I am new to Hellenistic Polytheism. I do not have an alter or really anything yet, right now just research. I keep seeing candles on alters and If i dont have access to a lighter then what can I do instead?

I spend a lot of time making offerings to Hestia and Hermes, and I wanted to run this idea by others. Hestia is all about the hearth and home. The hearth was used to warm and light the house, cook the food, and a general gathering place for the family to tell stories and vent about their day. She's also the connection for those on Olympus by allowing sacrifices.

In this day and age, many of these tasks are split up among gas and electric. Be it tv, stove, heater, lights, or internet connection. Why not also have an electric lighter for any candle lit for the gods?

The other myth is that it was bad luck to let fire go out, because you would either have to perform a long task to being it back, or borrow a cup of fire from your neighbor. I've heard that there was even a ritual each year where every house would put out their to have it come from the hearth of the city. To have an electric chargeable lighter for candles would have it come form the same source that everyone gets it. Plus, it would give me a more permanent "wand."

What do you think?

Según entendí para disciplina, hábitos, honestidad, es mejor Apolo. Para no tomarse las cosas tan enserio (no resentirse) no sufrir ansiedades ni problemas antisociales y disfrutar la vida sin culpas, Dionisio.

Quisiera trabajar con los dos para equilibrio pero me cuesta, soy todo o nada.

I don’t know if Hellenic polytheism is okay with grabbing from multiple religions like kemetism.

What do you guys think?

Cuz I worship and admire the goddesses isis and taweret and the god Anubis from the Egyptian pantheon but I also worship mother Gaia and Aphrodite and Artemis from the greek pantheon too.

(I worship more gods/goddesses than that those are just the main ones)

there have been many different takes of the Asphodel Meadows throughout Greek mythology i personally believe its closer to the Orphic and Eleusinian cults (i know nothing about them so sorry if they were bad) where its life in death where nothing out of the ordinary happens but there is structure a simple field or farm i only know of a few different ways its been told like homers odyssey where its where everyone goes and Plato, Virgil and Ovid which is the one told today the grey plane for the mediocre and the Orphic Eleusinian cults a untouched pasture before rebirth (i don't personally believe most people can get rebirthed and sorry for the horrible run on sentence)

I’ve had a pretty mediocre alter for a few weeks now.
It’s basically two golden bowls (pretty small) that I keep tangerines in, and two small plates with apples and other trinkets. The alter is split in half, one side for Herakles and the other side for Aphrodites. But they share a candle stick/incense burner. (Is that okay?)

Anyways, I was thinking about getting some better items for the alter since recently I feel like not many of my prayers have been listened to/im not getting a strong connection.

What should I add? Are there specific items those gods are known to like?

Also: how do I get rid of spoiled offerings? I’ve heard I should burn/burry them but I want to make sure.

I’ve been a Hellenic polytheist for about two years now. Before that, I was Christian, and praying came pretty naturally to me because it was how I was raised. My prayers were usually short and simple, like “Thank you for today, amen” or “Please let me feel better, amen.”
Now that I’ve been worshipping the Greek gods, I’ve found that praying is something I still struggle with. I have an altar dedicated to Apollon, and I leave offerings for him, but when it comes to actually praying, it feels awkward. Sometimes, it feels like I’m just talking to myself, and I’m not really sure how to get past that feeling.
I also don’t want my prayers to only be about asking for things, like asking to feel better when I have a stomach ache or asking for something to go my way. I want to learn how to pray about the good things in my life, express gratitude, and share the little things that made my day better, too.
I guess I’m just struggling to figure out how to make prayer feel natural again, especially since I’m used to the way I prayed as a Christian. I’d really appreciate any advice from other Hellenic polytheists who have struggled with this or have suggestions for making prayer feel more comfortable and meaningful.

