booitsthaclosetpagan reblogged
A guide to worship of Apollo - cheat sheets
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Kala Pyanepsia ☀️🏛
Kala Thargelia! 🦌☀️
On the 6th and 7th day of the month Thargelion in hellenic polytheism we celebrate Thargelia, the main festival that the month is named after. This is how I celebrated this year (2nd year of the 700th olympiad):
On the first day I honored Artemis by:
- Undergoing catharsis (spiritual cleansing of oneself, ones surroundings, body and mind). I took a shower, washed up, wore symbolic clothing and jewelry, veiled and abstained from sexual activity (and thoughts for the most part). I also fasted for about 24 hours, not consuming anything in order to detox my body.
- I then poured a wine libation in honor of Artemis and recited homeric hymn #9 & #27 and Orphic hymn #35.
- I also recited Orphic Hymn #34 in honor of Leto since Thargelia celebrates Leto giving birth to the twin goddess Artemis and god Apollo.
- I also listened to devotional music in honor of Artemis.
- After I finished the prayer I quickly realized that I forgot to cast out the scapegoats or Pharmakoi. So I wrote down two things that I wanted to leave my life namely negative nagging & struggling to communicate and form friendships within the physical religious community. I ripped these papers and threw them away to banish these things.
- Then I watched a video about the mythos behind the birth of Artemis & Apollo and another mythos of Artemis (about her virginity and staying pure, fitting to the theme of Thargelia of course which is all about cleanliness and not having impure things). And looked at some social media posts of others about Thargelia.
- Before going to bed I did my night prayer like every night, but payed some extra attention in that prayer to Leto, Artemis & Apollo in particular.
On the second day I honored Apollo by:
- Undergoing catharsis again by washing up and putting on a sunny outfit to honor him, it was also really sunny during Thargelia this year so that was a good sign and nice to feel extra close to Apollo.
- I then went to the grocery store to get all the ingredients for the dinner and offering and started cooking Panspermia and Manna, which turned out looking really nice and tasty this year! So I was really happy with that. I also bought a strawberry cake since it's traditional to offer the first fruits of the season to Apollo, which in my region are strawberries, and since strawberries are also associated with Apollo.
- I put part of the Panspermia, Manna and cake, including an actual strawberry, in an offer bowl and placed it, along with the red wine libation, in front of Apollo's picture on my desk.
- Then I veiled and recited Homeric hymn #3, #21 & #25 and Orphic hymn #33 in honor of Apollo.
- I also recited Orphic Hymn #34 to Leto once again, like the previous day.
- In honor of Apollo I also listened to a devotional song.
- Then I broke my second fast which lasted for about 17 or 18 hours by eating the Panspermia, Manna and drinking the red wine.
- Before going to bed I did my nightly prayer, again paying some special attention to thank Leto, Artemis and Apollo.
I honestly wanted to do more and spend even more time on Thargelia, cleaning the house among things, but due to busy work and such I didn't get around with doing so. I also intended to fast for 1,5 day but when I got a little headache at 2 AM I decided the time had come to eat something small in between, but after that I fasted again. I still enjoyed Thargelia, mainly because my cooking turned out so beautifully and I felt proud and by focusing so much on what Thargelia, Leto, Artemis and Apollo stand for, and tried my best to focus on cleansing myself physically and spiritually.
Kala Thargelia to all of you who celebrated!
booitsthaclosetpagan reblogged
my collages for Artemis & Apollo ☀️🌙
you can also check out Hades & Persephone and Hermes!
booitsthaclosetpagan reblogged
“Eye of Artemis”
Moss, antlers, and flowers🌿
Done by me
(No animals harmed, these antlers have been in my family for 5 generations. All found sheds)
Kalà Elaphebolia 🦌💛
booitsthaclosetpagan reblogged
Homeric Hymn 16, "To Asclepius"
I begin my song with Asclepius, healer of illness – Apollo’s son, whom shining Coronis, the daughter Of King Phlegyas, bore on Dotion’s plain: For mortals a source of great joy, A charmer-away of evil pains. Thus I bid you hail, my lord; with this song I entreat you. ἰητῆρα νόσων Ἀσκληπιὸν ἄρχομ᾽ ἀείδειν, υἱὸν Ἀπόλλωνος, τὸν ἐγείνατο δῖα Κορωνὶς Δωτίῳ ἐν πεδίῳ, κούρη Φλεγύου βασιλῆος, χάρμα μέγ᾽ ἀνθρώποισι, κακῶν θελκτῆρ᾽ ὀδυνάων. καὶ σὺ μὲν οὕτω χαῖρε, ἄναξ: λίτομαι δέ σ᾽ ἀοιδῇ.
