#hellenic tag

[pagansprite]

Beloved Maia, I sing your praises. You are at once earthly and celestial, like your quicksilver son.

In mountain caves do you dwell, and with the graceful nymphs do you create beautiful laughter that rings through the hills.

Eldest of the seven Pleiades, shining in the night sky, your brilliant light is guide and comfort to the traveler.

Oh gentle blooming mother, how lovely you are, how kind. May you always look upon me with a friendly smile.

[tealeaftarot]

[ chugging a red bull ] for dionysus

[tylermileslockett]

Hey folks, this image of Apollo was done for a private commission. Xoxo

The following text is reposted from my previous Apollo Olympians image.

“Phoebus, of you even the swan sings with clear voice to the beating of his wings, as he alights upon the bank by the eddying river Peneus; and of you the sweet-tongued minstrel, holding his high-pitched lyre, always sings both first and last…And so hail to you, lord! I seek your favor with my song.”  (-Homeric Hymn, translated by H.G. Evelyn white)

APOLLO (uh-PAH-low), God of prophecy, oracles, music, art, protector of and disease of boys and men, and archery. Just as his twin sister Artemis is patron to women and girls, Apollo is both protector, and killer from disease of boys and men. In my Illustration the god holds his bow and arrows behind, while he strums the lyre gifted to him by trickster Hermes. Near the sun flies his ally and divine messenger, a white raven. The column on the right is capped with a cow, representing his sacred animal as a god of herds. The serpent Python sits dead at his feet, killed by Apollo’s arrow so that the god could take over the Delphi temple location. The temple complex sits beneath the god, while on the far right, the Pythia (Apollo’s oracle priestess) sits upon a tripod, breathing the hallucinatory gasses seeping up from the earth to get her prophecies which she bestows upon visitors.

The laurel tree has associations with Apollo because the god, chasing a Naiad (water nymph) named Daphne call out to Gaia (mother earth) for help, who transformed the nymph into a laurel tree, which the god adopted as his sacred tree. In book 1 of the Iliad, Apollo supports the Trojans by raining down a plague on the Greeks, and later helping Paris to kill Achilles. Apollo’s cruelty is shown in Ovid’s mythical lyre contest with the inventor of the flute; a satyr named Marsyas. When Apollo suggested they play their instruments upside down, the satyr lost, and was flayed (skinned) alive as punishment for his hubris. 

[ivettaflowerblooom]

Eros and Psyche by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1889.

[thereseuwu]

Ellooo! Just made a lil' something for Apollo! (AKA an offering!!)

[khaire-traveler]

Let me make this very clear:

When it comes to Hellenic Polytheism, there is no human religious authority, especially not one that stands before or speaks for the gods.

It does not matter what someone tells you. It does not matter if they claim to be a priestess/priest of X deity or a messenger for Y deity. It does not matter what their supposed past life was like. It does not matter if they claim to be the literal fucking Oracle of Apollo.

No one has the right to tell you how to worship the gods. No one has the right to assert their authority over your religion.

And most of all, remember that people can and do lie.

[actually-the-antichrist]

The thing most commentators miss about the "Greek Myths aren't literal" line of argument, is that there's much more behind why modern western society (America in particular) loves to take greek myths (specifically involving messy sexual relationships) literally. America really loves a scandal doesn't it, and America really loves a celebrity scandal. When it's an act of sexual misconduct that is blown up, people like to think it's for justice, and sure, that is a legitimate part of why people focus on these things, but that's not the reason it blows up. The reason is that America loves a good juicy scandal. Ultimately, what the pop culture version of greek mythos and the greek gods tell an observer says much more about modern American culture than it does the ancients, and what I mean when I say "the myths weren't taken literally" is simply that one can know more about what the myths may tell us about the ancient civilizations, if one were willing to not ignore their cultural political and esp environmental contexts.

Myths weren't "just stories" (they are to us which, again, says infinitely more about us). They were stories inspired by an experience with some natural phenomenon near to where the myth telling culture dwelled. Just to give one example, the myths of Dionysus gifting wine to people often ended with accounts of madness and dismemberment. This likely corresponds to how shocking the effects were when the ancient societies first discovered wine. Similarly, the myths of gods sexing women and impregnating them likely referred to the idea of a communion with the divine that is so potent it can produce a physical product, and analyzing the role women play as the unique conduits of that in the ancient mythos is a far more feminist and productive way IMO to engage than just to dismiss these myths bcs rape. By this interpretation, a modern day retelling actually true to the spirit would not only contain a consensual relationship, but also explore our modern day notions of the divine, sex, sexually, and the idea of offspring (expanding it from children to, say, works of art or ideas for instance)

In conclusion, myths tell us more about the current culture perpetuating them, myths were stories within a specific context, and we would be throwing away a lot of potential for meaning making if we cannot acknowledge these facts. If there's one thing Lore Olympus got right in it's retelling, is that by setting things up 50 Shades of Gray styled, it tapped into the consumer psyche plain and simple: that's what the modern western audience want in a retelling- a scandal dressed in greek mythos. That's what we think these myths are.