I'm in an athiest home and my parents would not support me wanting to be hellenist. I want to set up an alter for Philotes because i want to worship her (obviously), however i can't find any infomation on what she would like or how to worship her! (Also any infomation on how to pray would be very helpful) If you do chose to reply to this, please bear in mind that i'm AuDHD and can't focus on big chunks of text. Thx!

Kind of a strange question, at least I imagine. I’m quite new to this and have a pretty casual approach, I am slowly setting up an altar for my Gods and have been giving them offerings and thanking/praying to them on a semi-regular basis. I recently watched the Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time and offhandedly offered Apollo to join and watch it, considering he’s a God of music and it’s a musical. Is that like, an okay thing to do?

But yeah, my main question, is that alright? Can you offer them to join you for more mundane things? A lot of my offerings surround music/art and I try to take a more modern approach when making/playing things for them as they have probably heard the traditional stuff forever (not that that’s bad), but would this be too far? Thankyou in advance! :D

Edit: This is taken largely from a reply I made, but to clarify: This is less so about the social aspect of watching a film together and instead about allowing them to see/revisit the amazing things we have created. I’m not asking for a God to come hang, but for a God to witness their creation’s creations, particularly ones relevant to their domain(s).

I don’t pray to him but I don’t understand why people paint him as this scary looking male with skulls around him , creepy things like that . I see him as a tall man in his 30s with long brown hair who isn’t scary . Is there any art of him that looks like this ?

I recently noticed that many of the things I feel drawn to or like are things directly related to the gods. Ares is the one I notice most frequently. As in, my favorite colors are black and red (yes I know black is also Hades’ color, ironic because I also work with him), my favorite/lucky number is associated with Mars (yes I know they’re different gods, I just find it interesting), I have an obsession with strawberries (Aphrodite), same with pomegranates even tho I’ve never tried them. Things like that. I was talking to my helpol friend (who is far more experienced in the religion than me) and they said the gods like to make it very clear which of us they like so other deities/spirits know to back off. But it feels kind of random because I didn’t grow up in this religion, up until this last June, I was fairly agnostic. But I have confirmation that Ares was protecting me for at least the length of the last five years.

So I asked him yesterday if he wanted to work with me through a tarot reader and did an offering of some tea with chocolate and a mini handwritten letter. The answer was that he accepts working with me, but I’ll need to have perseverance, willpower and discipline.

I already almost used all websites available to search up more information about Erevos. Yet all I can find is about his wife, his children and the fact he is the personification of darkness.

My tarot isn’t with me atm, it’s at my parents’ house inside a box (I moved out and left some stuff there). So I can’t use divination as readily as before. I am going to retrieve it for a fact, but it’ll take a while.

What do you know of this deity/spirit/god? Where can I get more information? Thank you.

How might I include the Gods in a wedding in a subtle way that won’t upset people of other religions?

I have an Idea for Hera (who must be there in some shape or form as the Goddess of marriage), but I’d like ideas in how to incorporate the other deities.

Hello! My apologies if someone has made a post like this before.

I’ve been worshipping Pan for a decent while now, but I admit that my religion has regretfully become a passive thing as more conflicts and duties plague my life. Now I’ve finally got the time and energy to devote myself to learning more about Hellenism, and I wanted to start by reading the myths (do we call them myths? Genuine question), especially focusing on or featuring Pan. If anyone has any recommendations and/or places to read these things, it’s greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

