#Mythic Guide

[marejadilla]

Tyler Vouros, "Mythic Guide”, 2023, Charcoal on paper mounted to canvas.  American, b. 1984 Working primarily in charcoal. Vouros creates colossal compositions in microscopic detail.

[wisdom-devotee]

Beginner’s Guide to Hellenic Polytheism

I KNOW this is a really long post but my intention was to just note down everything that I think is important for beginners and that’s A LOT. It took me forever to learn some of these things but they’re so important, so buckle in. I hope this helps some people.

If I’ve missed anything, please feel free to let me know what you’d like me to add. I’ve been working on this for two days, so if there are typos, I’m so sorry.

The sections I cover here are key terms, mythic literalism, deity work vs deity worship, FAQs and General Advice.

Some Key Terms

Hellenic Polytheism: Hellenic means Greek, and Polytheism means worshipping multiple gods. So, Hellenic Polytheism is the worship of the Greek Pantheon which is also referred to as the Theoi. The people who practice could be referred to as Hellenic Polytheists. Some also call themselves Hellenic Pagans, but not all people who practice Hellenic Polytheism consider themselves pagan.

Hellenistic: you may see the term ‘Hellenistic Polytheism’, but this is my PSA to ask people not to use that, as it’s incorrect. Hellenistic refers to a specific period of Andient Greece, from 323-32 BC, and your worship is almost definitely not specifically focused on that period. Additionally, here is a post by a Greek person on why ‘Hellenism’ and ‘hellenismos’ are disrespectful.

Ouranic: this is the term for the heavenly gods. Be aware that there is some overlap between Ouranic and Chthonic deities. Whether a deity is Ouranic or Chthonic will effect things like prayer position (palms up for Ouranic) and whether offerings can be eaten or drank (yes for Ouranic)

Chthonic: this is the term for the underworld gods. Be aware that there is some overlap between Ouranic and Chthonic deities. Whether a deity is Ouranic or Chthonic will effect things like prayer position (palms down for Chthonic) and whether offerings can be eaten or drank (no for Chthonic) side note - when it comes to hero worship, I personally treat them as if they’re chthonic.

Kharis: this means reciprocity, and also refers to the relationship formed between us and the gods. Arguably the most important aspect of Hellenic Polytheism is that when you ask something of a deity, you must give an offering in return. Size of what you’re asking for should correspond to size of the offering, or if you’ve given many little offerings without asking for anything you can use that as why you should be given the Big Thing.

Xenia: guest-friendship, hospitality. The idea that any stranger could be a God in disguise, so treat everyone respectfully. It’s an Ancient Greek social custom that a lot of Hellenic Polytheists see as important today. Simply put, in modern times this most often just means being kind to strangers. There’s a lot more to it than that though, so look here. Know that Xenia is a two-way thing, so you have to be generous to your guests but they must also respect your home.

Eusebeia: basically, piety. Respecting the Gods. This is really the only ‘rule’ of Hellenic polytheism. There’ll be different ideas of what is considered respectful, but as long as you have good intentions and don’t do anything you KNOW would be offensive, you’re okay. Don’t insult the gods (any of them), don’t ask for anything without offering something else, and don’t treat yourself as equal to or higher than the theoi.

Hubris: excessive pride or dangerous overconfidence, often the fatal flaw of a lot of Greek heroes in mythology. Specifically, this is when you act better than or equal to the gods. You are not.

Libations: a type of offering, in the form of a liquid. Usually poured on the ground but can be drank (unless it’s to a chthonic deity) if you’re a closeted Hellenic polytheist who can’t just pour some liquid on the floor every time you want to offer it. My advice for food offerings/libations to chthonic deities if you’re not openly a hellenist is to offer leftovers, rotting food, or something you otherwise know will go to waste.

Altar: traditionally a place used to put physical offerings and food offerings for deities. Some people have an altar to each deity, some people have one altar for all their deities. These can be as big or as small as you want. People may use shelves, drawers, boxes, windowsills, etc, and I don’t even use mine for food offerings, only for physical ones because I usually eat the food offering (I don’t like the idea of wasting food). My altars also just serve as a dedicated space for that deity in my life.

Hero worship: this is the worship of ‘heroes’ in Greek mythology, which includes literally any mortal. For example, I worship Odysseus of Ithaca, Penelope of Ithaca, Helen of Sparta, and Tiresias of Thebes. I’ve been asked a lot about how hero worship differs from deity worship, and you can find that answer here.

Devotee: there is a lot of disagreement on what the difference between a devotee and worshipper is, but for me, I’m devoted to Athena as I feel I have the closest bond with Her of all my deities and I honour Her the most. This partly comes from my feeling that She has been with me for much longer than I’ve been aware of Her presence, and that also so much of who I am and what I value comes under Her domains.

