#roman paganism

[aureliaeiter]

It's kind of mind boggling to me how every time I see book recommendations for Hellenic or Roman polytheist I never see On the gods and the world by Sallust.

It may not teach practical ways of worship but it answers a lot of philosophical questions about the gods that I think we, as pagans, have at some point asked ourselves. Seriously, some of the points made by Reddit ath3ists are answered in this essay, like they're 2000 years behind.

It's very short (like 50 pages long) so if you can buy it, pirate it or get it from your local library I'd highly recommend it. Here's an audiobook in case you prefer that.

[jezzzebel]

The person who re-blogged this wants you to know that they are open to questions regarding their spiritual path, witchcraft and faith, and in fact, would love to talk about their spiritual path with you and have a casual talk!!

(this applies to me pspspsps HMU , don't hesitate, i am always open to respectful discussion of our spiritual paths and just being friends!!)

[ianitos]

let the gods be fluid: they come in the forms of animals? fantastic, there's rich history in that. they come in the form of different genders? wonderful, shows trans beauty. they come in all shapes and sizes? perfection, the gods embody all and mirror all. the gods appear as a different race? beautiful, there's diversity even in divinity.

the gods present themselves differently, people experience the gods differently, and that's ok

[czortofbaldmountain]

Please pray for Poland and the people here, especially the oppressed minorities. There will be parliament elections on Sunday, currently we're ruled by an authoritarian right-wing party and things are only getting worse and worse. An actual fascist party is also gaining popularity. These elections are extremely important for the future of Poland, because the ruling party is destroying democratic institutions and we don't know how the next elections will look like if they win.

And please reblog so more people can see it.

🇵🇱 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

[flaroh]

Io Vestalia everyone!🔥🌿🫓 Heres my illustration of the temple to Vesta in the Roman Forum with worshippers 🏛️ i just love how colourful ancient Rome was! During the Vestalia celebrations women could enter the Temple of Vesta (barefoot) to leave her offerings. Donkeys, sacred to the goddess, were also decorated with flowers and mini loaves of bread (so cute!). Overall the goddess was celebrated to ensure Rome's own prosperity. I've chosen to depict the Severan reconstruction of the temple, built under Julia Domna after a devastating fire. This new build was significantly different from it's predecessor, which was supposedly destroyed completely in the fire. While Ovid (100 years before) stated that the temple had /no/ statue inside, I've seen that Domna's coins depicting her new temple show a figure of Vesta inside. While this could be an allegorical image, the figure is seated, which makes me believe it depicts an actual statue.

[theshrinesanctuary]

Lararium and ritual by r.spadini on Instagram

[mementovino]

set up a quick devotional tea light candle for apollo with quartz, citrine, and tigers eye.

Divine Apollo, may you be well, and may you look kindly on me.

[evilios]

⚕ Apollo Medicus ⚕

Apollo entered Rome as Apollo Medicus, or the Healer, following years of plague and disease that shook the Republican Rome. Up until the creation of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus by Augustus, the Temple to Apollo Medicus, or Sosianus, was the only temple to the God in Rome.

Healing Gods have always been present in Rome, and Italy overall, in rather large numbers: Febris and Minerva took care of disease and hygiene; multiple local Divinities and motherly Goddesses appeared in public baths and at sacred streams.

Apollo became one of many protectors of health in Ancient Rome.

[paganpillar]

Unpopular Opinion: The Gods would never let a trickster spirit claim to be them. Most religious people are not scared of malicious entities masquerading as their God(s). Have more faith that your Gods will take care of you.

[whereserpentswalk]

The idea that the Christians were some sort of persecuted minority in the Roman empire is so commonly taught in history, but when you look at actual early Christian beliefs things seem a lot diffrent.

Like, Christians were a highly reactionary and militant religious group that wanted to force a relatively diverse society to follow its extremely strict and conservative moral values. They were known to engage in destructive praxis, and had a strong cult of martyrdom that's an undercurrent of every facist movment. They were a religious minority, but they weren't one that just wanted to practice on their own, they were a rapidly spreading reactionary movement with incredibly conservative values they wanted to push on society.

So don't view Roman citizens trying to keep Christianity out of their society as the ignorant and hateful mob you're often taught about them being, think of them a bit more like we view people trying to keep nazis out of their communities today.

As for the Roman government attack Christians I view it with the same skepticism I view any government trying to attack reactionaries. It's never a good path for a state to go down, even when the ideas they're attacking are awful. And like most governments that start attacking reactionaries, they eventually embrace and enforce those reactionary ideas.

[jasper-pagan-witch]

Once again reminding everyone to start their research into the Greek and Roman gods with theoi.com. I cannot convey to you how helpful the translations and (most importantly) vettings are. Yes, yes, Ovid is on there, but it tells you about who said what, what they said, and the time period it was made. From there, you can continue your research and learn more!

[aureliaeiter]

I wish we had pop pagan music

Don't get me wrong, I love listening to those artists that reenact Celtic or Ancient Greek music from time to time. They're very skilled and it's a beautiful form of art.

But I also wish we had music that was more mainstream. Some upbeat pop music. R&B and hip-hop that referenced the gods without making the entire song revolve around them. Something you can actually play around your friends that aren't pagans but they would still like.

[jezzzebel]

Just a smãaaaaaalll reminder that Roman deities aren't copy paste Greek deities!!

If you look deeper into Roman history, you can see that most of these "Roman Equivalent of greek gods" are actually from other people of the Italian peninsula! Such as Sabines, Etruscans, Samnites, and more!

Sorry guys but i might have a hyper fixation on roman polytheism and... Lady Minerva's kindness is noooot helping it /pos love her!!!

[ianitos]

hey gang here's your reminder that the gods can give you religious trauma, that pagan and polytheistic communities can be toxic asf, that the gods can be horrible and horrendous towards you, it happens. polytheism isn't exempt from A. horrible people as a community and B. horrible experiences with divinity.

[maceofpentacles]

a bit of info on lady fortuna

fortuna is the roman goddess of fortune, fate, and luck. she is different from other similar deities because she is essentially blind when dealing out fate and fortune. her being random with fate makes sense because chance isn’t something that could be considered “fair”.

she is often depicted with a blindfold over her eyes to show that fate is blind.

signs and symbols of fortuna: wheel of fortune, cornucopias, ship wheels, wreaths, wheat

offerings to fortuna: water, berries, rosemary, coins, cornucopias, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla incense, and crystals like carnelian, sunstone, and green aventurine

devotional acts associated with fortuna: practicing divination, letting go of that need for control that we all have, meditation, and playing games that are all about chance

[flaroh]

The goddess Vesta 🔥🤍

Vesta was the goddess of the hearth, and her temple held a sacred eternal flame that they believed was directly tied Rome's survival.  I've depicted her with a patera, a religious item that was used to pour libations, to emphasise her connections to religious piety.