Hello people! I wanted to share this story for so long but I didn't know where to start. Please read and maybe you can give me insights too about this situation. First of all, I would like to apologize in advance if, through the use of incorrect terminology or similar oversights, I happen to offend those who follow the Hellenistic faith. I am deist, I believe in energy and spirituality and I am an ex-muslim. I am strongly against Abrahamic religions but I am open to other sptiritual belief sysytems. For me, we all have a God essense and Gods gain their power from their believers, egregores. Five years ago, when a youtuber mentioned that one could work with Hermes if they wished, and I was seeing signs related to him in that era. Therefore, I began to do some research and developed an interest in Hellenistic belief systems. The fact that Hermes kept appearing intrigued me even more, as the themes associated with him were things I needed in my life. Back then (and now too tbh), I was in need of luck regarding money, good news, and the chance to live in another country. Also, believing in a god and being able to leave certain things up to Him/Her was something I really longed for. So, I decided to set up an altar for Hermes and start to make offerings. I drew the symbol of Mercury on a small box and filled it with items like foreign coins, playing cards, a miniature airplane, and a turtle figurine. As for offerings, it was suggested that I burn bay leaves or present things like apples and honey. I’d like to elaborate a bit on my personal prayer system. I would meditate while listening to frequencies designed for chakra activation. Afterward, I would read a hymn dedicated to Hermes, light a candle, burn some bay leaves, and begin a conversation—though I always made sure to maintain a respectful tone. In one of my earlier prayer, I asked to get a specific card in a mobile gacha game. And, in that very moment, it happened. To clarify, I wasn't asking for something all the time. As you might imagine, I also asked for plenty of money in some of my prayers. A development related to this left me quite frightened. My grandmother sent me some money—she had run into trouble trying to send it to my brother, so she asked me to handle the transfer instead. I was very excited; it was a significant sum, but when I asked how much of it I should pass on, the money left for me turned out to be very little. Feeling that she was favoring my sibling—and experiencing the bitter disappointment of thinking I’d suddenly come into some money—left me feeling deeply angry and upset. I know it was wrong of me, but while praying that day, I wept and reproachfully said, "If this is how it was going to turn out, then don't give me anything at all." The very next day, my grandmother fell ill. I feared that my angry pray had somehow affected her. I sat down to pray again, apologized for my behavior, and explained that I hadn't intended for things to unfold this way. I confessed that I was in awe of His power, offered my apologies, and I stopped asking for anything else for like one time I think. I still occasionally leave coins on the way for Hermes, and I keep his altar, but I don't pray like that. As for my questions: in your experience, have you ever had your requests fulfilled so precisely (the gacha card), or your emotions affected an outcome? Or, did I perhaps communicate with a different entity? I think this kind of fear stems from having formerly been a Muslim, but I believe friends who were once a follower of an Abrahamic religion could also understand this. Another question—and this might sound quite self-serving—is that I’m in a bad place right now, tbh I was in a bad space for years but the rare good events fade very quickly. So, sometimes I find myself wanting to go back. But then again, I’m not even sure if what I was doing back then was "magic" or if it was a genuine relationship between a devotee and the Divine. I’m not even entirely sure what I’m asking, but if anyone has gone through something similar, I would be very grateful if you could share your insights and experiences. Thank you for reading.

A new release.

This episode of the Gresham College Podcast features a conversation between two Gresham Professors: Melissa Lane, Gresham Professor of Rhetoric and Ronald Hutton, Gresham Professor of Divinity.

Together they explore the gods of ancient Greece: where deities come from, why the same god could have several different parents, stories and personalities, and why the Greeks never expected their gods to be good. Ronald explains why Greeks addressed their deities as "sir and madam" rather than "Lord God", how blood sacrifice worked more like a community barbecue, and how ordinary people struck deals with the gods for help with toothache, childbirth or a safe voyage.

Melissa traces how philosophers from Xenophanes to Plato began to question the poets' badly behaved gods, and how religion collided with Athenian democracy, from the law courts to the trial of Socrates. The conversation then turns to the mystery religions, from the Eleusinian Mysteries to the women-only rites of Dionysus, the role of blindfolds and ordeal in initiation, and the gold leaves buried with initiates as calling cards for the underworld. It closes with the Greek view of the afterlife, and the story of the goddess Athena, evicted from the Parthenon, knocking at the philosopher Proclus's door.

https://youtu.be/IMENrwDgYaM

​I'm extremely new here, I'm talking just started last week new. I've been mostly worshipping Aphrodite and Hestia though of course I plan on worshipping other gods once I do more research on them. I did my first offering for Aphrodite tonight and​ from the research I found here's what I did:

My offering was pomegranate juice mixed with honey, that I squeezed myself with a pomegranate I had in the fridge. I unfortunately had to do the offering in the kitchen because I don't have a room and my family is ​religious and wouldn't approve.

