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Articles Living Hellenic Reconstructionism by Dave As many in the Pagan community are aware, Hellenic Recons spend a lot of time reading. Because we are reconstructing, or recreating, an ancient religion, we have to. We need at least a passing familiarity with ancient writers in order to help us connect with the Gods we are drawn to. We need information on ancient festivals, epithets of the Gods, how They were worshiped, what sacrifices are appropriate, etc. As a general rule, our sources tend to be quite academic, with numerous footnotes, endnotes, and bibliographies. This attitude tends to carry over into our discussions as well. We tend to cite sources, question unverifiable personal experiences with the Gods, and discuss the rather intellectual topics which many ancient philosophers debated. What we do not spend a lot of time discussing is how we incorporate all of this into our daily lives. We argue, rightfully so, that our religion is alive and well, as are the Gods we worship. We talk about how we try to reconstruct ancient values and place them into a modern-day context. We always assert that sexism, racism, slavery and other values of the ancients are not part of that modern-day belief system. What we don't seem to touch on in our intellectual discussions is how exactly one can live the values of the ancients in modern-day times; why debate and dissect them and not live them?. This is probably the most disturbing aspect of Hellenic Reconstructionism, although many Pagan paths in general suffer from this shortcoming. What I hope to accomplish in this essay is to use my own personal experiences as an example of how one can actually live the values we learn as we read and discuss. The most important value to a Hellenic Reconstructionist is Piety. Piety is our way of recognizing the supremacy of the Gods and honoring Them for who They are and what They mean to us. Traditionally, ancient homes had an area for a shrine for the Gods, whether it be personal Gods, a God of the Pantheon, or a God whose worship was powerful in a particular region. Hestia was offered the first bite at every meal. Festivals were important to bring the community together and worship as a whole. We try to keep our worship traditional. We incorporate Greek into our rituals, and make every attempt to follow ancient festival outlines and cycles. We don't always have the same ability as the ancients to participate in large public rituals; rather, we either practice as a solitary or with a very small group. For example, my "congregation" is comprised of two people. The numbers aren't important, it is the sense of community which comes from worshiping with another which is important. Many of us have small home shrines where we make offerings and sacrifice to the Gods. My home shrine is located in my bedroom, and I make a small offering and prayer of thanks every morning and every evening before bed. My co-religionist and I use my home shrine for our festival celebrations. At any given time you will find incense burning, candles lit, or offerings of wine, honey, barley, breads or fruits on my shrine. There is also an image of all the Gods over the shrine, and many smaller physical symbols of the Gods on my shrine. Things like a small Greco-Roman war helmet and swords for Ares, candles for Hestia, mystical symbols for Hekate, and physical offerings I made for the Gods in times of need; most recently I added a beautiful silver Greek-style bracelet as a token of thanksgiving for the help the Gods gave me during an especially hard time. Piety is probably the easiest of the values to talk about, and one of the easiest to incorporate into one's daily life. A second very important value in ancient Greece was Xenia. "Xenia" is translated as "hospitality". Closely related to Xenia is Philanthropia, "philanthropy" in English. Zeus is the God of strangers, Hermes the God of travelers, and Hestia the Goddess of the Hearth and Home. These Gods epitomize our obligation to participate in our communities and at least try to make a difference. For the ancients, opening one's home or extending help to a stranger created a sacred bond, and Gods help you if you betrayed that bond. This is another easy one to live daily. It simply entails stepping away from the computer (after you finish reading this essay, anyway), and stepping outside of yourself for a few moments. Is there an elderly person living nearby who needs help with basic household things like shopping or shoveling out her car? Is there a local shelter or soup kitchen where you can volunteer? Is there a friend in need who you can help out? If the answer to any of these questions is "yes", then as the slogan goes, just do it! You can also give money to charities as an offering to the Gods; I joined the National Wildlife Federation recently. I got a really cool teddy bear, some name labels and a monthly magazine, but I was also able to dedicate the check and the membership to Artemis, Goddess of wildlife. No one is asking for a tithe or oodles of money to be given away; I'm not rich, and neither are a number of my co-religionists. But can you spare $10 to give to the ACLU, the NWF, the United Way, American Red Cross or some other organization which tries to make a difference in the world? That's not so difficult to do once a year, is it? So you may have to sacrifice that movie rental for the week or have to cook at home one extra night a month instead of going out to dinner. But you gain the satisfaction of helping one of these organizations continue working and doing good for the community. That's living hospitality and philanthropy. Another cultural value of the ancients, and one which is quite common in many ancient texts is the individual's attempt to achieve Glory. To strive to be something great in the eyes of your fellow men. Ok, this one admittedly sounds self-serving. But hey, do we all want to be mediocre? Isn't there something you do, and want to do well? Probably the easiest expression of this is our cultural fascination with competitive sports. Being a good player gets you a contract or the opportunity to compete in the Olympic games. Being a great athlete gets you multi-million dollar contracts, a household name, product endorsements, or the Olympic Gold. On a more personal level, there are things you can do to achieve this. Be a stand-up employee and lead by example; admittedly this is easier if you work in the public service sector, but why not try to have the best sales for the month or be the employee of the month? Maintain a webpage and keep working on your writing. Participate in local sporting events. These suggestions may not sound like a whole lot next to the Trojan War or the adventures of Jason or Odysseus, but the point is that you want to achieve the personal best that you can. The more you do your personal best, the more people will recognize you. Now before we all run out to sack a local village, please keep in mind that Glory has to be worked for and earned. In order to properly earn it, you have to know your limitations. Be realistic about your skills and abilities. Take things at your own pace. Most importantly, keep everything in perspective. No one like a braggart, right? Modesty is the means by which a person reins in the ego and keeps the head at a reasonable size. Shame is the way in which a community monitors the individual and keeps him or her in line. Propriety is understanding