#and its not pagan its helpol

[percabeth4life]

I’m a gay pagan! Why isn’t Camp Half Blood Pagan!? Chiron sucks! PERCABETH! Anti will solace don’t come at me. Just cuz Percy didn’t end up with the 12 year old or the adult who tried to kill him doesn’t mean he’s straight!

It's queer pagan

Impersonate me in my inbox

[nothoughtsgayboy]

I hear Hermes in the noise of a train when it stops in front of my platform.

I hear Apollo in the loud bass line in a song.

I hear Poseidon in the snorting of horses as they go past a car.

I hear Dionysus in the laughter coming from the bars.

I hear Ares in the noises of pride parades and protests.

[lostinvasileios]

Have you ever felt so loved by your deities/love your deities so much it makes you wanna be spontaneous? Do something so out of character, out of the ordinary for you because your body is so full of their energy and love?

Sometimes I just sit around and contain the fierce urge to start doing the worm or whatever because of how much energy they give to me.

[moonsick-lovelight]

me praying to Apollo bc i have the slightest fever ever

[nighthawk-feather]

Hypnos Stimboard

[secondwinterstill]

Just bought a copy of The Greek Way of Death, but if any other Thanatos devotees want to throw any of their favorite resources or materials my way, please do feel free. Need all the knowledge I can get.

[jasperphoenixx]

my heart breaks a little every time I see photos of old Greek temples. My mind wanders to what it's like to have a community that follows the same religion as you, & what it would've been like to be able to worship there

[kitisms]

created some picrews as a little devotional activity for how i interpret nyx and aphrodite !! 💜🩷

picrews used:

sushicore! https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/257476

toon me! https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1944831

[dionysianfreak]

who was going to tell me there was a cigarette brand named after Hestia ?????? and the graphic design ???? pop off my Goddess

[thanatoseyes]

I wish I had room to put Brigid, Freyja, and Tiamat on their own separate altars. Right now they are all chilling with Persephone, Hades, Hermes, and Hekate.

[sag-dab-sar]

Hi, i wanted to ask you what's it like worshipping Hygieia? There aren't many worshippers i can find. Could you recommend some blogs?

Hi 🤍

I've talked about not having much of a "godphone" many times, that I'm like idunno 90% headblind. However, surprisingly Hygeia is one of the few Gods who I have a lot of internal language/UPG experiences with. For the basics I'll mention her page on the Theoi Project.

I used to worship her as an extension of worshipping her father Asklepios and the rest of his family who were on a set of prayer beads. Until she figuratively knocked on my door and wanted her own proper recognition and full worship; it manifested as a sense of longing and urgency. So I did just that, I bought a statue for her and gave her a separate ritual to offer it as an idol in 2017 and begin worshipping, (the quality of this photo is horrendous because the original is buried in my laptop somewhere; side note don't feel the need for statues, this could have been a printed out picture or other simple object— I just wanted it):

She can be demanding and gentle simultaneously. In terms of "internal language" or UPG I've had some of the following experiences:

When I was considering getting incense I was thinking over different scents and looking at my altar— she glowed when my mind thought of vanilla. It felt as if she "wanted" some vanilla incense but I wasn't fully comfortable with incense yet and the next day my mom gifted me a vanilla scented candle ... its Hygeia's now. And when I say "its hers" I mean I don't dare take it away from her:

Lavender is important to me and my friend sent me some lavender in a pouch with a care package. I put that pouch on her for awhile, asking her to bless it. When I took the pouch off later I had this very strong emotion of uneasiness. I eventually put it back on her and the emotion faded. Another item that is now hers and I don't dare take it away:

She does not like it when I have an altar(s) with multiple idols but she is put away. I forgot to place her on my altar one day and like every few hour I was given a reminder of her. And each reminder made me feel ever so slightly confused/concerned about something. Until it clicked and I remember she was placed away and so I rectified the situation.

She likes clean water as a libation: be it bottled or filtered.

She likes oranges and other watery/juicy fruit.

In general she, like Athena, is very particular about her idol. She likes things a particular way and I try to pay attention to my emotions when caring for her. Here she is with her pouch and candle. Even if the candle seems hard to place on the altar I find a way. She is also placed with other health deities:

I pray to her for physical aspects of my health in particular hygiene which can be extremely difficult for me. I feel strength and happiness dedicating my showers to her; along with other hygiene tasks. She makes everything feel a little bit easier and more relaxed.