Bronze coin dating to the joint reign of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (161-169 CE), depicting Asclepius (right) and his mother Coronis. Now in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin. Photo credit: © Hartmann Linge, Wikimedia Commons, CC-by-sa 3.0.
Today (elaphebolion 8th) in the hellenistic calendar marks Asklepia, a sacred day to honor Asklepios, the god of healing.
I recited four hymns including Homeric Hymn 16 & Orphic Hymn 67 to Asklepios and poured a wine libation. This day is also good for dream communication and divination.
Two weeks ago I also took this photo with a statue of Asklepios when visiting Florence, Italy. 🐍
booitsthaclosetpagan reblogged
Of Primordial Nyx, Subduer of gods and men, I begin to sing
Oh dark-veiled goddess Who resides in Hades’ gloom, All pay homage to you.
With sable-colored steeds You soar across the sky, Trailing stars in your wake.
Oh goddess of cosmic eternity, With domain in the dark of space, You fill me with awe.
Endless goddess, I light incense sweet and offer Darkest wine to you.
Embrace me in your mantle Dark and covered in stars, That I may sleep in peace.
booitsthaclosetpagan reblogged
To Nyx
To Nyx, Goddess of the night,
Watch over all of humanity
Throughout the long night.
Keep silent company with us
Until You return to Your abode
And nod in greeting to Hemera,
As She and Eos set out to remind us
That each day dawns fresh and new.
Let us put it to the best use
Before Your return.
Nyx, spread Your veil across the sky,
And remind our minds to still
As the Hesperides finish Their latest masterpiece
Across the horizon
While Helios stables His steeds.
Let Selene keep You company
In Your lonely work, Nyx,
Until You reunite with Your daughter
For a brief moment
Before Eos awakens Helios
And the world as well.
Kala Thargelia!
So today and tomorrow, May 18th & 19th, or in the Hellenic calendar Thargelion 6th & 7th in the 4th year of the 699th olympiad, mark the festival Thargelia which honors Artemis and Apollo.
Due to the ongoing pandemic I was at my parents home and couldn’t freely or to full extend celebrate Thargelia, however I still tried to do as much as possible, without a real celebration or libation.
So on the 6th of Thargelion, Artemis day I
- Started the day by undergoing catharsis or cleansing, took a bath, put on fresh clothes, took out the trash, to cleanse myself of miasma.
- I couldn’t fast due to eating with/at my parents, but instead I avoided every unnecessary food or drink, so I only ate and drank during lunch and dinner when I had no other option.
- In the afternoon I put on some symbolic clothing and jewelry that portray deer, which are associated with Artemis who is also named the huntress goddess.
- Then I wrote down two things I wanted to get rid off on paper, representing the pharmakoi or scapegoates, and ripped those to ward bad energy concerning these points off.
* Due to the ongoing pandemic and Thargelia being associated with warding off illness, I wrote illness down as one of the things that I wanted to ward off.
* For the second pharmakoi, last Thargelia I wrote down self doubt about choices regarding the future. Through the past year that has indeed become less however it’s still not fully gone, well the doubt about choices is kinda gone but regarding future work I just really want a specific job and a lot of future choices depend on that so that’s why this year I wrote down ‘not working at my dream job at ...’ to cast out, in order to channel positive energy towards that goal and ward off negativity and unluckiness regarding getting that job. It sounds a bit selfish maybe but since it’s like a second part to the pharmakoi from last year it’s also about personal growth and asking the deities to help me on that part, it’s not like directly asking them for the job.
Anyways so that were my two pharmakoi for this year.
- Then I recited some prayers/hymns. I did it in a weird order, which was kinda wrong but it doesn’t matter that much, but next year again I would like to just do it in the numerological order since it makes much more sense, I don’t know why I didn’t do that this time.
* I started with reciting Orphic Hymn 34 to Leto, then Orphic Hymn 36 to Artemis (two versions of that hymn) and Homeric Hymn 9 and 27 to Artemis.
Thargelion 7th marks Apollo’s day, so then I will
- Cleanse myself (catharsis) and put on fresh clothes.
- Listen to a song called ‘Apollo’ to honor him.
- Recite Homeric Hymn 21 to Apollo and Orphic Hymn 33 to Apollo.
