I Think It's Really Important In Deity Worship That You Just Do It. Sometimes When I'm Feeling Uninspired

An experiment I did with watercolor.

apollo + art

Caryatid

The upper part of one of the caryatids that flanked the Lesser Propylaea of the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis. The caryatid was made in Attica in about 50 B.C. Eleusis Museum, Greece

Dionysus is in the erratic dancing in your room

Apollo is in the strum of your instrument

Artemis is in the swift glance of the deer

Hestia is in the warm hugs of family

Athena is in the peering eyes of the owl

Zeus is in the admiration of the pattering rain

Hera is in the stern guidance of a mother

Hephaestus is in craftsmanship of your tool

Aphrodite is in the overwhelming feeling of affection

Ares is in the instinct to protect those in need

Poseidon is in the enthralling crash of the watery waves

Hermes is in the ever-moving soul of a traveler

Demeter is in the wind sifting through the wheat

{ Original Poem for the Theoi }

And you should, as the core of it all, let go of expectations for your Deities. Let go of what you’ve consumed from the books, let go of authorities, let go of explanations, let go of the neatness - and embrace chaos. Embrace the wilderness which is in itself God, call a name and wait for an answer. What voice sounds like home?

Gods will come multifaceted, iridescent, impalpable. Gods will break rules and expand where a mind burdened by expectations can’t follow. A chimera of a myriad faces might not want to always show only one side. Gods will change. Gods will surprise.

If the nature is untamed, so are its Deities. The wilderness has many names for each of them, a prism to choose a side of. Feeling over explaining, embracing over conforming, preparing over expecting.

My faith in the gods comes in waves. There are times when I feel so dedicated, so full of love that I get emotional just thinking about the gods. Then there are other times where I feel so disconnected to them that they may as well solely be the statues on their altars - unknowable.

I've come to realize that it's ok for my faith to be so inconsistent. It's not required for us to have 100% of our faith 100% of the time. The gods understand that, like most things in life, faith comes in wave, receding back just to return in full force soon after.

So, it's ok if you feel disconnected. It's ok if you feel faithless. Give yourself time, and things will improve.

Zeus by Romain de Tirtoff (“Erté”) (1981)

The Goddess Who Saved a City by Fortunino Matania (1933)

PARMIGIANINO Diana and Actaeon (Details) 1523-24 Fresco Rocca Sanvitale, Fontanellato