I just love Hygeia. Here are some small prayers I've written:

Gentle laughing Hygeia, I enter this shower so I may cleanse myself. I remember your beauty and wish to honor you with my actions, so you may look favorably upon me.

.🔹.

Hygeia, glowing goddess, faithful attendant, I seek your help. As I go about these tasks, be with me, lend me your strength. The strength of Good Health. I praise you.

.🔹.

Hygeia of Good Health, undefiled, much desired. Please bring health to this world, to its many countries, to its many people. Bless everyone who is working against this pandemic, health care professionals and many other workers and volunteers alike. They are fighting to maintain society, to fight this virus, to help us all. Hygeia, grant all these people your blessings, your favor, and peace of mind. See us through this unprecedented pandemic with your love. (except from a longer prayer)

As well as this which I used:

Hygeia, gentle goddess, guide me in my routine. Help me every day to remember you and honor you with cleanliness and with the hygiene of my body. Keep sickness at bay, and let my body be a temple, maintained with perfect care and pleasing to your eyes. - by @delphicsacrifice

As for other worshippers I honestly have no idea sorry 😅. I don't know if this is what you were looking for but I hope I somewhat answered your question its kinda hard to describe worship I suppose.

-not audio proof read-

[bennyschmenny]

participated in my first deipnon!!!! it was DEFINETLY kind of chaotic because im not used to how offerings are given yet, but lady Hekate seemed pleased based off the tarot i pulled afterwards! i gave her (and lady Hestia) a slice of some artisian bread i made yesterday, as well as hymns, prayer, and a water libation.

i am not sure what is acceptable to ask for when giving your first offering to a deity? i asked for Her and lady Hestias protection due to everything goin on in the us and texas, and for Her favor. i guess I'll find out???

[sleepnowmychild]

From no belief in particular to Helpol

Just because I find it interesting that so many helpol people and pagans in general seem to be ex-biblical religions, here’s a slightly different story for you.

I never grew up religious. My dad is actually very anti-religion because of the sheer amount of people who use religion as a weapon to discriminate, and the way many churches can become almost like a tiny cult. But my mums side of the family is Italian Christians (don’t ask me how my parents were even together at one point because I have no clue). So on one side I had my dad telling me to never trust a pastor and that he’d never let me set foot in a church and my Italian grandparents going all in on Christmas family reunions with the nativity scene set up and crosses on all their cards and church Christmas morning.

It made me very neutral. I didn’t care what existed, I was just a kid who was exited to pick grapes on our vineyard (which looking back, the fact I lived in a vineyard and made wine is very,,, hello Dionysus) and get days off school for Christmas holidays etc. I didn’t believe in the Christian god, but as a kid I did believe in an afterlife. I think because it’s easier to process that as a kid than death being just nothingness.

In primary school, we did a whole term in Greek mythology. My first ever myth was echo and narcissus and I still have the painted tea towel I made with echo on it for the art potion of that class. I got very obsessed, very quick, as undiagnosed autistic kids do. I loved mermaids and sirens, nymphs and the sailing part of all the war myths. I’ve always had this deep link to the water, not just the sea but rivers and lakes, any water you can swim in. You’d think I’d end up a Poseidon or Aphrodite devotee because of that huh? Point is I heard the Greek myths young, and because those myths also have Roman equivalents, when my Italian family heard I was obsessed I’d get the Roman version of the stories from them.

For years I was just mythology obsessed with no particular beliefs. I didn’t like how hardcore my Italian family was in their ‘everything is a sin’ mentality and I also felt it was a bit mean of my dad to say every single religious person is a monster. As I came to realise I was trans and bi at around 15, suddenly I was privy to the sheer amount of queerphobia in religion. Turned me away from most of them hardcore. But by the time I was 17, I’d stumbled on the reason those shops with the crystals and little mythology statues exist. Because the old gods of mythology were still worshipped.