- This is also a day to spend with family so I’ll go with my mom to the grocery store to get some nice foods, break ‘the fast’ during lunch and make a nice dinner with her.
I wish you all a blessed Thargelia! Stay healthy and safe!
booitsthaclosetpagan reblogged
Incense for the Theoi
A collection of personal associations. You are more than welcome to add your own, but I don’t want to see any bashing of this list of PERSONAL associations. They work for somebody, deal with it!
- Asteria – vanilla, mulberry, frankincense
- Amphitrite – ocean, orchid, coconut
- Aphrodite – rose, apple/cinnamon, jasmine, sandalwood, vanilla, coconut
- Apollo – cinnamon, frankincense, apple
- Ares – dragon’s blood, frankincense, pomegranate
- Artemis – lavender, spruce, queen of the night, cedar, sage
- Athena – green tea, sage, bergamot
- Boreas – rain, honey, lavender
- Circe – sage, bergamot, violet
- Cronus – orange, mint, musk
- Demeter – myrrh, honey almond, cinnamon
- Dionysus – wine, jasmine, pine, berry
- Eos - jasmine, rain, lavender, orchid
- Eris – peppermint, apple, violet
- Eros – apple, rose, gardenia
- Gaia – peach, oak, myrrh, patchouli, sage
- Hades – coffee, dragon’s blood, mulberry, cypress
- Hecate – violet, lavender, queen of the night
- Helios – coconut, orange, cinnamon, jasmine
- Hephaestus – sandalwood, patchouli, musk
- Hera – jasmine, linen, orchid, sage
- Hermes – musk, sandalwood, strawberry
- Hestia – amber, cinnamon, sage, frankincense
- Hygeia – linen, rain, gardenia, jasmine
- Hypnos – chamomile, vanilla, lavender
- Iris – strawberry, violet, lavender
- Khione – lemongrass, vanilla, jasmine, orchid
- Morpheus – honeysuckle, fairy dreams (Hem), rose
- Nike – sandalwood, rose, jasmine, sage, cedar
- Nyx – cedarwood, mint, jasmine-rose blend
- Pan – cedar, patchouli, oak
- Persephone – apple cider, rosemary, lavender, mint
- Poseidon – pine, ocean, rain
- Prometheus – mulberry, dragon’s blood, chamomile
- Psyche – wisteria, peppermint, jasmine
- Selene – gardenia, sage, lavender
- Themis – sandalwood, sage, patchouli, jasmine
- Tyche – sage, amber, frankincense, mint
- Zeus – sage, musk, sandalwood, pine
General Incense for the Theoi:
- Frankincense
- Sage
- Sandalwood
- Divine Power or Celestial Pack (Hem brand)
With contributions from:
@fuzzynecromancer, @heatherwitch, @hellenicpagan, @hekatesstrygx, @jnet-erin, @katxnightwind, @myrtlerose, @nowgoesthesun, @pomegranateandivy, @pppcme, @studyhallcousins.
Inspired by:
☀️ Happy Athenian New Year! 4/699 ☀️🎊
Today (June 23rd 2020) we enter the 4th and final year of the 699th olympiad and so this marks Athenian New Year for dodekatheists. Hopefully the new year will give us many beautiful and joyeus moments and will help us leave the bad things that happened last year behind. Stay safe and have a good year and completion of the olympiad everybody!
How I celebrated Thargelia and Beltane this year.
So due to the circumstances we face in the year 2020, or year 3 of the 699th Olympiad, I have been partially unable to celebrate Thargelia nor Beltane. I couldn’t veil, couldn’t bake things, couldn’t wear my symbolic clothing, fast, or offer things.
However, instead of focussing on what I couldn’t do, it’s better to focus on the things that I did do.
I was really excited because this year Beltane and the second day of Thargelia fell on the same day. However due to the circumstances my plans kind of fell apart and honestly for Beltane I didn’t really do anything, except for reading about Beltane and thinking about it throughout the day to still honor it.
Beltane is also celebrated by the fae and other species of the fair folk. I couldn’t go out and buy flowers so I couldn’t really do anything. But since it’s seen as the start/ high point of spring and I was outside in the garden, to be honest only for a few seconds but okay, it’s still good that think about it.