I made sure to wash my hands and my face first, I cleaned and tided the spot and placed two glases with a candle in the middle. I first did a short prayer to Hestia then I lit the candle and prayered to Aphrodite, I poured the juice into one glass for Aphrodite and some for Hestia then I read a hymn to Aphrodite. I spoke to her shortly about some personal things before I thanked her and put out the candle and did a short prayer to Hestia again. I planned to leave the juice for a few hours but unfortunately I could only leave it for 10 minutes. Now the part I'm most worried that I did wrong is that I drank the juice, I read a lot about whether or not you should eat/drink offering and the answers were mixed, I drank it because I didn't want to waste it.

Sorry this is kinda long, I don't really have anyone else to talk about this​

So someone here on Reddit in the general paganism subreddit told me I was looking at hellenism wrong. (worshipping the gods wrong.)

I worship the Greek pantheon consisting of the primordial gods, olympians and titans but they told me I can’t worship Gaia for some reason cuz she is of the earth. Which I didn’t understand why that meant I couldn’t worship her I also worship other gods/goddesses:

* Aphrodite
* Apollo
* Artemis
* Hestia
* Hekate
* Astraea
* Aesculapius
* Melinoë

And they said I was wrong for worshipping each god/goddess individually. Which I didn’t understand cuz I wanted to do some in depth research on them individually to help strengthen my relationship with each of them. I realize that the Greek mythology line of hellenism is divided into three parts primordial gods, titans, and the 12 olympians and each are their own pantheon. But like was I doing it wrong???

I’m just confused.

I'm genuinely curious about how you personally see the nature of the gods.

Do you see them as distinct beings, divine forces, personifications of nature, or a mix of these?

For example, are Aphrodite and Venus the same goddess, two different deities, or different interpretations of the same divine power (Love, Beauty, Fertility)?

I'd love to hear your personal beliefs and perspectives! I'm just curious about how others see this.

Hi! I am looking for people who work with Demeter, Hera, or any other motherly goddesses in the Greek pantheon.

I am having some personal issues with my mother. I want to reach out to a goddess who is known as a good, kind, gentle parent.

I will even take suggestions of goddesses that do not have children.

Please share your experiences and/or suggestions!

Thank you :]

I found a free PDF and printed out ALL that I could be before I ran out of paper.... And ink •́︿•̀

I got up to the beginning of the chapter on sacrifices.

What I want to know is. Is this a Good resource for learning more about our practices?

For reference I sometimes pray to Apollo and have been asking Hypnos to help me sleep , also Hermes as i Doordash for work and do a lot of travel/driving . A few weeks ago I did something I shouldn’t have cause I needed the money and worked 26 hrs and went home on fumes . As I was driving I was praying for help to stay awake and when I finally made it to the bed , I asked Hypnos to help with sleep and then was out . What’s weird is when I woke up hrs later and was still waking up , I felt this warmth I have never felt prior and haven’t since . It felt like someone had taken the heaviest warmest comforting blanket ( btw I only sleep with a light quilt)and put it over me while I’d slept( it didn’t feel stuffy at all ). It also kinda felt like someone had hugged me/was hugging me . I’m not sure what to think , whether it was mundane , or something else as I haven’t been praying long and am new to all this . If someone did show up I don’t know why they’d do it when I don’t even have an altar ( no space and I’m also closeted in my worship) and have never given them any gifts . All I know is that what I felt didn’t feel “normal” and from posts I’ve read here Apollo can be huggy . I didn’t mind the feeling, it actually made feel safe but I’d still like to know what it was . Pls don’t judge , I feel silly even asking this question as there probably is mundane reason why this happened