I don’t actually remember when I got claimed by Hypnos, but he definitely claimed me. I’d always liked him as a concept because he’s much more chill than some of the more intense gods, but he slowly started creeping into my life when I’d see something and go ‘Hypnos would like that’ or I’d jokingly be like ‘I’m so tired, knock me out Hypnos’ and I WOULD fall asleep easier that night. I can’t exactly explain why, but I’ve got this deep connection to the river Lethe as well. Although not in the sense Lethe is a god, in the sense of its connections to Hypnos. Like there’s a siren of the Lethe inside me screaming to go back home.

In all honesty, there was never a solid moment I was like “I’m helpol now” it just kind of happened. The gods, especially Hypnos snuck into my life back in primary school and slowly made their presence more and more known over the years. And I was fine with that, because this is what my Roman ancestors would have been doing, and this is a religion that doesn’t hate me for being queer.

This got long, I’ll cut it short here. But that’s a perspective from someone who never grew up religious for you.

[ofsappho]

This might be kinda a weird question… so I’m aroace and I’ve been drawn to the Theoi for a long time so I’ve been on my HelPol journey recently and sometimes like… I guess I wanted to get some general thoughts since you worship Aphrodite? I recently saw a post about Aphrodite Pandemos that was kind of relieving and inspiring talking about love in more broad terms than we generally talk about in society. So I wanted to ask from your experience do you think there would be any problem with me trying to build a relationship with her being aroace? Idk it’s just an anxiety I have I guess and idk who to ask about this.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this!

Hey Anon, I'm really sorry, I just spent like an hour or so writing a very long and detailed answer to this ask only for Tumblr to eat it up. I can't find it in my drafts or anything which tells me all of it is gone now. I will try to rewrite it the best I can. (I actually might start crying because the post was very detailed and labor-intensive. Boo.)

IM SO SORRY ITS TAKEN ME SO LONG TO SIT DOWN AND ANSWER, I HAVE BEEN VERY TIRED AND BUSY. BUT HERE IT IS.

I'm glad my post about Aphrodite Pandemos resonated so much with you! That was definitely the intent. I have Very Strong Feelings about how I feel that Aphrodite has been reduced down solely to her romantic and sexual aspects by the modern day pagan/polytheist/witch/etc community at large. This both does her an immense disservice as a god and is emblematic of the western capitalist hyperfixation on monogamous romantic + sexual love. Which we should be leaning away from, not into.

But you definitely came to the right person with this ask. I have never worshipped Aphrodite in either her romantic or sexual aspects.

So, specifically, I am devoted to Aphrodite Areia, or Aphrodite the Warlike. And along with Aphrodite Areia, I also worship Aphrodite Hoplismene, or Armed Aphrodite, and Aphrodite Nikephoros, Aphrodite the bringer of victory.

She has never interacted with me as solely a goddess of romantic love or sexual love.

In my experience, she is truly a goddess of love and war, love for war and battle and bloodlust, the instinct to fight and struggle, and a representation of ALL facets of the human emotional experience, love and hate. And given that emotions and feelings are what make us human, I view her as goddess of humanity itself. Emotions and relationships are the literal backbone upon which civilization and communal living is made possible, and she governs them. No matter who wants to discredit that. And so she is one of the most important gods to humanity as a whole, thought highly underrated (to me, this is UPG)

As someone who has struggled with (and is now recovered from) borderline personality disorder, finding and worshipping Aphrodite Areia has been instrumental in my recovery and my path to an overall higher quality of life. BPD takes regular emotions and regular emotional responses and amps them up to ridiculous, hyperintense, overwhelming amounts. And that is so hard to live with and so destabilizing. Obviously I’ve done copious amounts of DBT and I’m on good meds now, but we live in a society that not only shames the expression of emotion but also greatly stigmatizes any expression of mental illness that is not “cute” or “harmless”. And one of the things that Aphrodite Areia has led me to do is accept my great capacity for goodness and harm without feeling shame. This is the way I am, and while I can choose to move away from being destructive and I can choose recovery, that doesn’t mean I am bad for being this way. To worship her was to love myself in all my facets.

I am capable of good and harm and that makes me powerful. And to someone like me, who has spent a lot of life either literally powerless or feeling powerless, recognizing your power is one of the best feelings ever.