what is and is not proper behavior. These are all simple, right? We all like making good impressions on people we meet. No one likes hearing bad things about themselves. We all want to be individuals, but we also understand what is and is not acceptable behavior in our particular culture. Now, admittedly propriety can sound a bit stifling, but it really isn't. Follow laws, be polite, and don't make a fool of yourself, and you'll be ok. Conflict was a recognized part of ancient life. This is probably one of the most contentious of ancient values. Most modern Pagans follow the Rede, which states "An do as ye will, and so shall it harm none". Modern Hellenic Reconstructionists have no such creed. We understand that life is conflict, there's no escaping it. On a large scale, we understand that self-defense is not only appropriate, but necessary. Violence, War and Strife are a part of life, so we just deal with it. On a smaller scale, sometime's peoples' feelings have to be hurt in order to keep them from getting too full of themselves or show them that they have hurt us. Sometimes you have to stand up for yourself, for better or for worse. Now, we're not talking about starting wars over stupid stuff here, but accepting the fact that people don't always get along, that the guy who cuts you off in the parking lot is going to piss you off because of it, and that not every person whom you meet is going to be your new best friend. And that's ok. We know we have to learn to deal with it, and that's the point. The Gods are there for us if things get too hard, don't worry. In the meantime, don't be afraid to stand up for yourself...no one likes a doormat! Just remember, the community is watching, and this attitude should always be tempered by a sense of propriety or you will be shamed. On a related note, there were three classes of people to the ancient Greeks. Friends. Strangers. Enemies. Friends are those who have earned their way into our lives and deserve all that we can give them. On a certain level, friendship involves a give and take that is constantly going on. Because of that, there is a certain obligation to treat our friends with the utmost respect and honor. Strangers are those who have no established bond with us. Depending on their actions, they could become a friend or an enemy. Strangers should be observed carefully to see how they may fit into our lives, if at all. Also, keep in mind that if you help a stranger in need, a sacred bond has been created. Enemies are just that. People who have gotten on our bad sides for some reason or another. Enemies deserve no respect, and in fact may be the subject of your fiery vengeance. Now, to use a prior example, the idiot in the parking lot may have pissed you off, but that doesn't make him an enemy. It just makes him a rude jerk. Enemies are those who have really gone out of their way to make our lives difficult. Someone beating up your little brother is an enemy. The stranger who breaks into your home is an enemy. The stranger who badmouths you at every chance in an effort to make your life a living hell. These are people who show absolutely no respect to you, and you have no obligation to show any respect to them. Admittedly, this is the hardest. People want to give each other benefit of the doubt. We want to at least be civil to those around us. And that's fine. If someone murders your parent you can ask the Furies to take care of it. Realistically, the end result of having an enemy means that you don't have to invite them over for dinner or acknowledge their presence. You have every right to simply ignore them. It's not fun, it's not easy, but do you want someone in your life who has decided their sole purpose is to make you unhappy? Finally, moderation is an extremely important value. Don't go to excesses. Drinking once in a while is fine. Drinking to get drunk every night means you are an alcoholic. Eating and enjoying food is great. If it results in heart attacks or obesity, you might want to consider a diet. Exercise is certainly healthy; it makes you feel physically better and look good to boot. If your exercise regime involves lots of ice, more time in the gym than at work or home, and an awful lot of visits to the doctor, you may want to rethink your routine. But moderation also works the other way. Being a stuffed shirt is just as bad. Go out and have fun once in a while. Life is not a dress rehearsal, so don't be afraid to live. I hope that this gives you an idea on how it is possible to incorporate these ideals into real life. Hopefully more people will talk about living these values so people can see that we really are a living religion and not just a philosophical debate taking place online. Wedding Ceremony Example by Dave Prior to the beginning of the ceremony, James and I will be standing apart from the assembled crowd to be presented by our Maids of Honor. Drew and Carmen will be at the altar, and the crowd will be parted on two sides to allow the couple to approach from different directions. Kathy: David Romano, be welcome in this house! Mary: James Douglas Tyson, be welcome in this house! (Mary and Kathy escort the couple to the ceremony area, lighting the taper candles which will later be used to light the unity candle) Priest: Firm-seated Hestia, you sit at the center of Olympos, bringing light and warmth to the Immortal Gods. You sit at the center of our homes bringing light and warmth to our lives. Protect our homes and families and be a guiding light to us. (Lustral water is sprinkled over the couple, and the area is sprinkled with barley.) Priest: Great Zeus, King of Gods and mortals, you fill the Earth and Olympos with your progeny, the shining Immortals and well-born heroes. Share with us your largesse, for we are children of Earth. Keep us honorable and true to our word, and let us not reject the gifts of a partner’s love when they are offered. Protect our families and our homes, so that we may live in safety and come again to Your altar to honor You another day. (Priest pours a libation) Priest: Queen Hera, white-armed and golden-shod, protect those who live in love and partnership and hold sacred the bonds of marriage. Help those of us who wish to live in partnership to find loving and gracious mates and those of us who have committed to a common life to our vows and our spouses. Remind us that love demands that we sometimes yield to our partners. As we honor you with offerings today, may we do so again. (Priest pours a libation) Priest: Zeus once perceived Hera by Herself, apart from the other Gods, and sought to seduce Her. He therefore turned Himself into a cuckoo and alighted on a mountain in the country of Argolis in the Peloponnese. On that day He sent a terrible storm, and the Goddess wandered alone up the mountain and stood at the place where later stood the temple of Hera Teleia, Hera Fulfilled. When the cuckoo saw Her, He descended trembling and numb into Her lap. The Goddess took pity on the bird and covered Him with Her robe. At once, Zeus assumed His own shape and sought to make Her His paramour. Hera resisted, until He promised to take Her as His lawful spouse. It is said that Hera was the only wife who ever had a husband of equal rank. Their wedding was celebrated in the palace of Okeanos, at the westernmost edge of the world, and was attended by all the Gods. Each brought a wedding gift befitting a divine king and queen, but the greatest among these was the gift of Gaia, the Mother of