods things are pretty different: they're near, which is the reason why offerings to them seem to be less complex. for example: Romans used to always have a flame burning in their hearth - which was employed to cook food, to warm up the house when it was cold and, last but not least, to leave offerings for domestic gods. the most pious families would leave offerings to the household gods daily by sharing the food they were about to eat and/or putting on the Lararium flowers and small trinkets - we have a great example of that in Plautus' Aulularia. generally, there seems to be a lack of descriptions of complex rituals directed towards domestic gods... which is peculiar, considering the amount of ritual descriptions we get for celestial gods. thus, in my humble opinion, it is possible that in order to leave offerings to Lares, Penates and the personal Genius/Iuno you do not need ritus romanus nor, perhaps, capite velato. personally, though, I still wear my veil whenever I offer something to Lares as it helps me prepare mentally for religious action - and also because I want to be safe-not-sorry.

the use of the veil and the complexity of rituals can be overwhelming at first, I'm not going to lie. I'll tell you what: I was about to quit Roman polytheism in favour of less-structured beliefs. more than once. but, with time and patience, I can assure you you will get used to it. sure: some days it will be easy to wake up, leave an offering and go about your day; some days you may forget; others you may feel so unmotivated that you will just skip your religious routine. it is going to get easier, eventually: veiling is going to be as easy as tying your shoes; you are going to remember ritual formulas by heart, the same way you remember the lyrics of your favourite song. my advice is: just enjoy the process!

(I know that this advice was probably unrequested... but I'm putting it out there just in case other Roman polytheists need to hear it!)

aaaand this would be all! thank you guys for coming to my TED Talk /j. if you have any questions or observations, please share them in the comments or in my asks! please, bear in mind that I just woke up - so if anything doesn't make sense, blame it on my sleepy brain. 😭

thanks again to clavicus for asking these questions! it gave me a lot to think about! 💗

Sybil out!

[sillysybilsden]

putting the poly back in polytheism

something that I've noticed in neo-pagan/polytheist spaces is this focus on one or a few deities. while this is a valid approach and seems to be working amazingly for many people, i wanted to write a short defence of a different form of polytheism that, while maybe less visible on social media, is equally viable.

the poly in polytheism necessitates the belief in multiple gods however modern forms of worship take many different forms on top of that. from my years being in pagan spaces on social media I have noticed that to many, being a polytheist means worshipping one or a handful of gods and having very close relationships with them. which deities someone chooses to have this kind of relationship with stems from multiple possible sources, for example, personal interest, the deity's domain being somehow related to a person's life or an inexplicable draw to them.

to me, this seems to be the dominant view on social media of the form that neo-paganism takes, however, after years of exploring my spirituality and practice, I have come to the conclusion that this is not how I want to worship. I am writing this post for more people like me, who are interested in exploring this often less mainstream approach.

an ancient template

reading about Ancient Greek and Roman civilisations I was always struck by the number of minor deities with hyper-specific domains and associations. as a modern pagan, I could not understand the appeal of worshipping such a deity, ie. using so much time and resources to build a relationship for only a handful of niche issues that you could approach them with.

but as I kept reading and exploring, I realised that I was approaching polytheism completely differently than the ancients did. they truly did live in a world full of gods and they did not require a relationship built over days, if not weeks or more, to approach a deity and ask for their aid.

as long as you followed the rules of reciprocity, you could approach any deity that was relevant to your situation because they were the best equipped to help you with your problem. now this is not true for all of the population all the time, there were definitely also for example, people devoted to one deity, but from my understanding, this seemed to be the general form that polytheism took in those ancient civilisations.

the influence of monotheism

I think another feature of online neo-paganism is this expansion of the major deities' domains which then removes the need to worship the smaller deities. now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for expanding the domains of deities, especially if this is done from a revivalist perspective in order to modernise them for the contemporary worshipper. but sometimes I feel like completely unrelated domains are added for the sake of convenience more than anything else, ie. so that someone can keep worshipping the same deity(ies) without approaching others.

this, in my opinion, goes against one of the core aspects of polytheism which is the idea that different gods rule over different domains and have power over them. following this idea, it would make very little sense to pray to Neptune during air travel as he has no influence over the skies. yet, I sometimes see the deities be treated more like monotheistic gods which are all-powerful and can influence anything in the world.