Patron: this basically means that if part of your identity comes under the domain of a deity, then that deity is your patron. There can be occupational patrons (like Hermes is the patron of merchants) or to do with things like gender (Hera is a patron for women. Yes this includes trans women, transphobes are not welcome here.) You can have more than one patron, and you don’t need to worship all of the deities who would be considered your patron.

Epithets: these are titles given to deities. There are two types - cult epithets, which describe the aspect of a deity you’re focusing on (like Athena Ageleia, meaning ‘Protector of the People’) since they have a lot of domains and it’s important in prayers to specify what you want. Then there’s poetic epithets, which are adjectives, often used to compliment a deity. I like using these to make my prayers seem more sophisticated to be honest (example: white-armed Hera)

Unverified Personal Gnosis: gnosis is spiritual knowledge. If it’s unverified, that means that it has no basis in historical sources as far as the person is aware, and they don’t know anybody else who has the same experience. You will often see this abbreviated as UPG. Personally, I think UPG is really valid, considering a lot of things are unknown to us due to the loss of sources overtime.

Shared Personal Gnosis: gnosis is spiritual knowledge. Like UPG, Shared Personal Gnosis (often abbreviated as SPG) doesn’t have any historical backing as far as the people who believe it are aware, but it is shared by multiple different people and therefore seen by some as more valid than UPG (though I’d argue that all SPG is UPG before you know that other people agree)

Verified Personal Gnosis: gnosis is spiritual knowledge. It being verified means that there are historical sources to back up the belief, and this is commonly abbreviated to VPG. You are more likely to come across the terms UPG than SPG or VPG, and most of what Helpol people on tumblr discuss is UPG, even if they don’t state that directly.

Reconstructionist: these are people who try to ‘reconstruct’ the ancient religion, recreating ancient rituals as best they can and doing things as close as they can get to how the ancient Greeks did based on our historical sources. An important note here is that we will never be able to do this perfectly and that’s okay. When it comes to things like animal sacrifices, most of us outside of agricultural areas almost definitely don’t have the means to be doing that properly, but you can use symbolism in place of a real animal, an example an anon gave me is cutting bread into animal shapes

Revivalist: these are people who try to recreate the ‘spirit’ of the religion, though not with the exact practices that the Ancient Greeks used. Revivalists are more concerned with the values and beliefs of the ancient religion than they necessarily are with how it was practiced. I personally feel like I fall somewhere between the two, but I also think both are really valid!

Mythic Literalism

Mythic Literalism is the debate in modern Hellenic Polytheism about whether or not the myths should be taken literally — and it’s common in Helpol spades online to say that the answer is ‘no, they’re metaphorical’. But I’d actually argue that they are.

Think of the Epics like the Iliad and the Odyssey — these begin with invoking the muses, goddess of inspiration said to have perfect memory. These goddesses know every event that has ever happened and are believed to guide and speak through the poets as they recite the myths, which means that they would be reciting history. That suggests the myths happened.

This isn’t ignoring the fact there are cultural reasons behind the myths and that parts of exist to them fulfil specific functions of that god or have parts of the world that they’re trying to explain.

For example, the myth of Hades kidnapping Persephone fulfils an aspect of Hades and has a cultural aspect about marriage in Ancient Greek society. First, it’s one of the myths we have of a youth being taken too soon by death (think Apollo and Hyacinthus, Zeus and Ganymedes, Thetis and Achilles, maybe even Castor and Pollux) and the grief that causes, Hades role being of the underworld. But also in terms of Greek society it was reflective of mothers losing their daughters to marriage, too. Both these things coexist in the ‘meaning’ of the myth; but just because it has metaphors, doesn’t mean it wasn’t believed to have happened. The Greeks did view their myths as having happened.

Zeus has so many children and so many affairs and rape myths, not because it’s just a metaphor and he didn’t actually do any of that, but because he’s a male fertility god, and he’s the god of kinds, and kings do abuse their power.

The Greek gods exist as how the world is, not how we want it to be or how it should be. Take Hera, for example — she doesn’t align with the passive and idealised wives described in things like Xenophon’s Economics, but is instead how women are. Real women get angry when their husbands are awful to them, so Hera, Goddess of Women, can be angry.

It’s good to learn the ways in which these deities were understood and what their domains can represent. Myths also help us to feel more familiar with our deities. Additionally the myths tell us not to be hubristic, and things like the Iliad tell us about Oaths and Offerings and Xenia. These are important parts of helpol.