all the Gods. She gave to Hera a beautiful tree, heavy with golden fruit, which became known as the Apples of the Hesperides. So rapturous was the wedding night of the King and Queen of Heaven, say the people of Samos, that it lasted three hundred years. And after that time, Hera took Her rightful place next to Zeus on Mount Olympos. She is the Mistress of the Golden Throne and the Protector of Marriage. Priest: David Romano and James Douglas Tyson, is it your wish to commit yourselves to one another? Dave and James: answer in the affirmative :) (At this point, the vows will be exchanged) Priest and Priestess: As a symbol of your commitment, please light the unity candles from the Hearth Candle. (The taper candles will be lit, and the unity candle will be lit from those at the same time by Dave and James) (After the unity candle is lit, the couple will extend their left hands out beside each other. The cord will be removed from the altar and placed over each wrist, crisscrossed under the wrists, then brought up to the top and tied.) (At this point, the Priest will say a few personal words to the couple) Priest: Zeus Gamelios, Bridegroom of Olympos, spread your clouds around this couple’s bed and hold lovely Eos at bay, extending the night and their love. Lady Hera, Teleia, Completed One, spread your golden light around them, now and always. (The newlyweds are then presented to the crowd, and feasting follows) Plunteria Ritual by Carey Oxler Summer Solstice Ritual: Plunteria (The Washing of Athena) Gaia Community June 23, 2002 Notes: This is a "Hellenic for Wiccans" style of ritual. While still very Hellenic, we did not have the luxury of a three-hour class in which to teach every detail of Hellenic liturgy, meanings of the Greek invocations, etc. We designed this to be an experience that non-Hellene Pagans could relate to and enjoy, without needing a lot of study. It was very well received, and prompted many folks to go out and learn a bit more about Hellenism. It was also a good way to introduce folks to the major parts of Hellenic ritual in a fast, friendly, experiential manner, while not detracting from the spiritual work of the ritual. These folks will have no problem following along with a full-scale Hellenic ritual later, and will have a mental image to relate to in the "Intro to Hellenism" class. Set-up: Altar is placed opposite the entrance to the ritual area. On the altar, there is a fire-safe bowl prepared for lighting, and several pitchers or bowls of water. Hidden underneath the altar is a basket of water pistols, water balloons, and other wet toys. Two cups, a basket of grains, a bowl or basket of fig cookies, a bottle of olive oil, a new robe for Athena, various shakers and noisemakers, the sacrificial knife, and floral incense are in the gathering area for folks to carry to the altar during the procession. Greta (as Athena) stands behind the altar, looking impassive as a statue, wearing a scruffy-looking peplos, no make-up, mussed hair, etc., and holding a spear and helmet. At the entrance to the ritual space, there are two tables flanking the entrance, each bearing a wide bowl filled with water.   Introduction and Welcome - Kimberly (outside the circle) "Welcome to Gaia Community, an Earth-Based Unitarian Universalist congregation. Today is our Summer Solstice ritual, which will be presented in the tradition of the Hellenes, practitioners of ancient Greek Paganism. Today we are all Athenians, and today is the day that the young priestesses take Athena to the river to be washed and dressed in new clothes. Today's ritual will be led by Carey, Nicole, and myself, Kimberly, with the assistance of Greta and the children of the community." Kimberly gives brief directions for the procession, hand-washing purification, and the signal for the congregation to echo what is being said by the priestesses. The children were given an explanation of their duties previously. Procession - Priestesses pass out the various altar items and instruments and start up a chant, and everyone processes to the ritual space with great noise and merriment. Purification - Nicole and Carey - as the celebrants prepare to enter the circle, they will be invited to dip their hands in bowls of rosemary-scented water set to the side of the entranceway. Celebrants continue with the processional, entering the ritual space, led by Kimberly and walk in a line around the ritual area (allowing folks with altar items to drop off their things) until the head of the line reaches the entrance again, at which point everyone will stop and take hands. Carey: "Hekas, o hekas, este bebeloi!" Nicole and Kimberly: Let all that is profane be far from here! Congregation: Let all that is profane be far from here!  Hallowing the Altar - Carey: "Paresmen time, sonta tas theas kai tous theous." Nicole and Kimberly: We are here to honor the Gods and Goddesses! Congregation: echoes. Kimberly: They are in our breath and our voices! Congregation: echoes. Nicole: They are in the sacred fires! Congregation: echoes. (Nicole lights fire) Carey: They are in the Waters of Life! Congregation echoes. (Carey holds up the water container from the altar) Nicole: They are in the grains of the Earth! Congregation echoes. (Priestesses take grains from basket and scatter them upon the altar) Priestesses (all): They are among us! Congregation echoes.  Invocations to Deity - (Kimberly holds up the water) Kimberly: In the Hellenic traditions, the ritual cup is always offered first to Hestia, the goddess of the hearth and the home. Hestia, thine is always the first, and the last! (pours a portion of water out on the ground.) Having honored Hestia, the cup would then be passed to the people - as the cup comes to you, you may take a sip of the waters, you may dip your fingers in and anoint your forehead with the waters, or you may offer your own libations to the gods by dripping a bit of the waters onto the earth. (Pours from the pitcher into two? cups and hands them to Nicole and Carey to be passed around the circle). (after cups have gone around) Kimberly: Today we are gathered to honor the goddess Athena. (lights incense) INVOCATIONS (All priestesses invoke Athena - epithets and praises below for your reference are taken from the Orphic and Homeric Hymns to Athena) Pallas Athena, you only-begotten One, born of mighty Zeus, awesome you are, and divine Goddess so blessed, lifting high the turmoil of the fray Mighty One unspeakable yet so well spoken of! Great-named One at home in a vault of stone, Caught up in haughty hills and wandering the shaded mountain's ridge You who put a dance in the heart and glory in embattlements You can put the sting of mania into a mortal soul! Athletic Maiden with a heart sublime Slayer of the Gorgon fugitive of the bridal bed Mother of Art in all your abundance catalyst of progress You who bring folly to the corrupt and a sense of purpose to the pure! Male and female in one Patron of war and wisdom, You are fluid of form, a dragon, infused with the inspiration of the Gods! Rightly honored One, who brought Phlegran giants down to defeat, You driver of steeds, Tritogeneia, save us from evil, bearing Victory in your arms! Grey-eyed one Inventor of Art Mighty Queen Protectress of the City As the invocation ends, the ritual cup is passed to Greta, who takes it and drinks. Agon: Greta sets down cup on the altar and looks out upon the congregation. She then stretches her arms, or does some other sort of "waking-up" movement. Kimberly : This is the washing-day, the festival of Athena's renewal. As it was in the ancient days, let our young priestesses and priests take Athena and cleanse her, honor her and dress her in new robes, that she may return to us renewed and restored. Children take Greta's hands and lead her to the front of the altar. They are also given the basket of fig cookies, the new clothes, and various noise-makers as necessary. They process with joyful noise out of the circle and away. Kimberly: Although this washing-day was an important ritual for the ancient Athenians, it was also a day that inspired some fear and trepidation - this was, after all, the one day of the year when the Goddess was not in her rightful place, when they did not feel her eyes upon them. Without her presence and protection, any number of things might go wrong - even the sun stood still above the city, hesitant, lest any derivation on his part lead to chaos without the grace and blessing of She who ruled here. The people also made sacrifices, in honor and in awe of the gods. Let us now offer our sacrifices. Priestesses pass the offering baskets and a basket for food collection. (Gaia Community has a traditional song for the offering that we sing). Once the sacrifice comes up to the altar, a priestess "stabs" the offering plate, etc. as a bloodless sacrifice. Nicole: Now, let us go back, that we may understand the meaning of this day. Please get comfortable, while we think back, to what it must have been like… notice your breath, notice the sun and the trees and the grass… and think back… and join us… Optionally, have someone softly drum a bit here… Carey begins to lead guided meditation of some sort on the discomfort, dissonance, unease, etc. of the Athenians left alone… "They say that in the beginning, all was CHAOS, and then the Titans came, and brought form to the world. … And then the Gods triumphed, and Order was brought to the world. … Poseidon brought order to the seas. Hades brought order to the Underworld. And Zeus rules over all, like a great father watching over his children. … One of his children in particular, the goddess Athena, born of his intellect, is the Wise One, protector and ruler of the greatest of cities. … She brings wisdom to governments. She brings peace to citizens. She guides generals to make wise decisions in times of war. She keeps cities from reverting to chaos once again. … But Athena has left us today. … Is our government making wise decisions? … How will we deal with our neighbors now? … What about the justice system? How are they faring without her aid? … Is it safe to walk the streets? … What will we do without her? … What can we do without her that we couldn't do before? … What do we do when the Goddess turns away? … What do we do when we're left alone? … What do we do now?…" Nicole and Kimberly, meanwhile, have stealthily removed the water guns and toys from under the altar and begin handing them out to the meditating congregation, whispering "she's not looking, right?"… This should disintegrate into wild rumpus without any further provocation, but Priestesses should be prepared to shoot first in the interest of moving the ritual along. After a bit of unrestrained and sacred water-fighting, and perhaps some theorizing about what ELSE we could cut loose with with the Goddess away, Greta and the kids will return from their cleansing ritual and interrupt the proceedings. Greta is stunning, having been re-dressed by the kids in a gorgeous gold-and-blue peplos and stole, with jewelry, makeup, flowing golden hair, and a freshly-polished helm and spear. She is beautiful, godly, and she is pissed. Greta : gives statement from the goddess - talking points should include: - What the Hades are you people doing?!?! - Clean that up! Be responsible for yourself. - Did you think that just because I wasn't here in this form, that there was no divine presence? Just because you don't see me, it doesn't imply that I am not there. - Also, just because everything seems to be falling to pieces, you don't need to join in - the part of you which is divine requires that you behave divinely - Greta, feel free to relate this to the political situation as you see fit. Ask the people to take care of their own home, to be their own "Protectress of the City" - And any other divinely-inspired wisdom you need to share… It's all you and the gods at this point, Greta. Greta and the kids now lead people in the picking up of water balloons and whatnot, which are collected back into their container and placed back under the altar. As this winds up, the Priestesses sheepishly escort Athena to the front of the altar, where she remains. Ideally, the feast would be in the same space as the ritual, but that was not an option for us this day. Kimberly: We go now from ritual space to the sacred feasting, but know that all we do this day is in your honor, Athena. Carey: Charin echomen soi. (Pours libation of oil onto the ground in front of Athena) Nicole and Kimberly: We thank you. Congregation echoes. Kimberly: We thank also the air, the sacred fire, the waters of life, and the bounty of the earth. Carey: Charin echomen humin. Nicole and Kimberly: We thank you all. Congregation echoes. (This step is not terribly Hellenic, thanking the "elements" that hallowed the ritual space. This was primarily put in to reassure the Wiccans that we weren't "forgetting" anything, but notice that there is no libation.) Kimberly: And we close with an offering to Hestia - Hestia, thine is always the first, and the last. (Pours oil onto the flame) Carey: Houtos Heskoi! Nicole and Kimberly: So be it! Congregation: So be it! The rite is ended. Hard v Soft Polytheism by Dave When most Pagans think about theories of the Gods, the main theory they seem to gravitate towards is "Universalism". Universalism is a theory which states that "All Gods are one God" and "All Goddesses are one Goddess". Some would go even further and state that "All Gods and Goddesses are One Divine Being". This is the typical Eclectic Wiccan view of the Gods. This is why, for example, it is so easy to mix and match Gods from different pantheons in ritual or just refer to the "Lord" and "Lady" generically and fill in the names where appropriate. This "soft" paganism, is not, however, the only way to view the Gods. Reconstructionist Hellenism is a "hard" paganism. What this means is that the Gods are all separate and distinct entities with distinct personalities, spheres of influences, likes, dislikes, etc. Each God has a different birth, different relationships with other Gods, and is never referred to generically on a regular basis. One of the reasons I gravitated toward Recon Hellenism is this fact. to me, "soft" paganism makes no sense. As a Recon Hellenist, I have a number of myths and stories to draw upon in my worship. When I read the stories and myths, I realize that the Gods have such diverse personalities that totally clash with "soft" paganism. I also realize that the conflict and strife which exists in the myths simply makes no sense if one is a "soft" pagan. I'll use some examples to illustrate. Hephaistos got a pretty raw deal. He was born lame, hated by Hera, His mother, and it took a couple of tries to get Him a wife. Zeus married Him to Aphrodite, and for a while it seemed as though Hephaistos found wedded bliss. Unfortunately, that was not to be. Aphrodite was having an affair with Ares. Hephaistos captured the two during a tryst, and demanded recompense