🌾 Subtle Demeter Worship 🌻

How to Offer to the Theoi- a guide

The Kylix of Apollo, where the god is depicted pouring libations from a phiale onto the ground. (A kylix is a type of phiale, so this is a particularly meta piece) Delphi, Greece, 460BC

The most historical offering to any of the Theoi are  θυμιάειν thymiaein (smoke), σπονδή sponde (libations of alcohol) and νηφάλια nefalia “calm” libations meaning non-alcoholic (such as milk, honey, water, etc).

How do I do smoke offerings?

There’s three ways, generally speaking. The gods take the smoke of any offering, so this could be:

A actual burnt offering, such as a piece of paper you wrote a poem on, burnt herbs (which this is where we get the English word THYME from because this was a popular herb to burn for incense), or food as it was cooking, because the smell of the cooking fire rises. It’s not mandatory today that you do burnt offerings because our houses are not built like the ancient’s were; fully ventilated. 

The smoke of incense Historically this would have been done in a special incense burner called a thymiateria which are still used today in the Greek Orthodox church, but today any incense burner will do!

The steam from your food. The gods allow us to eat the physical food, and they take the non-physical aromas and steams, which is why aromatic spices are so important in ritual. 

It’s important to wash your hands before offering; this is the god’s food, don’t make it germy please. 

How do I do sponde and nefalia?

As before, you should have clean hands before you come to worship. 

Pour your liquid out of its original container into a bowl. The container was historically called an oenokheo  οἰνοχόη “I pour wine”, and what you would pour it into was called a fiale or phiale φιάλη which we still have today in the archaic word for a vial, a phial. 

Either before or after you pour, say a prayer, poem, hymn, or just greet your deity. Here’s a short example I’ll do now for Artemis Tykhe: Khaire oh great Tykhe! I pour this water for you, oh goddess of luck and fortune. Watch over us at this rite. 

If you like, you can pour a cup of drink for yourself, but pour the one for the god(s) first. If you are worshipping multiple gods at the same time for the ritual, you only need one phiale. 

When your ritual is done, you can say something to conclude; I use γένοιτό Genoito (pronounced Yen-ee-tu) meaning “may it be” or “it is so”, but conclude however you like. If I’m leading a rite in English I will say something like, “and this rite is ended.”

You may now drink from your cup if you poured yourself one, and dispose of the offerings in the phiale as you see fit. Its up to you and your god(s) whether you drink their share or not; some worshippers do, some don’t. A lot of people, including me, do sponde at the dinner table before they eat.

What’s the difference between sponde and nefalia? What’s the purpose? 

Sponde is alcoholic usually, while nefalia never is! Nefalia is conducted the exact same way, but certain festivals and gods strictly forbid wine at their ceremony; Demeter’s mysteries is probably the best known example, but there’s many others. 

Some historical options for Nefalia are water, honey, and milk, but if you can pour it, you can offer it!

What do I do for a Khthonic god? 

Because Kthnonic (literally “of/below the earth”) gods are below ground, incense is useless to them. Smoke rises, and doesn’t reach them below the earth. Physical Kthonic offerings should be buried in a hole called a bothros  βόθρος (literally “pit”), or they should be burnt to cinders and the ash spread on the soil. I’ve seen some worshippers compost Kthonic offerings, which I think is a really cool idea. 

If you offer food or drinks to the Khthonic gods, they don’t share! They get the entire sum of whatever you offer. Zeus will share a glass of wine with you, Pluton wants the entire glass. 

Kthonic gods and heroes get a special type of libation called χεῦμα Khoe, “that which is poured.” Unlike sponde and nefalia, you absolutely do NOT drink this. It’s poured on the ground. Khoe is usually milk, honey, water, or sometimes very dark red wine. 

a bothros to Demeter  at the Temple to Demeter in the Valle dei Templi near Agrigento, off the coast of Italy

How do I know which gods are Ouranic or Kthonic?

Generally speaking if they’re not agricultural, related to death and disease, sleep, blood, or the soil itself, they’re seen as Ouranic or “heavenly”. 