if this is your view of how the gods work, that's fine, but I feel like sometimes people accept it without questioning it much or thinking about their view of theology at all. after mulling this idea over for some time, I realised it made much more sense to approach those specific deities, even if they are much less known or minor because this fits into my beliefs about polytheism much better.

a poly-practice

so, how would a poly-polytheistic practice look like in the modern day? well, there are many ways to go about it but I will just share bits from my own experience.

what I have ended up doing is focusing on different deities as they become relevant in my life - I focused on worshipping Janus at the beginning of the year while also taking the time to pray to Fortuna in moment when I needed her aid. I then did some extra reading on Jupiter, but didn't forget to thank Mars every time I went to the gym. I no longer felt the pressure to have some sort of special "connection" to every deity or "feel their presence", just trusting that they are there and then catching glimpses of divinity in my daily life.

looking into which Roman festivals I wanted to celebrate also opened my perspectives to more deities I would not have otherwise worshipped on my own. like this, I feel like I am building an arsenal of deities I can turn to when I need and of course, it is also vital to remember that I can call on multiple ones at the same time, just like the Romans saw the gods aiding one another in their tasks.

I only have one altar, which is practical and thus quite minimalistic, but there is space for my prayer notebook as well as other supplies that I need for my rituals.

conclusion

of course, this kind of practice results in a much more "impersonal" relationship with the gods, but I never really felt the need to communicate with them directly or things like that, so it fits me well. I find comfort in imagining a world full of gods, who may only know me in passing but who look out for me nevertheless.

in the end, the goal of this post is not to change anyone's mind about how they worship, but to present an alternate perspective which you can learn from but also completely disregard. in the end I am just happy that you were interested enough to reach until the end of this post. thank you for reading!!

[sillysybilsden]

'Deorum manium iura sancta sunto' 'Let the rites of the divine manes be sacred'. Cicero. Today begins the nine day Parentalia festival when the divine spirits (manes) of our departed loved ones & ancestors are thought to visit us & are subsequently remembered & venerated.

Que os ritos dos manes divinas sexan sagrados'. Cicerón.

Hoxe comeza os nove días de Parentalia, a festa onde os espíritos divinos (manes) dos nosos seres queridos e antepasados nos visitan e nós recordámolos e venerámolos.

[sillysybilsden]

WORSHIP VS WORK -

What's the difference?

This are two terms that are often used either interchangeably or differently. Its important to know the actual information about the two before referring to things as either

WORSHIP - Worship is the creation of a relationship via reciprocal nature. Its an act where you give, receive and create a bond through doing so. This is where everyone will start and the beginning for all relationships with deities. You should always research the religion you are entering and make sure you have the key concepts of the religion beforehand. Make sure to also research the deity reliably before beginning worship!

WORK - This is where you engage with a deity with a specific end goal in mind, this is something you do built on a relationship you already have and trust. This is where you and the deity interact to help you reach a goal.

REACHING OUT - Deities typically don't reach out to you first, this is a modern concept. If you want to worship a deity you don't need their permission to do so, which wouldn't happen anyway! Simply do your research, be prepared and begin your worship!

[sillysybilsden]

Like I've seen so many saying lately, as a witch and Pagan the research never ends.

Today, I'm spending the free time I have laying out my worship calendar for the year. Like the ancient Romans, I don't celebrate every holy day, just those that apply to my family and the deities we worship. So that means looking into the Roman holy days, picking the ones applicable, doing lots of research into how they were celebrated, and then planning out how to celebrate them in a way that makes sense for me/my family.

It has actually been quite relaxing and fun so far, and it makes me feel a lot closer to the Gods.

[sillysybilsden]

I'd love for everyone to respect each other and understand that different views can co-exist! 💗

tagging: @camssecretcave

Calling all pagans, witches, and various spiritual peeps.

Making a lil tagging game here :> Ill be looking at all the answers I can find during new years!

If you could wish one thing on behalf of the world, big or small, what would that be?

Mine, Id wish for everyone to have the oppurtunity to live a happy and full life.

Tagging

@zuvluguu

@jezzzebel

@luna-wolf-anastasia

@mikeyanderson97

And @eurydicejones

Should get me a diverse set of answers :> be sure to tag some buddies also! Feel free to join in if I didnt tag you!