for this insult. Why, pray tell, would this matter if all Gods were one God? After all, Hephaistos and Ares would be one and the same, and therefore there was no affair to get mad about! The Trojan War, which is detailed in Homer's Iliad, found the Gods on opposite sides. Hera and Athene favored one side. Ares and Aphrodite favored men on the other. Apollon had His favoured ones as well. Hera asked Zeus directly for His aid in helping Her side, while Ares and Aphrodite took Their side quietly. To make a long epic poem short, why, if all the gods were one God/dess would this have happened? As a matter of fact, could it have even happened at all? It seems fickle and capricious to me that the Gods would change sides so frequently. I can't imagine that gods like that would be worshiped for any great length of time! Not only do events betray the Universal theory, but personalities do as well. Hestia, Artemis and Athene were chaste Maiden goddesses. Demeter and Hera bore children. Aphrodite bore children, but was also the Goddess of Love, physical and emotional. Aphrodite had affairs behind Her husband's back. Hera spent a great deal of time supporting Her husband, even though He had a number of affairs. Hestia, Artemis and Athene never knew the love of a man. To Universalists, these Goddesses are all one Goddess. Confused? I would be if I were a Universalist. These personalities clash totally, and that is just within the Greek Pantheon! Imagine bringing Frejya in here! The chaste Maiden Goddesses would have a field day with a Goddess who gives up Herself for Magickal goodies, that's for sure! However, when one looks at the Gods as separate and distinct personalities, this all makes sense. One of the biggest problems with Universalism is that it takes Divine beings and turns Them into archetypes. Or worse, aspects of the human psyche. It's the only way it makes any sense in light of the diversity of the Gods. Hestia isn't the Hearth, but a representation of the Home and Familial Ties. Ares is not an armour-clad warrior, but the represntation of War and Anger. And so on, and so forth. BUT...these are GODS. At the very least it is Hubris to try and pigeon-hole Them into some human mold. At the very best, it is misleading. The richness of myth alone shows us that all Gods are not one God, and all Goddesses are not one Goddess. I'll close with this thought, another reason why I prefer Hard paganism to Universalism. I like my Gods to have names, faces, histories, and personalities. To me, Universalism, which puts names to Gods only when necessary, is quite boring. Rituals and prayers have a lot more meaning when I am praying to my Patron and Matron Gods when I know that They are not merely archetypes for "masculine" and "feminine" Divine energy. I have both masculine and feminine enrgies inside of me. I want to celebrate the Gods, not parts of the Human psyche. Reconstructionism by Dave Reconstructionism is the attempt by modern peoples to reconstruct part of an ancient culture in the context of modern life. Reconstructionists rely heavily on historical materials, classical literature, and intellectual treatises to learn as much as possible about the culture or religion they wish to reconstruct. This is quite common in Native American culture, especially the mid-Atlantic area. In this area, many Native Americans turn to history classes and anthropology classes to learn about their culture's history and tradition. They also read eveything they can get their hands on. This is because they are separate from the culture they wish to reconstruct, much the way Celtic and Greek Recons are. We are reconstructing ancient Greek religion through history, literature, archaeology, art, etc in an attempt to worship the Greek Gods as closely as they were worshipped in ages past. This is different from eclecticsm, another modern movement, in that it doesn't make things up as it goes along. Eclectics mix cultures, pantheons and histories without a lot of regard for historical accuracy, while Recons are serious sticklers for historical accuracy. For example, Gardnerian Wicca allegedly holds Aradia, Cerrnunos, and Hekate as the "big three", if you will. Aradia is Etruscan, Cerrunnos is Celtic, and Hekate is Greek. With the limited exception of those Gods adopted by the ancient Greeks and made their own, modern Recons do not accept this ideology as it recreates a system of worship as opposed to maintaining cultural accuracy. Modern Witchcraft is quite eclectic for the most part...a lot of "worship whatever Gods you want, however you want, accuracy be damned". As a matter of fact, many fundamentalist Wiccans balk when asked to cite sources or give reasons/explanations for inaccuracies as they don't have any. There are several benefits to Recon as opposed to eclecticism. First of all, I personally feel the Gods better appreciate it. As separate distict entities, I somehow doubt that the modern eclectic movement pleases them. Many myths and histories have become distorted as a result of eclecticsm...this leads me to my next point. Recon is also beneficial in as far as it put me in touch with the culture which created the religion that honors my Gods. This isn't some pseudo-mystic mumbo jumbo like that which is found in many eclectic practices....this is the religion of the ancient Greeks honoring the ancient Greek Gods I have loved for as long as I can remember. These benefits are obviously personal to me, as opposed to beneficial to the Greek Recon community as a whole, but I feel that many eclectics play act. They get an inflated sense of ego because of their initiate status, put on thier robes, call their circles, etc, without truly understanding what it all means. I have come to learn that while steeped in history and culture, Recon is a very personal experience to the extent that it tries to remain a "peoples religion", or not focused on initiation. With the exception of certain mysteries, anyone who can read can follow this path if they so choose. You don't have to be a third degree whatever to truly experience the religion. Plus recon emphasizes integrating daily devotions and religion into ones daily life, which is always a good thing! The biggest problem however, is that when there are gaps in the history, we kinda have to guess what the ancient Greeks would do. Not always easy in some cases. As an example, Ares is a Patron of mine, but there is very little written about Him, and what is sucks (I'll be blunt, lol). What this forces me to do is use a little poetic license. I know recons do not frown on that so long as one recognizes it as such, but it is a problem nonetheless. Personal gnosis is important in any religion. In some cases, it just depends on how the Gods speak to us as individuals. Obviously there are certain practices however, that are impractical. For example, I really do not have the money, strength of body (or stomach), or available space to sacrifice bulls and goats in my apartment. Not that i have a problem with this, I love meat. I 'd probably just be in violation of several state laws and local ordinances, in addition to the cleaning costs, injuries to self, etc. But that's ok. Our culture, which is based on Greek culture, has evolved. There are any number of things I can do instead...wine, incense and candles being my personal faves at this time. We also have to keep in mind, while ancient Greek religion was relatively civic, modern culture is very private. I don't have a group of