orsialos

[orsialos]

would you still love me if i was a worm?

#ohhhh crying #yes i would 😭

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I'm with you so much, OP. I grew up in a Unitarian Universalist congregation and I miss it something fierce. I feel like I am on a spiritual island now. Yes it's lush and beautiful and makes me happy, but it's still just me. I miss gathering in song with dozens of other voices, praising the creators of the universe in our own ways while still joining together in prayer.

I think often about going to the local UU congregation where I live. Maybe one day I might do it. As much as I crave community and connection, I am also a hermit and am often loathe to leave my safe and quiet house. And as a worshipper of Aphrodite and the old gods I just don't know if they hold a space for me.

Sometimes islands are prisons, and sometimes they are paradise. Maybe mine is a bit of both.

Sometimes I think of going back to the Church. You know, I miss the community and I miss having IRL co-religionists. It’s hard. I like Hellenic Polytheism, but I do miss Church. I feel like we don’t talk about that enough. For some of us, leaving the old religion is really hard. It’s a loss to be grieved. I think that’s important to acknowledge.

#philosophical musings #personal beliefs

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Goddess of the harvest

#literally spending my entire saturday baking for Demeter to celebrate the harvest! #Demeter #Demeter Anesidora #art

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People who are simply finding comfort in their faiths aren't your enemies.

#worship thoughts

[orsialos]

As I realized I never specified this, one of the dual sanctuaries dedicated to Aphrodite and Ares in the north-west of Argos outside of the urban sprawl, and another is in a flat area next to the modern settlement of Ellinika, between Agios Nikolaos and Elounda and dedicated to Aphrodite (the "ancient Aphrodision" according to late 2nd century BC inscriptions). After conflicts between two rival city-states demolished the old temple, a new temple for Aphrodite and Ares was erected in its place.

I find this second sanctuary particularly fascinating. If the old temple was destroyed over land disputes, why rededicate it to the old goddess who had lost her temple? Was it out of sheer reverence for Aphrodite? While we will literally never know, I often like to ponder this thought when I think of these two seemingly opposite forces at work. Love and war have never been that far from each other.

"In Hesiod’s Theogony, Ares and Aphrodite, allies in battle in the Iliad, appear as a divine couple. Their third child, after the warriors Phobos and Deimos, was a daughter, Harmonia, who married high-spirited Cadmus, founder of Thebes. It is dangerous to read too much into divine genealogies. There seems to be little significance in the fact that Hebe and Eileithyia were Ares’ sisters, and it is possible that the nature of Harmonia, Harmony, was seen to be connected purely to that of her mother, just as Phobos and Deimos were connected primarily to their father. Wilamowitz, however, suggested that to the Thebans (and Hesiod was a Boeotian poet), the marriage of Ares and Aphrodite, that is to say, of the incarnations of the martial sense and the loving, gave birth to civilization, through Harmonia, and her marriage to Cadmus."

War and the Warrior: Functions of Ares in Literature and Cult. Alexander T. Millington. Pg 98, 2013.

I have nothing to add except that I love this quote and it keeps bouncing around in my head today.

#and how love is the root cause of everything we do #and who to be a better consort than the fierce protector himself #Ares #Aphrodite #hellenic polytheism #hellenic deities #helpol #hellenic reconstructionism

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How popular is traditional art here? Especially if you can’t take good pictures? 😭

He’s also very shiny! (And the silver is a hint to Artemis)

#shiiiiiiny #apollon #apollo

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o muses

how compelling your inspiration is! I abandoned a story over a decade ago and today, out of nowhere I remembered dear eilonia and the story she first brought to me. and so without thought I pulled out my dusty of laptop and have been happily typing away for the better part of four hours

I have no idea what I intend to do with this but the words flow forth as if a new found spring gurgling up from the ground. I can't stop, it must be written down!

I hear and do, o muses. thank you for the gifts!

#personal

[orsialos]

Dollhouse 🏛️🌸💘

Some closer details of the illustrations of Aphrodite and Ares based on that French Barbie movie poster, with the Greek phrase on Aphrodite’s golden apple and Ares’s chain bracelet mean “for the fairest”.