For Thargelia:
On Artemis’ day I started off by undergoing catharsis (purification) by washing up and putting on clothes. Then I created pharmakoi (representing the two scapegoats) by writing down the two things about me and my life that I wanted to get rid of. For this year particularly I wrote down
- selfdoubt about choices I make regarding the future, since that had been bothering me a lot, especially this year, now that I had to make some important decisions in university, and in general I had been plagued by self doubt, specifically regarding my future and future related decisions.
- sickness, which I wanted to get rid of for myself and the entire world with the situation we’re facing now, and my personal health had been a bit bad this year so I definitely wanted to get rid of that.
Then I also recited some homeric and orphic hymns to Artemis and Leto.
On the second day of Thargelia, Apollo’s day:
I listened to music, as I usually do, but today especially I thought of Apollo whilst listening to and enjoying music since he is a deity associated strongly with the arts including music, so in order to honor him and as a sort of offering. Besides that I recited hymns to Apollo.
So although unfortunately this Thargelia was how I had imagined it, I did do things that were possible for me given the circumstances and I did it with a sincere and devoted heart and mind, so I am happy about it.
On both days I also studied religious things, about paganism, beltane, holidays and dodekatheism/ hellenismos which is always a good thing to do in order to grow as a person in your religious devotion and knowledge and also as an offering and honor to the deities.
So that’s how I celebrated this year. Hope you all had a good Thargelia and/or Beltane. Blessed be.
Kalà Thargélia
Happy Thargelia everybody! I will do an update tomorrow about how I spend Thargelia this year, hope you all have a blessed and good Thargelia.
booitsthaclosetpagan reblogged
violentwavesofemotion-deactivat
Artemis knew better than all of them.
Her only love affair was with the moon. My heart understood this. Profoundly.
Lola Ridge, from To the Many; Collected Poems of Lola Ridge; “Hellish,” (via violentwavesofemotion)
How I celebrated Thargelia this year.
So it’s a little bit late but here is how I celebrated Thargelia this year, 2019. So this was the fourth year that I celebrated Thargelia, and every year I feel like I am making progress in it, if that makes sense, and every year has been completely different. This year I felt a bit ‘bad’ about how I acted this Thargelia, even though it was still fine and so on the other hand I did feel good about it, so it was a bit double for me in a way.
Oke so now to the actual things I did this Thargelia:
On Artemis’ day:
- So first of all, like I try every year I took part in fasting.
I fasted for about 18 or 19 hours. Around lunch time I felt a little hungry but throughout the day my body got used to the fast and the ‘hunger’ stopped. But in the evening around 9 I did break my fast even though I wasn’t really that hungry, I just felt like oke this was good and now I need to eat something. Which I found pitiful of myself, and I did think about it twice before I decided to actually eat because I wanted to fast for longer but on the other hand I felt good and proud of the fact that I had fasted for the biggest part of the day.
- I spend most of my day cleansing myself and my house and altar.
- I did put on new clothes, however not my symbolic clothes and jewelry that I usually wear to honor Artemis, so that felt a bit double for me as well.
- Then I lit some (fake) candles, put my symbolic jewelry for Artemis next to it to make a little altar and I wrote down two things about myself (/ my life) I wanted to get rid of on paper and ripped those and threw them away, in order to symbolize casting out the pharmakoi, or scapegoats. After that I poured a libation of wine to honor her while reciting Homeric Hymn #9 to Artemis, Orphic Hymn #34 to Leto and Homeric Hymn #27 to Artemis.
(Actually when I did that, it was already after midnight but oke. That’s still semi the end of the day so.)
On Apollon’s day:
- I started the day baking a chocolate, strawberry, walnut cake to honor Artemis, Apollon and Leto.
- In the evening I made a sort of compact, smaller and more salad-like (instead of soup) version of panspermia and
(fake)mannas. After cooking that - I put the food, together with an orange I was offering to Apollon (and Artemis and Leto) on the altar together with the wine libation. And then I recited Orphic Hymn #33 to Apollon and again, like I had done the day before as well Orphic Hymn #34 to Leto
. (By the time I finished it was midnight but oke.) - In the evening I also ate an orange and of course throughout the day I listened to music (both associated and seen as an offering to Apollon, although I rather unconsciously did so).
I didn’t veil, although I wanted to, and didn’t recite all the hymns that I wanted to recite, this Thargelia, nor did I do everything on the time that I wanted to. Over all I had some double feelings and didn’t always feel fully ‘cleansed’ but I did have good feelings, especially during the time I spend at the altar. So that’s how I spend my (fourth year of) Thargelia.
Hope you all had a good Thargelia and felt well! And may you be blessed by the gods!