This distinction isn’t always black and white; because there are many among the Theoi that straddle the line and have aspects of both; Apollo for example is related to every criterion for a Khthonic god, but the majority of his worship is Ouranic. In cases like this, it comes down to the epithet (aspect or title) of the god that you’re worshipping. Apollo Soranus, a Roman underworld god, is Khthonic, but Paean Apollo the healer is Ouranic. You’ll have to do research on your own for what to do because there are thousands of epithets. Also note that Pluton (H@des) is often referred to with epithets like Zeus Below, Zeus Euboleus etc because it’s unlucky to speak his name outloud, so special care should be taken for research for either Zeus or Pluton.  With time you’ll have a pretty good sense of what to do, but to avoid overwhelming yourself, pick one or two gods and do research on one or two epithets and how they were worshipped. 

it got a bit long but I think this about covers it, holler at me if you have questions, happy worshipping!

blame @mari-monsta for this

(the post)

everyone keeps having these moments at the top of the astronomy tower how are none of them bumping into each other

Hello! Do you (and other Greeks) find "Hellenic polytheism" an acceptable term for the religion worshipping the ancient Greek gods? If not, what would you want people to call it instead? I feel strongly that I would not be able to change my belief itself, but I definitely want to be respectful in what I call it and my other actions

Hellenic Polytheism should be fine. You can introduce yourself as a Hellenic Polytheist.

People have a bit of a hard time with this hell of terms (get it? he he), so I am gonna create a mini-lexicon. It's not targeted to you in specific to use all these, it's just for whoever is interested to clear this up in their minds.

A very hellenic lexicon

Hellás = 1) the official term for Greece and the only one ever used by Greeks themselves (there is no equivalent of "Greece" in Greek), 2) a historical ancient region in central mainland Greece where southeast Epirus and southwestern Thessaly meet and where a lot of Achilles' soldiers supposedly originated from, 3) the administrative region of central mainland Greece during the Byzantine Empire

Hellenic = anything Greek (like you may say "this is an american movie", that's why you can use hellenic polytheism, because it means "greek religion of many gods"). And by anything Greek, we mean ANYTHING. Care to know what the "Greek Orthodox Church" is called in Greek?

You guessed it! Hellenic Orthodox Church...! So you see, how when foreigners say some things like "i'm hellenic, hellene, hellenist" like "what hellenic are you? coffee? bank? Christian?" You know?

Hellen = the mythological progenitor of the Greeks according to Hesiod. Not to be confused with Helen.

Héllene = a Greek by descent, nationality and / or ethnicity. And if we are being totally accurate, it's a Greek male. I don't actually know how it is pronounced in English but ideally keep the last e silent. (By the way we do not pronounce that h in the beginning in all these words for the last 1500 years or so.... just saying.)

Héllenes = the Greeks, just men or mixed. The last e is NOT silent.

English does not have gendered nouns but Greek does so technically there is a seperate word for Greek women but I don't know if this is transferable to English. If we could do it in theory and by following the trasliteration style of the Hellene, it should be something like:

*Hellenís / Hellenidae or Hellenides = Greek woman / women*

Hopefully this explains why random foreigners identifying as "Hellenes" is exremely problematic.

Helladic = pertaining to the geography and territory of Hellas and whatever happens strictly within its borders

Hellenisation = spread of Greek influence and culture, it is also used for cases of Greek assimilation in ancient times

Hellenistic = 1) something being characterized by particular Greek influence, 2) referring to the era after the Classical period and before the Roman period

Hellenicá = 1) the Greek language, 2) (infrequent) Greek matters, documented topics about the Greeks

Hellenism = The complete Greek culture, civilization and nationhood, the essence of being Greek.

Hellenist = 1) a specialist in the study of Greek language, literature, culture, or history, or an admirer of the Greek culture and civilization, 2) a person who adopted the Greek customs, language and culture during the Hellenistic period, 3) now, the English Wiktionary also adds the "a follower and practitioner of Hellenic religion" <- which one of the two??? XD, clearly following the trend of western classicist circles. In the Greek Wiktionary for the same exact term (Ελληνιστής) that last interpretation does not exist and I can guarantee you it is officially rejected. Here's why: the suffixes -ist and -ism (as well as all suffixes here) are suffixes of Greek origin and they signify that someone is something or is passionate and dedicated to something on the superlative or very very earnestly, essentially. So when someone says they are a hellenist, they are supposed to be dedicated or charmed by anything that makes something hellenic, not to be professional cherry pickers. Of course, everyone is allowed their preferences, however you can't be interested in a super specific / niche thing like a religion mostly practiced 2000-3500 years ago and simultaneously show complete disregard and ignorance on literally everything else about this civilization, history and its living people and call yourself a hellenist. It tears the word apart. By the way this is not targeted at you. You are here asking about it, wanting to do the right thing. I am referring to this thing happening in this forum that @alatismeni-theitsa 's Anon was complaining about; they obsess over the ancient religion and they hate everything Greek post the AD mark. That's not being a Hellenist. That's not a Hellenism forum. That's the exact opposite in fact. Very few people can correctly claim the term "hellenist".