The background was based on this adorable Greek Santorini church dollhouse that were sold on Etsy. A bit of accidental “big fat Greek wedding vibes” for the gods, even though they are not canonically married.

Link for the inspo below:

etsy.com/shop/Santorini…

#them 💖💖 #Aphrodite #ares #art

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this brought up something I've been long fascinated by. The innate human need to quantify and qualify every detail of our existence and the world around us, to explain away all mysteries and have clearly defined ideas.

While having a quizzical mind is, dare I say, necessary to grow as a person, why must we be so bothered by not knowing that we miss what is in those mysterious places? Pursuit of knowledge is an admirable goal but when it comes to understanding the forces that guide and move our world, why do we expect we should know?

I find the expectation that we unravel all the mysteries of the universe to be quite hubristic. We are mortal, finite creatures trying to qualify the vast cosmic unknown of forces beyond our comprehension. Just as the common citizen does not know the inner workings of the top level government officials (and usually for good reason!), should the same not apply to humans and our pursuit of the divine?

In my many years of trying to find my place in the world and my spirituality, one thing that I ran up against time and time again was this idea that you must know and understand everything. That there are no mysteries because following in your god's footsteps will enlighten you and give you all of the answers. And that just never really sat well with me.

It wasn't until I discovered existentialism that I realized, it's okay to not know. It's okay to not have a purpose in life. It's okay to just be a living creature in this weird little universe that we have. I think that's one of the reasons why I felt so deeply in love with Hellenic polytheism, precisely because it embraces the unknown and the questions that are left unanswered. It makes me feel safe, knowing there is no expectation to become all knowing and understand the deepest intricacies of the universe because truthfully, doesn't that sound a little frightening?

I'm okay leaving some things up to the gods - that comforts me.

Gods could be generalised, like ‘Zeus’, but they were also localised and specialised: ‘the Zeus of Olympia’ or ‘Zeus of Guests’. In some contexts, the Greeks clearly distinguished between local and shared gods, while in others, they were treated as unified: this has puzzled scholars. ‘Is there such a thing as Zeus, or are there just a huge host of Zeuses?’ This flexibility in divine identity has often been viewed as a central ‘problem’ for scholars of Greek religion, in a way that most Greeks clearly did not conceive of it. There is no answer to this ‘problem’ because the mysterious and flexible nature of divine identity in ancient Greece is not a problem at all: ‘ambiguity was inherent in Greek religious thinking and practice’. A ‘central category of Greek religion’ at the core of the relationship between Greeks and their gods and embedded in the basic building blocks of Greek thought and language about the divine was the belief that there can be no certain knowledge about the gods: this is known as the ‘principle of uncertainty’ or unknowability.

▸ James C Ford, Atheism at the Agora: A History of Unbelief in Ancient Greek Polytheism

#helpol #hellenism #hellenic worship #hellenic polytheism #hellenic paganism #philosophical musings #hellenic deities

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the sun literally sets and casts a golden hue over everything every single day and we fucked it all up and invented paying rent

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Aphrodite in all her aspects

#aphrodite #aphroditus

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looking for some book recs! Really could be anything and everything, I just wanna read but nothing in my collection is grabbing me and I need to stop defaulting to Lord of the Rings 😅

Preferred genres: historical fiction (esp Japanese, Irish, & Russian), high fantasy (think Lord of the Rings, my golden standard), mysteries/thrillers, philosophy, and non-fiction science (esp anything about microbiology)

Thanks friends 💖

#booklr #book recommendations

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Inside every classics major are two wolves. One is alcibiades (whore with hubris) and one is diogenes (hates plato)

#was almost a classics major & can confirm tbh

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look I'm all for having great stories about women, by women, for women (ok, Barbie anyone???) but repeat after me: ORIGINALITY IS KEY. DON'T COMPLETELY REWRITE A CULTURE AND ANCIENT RELIGION JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE TOO BRAIN DEAD TO COME UP WITH YOUR OWN IDEAS

mother of god it makes me furious in ways I cannot explain. If something is a readaptation of a previous story 99.9% of the time it's horrible. And then especially when you completely change characters and motives. Perseus is a bad guy now? Oh ok sure Jan if you say so.