[sillysybilsden]

hey hey hey! are you searching for a pagan/witchy community? I've got your back ⬇️⬇️⬇️

┌────── •🪻• ──────┐ 

Spiritual Gardens

└────── •🪻• ──────┘

༺❁ library full of resources inclusive to all religions!

༺❁ diverse channels for everyone to talk about their practice, learn, and chat!

༺❁ daily question to spark conversation & active moderation

༺❁ a safe space for everyone! includes adult-only spaces to connect with other 18+ members

༺❁ info board for learning & teaching

༺❁ fun events & prizes! readings, personal roles, & more! come join in on the fun!

🪻 A server dedicated to giving everyone a space to learn and grow! Come walk the trails of the gardens with us! 🪻

https://discord.gg/AmjXBMMXET

[sillysybilsden]

Io Saturnalia!🪔🌲🏺

From Dec 17-23, Romans celebrated the god Saturn by feasting, exchanging gifts, lighting lamps, and switching up the normal societal class structures 🪔🌲🥧

These illustrations are from my series of Saturnalia in Hadrians Wall country 🏛️🌲

[sillysybilsden]

Roman Spirituality

I always wanted to make a blog about this topic because ever since I’ve heard about the Romans and their history that they copy and pasted Greek religion and their gods and such, I never understood it. This is a peninsula filled with people from different tribes and kingdoms before they synchronized their traditions with the Greeks. They had their own indigenous culture, gods, goddesses, and traditions. There is evidence of this and yes there is a few missing pieces but overall it proves that the Romans and the people living on the peninsula had their own culture. I will break it down in segments or try to at least explain this is mainly focusing on Rome than other kingdoms in Ancient Italy but feel free to jump around it's going to be a long blog, but I hope I did do my diligence of discussing this.

Romans weren’t the only people living on the Italian peninsula.

When we think of Ancient Italy and its history we usually think of Roman Empire and how could we not. The Romans accomplished many things, became the largest empire, influence many rulers, help flourishing Christianity. But before the Republic and the imperialism Rome wasn’t Rome, in fact Rome was a small little kingdom called Latium that resided in central western Italy. Latium - meant “Wide” or “Flatlands” and rested on the left bank of the Tiberius river And much like how Greece was it was a city state filled with many other kingdoms and such next to them.

Tuscans (more advanced politically and culturally). Commonly known as the Etruscans this considered to be the first Italic tribe and the oldest one with their written language inspiring Latin and their written language was similar to that of runes. Many of their political, traditions, religion was adopted or influenced by the Romans more so than Greeks. For instance Tinia their supreme God came to be known as Jupiter. Latins the tribe that will soon become the seat of the Roman Empire uniting itself with Samnites, Umbri from Umbria, Ligures, Oscans or the Osci, Sabines, Apuli, Brutti, Volscians, Lucanians or Lucani and the celts also settled on the Italian peninsula as well as Greek colonists. These tribes had their own languages and cultural traditions, but out of them the Romans took most inspiration from the Sabines and the Etruscans culturally and politically other than the Greeks.

Indigenous Roman Polytheism

Now when I say indigenous, I mean what the original people of Italy believed in during the Iron Age and trying to prove that the Roman gods are originated from Latium is difficult and not logical because remember people share and merge together and Italy is a peninsula and not much room of spacing out of tribes, they were living literally next to each other. However, even if they adopted similar beliefs and traditions, tribes were not the same at times didn’t speak the same language or believed the same way. The best way to compare it to is how in indigenous Americans, yes, they are on the same continent they may share similarities, but they still believed different religions, spoke in different languages, had different cultures. However, regarding with Rome specifically, in rise of the Roman Empire and Italy or Roma became united these beliefs tend to merge into one and adapting them.

So unfortunately, there is not many stories or information on Latium’s religious practices that hasn’t been influenced by outside forces. However, before it has been found that Latium was more animistic than believing in actual human representation of the divine. Animistic and Animism derives from Latin ‘anima��� meaning soul.

Numa

There is a concept called Numen or divine life within each object and such this was carried on in the History of pre-Christian Rome. For instance, they believe springs, rocks, mildew, the air, doors, hinges, etc. had divine life to them. Numa comes from the King Numen who was a great king that created the foundations of religion in Rome also politically. Even created Rome’s first calendar and establishing the Vestal Virgins. It is said he was an agent of the gods and had direct communication with them. Numen became deified and worshipped for his Wisdom and piety.