people to engage in ritual with, and that's ok. It's what in my heart that makes my faith, and all the other stuff is just an expression of that faith. Pantheism, Eclectics, and the Gods by Dave I have recently been thinking about the Nature of the Gods and Their worship. I am a Reconstructionist, which means that I strive to be as historically accurate in my worship, beliefs, and values as possible. However, as one not prone to leaving my head in the sand, I belong to several pan-Pagan groups as well. Because of this, I run into folks who worship Olympic Gods, but not necessarily in the framework I do. This has led me to think about the nature of the Gods, and whether one needs to worship Them in the traditional historical framework in which They were worshipped or not. Before I proceed, I want to get some terms straight. Many modern Neo-Pagans are eclectic, which means that they worship several Gods from different Pantheons. Eclecticism is not always historically accurate, focusing more on the need of the Neo-Pagan. Further, many Neo-Pagans tend to be henotheistic, worshipping a God or Goddess from a Pantheon independently from the rest of the Pantheon. Reconstructionists strive to worship the Gods of a specific culture with as much historical accuracy as possible, such as Hellenes, Asatrus, Kemetics, and Celt Reconstructionists. Finally, synchretism refers to the incorporation of foreign Gods into a religious system, creating myths, relationships, and a place in a Pantheon for a foreign God. This is a total identity change as opposed to just bringing that God in and leaving the God as is. Many modern Neo-Pagan movements take a rather historically loose view of the Gods. Many modern Neo-Pagans feel that it is ok to "mix and match" Gods from differing Pantheons, without much care for how the Gods were worshiped in the past. Many will even worship one or two Gods from a Pantheon without paying homage to the rest of the Pantheon. My question is this: if one chooses to do this, without fully understanding the Pantheon with which that particular God or Goddess is associated, can one have a true understanding of the Divine? One of the benefits of a Pantheon is the fact that it adds to the richness of the Gods and Goddesses who belong to it. The Gods and Goddesses interact with each other as brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, lovers, friends, and enemies. This interaction gives us a deeper understanding of the nature of the Gods, helping us to understand Them as divinities as opposed to two-dimensional Dungeons and Dragons characters. I'll give you an example. Let's say Jane Wiccan is very in-tune with the Earth-based seasonal cycle and was drawn to Wicca partly because of its reverence of Nature. She feels the need to put faces and name to the Goddess, and after a bit of light reading feels drawn to Demeter. She sees Demeter as the Earth Mother Goddess who provides food and crops during the spring, summer, and fall, and takes those crops away during the winter. Maybe she reads a bit and discovers that the reason the soil is infertile is because She mourns the loss of Her child to the Underworld for those months. She chooses not to read about Zeus, Haides or Persephone since she does not feel particularly drawn to Them. As a result, she has a very skewed view of the myth; she doesn't understand the interaction between Zeus and Demeter, parents of Persephone. She doesn't understand why Zeus would give Persephone away to Haides (They're brothers), nor does she understand that one of the reasons for the harsh season was because Demeter chose to take revenge on Zeus, through His mortal worshipers, for giving Persephone's hand in marriage to Haides without consulting Her first. She never discovers the Eleusinian Mysteries, those sacred festivals dedicated to Demeter and Persephone and known only to an initiate. To Jane Wiccan, Demeter is just an Earth Goddess who runs the seasons. At this point, Jane is henotheistic. To a Reconstructionist, Demeter is part of a larger group of Gods. A Reconstructionist Hellene appreciates the interaction of among the Gods, and understands that this interaction is necessary in order to truly know Them. S/he reads as much as possible, tries to learn what s/he can about the Gods of Olympos, as well as the culture from which the Gods come from. As a result, at least in my humble opinion, the Reconstructionist has a deeper connection with the Gods because of that knowledge. Admittedly, many of us have Patron or Matron Gods to Whom we feel a closer connection that the other Gods of Olympos. Further, many rituals are dedicated to one specific God or Goddess. However, just as the ancient Greeks made offerings to all of the Gods, so do modern Reconstructionist Hellenes. We recognize that the Gods belong to a larger framework which deserves our attention. As the next step in Jane Wicca's faith, she begins to focus more on the God and wants to feel a connection with Him. After some more reading, she comes across a God named Cernunnos. She decides that this is the God she chooses to work with, and integrates him into her ritual. At this point she is eclectic. She takes one or two Gods from differing Pantheons and incorporates Them into one system, in this case, her own. These are two Gods who have no historical or factual basis for being worshiped together, but she feels that it works for her regardless. Admittedly, Greek religion was quite synchretic. Kybele, Dionysos, Aphrodite; there is a great deal of academic literature discussing the true origins of the Gods who eventually became the Greek Pantheon. Perhaps at the outset of ancient Greek religion, it seemed to be a mish-mash of Gods, but at the height of Classical Greece, the Pantheon, and its mythology, were quite well established, evolving into a hierarchy of Gods which has been part of human culture for millennia virtually unchanged. Modern Neo-Paganism, with its "do as thou will" attitude toward the divine, is in direct conflict with what we believe. So where do we go from here? As a Reconstructionist Hellene, historical accuracy is important in my worship. How do those of us who follow the Reconstructionist path deal with those who would take the Gods we worship out of context and history, doing with Them what they will? Hekate as a crone, Pantheon mixing, etc, are all becoming major issues in the modern pagan movement. We have three options at this point. We can continually try to educate those who show an interest in the Gods of a specific Pantheon. I'm not talking about proselytizing here. Rather, point them in the right direction, encourage them to ask questions, and give them the resources they need to learn what they can. They may benefit from it, or they may choose not to use it; at least we have made the effort to say, "this is what we do and why". Another option is to fight about it. Some of my online battles over historical accuracy are legendary. And there is a time to talk and a time to fight. The final option is to simply sit back and do nothing. This is hardly an option. If we say that the Gods of Olympos live today, we must be willing to at least engage in discourse. We don't have the right to tell anyone how to worship, but if we can provide information which makes someone else's worship richer and fuller, then we certainly should. This makes me sound like an elitist, but really, I just expect that if people choose to worship a God, whether it be Apollon, Allah, God, Christ, or