[moonsick-lovelight]

me praying to Apollo bc i have the slightest fever ever

[7000]

witches and pagans: there is so much we can do for Palestine

even if we don’t share the same faith- our prayer, rituals, and spells are powerful. our gods and spirits and ancestors have the power to intervene on our behalf, all we have to do is ask. they don’t take kindly to oppression, or politicians propping up genocidal regimes.

especially right now on Samhain, the veil is thin, and it’s the best time of the year to connect with the spiritual realm and the divine, and ask them for help. or take it into your hands- spells, hexes, prayers, and divinations, any and all of the above.

witches have done it before, we’ve helped to change the course of history. we can do it again.

[ivycrownedpanther]

I wanted to get a little present for Dionysus for rural dionysia/christmas, so I got this! It’s fabric (cotton) with a lovely design of Dionysus embroidered on it with velcro so you can fasten it around one of those prayer candles you can find at dollar stores. I absolutely love candles, I burn them for my deities all the time, especially Dionysus, and I thought this was such a cool and unique idea. Plus, I love supporting small businesses making cool handmade pagan stuff :3

[caintooth]

available here

[tealeaftarot]

from “sappho and the greek lyric poets”

[tylermileslockett]

"Homecoming,"

In this scene, of Aeschylus's Greek tragic play "Agamemnon",  King Agamemnon has finally arrived back to his palace in Argos (Mycenea) after conquering Troy. He arrives in a chariot with his spoil of war; CASSANDRA (a Trojan slave girl cursed by Apollo with the power of prophecy - but that none shall believe her visions).

Agamemnon's wife, CLYTEMNESTRA meets them at the palace doors, obstructing his entrance. (The chorus has previously related the tale of Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter, Iphigenia, ten years prior on the way to Troy. So this confrontation is eagerly anticipated). She showers her husband with rhetoric of love and respect, then rolls out fine embroidered cloth (with fragile red dye) and then convinces him that only by walking barefoot on the  tapestry will he prove his high worth and placate her to enter.  

Professor Peter meineck, in his "Modern Scholar" audio lecture series: "Greek Drama", points to the symbolism when he says "...Agamemnon is wading through blood of his sacrificed daughter," and "...trampling the wealth of the house." Professor Meienck also thinks this tapestry is a menstrual image representing Clytemnestra's power (he even mentions that the ancient Greek word for door was also a slang word for vagina). So when Agamemnon relents, he unknowingly goes to his death. He now represents the sacrificial bull of the Greek new year "Buphonia" Festival.

Random Fun fact: this scene in this play is where we get the concept of "rolling out the red carpet" for honored guests.  

Want to own my Illustrated Greek myth book jam packed with over 130 illustrations like this? Please support my kickstarter for my book "lockett Illustrated: Greek Gods and Heroes" coming in October.You can also sign up for my free email newsletter. please check my LINKTREE 

[ivettaflowerblooom]

Apollo, God of Light, Eloquence, Poetry and the Fine Arts with Urania, Muse of Astronomy by Charles Meynier, 1798.

[honeyedwork]

I got a candle for Lady Aphrodite today :) It's in a pretty teacup with flowers engraved into it, the candle itself is rose tea cake scented. This is the first candle I've bought for her... I'm so excited... :)

[witchyy-kittyy]

I have been told by my deities to list stuff I've been doing to work on myself instead of focusing on all the negative shit

so here it goes

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I cleaned and decluttered our room. It's much easier to look at now, although there's still some more stuff I'd like to get rid of

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I started making plans for each day and/or the week of stuff I want to get done

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I've been trying to work with my autism and adhd instead of giving up because of issues that come with it

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i've been trying to brush my teeth more. i've brushed my teeth like 4-5 times in the past week which is more than like the past two months so-

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i bought this skincare product we've been wanting to buy for a while and it's gotten me motivated to take care of our body more

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i've started drawing as a coping mechanism

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i started some chemistry courses online instead of just thinking about it and then being upset i didn't do anything about it

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in the past two weeks (?) i've taken meds twice between 6pm and 6am (for context, I have an very severe delusion where if i take any sort of medication between 6pm and 6am, i will be kidnapped and taken away. this has been going on for MONTHS, so the fact that i've been able to do it twice is a very good step)

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i've been spending less time on our phone. granted it has mostly been switched to our computer, but we have gone from like an 8 hour screen time average to a 3-4 hour screen time average, so like p r o g r e s s

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i've been communicating better. and by communicating better i mean that like 3 times i was able to tell people to leave me alone cause i wasn't doing well but that's progress as well because most of the time i usually suffered in silence until either i blew up at everyone and got into screaming matches or i internalized everything and then went back to our room and played fruit ninja

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i'm getting back into floor time and blanket burritos. this has nothing to do with working on myself i just wanted to share