I understand the want to disregard some of the more distasteful myths that depict things not only distasteful now but that would’ve even been viewed as wrong IN antiquity. But the Greek gods are not supposed to be perfect by human standards of morals. They have good and bad aspects based on their domains.

Deity Work vs Deity Worship

I’m going to preface this section by saying that I worship deities, I don’t work with them, so even though I’m doing research on this please take everything I say about deity work with a grain of salt and note that the rest of this post might apply more to worship, because that’s what I’m familiar with. Lastly, my intention here is not to place a value judgement on either type, I just want to try and make a full explanation for anyone out there looking for one, since I’ve found it to be kind of difficult to find.

From my understanding, deity work is common among witches, and usually involves asking a deity to help with your spells or other forms of magick. When you work with a deity, you are asking them to mentor you in a sense, and there’s often a specific goal in mind that they’re hoping to achieve with help of the deity. Additionally, because of that goal-oriented relationship, deity work has deadlines(?). Like, once you’ve achieved the goal you had, the deity will stop working with you

There are similarities, as both seem to involve reciprocity and offerings, and both involve cultivating a relationship with deities, even if the nature of that relationship and the reason for offering is different.

Deity worship doesn’t have a set end-goal. You CAN stop actively worshipping a deity, but this doesn’t usually come after a specific goal is achieved because there isn’t a goal in mind. Worship is more about honouring the deity. Khakis is built out of admiration, respect and love for the deity. This is why we pray, make offerings, etc. it’s all to honour the gods. We do ask for things in deity worship, but that’s not the entire point like it is for deity work.

FAQs

Do I need to be called to worship/work with a deity?

Nope! You are 100% allowed to reach out first. You can do that by praying or making an offering. Remember to research the deity first, so you know what epithets to use, know what symbols they’re associated with, have ideas for offerings, etc. Also, if a deity calls to you, you are not obligated to worship them. Acknowledge them and move on if you don’t have time, energy, or interest in worshipping them at that time.

Where can I find information on deities?

The main site that I think everyone uses is theoi.com, which has really in-depth pages on a lot of deities, with their myths, lists of epithets, family trees, etc. it’s a really useful resource!

Do I need an altar?

No. They’re nice to have but you don’t need one straight away. It took me two years of worshipping to get any altars, and even now I don’t really use them how you’re ‘supposed’ to.

Are there any sins in Hellenic Polytheism?

No, just don’t disrespect a god (don’t disrespect any of them, even the ones you don’t worship should be respected). Also don’t show hubris.

Deity X and Deity Y don’t get along, but I want to worship both, what do I do?

Disregard mythic literalism and remember this is a polytheistic religion. The gods know they are not the only god you will be worshipping, and they are chill with that. If you really want, you can separate their altars if you have an altar per deity, but it’s up to you completely.

Other General Advices

This post is a starting point, nothing here is very in-depth. Do more research if anything on here is still confusing to you. Feel free to ask people here on tumblr, I’m sure most of us would be happy to help.

Don’t believe everything you see on tiktok/tumblr. We’re all still learning, a lot of us are wrong about stuff. Do other research and let yourself form your own beliefs. As I’ve said, even parts of this post should be taken with a grain of salt. I’m no expert, I just want to try to help.

If you’re going to make your own posts about helpol stuff, advice I’ve seen before that really stuck with me is ‘keep some things scared’. You don’t have to post everything. I, at the moment, don’t post my prayers or photos of my altars. Those things are what I keep scared, you should have your own things. They don’t have to be the same as mine.

You have nothing to be afraid of. The gods can be intimidating when you’re starting out, but they know we don’t have as much readily available information about this stuff as the ancient greeks did. They also know you’re new, and they will be patient with you. Don’t be scared.

You can offer anything. Digital offerings are as valid as physical offerings. Devotional acts are valid too.

Know that you will never be done learning. Accept this and commit to trying to learn anyway.

Know how to tell signs from the gods apart from just General Happenings of the world. Here is a good post on that. I have a series on my blog tagged #signs from deities, to show the kinds of things I personally recognise to be signs and to show how frequently/infrequently those can occur. I would suggest keeping your own record of those, whether or not you share it is up to you. The reason is to reflect on your journey and, if you ever doubt your gods, you can look at those lists to remind yourself of how they’ve been there for you previously.

Doubt is healthy, it’s okay to doubt things. Don’t feel bad for this, the gods understand. Let yourself question everything you feel the need to question.

Similarly, anger is healthy. It’s okay to be angry at the gods, but don’t disrespect them because you’re upset. Handle your anger well. You won’t get punished for being upset.