Before they had human depictions and originally may didn’t see their gods as human alike in appearance rather used metals to represent Mars, rocks or wood from sacred trees for a specific god, their deities were nature itself. It was until they were inspired by Greeks and their Sicilian neighbors as well Etruscans when they adopted a more human appearance for visually depicting the gods.

Latium was also a port with many different outside influences go into their culture very early on and this is most likely why they were inspired by the Greeks. The Mycenaean Greeks colonized parts of Italy and trading with them. When the Romans were adopting similar beliefs and ideas of the Greeks there were resistance of the Latin people wanting to stick to their indigenous beliefs and not wanting to merge with the Hellenism. But they (The Romans) when growing their empire, they did adopt religious beliefs and traditions from Sabines who were on the other side of the Tiber River, it’s said some goddesses were adopted such as Sabine moon goddess called Lala that the Romans called Luna.

Animism in Roman society

Now it be forever taking a god one by one from the Romans to see if they came from an indigenous source is hard and will take hours plus I have a couple of blog posts about specific Roman deities. But rather look at the unique nature of examples of Animism within Roman society certain concepts are link to gods.

Ancestors

Ancestral worship was very prevalent within Roman society and religion. From family members, kings, emperors, friends, even to pets the romans revered their dead. Even had festivals for them and there are four special kinds of spirits relating to ancestral worship or it takes part in these ceremonies.

Lares: Specifically, Lares Familiares The spirits of the ancestors technically speaking a guardian of deceased family members and living and the household, the singular is Lar Familiares. A very important spirit in Roman polytheistic religion, they would have altar called Lararia or Lariarium usually where the family members would gather like a living room or back then a hearth. Domestic Lares would have a special place at the dinner table sharing a space with the family. These Lares would also be prayed and be given offerings daily and annually such as wine, pastries like honeycakes, first fruits (from the haverst), incense, grapes, wheat foods. Lares were gods of boundaries, the public, and fields. Domestic Lares are called Lares Domestici and specifically for family is Lares Familiares but they were used interchangeably if they were displeased or offerings, we’d not met they would have unfavourable reception evolving in angry spirit and makes sure no-good fortune or rewards befallen the family until they are pleased. Their festival is Compitalia which is the annual festival of Lares and other respected household deities of the crossroads, held on December 22 there were shrines of Lares placed in sights of crossroads representing their role in liminal spaces.

Often depicted as a young male winged youth holding a cornucopia or libation dish, at times depicted as dancing. Lares of the household is often portrayed as a deified ancestor or hero ancestor, this ancestor is usually patriarchal and the spirits witnessed special events like marriages, boys coming of age, anniversaries, adoptions, etc. their purpose were very protective and providers of good fortune. They were often associated with the panes or penates.

Manes: Were referred as di manes or the divine dead those who departed became a mane, these were either Lares or Parentes of their respective families. Mane was considered the “divine spark” of a living person their consciousness that resides in their minds. Busts of one’s family member is said to have their mane within the art to be honored and welcome in the home even after they departed. That’s why you many you see many busts of Roman people including emperors, it can be made from wax which would put on the departed face then be made as a death mask where people would wear it during the person’s funeral as a way to honor their legacy. Their busts also be present during gatherings and civil and political gatherings as well so they can be included. They were celebrated during Parentalia, Feralia, and Lemuria.

Parentes: These are spirits of the family much like Lares however the Parentes is immediate family like father, mother, siblings, spouses, children, and grandparents. It the individual’s family members that passed that they knew in life. If one were to travel outside of their home to go somewhere very far. The person would keep embers from their hearth along with small statues of their deceased loved ones. In modern days this is equivalent to carrying a picture of a loved one with us. In the movie Gladiator depicts this tradition when Maximus prays to his deceased wife and son. The starting prayer would be “blessed father” and “blessed mother”. Referring to their own mother and father rather than praying to Jupiter for an archetypal father. The sacred holiday is Parentalia beginning on February 13 ending for nine days ending on the beginning of Feralia which focused on honoring deceased ancestors and recently departed then Carista starts which traditionally a time to focus on honoring living family members.

Household deities

Janus: God of doorways and entrances. Depicted as a two-faced man.

Vesta: Goddess of the hearth and home.