the Goddess, they will try to learn everything possible. Personal Religious History by Dan Adler My spiritual life to date has been a 35 year journey of exploration. My family's religious background is mixed: My father was raised as a Jew, and my mother as a Roman Catholic. My mother, herself, came from a mixed family: Her father (and stepfather) were Jewish, and her mother was Catholic. Religion was never an issue in my family. All of my grandparents were rather relaxed in their practices. I don't believe that, other than weddings, funerals, and the like, either of my parents went to any religious services once they were over the age of fifteen or so. "Officially", I was considered Jewish (convenient when three quarters of your family is also Jewish). I was presented in the temple, given a Hebrew name, and all of the things that happen to a new born Jewish child. I was told "You're Jewish". I thought of myself as Jewish. But I didn't really know (or care, quite frankly) about what that meant. We didn't celebrate any religious holidays in our home. At least, not as religious days: We always did a big dinner for Easter and Thanksgiving, but without any religious overtones. We also did Christmas. Not as a religious holiday (although we had a little plastic tree every year, and my mother had found a lovely old-fashioned nativity scene she set up on the piano), just as a "family holiday" for being together and giving gifts and being happy. That was how my childhood was. I knew, of course, that most of my classmates in school were religious (almost universally Christian of one kind of another), and that most of them went to church every Sunday, and observed all of the rules and regulations associated with being a Christian. But it didn't really matter that much to me. Or to my parents, or to their parents. It was a part of who we were, but not one that really mattered all that much, and that was how we liked it. Not that I didn't know what was involved in being either Catholic or Jewish. Even as a child I was a ferocious book worm, and read everything I could get my hands on, including books on Judaism and Catholicism as religious institutions. I was curious intellectually, not out of any sense that I did (or should, really) belong to any practicing faith. When it was time to enter fifth grade, my parents transferred me from the school I was in to a church school. Specifically, an Anglican one. The curriculum was much as you'd find in most public schools around the country, with the additional requirement that we go to Mass every Wednesday morning. This was a requirement, and it didn't matter if you were Anglican or Methodist, or Catholic, or Jewish, or Islamic, or even Atheist. When it was 11:00 on a Wednesday morning, you went to Mass. Period. You didn't have to believe, or even really participate. Just sit when they sat, stand when they stood, kneel when they knelt, and so forth. I spent eight years in that school, and, like it or not, I began to absorb a sense of myself not as a non-practicing Jew, but as a non-practicing Christian. After finishing at school, I came to the states to attend college, and the school that I ended up at (because of their academic record) was Seton Hall University here in New Jersey. A Catholic, church-run University. Not that I took any religion classes, because I didn't. However, the Gods are not without a sense of irony: the job that I ended up with through the student employment office was as an office assistant in the office of Campus Ministry, assisting the assistant director (a Nun who had (more irony) taught at the Catholic school that was my Anglican high school's cross-town rival). It turned out, however, that college was not for me (yet), and I quit school at the age of 19. The majority of my friends at this time were practicing Catholics, some of them quite strong in their faith. I spent a lot of time with them, even hanging out in the parish offices where some of them worked, where I got to know the priests who ran the parish. I also got pulled (not unwillingly) into singing with the folk group that did the music for the noon Sunday mass. I've always enjoyed singing, and didn't feel that my participation was necessarily religious in nature. Perhaps it was the constant exposure to the Catholic Church, and a growing feeling that I needed someplace, spiritually, to belong. But at the age of 21, I entered the "Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults" (or RCIA, as it is known), which is the program whereby adults from other (or no) faiths convert to Catholicism. I was one of eight adults in this six month program. We studied the bible, and Catholic doctrine, and religio-ritual practice, and at the end of that time, at the Easter Vigil Mass, in 1990, I was baptized, received my first holy communion, and was confirmed into the Catholic faith. I was content to be there for the next ten years, and in that time, a lot in my life changed for me personally. I quit drinking, I came out as a homosexual, and I returned to college (to a Methodist school, this time) in 1997, from which I graduated in 2000, finally earning my BA. But through all this, I knew that I was still changing spiritually. I'd thought that when I became a Catholic, that feeling of needing something would be satisfied. But apparently not. The more time I spent as a Catholic, the less satisfied I was. Not necessarily with God, but with the Catholic (or Christian) interpretation of what God was, and what God wanted from us. Specific examples: According to the Christians, Jesus says to "Love thy neighbor as thyself". But the Christians feel that they have to append to that: "Love thy neighbor as thyself, as long as he doesn't go beyond the bounds of what we define as moral behaviour." The Christian bible says "Judge not, let ye be also judged." But this restriction doesn't apply, apparently, if the people you're judging are not Christian, or are "deviant' in some way (such as being *gasp* homosexual). The more instances of these sort of hypocrisy I found, the less happy I was. By this time, my father and stepmother (my parents having divorced when I was 13) were steadfast Unitarians. I once described Unitarians (as a joke) as "Polytheistic Monotheists". Nobody could see why I thought that was funny. Especially given the origins of Unitarianism as another Christian sect. I looked seriously at Unitarianism, but it just didn't feel right to me. They did occasional readings from the Old and New testaments, which was fine, but they also did readings from the Tao, or from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, or from the Qiran, and none of that felt quite appropriate to me. I assumed that I was doomed to spend the rest of my life as a "Fallen Catholic". Believing in a God who wasn't quite the one presented by the church, and having questions that the Church either couldn't or wouldn't answer. Questions like "If God is all loving, why did he create Satan and allow Satan to spread evil?" or "If God created man in his own image, does that mean that God has nipples, a navel, genitals, and an anus? If so, why? He doesn't need them, does he?" These sorts of questions don't go over well in the Church. They tend to irritate priests when you ask them. Some years ago, I joined an online community. Not one with any religious overtones, but one wherein folks posted to a "journal" as if they were immortals of various mythologies. I've always been fascinated by