The Hellenic Gods aren’t generally believed to be all-knowing, however it is believed that they can hear us when we call their names, which is why prayers start with invocation of a deity’s name and an epithet.

[otiksimr]

Not my best work.

[actualori]

a guide to all the gods/divine deities affiliated with mythicalsausage to whoever needs it

1. bubbles: (almost every smp) sausages puppy. follows him to every reincarnation and universe. is in charge of keeping balance throughout every timeline and multiverse. based off his irl dog

2. xornoth: (empires smp s1) the champion/reincarnation of the god exor. was sausages mentor and apparent boyfriend (toxic yaoi). taught sausage magic and corrupted him. was very evil

3. the blood sheep: (empires smp s1) used for magical sacrifices and came from a world unknown. unrelated to exor and xornoth but have evil capabilities. all hail blood sheep

4. joel: (empires smp s2) was sausages baby daddy. the god of thunder and lore

5. hermes: (empires smp s2) joel and sausages child and a demigod. able to manipulate time and weather. no specific age, somewhere from toddler to preteen. has no set gender (he/they pronouns mainly used)

6: pearl/santa perla: (empires smp s1 and 2, afterlife smp) s1 sausages best friend who died in his arms. became a saint represented by sunflowers. sausage was one of her angels in afterlife. s2 sausage devoted his life to her and created a religion worshipping her. they follow each other through every life protecting each other

7: the watchers: (bcg smp) sausage found a watcher sword and the fandom ran with it. he is not officially canon to evo/life series watchers (yet)

8: the fates: (sos smp/minecraft sos) controlled that specific universe and blocked out any lore related to other smps. specifically hated sausage because he constantly broke the rules of that world. frequently targeted him

9: nat and dem: (border smp) two gods fighting over the devotion of sausage. nat had a specific connection to spruce trees. dem attempted to kill nat (was unsuccessful). both speak to him through notes and give him gifts. each claim the other is evil. nat is short for nature, dem is short for something unspecified (probably demon)

10: sun god bdubs: (empires smp s2) god of the sun that sausage and gem worshipped. had a silly rivalry with santa perla since she was associated with the moon. the main worshipping was just making sure to always sleep at night

each description will be updated as more information is said. if i’m missing anyone or anything please let me know and i will add it

[theriu]

How To Rehome A Brownie

Me: Sorry I'm late! I had trouble getting everyone together, we almost left Bruce and Brunhilde at the burrow.

Friend: It's all good—sorry, getting who together?

Me: (lifts basket; a bunch of little heads peek out) Oh right, I should make introductions! They're a small family, but they come HIGHLY recommended. This is Papaw Smuther and his wife Esne, and Jordan and Bruce and Brunhilde and Sally, and that's her husband Doolin and their triplets—

Friend: (waving hands) No, I mean, very nice to meet you all, but . . . (lowers voice to a whisper) Why did you bring a basket of tiny people to my housewarming party?

Me: (blank stare) I said I would, on the signup sheet! I was pretty excited when you gave the go-ahead, most people don't invite them nowadays and I'm always keeping an eye out for good homes—

Friend: (facepalm) You signed up to bring BROWNIES.

Me: Right! (indicates basket) Here they are!

Friend: I thought you meant the kind you EAT!

Me: (scandalized) You can't EAT them, what kind of barbaric—?

(Papaw Smuther zips up her shoulder and whispers in her ear)

Me: . . . Oh. Ohhhhh RIGHT! (turning red) That does explain why Janice said she'd bring cookies . . .

Friend: It's, uh, it's fine. Perfectly . . . normal misunderstanding. (looking everywhere but at sad brownie faces) But, uh, while I appreciate the offer, we're not really looking for house brownies at this . . .

Friend: . . . What happened to my flowerbeds?

Me: Oh, they weeded everything, deadheaded your daises, and made that bush look like a swan while I carried the triplets up the walk. I told them you were cool but they wanted to make a good first impression.

Friend: . . . On second thought, come on in!

(chorus of tiny cheers)

-----

(A/N: While M.E. has developed into her own character and is no longer me in a fantasy world, I feel like this sort of miscommunication is exactly the kind of thing I'd do XD; )

For more assorted nonsense, visit my How To Guides for Mythical Creatures Masterlist!

[horse-surgeon-barbie]

if no one else got me, I know the Rick and Morty Character Guide (2020) got me

[random-remzy]

*sobs in writers block*

I have 3 unifinished fanfics

a plan for a fanmade sequel to a book

and plans for 2 different novels.