Cardea: Goddess of hinges

Forculus: God of actual doors

Limentinus: God of the threshold

Terminus: God of Boundaries.

General household spirits

Penates: Spirits of the kitchen and pantry and often worshipped alongside the Lares, their shrines would be in cupboards and be offered the first fruits and grain from harvest. They protect the food from any rot, illness that may grow in the kitchen or the food itself. Like the Lares they would also be shared a spot at the dinner table the offerings be burn in the hearth afterwards.

Lemures: Restless spirits that tend to be more malicious if they are displeased. Often show their anger through what we call today a poltergeist. It was believed it was the angry revenants of the departed who were restless because their wills were not fulfilled, offerings weren't given, or hadn't received a proper burial. According to Ovid, Lemures caused chaos in Rome as they were not properly worshipping them so they created a sacred holiday for them called Lemuria held on May 9, 11,and 13th.

Genius Loci: Genius is the spirit form of manhood symbolize by a snake. That is the head of the household it is related to the patriarchal structure of the home. Genius Loci is the spirit of the ground on which the house is built upon. Modern witchcraft and paganism may describe them as a 'land spirit'. But it's not really how the Romans saw it, they believed that the Genius Loci is directly link to the Genius of the household so the father of the house, if the Genius Loci is pleased and worshipped properly then the patriarchal of the house would be prosperous and have good fortune.

Umbrae (Shades): So these are just commonly knowledge as ghosts and apparitions of spirits, depending how and what the context when they make their appearance known then they could understand what type of omen was being crossed to them. For instance seeing a deceased loved one in a dream is consider to be a good omen, but if a stranger it is a bad omen or if they saw the ghost during the day in waking hours was consider to very bad. They were also honored a Feralia and Lemuria and during these festivals people would wear protective charms from the spirits in case of misfortune.

[sillysybilsden]

Assumptions:

You ysed to have an obsession with strong female mythological figures. Like Minerva or Bellona.

And...

You prefer apple juice to orange juice

hey there! first and foremost, thank you for sending this ask! 🙌🏻💗

secondly, both assumptions are 100% true! my obsession with strong female mythological figures started in elementary school, when our teacher had us read "Camilla regina guerriera" (= Camilla fighting queen), a book that talked about, well, Camilla, Queen of the Volsci. at some point, that also translated in deity work (with figures like the Morrígan, Badb, Macha and Aphrodite Areia). I am yet to see how it will apply, if it will, in Roman polytheism!

that being said, apple juice is better. I rest my case. 🍎

[sillysybilsden]

I wanna know what people assume about me because of my tumblr.

Put an assumption in my ask. I’ll confirm or dispute it. I’m not gonna be mean or anything, I’m just very interested.

[sillysybilsden]

Janus of war and peace, the opening and closing of doors, and the commencement and completion of life's many transitions 🗝️🚪🕊️

Ko-Fi: 🔑

[sillysybilsden]

Polytheists from the US: please stop fear mongering

I wanna start this post by saying that, as a bisexual woman, I do feel for my fellow women and LGBT people in the US, as well as for other minorities. I also fear for all of us around the world, as US politics have a direct impact in all countries.

However, please stop projecting your fears on the gods. If you think the gods suddenly became angry after the elections, after everything the world has gone through this year, that means you think the gods care more about you than they do about everyone else. And that's not okay.

1. You're the centre of the world. Please don't be entitled.

As I said, whatever the US does has an impact everywhere. That doesn't mean we need to extrapolate that into religion.

There are two things that have happened this year that would directly impact the gods. One was Mt Olympus burning in August. The other is an Israeli airstrike nearly hitting the Temple of Bacchus in Baalbek. I saw ZERO posts about the gods being angry about that. Or about the gods being angry at all. I understand you can't read the news about every country ever, but at least try to keep up with the country your religion comes from?

To those two things I said, I could add others that don't impact the gods directly like Palestine, Lebanon and Ukraine getting b0mbed; Argentina, Brazil, Greece, Poland, Austria, Spain and many other countries having deadly fires and floods; the rights of Italian LGBT people being set years back by their current PM, as well as LGBT people in some countries not having rights at all; conservative politicians being elected all over the world; WOMEN BEING BANNED FROM SPEAKING IN AFGHANISTAN; Pakistani Pagan tribes being targeted; the whole Gisèle Pelicot case... I could go on and on and on because there's just too much stuff going on in the world.