Also I feel compelled to point out that a strong, interesting female lead ≠ a warrior. You know who's the strongest woman I know? My mum, a fucking pacifist who has only hurt others in self defense. You know who would make a great character for a story? My mum because she's so full of compassionate wisdom and her life practically seems like a story. But oh no, it's all war and battles and proving that we're just as physically capable as men instead of exploring the very real lives that very real women lead

I hate all of it. The only modern reinterpretation I enjoy is The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood tbh and even then it explores Penelope's journey during the events of The Odyssey

https://www.secretworldofabook.com/post/greek-mythology-retellings-upcoming-2023-releases

I am sure we mentioned it before but this article added new Greek mythology retellings and it's a headache to read. It's always about telling a "feminist" retelling, which is no bad to have more women leads in mythology but here's the problem.

They completely change the main myths and add whatever they please. Like Psyche being a warrior for what? Agamemnon being the bad husband while glamorizing Clytemnestra mistreating Electra and her children as girlboss? Perseus being a bad guy?

Like hold your horses for a moment! Do they not realise that these myths were created and stayed for thousands of years the same for a reason? Because that's the stories of Ancient Greek people! That's their culture and part of modern Greeks as well!

Also why do women need to be warriors all the time in Greek mythology? Not all women relate to want to fights and epic battles, many prefer the old tales when being kind and compassionate was a strong trait not seen as weakness.

I honestly don't know if these books are good or bad but there are many keywords there that alarm me as to the content and phrasing in many of them. The "feminist retelling" brainrot is spreading 😭 The tropes are so predicable at this point, too

#greek mythos #greek culture #greek myth retellings #STOP THEM PLS 😭 #helpol #hellenic community

[orsialos]

Medici Madonna - Michaelangelo (1531) // Katya Zamolodchikova with fan (2015)

#katya stan over here fr

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omg y'all the discussion that sprang forth from this quick little post when I was more than a little high really took off! I LOVE the ideas expressed above, but especially the last reblog

remember, the gods are endless and undefined. we as humans feel the compulsion to neatly categorize our world, but doing so with the gods and forces that move the universe is a sure fire way to miss the endless possibilities and sides of these forces that are literally beyond our comprehension

embrace duality, embrace conflicting ideas and motives. the world has never been black & white

just a reminder that Aphrodite is more than just the "good" side of love. Aphrodite made a promise to Paris that destroyed a marriage and started a continental war.

Aphrodite is not just a "good goddess" who helps with self love and romance and finding your happily ever after. She is the fire that stirs our hearts to kill others in defense of our homes. She is the lust and aching that causes people to stalk those who do not have feelings for them. She is the heartbreak and complete devastation when lovers are torn apart and never reunited again.

Aphrodite is not just your goddess of love and light and pink things and happily ever afters. She is the bringer of victory - Nikêphoros. She is the Warlike - Areia. She is the averter of unlawful desires and actions - Apostrophia. She is one who blessed marriage and unions - Migôntis. She is the one who turns to love - Epistrophia.

#helpol #hellenism #hellenic worship #hellenic polytheism #hellenic paganism #aphrodite #aphrodite goddess #aphrodite worship

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hi, i just wated to let you know that i was scrolling through a pro-life terfs follow list to block other terfs and found your blog there & figured you would want to know. the blog is divining-skeptic if you want to block her as well

well a quick read of their "about me" bio is... wow. The levels of cognitive dissonance they must face on a daily basis is staggering. my brain hurts 🫠

JUST TO BE CLEAR PEOPLE. I'm typing this as I'm waiting for a drag show of my favorite drag queen (Jinkx Monsoon) to start, whilst surrounded by the most amazing queer people in my life. If y'all think I fuck with this TERF bs I have a backhand with all my rings on headed straight for your face.

In other words, fuck off from this place of love and acceptance and go crawl back into your hole. Kthxbaiiii

#asked and answered #ally #queer #trans is beautiful