Hellenic Polytheism

[Muggler]

From what I know, this is the worship of the Greek gods and godesses. Correct? Well my faith is with them, but I can't find any ways to worship them and such. If there are any other Hellenic Polytheists out there, please help me!

[Xei]

What reason exactly do you have for believing in them..? Unless of course you're making a point ironically, in which case you've struck me rather too obliquely.

[Muggler]

You again... What reason does anyone have for believing in any religion? Before you solo me out, ask all of the other millions of religious believers.

[Sornaensis]

Have been. They all asked us to refer to you. =/

[Dannon Oneironaut]

Well, I hear that they are fond of barbecued animal sacrifices. But seriously, to get deeper into it: You first have to find out where your loyalties lie. You just don't worship them all equally. You have to have an affinity to one of them. Xei has a good question. Why? Do you feel they represent archetypal forces found within your psyche that you want to harness? Or are they Inorganic Beings that you want to please for personal benefit? Why? Apollo represents enlightenment and the arts. He is the light of Sun in humanity. The light of consciousness. Music, art, philosophy. Apollo is cool. Hermes is the occult and the Kundalini and the esoteric arts. Hermes is cool. Zeus is your basic jealous sky god, your classic father IB. Gaia is the Earth Mother. Demeter is the Pagan Goddess of life and Death as the seasonal cycle of growth, harvest, death, and renewal... Reincarnation, rebirth...etc... Hades is god of riches, death, underworld, the shadow, etc. Persephone is the goddess of death, Queen of the Dead.... Athena is a great Goddess. The Wisdom Goddess Par excellance. Artemis is the Virgin, Goddess of the Hunt, first quarter moon Cronos is the God of limitation, the god of constriction, time, old age, death, karma, reap what you sew. I don't really understand what you mean by "worship?" That implies some kind of relationship, or something you want to get out of the relationship. What is it? PS: Hypnos is the God of Sleep Thanatos is the God of Death Oneiros is the God of Dreams A lot of Greek religion and philosophy was influenced, believe it or not, by Buddhism, and the old Indo-European religions. It is interesting to note that the Greek culture is the source of our Western culture with all its logic and rationality and scientific method, which was influenced from India during the Persian empire and then during the Alexandrian empire and the Silk Road. Kind of a cross-fertilization going on there between two cultures. The East and the West were living in Harmony for 800 years, until colonial times when this history was suppressed and "never the twain shall meet!"

[Xei]

You again... What reason does anyone have for believing in any religion? Before you solo me out, ask all of the other millions of religious believers. To be honest I don't remember speaking to you before. I didn't realise asking 'why have you chosen to believe these people and not these people' was such a controversial question. Considering you made this thread for discussion about your beliefs it seems a bit bizarre that I should use this thread to ask... other people... why they believe what they believe. I'm asking you. As far as I can tell the millions of other people believe what they believe for a number of reasons; because they were told that it was the truth from a young age and can't bring themselves to part with that; because they are scared that their lives may be 'pointless' or that there may not be an afterlife, etcetera.

[Muggler]