If you think none of these things would make the gods go angry, but the moment something happens in your country they're suddenly angry then that's an issue. And if you're trying to make this into a collective truth then you're making it everyone else's issue.

2. This is not an Abrahamic religion.

I understand many of you come from an Abrahamic background. I was raised in a deeply Catholic country. In the type of town where people get their favourite apparition or Mary tattooed. So I understand. But you have to somehow unlearn that when it comes to things like these.

The gods are not angry at you. Why would they be? Did you personally do something to offend them? Did you steal from their temple? Did you brag about being better than them in any way? I'm sure you didn't. So why would they be angry?

If you start saying things like “the gods are angry because of this!!” you sound just like the Christians who repeat Christ is coming soon everytime any type of natural catastrophe happens. Please stop. You're making all of us look crazy.

And also, what do you gain from this? Making other people upset? Especially those who just came into this religion and might think the gods are angry at them? It'd be fine if you posted something like “let's pray for our fellow Americans” but this doesn't make any sense. I just don't understand you people sometimes.

Also if you're gonna reply to this post by saying something along the lines of “people are allowed to talk about their feelings” then delete the comment because it shows you have little reading comprehension.

[sillysybilsden]

To Janus. To Jupiter. To the Roman gods.

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𝐓𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬

I. Introduction

II. Gods

III. Mythology

IV. Calendar

V. Ritual

VI. Epilogue

VII. Resources

🪔

𝐈. 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

Hey there everyone! This is Sybil (fka Clever Crow). As a Roman polytheist, “Roman polytheism is just a carbon-copy of Greek polytheism” is something I hear on a weekly basis. Whether on YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest or, heck, even academic resources, there seems to be a widespread belief that these two religions are identical. Today, I want to focus on this piece of misinformation and try to debunk it by using historical evidence and examples.

Just a small disclaimer: I will be discussing this topic from a hard polytheistic and revivalist point of view. Soft polytheism is absolutely valid, but in this case it might not be of use when highlighting differences between gods.

Also, I want to thank the following people: Cristina, Mystix, @spiritual-entries and @camssecretcave . They made sure that all information provided here is factual and reliable, and I will be forever grateful to them for their help.

🪔

𝐈𝐈. 𝐆𝐨𝐝𝐬

“Are the Greek and Roman pantheons one and the same?” This is the first question we will attempt at answering within this chapter. To do so, we must introduce a very important concept in Roman religion: interpretatio romana. Before that, though, let me provide you with some historical context.

Ever since the founding of Rome in 753 BCE, Romans were exposed to influences from other Italic peoples: Sabines, Etruscans, Volsci and so on. Because of that, we can indeed say that there has never been a 100% “native” Roman religion.

We can nonetheless differentiate two “phases” of Roman polytheism: pre-hellenisation polytheism and post-hellenisation polytheism (“hellenisation” being the process that merged Greek and Roman cultures and religions during the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE). For simplicity’s sake, in this post we are going to compare the pre-hellenisation version of Roman religion and Hellenism.

Back to interpretatio: what is it? To put it simply, it is the comparison of two different pantheons (which is used to find matches between the gods). It was used so that, when describing other populations’ religions, one could just name a more familiar, local deity instead of fully describing a foreign one (which, obviously, would take much more time). Just imagine being a Roman historian and having to discuss Greek religion: instead of saying “Ares is a god of war, battle and courage”, you could just say “Ares is like our Mars”.

Does that mean that these gods were seen as identical? Absolutely not! Actually, this shows us that Roman gods were a thing long before Greek gods started being adopted in the pantheon (which is the reason why a god like Janus does not have a Greek counterpart).

Sticking with the same example we have used before, we can say that Mars was already Mars before he was equated to Ares. And, because of that, at a closer look, the two are extremely different: while Ares is blood-driven, Mars shows a much calmer nature; contrarily to Ares, Mars has some pretty important ties to royalty (his son being Romulus-Quirinus) and agriculture; while Ares has a relationship with Aphrodite, Mars is married to Nerio; and so on. It is only after hellenisation that these two (as well as all of the other gods) started merging into one single Greco-Roman figure.