And I’m not going to lie to you and shy away from her association with specifically war and violence. I do enjoy fighting. I do enjoy the parts of myself that aren’t optimal for living in a society with others. I view these qualities as a part of the animal I am, that cannot and should not be changed, and Aphrodite Areia helps me redirect them into more positive and productive goals. My life has not been easy and I suspect it never will be. Everyday has been a fight and I take the parts of me that long for a fight and apply it to getting up in the morning. I throw myself at my trauma and my life circumstances and my struggles with all the tenacity and ferocity of a soldier going into battle. And so far, I have won.

This is also the same impulse that induces me to do shit like bodycheck cops at protests because they won’t hurt me the same way they will hurt other protestors, that makes me yell back at guys being violent and aggressive on the bus, that spurs me on to fight for a better future everyday. Because in order to sustain a lifetime’s worth of struggle towards equity, towards decolonization, towards the end of white supremacy and racism, towards something better, you have to love the fight.

On a TW note, I was raped last year and since then, my relationship towards love/sex has obviously never been the same. She has been a comfort there too, helping me fight my trauma so my rapist will never truly win, in the end. I have also prayed to her to avenge me, and while I have no contact with him, I like to think that somehow, someway, she’ll get him.

So to return to your actual question, I think there are absolutely zero problems with you being aroace and building a relationship with Aphrodite. And anyone who tells you otherwise is, quite frankly, wrong. You just have to find the facet of her that rings the truest for you and your relationship with Aphrodite is no one’s business but your own. To be honest, you probably will be pretty disconnected to most (if not all) communities online and offline for Aphrodite worshippers and devotees because they are all unilaterally about her romantic/sexual aspects. it drives me up the wall and is the reason I don’t engage in any of these communities, because i don’t really have much in common with other worshippers and there’s no value for me in sharing space. i just do my own thing in the corner of my blog/life. But don’t let that deter you if you truly feel like this is a relationship you want to grow and nurture. In my beliefs and experience, Aphrodite is there for everyone, even if people devalue emotions/relationships and devalue her. You can find your own way and you can build an incredibly meaningful worship of her if that’s what you want and need. She has a million different aspects and they are not all about romance and sex. Please feel free to message me again if you’d like, anon, I’m happy to talk more and answer any further questions you have!!!

[princesmeadow]

Hello friends!

@odetothetheoi @eclecticwitchlynn

I saw your tags, and i would like to let you both know that Theogamia, much like most ancient greek festivals, has a few possible celebration dates!

Not much is known on exact dates of festivals, so the helpol and hellenic pagan community tends to celebrate festivals in a 3 day to a week period of known dates from ancient Athens!

Also, for a bit of cultural knowledge, even ancient times, the dates were not exact, and many worshipers celebrated in small gatherings on days that fell generally close to the larger festivals held in places like Ancient Athens!

So essentially there is no pressure to celebrate on that exact day or time and im absolutely positive the gods are not and will not be upset at "late" offerings because its the spirit of the festival and the love of its preservation that really gets the energy across :)

Date conversion is complicated, and the ancient festivals were built for a world completly different from our current one

I belive the gods appriciate the thought and care to do it more than the time.

I hope this helps! I'm terribly sorry if i overstepped anyones boundaries.

[percabeth4life]

hi! currently reading atlop, and its lovely! i noticed you seemed really familiar with different varying hellenistic pagan traditions, and was wondering where you found them? wasnt sure if it was on the internet or like through physical books n stuff

I'm glad you're enjoying it!

I am myself a HelPol, so a lot has been absorbed through the last few years. Some of it is from talking with those more informed, a lot is from resources online (both historical, research based, and HelPol based), some is from hardcopy books (a lot of good ones of those are super expensive, but i have a few copies and can find more online if I dig enough)- I go all over to find the info, and I always try to find multiple sources to corroborate info.

A few things are from my own UPG, though I try not to add *too* much of that into my fic. Some of it is UPG I designed specifically for the story, because Camp would have grown over the thousands of years since HelPolism was popular.

You'll actually be getting some cool info on why the camp has such a lack of big worship stuff (like temples and statues) this book! I'm excited to explain that, and yes there's a reason connected to history that's already been partially told.

But yeah, a lot of digging for resources and talking with other HelPols.