Well, I hear that they are fond of barbecued animal sacrifices. But seriously, to get deeper into it: You first have to find out where your loyalties lie. You just don't worship them all equally. You have to have an affinity to one of them. Xei has a good question. Why? Do you feel they represent archetypal forces found within your psyche that you want to harness? Or are they Inorganic Beings that you want to please for personal benefit? Why? Apollo represents enlightenment and the arts. He is the light of Sun in humanity. The light of consciousness. Music, art, philosophy. Apollo is cool. Hermes is the occult and the Kundalini and the esoteric arts. Hermes is cool. Zeus is your basic jealous sky god, your classic father IB. Gaia is the Earth Mother. Demeter is the Pagan Goddess of life and Death as the seasonal cycle of growth, harvest, death, and renewal... Reincarnation, rebirth...etc... Hades is god of riches, death, underworld, the shadow, etc. Persephone is the goddess of death, Queen of the Dead.... Athena is a great Goddess. The Wisdom Goddess Par excellance. Artemis is the Virgin, Goddess of the Hunt, first quarter moon Cronos is the God of limitation, the god of constriction, time, old age, death, karma, reap what you sew. I don't really understand what you mean by "worship?" That implies some kind of relationship, or something you want to get out of the relationship. What is it? PS: Hypnos is the God of Sleep Thanatos is the God of Death Oneiros is the God of Dreams A lot of Greek religion and philosophy was influenced, believe it or not, by Buddhism, and the old Indo-European religions. It is interesting to note that the Greek culture is the source of our Western culture with all its logic and rationality and scientific method, which was influenced from India during the Persian empire and then during the Alexandrian empire and the Silk Road. Kind of a cross-fertilization going on there between two cultures. The East and the West were living in Harmony for 800 years, until colonial times when this history was suppressed and "never the twain shall meet!" In Christianity, prayers are said to worship God. You go to church, follow his rules, etc. That is what I mean by worship. Also, I try not to single out one God because they all can do something that the others cannot. Daily life is full of events that many gods and goddesses contribute to. Apollo brings the sun across the sky, Zeus and Poseidon together control the weather, etc.

[Spartiate]

Well my faith is with them, but I can't find any ways to worship them and such. Sacrifices. Start stabbing goats.

[Muggler]

-.- Seriously?

[Spartiate]

-.- Seriously? Oh yeah. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient...gion#Sacrifice http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_(sacrifice) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecatomb [T]hey ranged the holy hecatomb all orderly round the altar of the god. They washed their hands and took up the barley-meal to sprinkle over the victims [cattle], while [the priest] lifted up his hands and prayed aloud on their behalf. ... When they had done praying and sprinkling the barley-meal, they drew back the heads of the victims and killed and flayed them. They cut out the thigh-bones, wrapped them round in two layers of fat, set some pieces of raw meat on the top of them, and then [the priest] laid them on the wood fire and poured wine over them, while the young men stood near him with five-pronged spits in their hands. When the thigh-bones were burned and they had tasted the inward meats, they cut the rest up small, put the pieces upon the spits, roasted them till they were done, and drew them off: then, when they had finished their work and the feast was ready, they ate it, and every man had his full share, so that all were satisfied. As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink, pages filled the mixing-bowl with wine and water and handed it round, after giving every man his drink-offering. Thus all day long the young men worshipped the god with song, hymning him and chaunting the joyous paean, and the god took pleasure in their voices[.] ^ One of the funniest parts in the Iliad, because it comes up every 10 pages. I used to think the "victims" were people ...

[Muggler]

Well then I'm screwed...

[Dannon Oneironaut]

You can't sacrifice goats? Listen, any "God" that demands worship is just an IB who gets sustenance from your psychic energy and the psychic energy of blood sacrifice. They will claim anything to get it from you. They will claim that they push the sun across the sky or control the weather, but lets face it, our Earth rotates around the sun all by itself. The thing is though that IBs will wear the clothes of archetypes in order to appeal to the deeper levels of your consciousness and to lend them the illusion of power in order to impress you. There is the "real" Apollo and there is the IB Apollo (the fake Apollo who demands sacrifice and worship). The REAL Apollo is enlightenment. Myths are myths, not facts. Myths are a metaphorical language that speaks to the deeper aspects of ourselves. The same language that dreams speak. Dreams do not speak the language of facts, but need interpreting, not to be interpreted literally. The real archetypal gods already live in our consciousness and are parts of ourselves, the way to worship them is to find them within yourself and embody their archetypal energy. If you read the Odyssey you will find that the Goddess Athena appears to Odysseus as his best friend. Greeks believed that any wandering beggar could be Zeus in disguise. The Gods are within us. Only a fool worships an IB unwittingly, and only a foolish sorcerer worships an IB knowingly.