As I said before, though, this does not mean that Rome was against syncretism. Quite the contrary, actually: whenever Romans ran into a deity who could be of use to them and did not have a counterpart in their pantheon, they would consider adopting them. This is the reason why Apollo was worshiped by both societies (Romans adopted him in 431 BCE in order to fight a pestilence; his Greek nature never went unacknowledged: for him, ritus graecus was performed).

Fun fact: interpretatio was not only directed to Greece. Roman priests tried to include the prophet Jesus Christ into the Roman pantheon. He was described to them as “a god of love”, so they used interpretatio to connect him to Venus.

🪔

𝐈𝐈𝐈. 𝐌𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲

As I said before, during hellenisation Greek and Roman gods started merging. As a consequence, so did their mythologies…

Actually, no, scratch that: except for a few exceptions, Roman gods did not have a mythology to begin with. Mythology that is Roman in origin revolves around men, not deities (and that is the reason why it is also referred to as “mythic history”, as the protagonists are pseudo-historical figures). Myths in Ancient Rome were used as exempla, examples to teach teens and men how they should behave in a virtuous way.

For example, one of the most famous figures from Roman mythology is Lucius Junius Brutus, the founder of the Republic: he was intelligent (he tricked the cruel king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus into sparing his life), loyal (he never deserted the Romans) and strong-willed (he took the matters into his own hands and kicked out of Rome the cruel king), and every Roman had to aspire to be like him.

In Greece, on the other hand, myths had the task of explaining why something happens. Why do we have a colder season and a warmer one? That is because Persephone comes back from and goes to the Underworld. How do we know how to use fire? Prometheus gave it to men. How did the hyacinth, the flower, get its name? It comes from Apollo’s lover Hyacinth. On top of that, Greek mythology revolves a lot more around deities than the Roman one (which is the reason why there is a pretty intricate divine family tree in Hellenism).

With this in mind, we can say that, with hellenisation, the Roman gods received myths and genealogies (as well as iconographies, in some cases) of their own for the first time ever. However, these myths and these genealogies were not altered to better fit the deity.

This is the reason why Nerio, Mars’ original wife, was forgotten in favor of Venus (Aphrodite’s Roman counterpart). This is why Saturn, an extremely benevolent agricultural deity, started being depicted as a cruel entity devouring his children (yes: I am looking at you, Goya). And this is also why Minerva, who used to have nothing to do with Medusa, started to be seen as she-who-cursed-Medusa (now I am looking at you, Ovid).

🪔

𝐈𝐕. 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫

Calendars were of extreme importance in polytheistic societies. After all, they were deeply intertwined with their religious mentality… which is the reason why we are briefly going to discuss this matter in this blog.

When it comes to Ancient Greece, the calendar we have the most evidence on is the Athenian one (which, because of this, has become the most widely used in modern Hellenic polytheistic communities). It is lunisolar (keep this in mind!). When it comes to Ancient Rome, on the other hand, we have quite some evidence on three different calendars that modern Roman polytheists can choose from: a lunar one, a lunisolar one and a solar one (the latter happens to be the calendar still in use today).

One similarity that needs to be addressed is the one between Noumenia and Kalends (both being a celebration of the first day of the month). In the Roman version, however, we would also have to add Nones and Ides as recurring monthly festivities.

Another similarity that many seem to highlight is the one between Kronia and Saturnalia, two festivities where abundance is celebrated (as well as, respectively, Kronos and Saturn, who later merged) and the Golden Age is remembered. However! Kronia is celebrated during the Summer, roughly during the Summer solstice; Saturnalia is celebrated during Wintertime, roughly during the Winter solstice. It might not seem like a big difference at first, but it is if we consider this: during Kronia, the harvest is celebrated while it is happening, while the mature crops are being collected; during Saturnalia, the harvest that has already happened during the past Summer is celebrated, as well as the one that is to come.

Last but not least, let us highlight a Roman-only peculiarity. Back in Ancient Roman times, every day had a “quality": they could either be faustus or nefastus (as well as a lot more nuances which we will not be taking into account here). They were of great importance on a religious level, as nefastus days could bring bad luck to a practitioner if they were to take big decisions. Something similar also happened with dies religiosi, during which it was forbidden to go to work (or do anything that was not a life-or-death matter).

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𝐕. 𝐑𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥

Now that we have discussed the more “theological” matters, such as the nature of the gods, myths and festivities, we can briefly talk about the more practical side of things.