BONUS: Philhellene is kind of synonym to "hellenist" and it means "friend / lover of the Hellenes and all things hellenic". But again it can surely be misused. Not all self-proclaimed Philhellenes were ones indeed. Some, like Lord Byron, were Philhellenes through and through, on the other hand.

Of course, one definitely does not have to go through what Lord Byron and other great Philhellenes of the 19th century went through to prove they are a Hellenist or a Philhellene! My point is that very very few people can correctly claim the identity of a Philhellene or a Hellenist.

Therefore, "Hellenic polytheist" is just fine.

Wouldn't you like from the Epic musical.

I absolutely love how many times I'm seeing Epic mentioned here

@sidsinning @tinyowlet @unfortunately-a-miraculous-fan

ATTENTION

If you see this you are OBLIGATED to reblog w/ the song currently stuck in your head :)

Genius

And here they are, ALL of Marinette’s updated kwami swaps from my Timey Wimey AU including her new Multimouse design! Now that she’s FINALLY done and I’m completely satisfied with her designs we can get a move on with the other character designs! YAY!

*Updated version*

I honestly think that men can't handle the harsh truths of life, they have been protected and pampered for so much time that the mere discovery that women are people too gives them a mental breakdown.

Blackpill for men: women like attractive men, women have eyes, women are human beings that can choose.

Blackpill for women: most men would rape women if they could get away with it.

Guess which blackpill is a matter of discussion and pity on the mainstream

tips for depressed, chronically ill, & disabled littles

it can sometimes be hard to feel little when you spend a lot of time in pain, bedridden, dealing with scary big thoughts, or any of the other things that can accompany mental or physical disabilities so these are things i do to feel small with little effort

ᯓ★ keep soft blankets + stuffies near you

literally what’s smaller than having your soft little comfort plushes with you? this is probably the easiest thing i do that always makes me feel at least a little smaller

ᯓ★ download mobile games for kids

if you aren’t someone who can get up and down off the floor or if you’re in a lot of pain, or if its just a rough day and you want to stay in bed little kid games are good for feeling tiny

ᯓ★ play baby music or soft lullabies

if you’re not feeling up to playing at all and just need to rest lullabies and nursery rhymes are rlly good for helping you rest and helping you feel tiny

ᯓ★ age regression fanfic

this might sound silly by at a little with chronic pain something that genuinely helps me is mood boards, one shots, etc. about my favorite fictional cgs

ᯓ★ think of your ‘lazy’ clothes as baby clothes

toddlers and babies are almost always dressed in comfy soft clothes so if you’re always in your soft sweatpants or cozy pjs to alleviate discomfort it’s just like little kids getting dressed in their soft little clothes

ᯓ★ middle regression is always an option

if you’re worried about regressing because you have to take care of yourself (ex. handle a walking aid, medicine, etc.) middle regression is super accessible because you can be regressed and do a lot of the things big you can already do

middle regression can also entail less rambunctious/active play (videos games, reading, coloring, etc.)

ᯓ★ audio books

if you look up ‘audio kids books’ or some form of that on youtube you can find kids stories read aloud! its something super fun that can make you feel small and you can do it anywhere at anytime.

ᯓ★ calming kids activities

there are a whole bunch of websites that have ‘calm down’ activities for when kids are winding down from rambunctious play and i use those a lot (playing with play dough, sensory toys, singing abcs/nursery rhyme games)

ᯓ★ remember not all regression looks the same

you don’t have to do anything to be small or to be valid as a regressor, regression looks different for everyone. there are ppl who regress and watch horror movies or ppl who regress while doing big kid things like going to the store or to school. your disability, no matter what form it comes in, does not invalidate your regression.

these are some of the things that i do, feel free to add more if you’re a little with disabilities, ily!!!!

shoutout to all the deities i want to include in my practice but cant because life is busy