But i have not gotten to any of them, because i know that i'm an idiot and am going to spend SO much time researching to get it accurate. and i know once i finish the research. everything will come together.

but the research man-

the research-

its so long and tiring :,)

[lokiinmediasideblog]

Tournament of Lokis 2025: Round 2

MYTHICAL DETECTIVE LOKI PROPAGANDA !!! umm idk hes like twelve and everyone wants him dead. he has a magical girl transformation. he does not want to be a god. he hates everyone. he loves everyone. he wants to retire so bad. he's a detective i forget he does that a lot

Propaganda for the other one by me: It's like Diary of a Wimpy Kid but with norse gods! Loki is forced into having a childhood because gods spring fully formed and adult as punishment.

[bed-buggier]

The marketing of Sonic 3 has been terrible, almost to a comedic degree

You have Paramount being as secretive as humanly possible to where every movie besides Sonic 3 has gotten its trailer released unless you wanna count private screenings, there's been no promotional material, and all we've had to go buy are toy leaks with packaging that makes them almost look like bootlegs with how much they recycle from 2

I'm sorry but I don't think Keanu Reeves playing Shadow the Hedgehog is enough to sell your movie lmao

[the-professional-cocomeloner]

another round of drawing requests !!

characters in order: @gaysonlyocean’s Vasco Meza, @uriayx’s Marigold Daniels, @ceaselesswatchersspecialboy’s Joseph Barnabas, and @mixedmediahmm’s Zing. I’m pretty sure his name is just Zing.

[realmyths]

@lightcreators liked here for a starter from Hua for Philip Butler.

It's been a while since Hua had helped a ghost. And to be honest, she's not too upset about it. She's got plenty of material for her novel, after all. And she's still adjusting to all of this. She can see ghosts? What? Why? She has barely been able to process anything. Luckily, that's what her writing is for.

As she walks down the street, on the way to meet a friend for coffee, she walks into a man, an unfamiliar one. "Oh, sorry. Excuse me." She says with a small smile. But the man doesn't move. She walks to try to get around him, but it doesn't work. "Uh....excuse me!" She says, her voice higher than usual in her panic. She doesn't want to be late meeting her friend and she doesn't know what the man's problem is. Why is he preventing her from reaching her destination?

"Uh, can I help you?" She asks, desperately. Maybe he needs something that she can give him, so she can do that and be on her way.

[wisdom-devotee]

Hi okay so bit of an unpopular one I fear, but I’ve updated my Beginner’s Guide, specifically to rework the Mythic Literalism section. I think it’ll be a lot less of a popular take but my own views have changed as I’ve more and more studied Ancient Greece itself and I want to make sure that guide isn’t misinformed based on what I think people want to hear and rather accurate to what I know to be true.

[buttercreamdicks]

As the great philosopher Link Neal once said...

[tdesignersblog]

[theriu]

How To Frustrate A Faun

Me: (holding up rare flowers) Special delivery!

Faun: You got them! Thank you so much, I could never have gone near a hydra. Was it difficult?

Me: Nah, turns out I knew him and he exchanged some for a favor. On that note, I need to wash my sword.

Faun: (eating a flower; eyes roll in delight) Fantastic! My dinner party will be a hit with these in the center dish!

Me: Oh yeah, people'll be fauning all over it!

Faun: . . . I thought we agreed when I hired you that there'd be NO puns?

Me: Shoot, I completely forgot! My baad.

Faun: (deadpan stare)

Me: Sorry! It's hard to stop when I get goating—going.

Faun: . . . (sighs) Well, I can't fault your actual work, so I'll let it slide. Let me grab your pay.

Me: Thanks! So what dish are you using the flowers in?

Faun: You know, I haven't completely decided. My mother is coming and she's a bit picky, but I know she likes a good salad, so I could use them to top a Mediterranean mix or brighten up a simple spring salad. What do you think?

Me: I'm sure which . . . ever . . .

Faun: . . . ?

Me: (sweating)

Faun: . . . No, no don't you do it—!

Me: I’m sure whichever you make will satyr.

Faun: (throws money bag)

Me: (catches and runs) I sense you aren't kidding, boy I feel sheepish, guess it would behoof me to leave, don't bleat 'em all at once!

Faun: (yelling in distance) I'M TAKING A STAR OFF MY YELP REVIEW!

Me: PROBABLY FAIR!

------

(A/N: I had this one on the backburner for months because I had so many goat puns but couldn't get the delivery right. I wish I was actually this quick-witted in person, but then again, I'd probably have more enemies. XD; )

For more assorted nonsense, visit my How To Guides for Mythical Creatures Masterlist!

[officialurban]

The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths & Secrets - Barbara G. Walker

Table of Contents

Table of Contents organized with links to the various sections and a download link for the full PDF