Let us start with an all-time favorite: veiling. Nowadays, a lot of pagans (no matter their path or their gender) veil for a variety of reasons: protection, modesty or devotion. And that is, no doubt, valid. Historically speaking, though, things kind of different. While both in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome veils were used by women in order to express their modesty, in Italy they were also mandatory whenever performing rituals (for women and men alike).

Another big difference resides in the views of these two societies over divination. When we think of “divination” and “Ancient Greece”, one of the first things that comes to our minds is probably the Oracle of Delphi (and rightly so!). This figure was said to be able to channel the messages of the gods, and they did so by going into a trance-like state.

In Rome, this practice was seen as unreliable (even though, surprisingly, there are a couple of instances where Romans have asked the Oracle for guidance), as the only reliable forms of divination were those that could be performed when completely conscious (augury, haruspicy, etc). Dreams, too, were seen as an untrustworthy form of communication by Romans.

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𝐕𝐈. 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

There is something we still need to address: if these two cultures, societies, religions were so different, why do so many people believe otherwise?

Well, the answer can be found in 19th century’s anthropological and religious studies. Back then, scholars used to be very fond of the comparative approach (which is a “strategy where characteristics or parts are compared across different research situations to identify differences or similarities”, according to www.sciencedirect.com) and the Indo-European theory.

Too focused on stressing the similarities between Greeks and Romans, intellectuals “forgot” to highlight the differences. Even though nowadays, academically, these hypotheses have been marked as outdated, they are still ever-so widespread.

I hope that this blog will contribute to debunking this piece of misinformation. And I hope that I managed to introduce you, reader, to Roman polytheism… Not just a carbon-copy of Hellenism!

Sybil

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𝐕𝐈𝐈. 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬

The majority of my knowledge on Greek religion comes from “Archeologia greca” by Enzo Lippolis and Giorgio Rocco and theoi.com, as well as some high school classes dedicated to Hellenic mythology.

The following resources talk specifically about this post's subject:

Roman vs. Greek religion (YouTube)

Greek mythology: A second masterpost (Tumblr)

You can check out my full list of resources on Roman polytheism here.

🪔 Check out this post on Amino as well! 🪔

[sillysybilsden]

Mars, arguably the most Roman out of all Roman Gods, received ultimate love, adoration, respect, and votive attention during the Roman times. His multi-facet nature was one of the reasons his image was held so highly in the era of establishment, growth, and prosperity of the Eternal Rome. Mars can be venerated in many ways and under many names. Here are some of his titles I personally find interesting or important for his worship: 

Mars Gradivus - the Marching God; in this aspect Mars took oaths from the warriors about to enter battle - they swore to be valorious; 

Mars Quirinus - the Protector of Citizens, Mars’ peaceful aspect evoked in order to keep the civillians safe and the city borders untouched; 

Mars Pater - Mars the Father, his agricultural and prosperity-tied aspect that was evoked to secure protection of his people; as the Father, Mars received sacrifices of pigs, rams, and bulls - the latter could only be given to him, Jupiter, and Apollo; 

Mars Ultor - Mars the Avenger, evoked to prosecute the offenders or avenge the unfair treatment of his people; 

Mars Augustus - the byproduct of Augustan era, this aspect of the God was not just to praise the Deity, but also connect him and the Emperor into one awed whole; 

Mars Silvanus - a questionable title supposedly tying Silvanus, an old Roman forest God, and Mars together; possibly via agriculture; 

Many provincial titles of the God came from Mars’ fusions with local, often Celtic, Deities, venerated by the tribes. Out of the notable ones we can point out: 

Mars Barrex - from Barrex or Barrecis (probably meaning “Supreme One”), fusion with a Celtic Deity;

Mars Camulos - from the Celtic war god Camulus;

Mars Capriociegus - from an Iberian supposedly thunder god linked to Mars; 

Mars Condatis - from the Celtic god of the confluence of rivers, Condatis; this aspect of Mars retained some healing functions; 

Mars Lenus - from the Celtic healer-god Lenus; often also called Lenus Mars, making the local Deity an established one and not merely an aspect of the God; 

Mars Rigisamus - possibly meaning “King of Kings” or “Greatest King”, this epithet implies that Mars had an extremely high status, over and above his warrior function.