mythology, especially Greek, so I joined eagerly, taking on the persona of Apollo, and posting as if I was Him, keeping a journal. It was through this medium that I met Kyrene, who directed me to Hellenion. As soon as I started reading the Hellenion webpage, and seeing what the organization was about, I realized this was what I was needing as the next step in my spiritual journey. I've been reading (and more or less believing) the Greek stories since I was a small child (my mother to this day insists that I taught myself to read on an old book of Greek myths for children). I joined the organization, fully intending to dedicate myself to working to make the worship of the Olympian Gods a commonplace activity. The thought had never occurred to me that there were actually people in the world who still worshipped the ancient Gods. This was a (you'll forgive the pun, I hope) godsend to me. And, the fact that we (Hellenion) are a reconstructionist group means that we have to work together, not only to uncover our spiritual roots, but also to build on them and recreate the worship of the Gods. This means we're coming together as a community. It also means (and this is important to me) that I've found a community in which I feel that I can be a productive member, as opposed to one who merely sits on the sidelines, and follows the rules, without questioning. It's that feeling of belonging, not just worshipping, that I think is missing from so many mainstream religious communities today. One of the first things I did when I joined Hellenion was offer myself to Apollon, devoting my life to His. Of all the Greek Gods, he is the one to whom I am drawn the most. And it's not surprising: He's the musician, and music has always been a very important part of my life. He's the singer, and so am I. He's a protector, and (as my friends will attest), I get very protective when someone (or something) I care about is threatened. While I feel drawn to all of the Gods, it is Him to whom I have chosen to dedicate my life, and my service. I have sworn to Him that, come what may, I will work hard to live up to His standards, and hope to find favour in His eyes. Spirituality and Homer's Iliad by S.A. Victory One of the things that has long fascinated me about religion and spirituality are the many similarities among different belief systems. I'm talking about the similarities that reach beyond dogma; those things which bring people to a specific spiritual path or indeed to any spiritual path. It was therefore a real privilege and pleasure when I was able to attend a class that addresses just these points here in Minneapolis, at Metropolitan University called, The Spiritual Journey. The class is taught by Mary Shaw, professor of theology. The class outlined ten themes ¹ of spirituality which can be found in all religions or spiritual paths. Over the many weeks of the class we looked for and found these themes in such diverse religions as Judaism, ancient Christianity, Native American Spirituality, Islam and Buddhism. We also looked at the themes and how they applied to Wicca, Taoism, Hinduism, the teachings of Carl Jung and the mysticism of Joseph Campbell. I began to wonder some time later during a class on Mythology if the ten themes could be found within Hellenismos. One of the problems with Hellenismos is that there is no one book, no one dogma and no one philosophy. How then to apply ten themes? We were studying Homer's Iliad, and I decided that if the Iliad were a text of a myth that not only told a story, but had some religious context, then within the Iliad I could find those themes which I'd learned could be found in all religions. It is first necessary to understand the Iliad as one of the foundation myths of Hellenismos, not just an attempt by a primitive people to understand the world around them. Although all religions exist partially as a way to help humankind understand the workings of the world, universe and their or our place within it. The fact that the ancient Greeks also developed philosophy and a tradition of debate which included debating the validity of the myths does not lessen the fact that these myths, both those from Homer and Hesiod, as well as others, formed the base of Greek religion in ancient times, and therefore forms the base of modern Hellenismos. It is important to note that by the time the Iliad was committed to paper ancient Greek religion was already well developed, rituals, ceremonies and rights of passage were a recognized part of ancient Greek culture. Whether the Iliad was changed to reflect this deliberately or not, is not something we can know; but that the poetic epic was adjusted to audiences of the day is almost assured, as this is the way of humankind historically. Theme One: Naming and Discerning the Divine The first theme of the ten, that of naming and discerning the divine is fulfilled at the very beginning of the Iliad. Zeus is mentioned by name in the first stanza in a way that recognizes him as a powerful being. "…and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end." The second stanza names Zeus' son Apollon and names him a God. "What God drove them to fight with such a fury?" The poet asks, then answers, "Apollon the son of Zeus and Leto." Immediately after this sentence we find the second part of the first theme; discerning the divine. In this examination discerning means to perceive or what does Homer see these deities as? Apollon is seen as an avenging spirit and the bringer of plague when His priest's request is denied by the Greeks. Homer tells us that most of the Greeks agreed to grant the priest's request; through the characters of the story the poet tells us that the release of prisoners for ransom is an acceptable tradition and that Agamemnon is in the wrong to deny the priest's plea, and thus risks the wrath of the God. By line twenty-five at least two deities have been named and some idea of Their nature imparted to us. Throughout the remainder of the poem we will meet many of the rest of the pantheon of the ancient Greeks, and learn much of Their natures and Their spheres of influence, both within the confines of the poem's context and outside the story. Hera is shown as the wife of Zeus, but not the mother of Apollon; thus we learn that Zeus is known for his many affairs and Hera for her jealousy about them. There are many epithets for each God or Goddess throughout the poem further defining how the ancient Greeks perceived them. Athena is called grey eyed and flashing eyed, tireless one; all these ways that describe how the Greeks perceived Her. How a deity is named and perceived in myth or other stories tells us only part of what we need to know about them from a religious view; whether the deity is seen as transcendent or immanent is important as well. Theme Two: Transcendence or Immanence In the Iliad the Gods, Goddesses, demi-gods and other immortals and semi-immortals are a part of the world and therefore immanent. Apollon leaves the home of the gods to bring a plague upon the Greek army in answer to Chryses' prayer. Athena, at the behest of Hera, talks Achilles out of killing Agamemnon even grapping his hair and forcing him to listen to her, "Rearing behind him Pallas seized his fiery hair." Thetis a water nymph and mother to Achilles asks Zeus to take Achilles' side in his argument with Agamemnon. Which is a reference to another side of the immanence of the Greek deities, several of them have sons among the Greeks and Trojans alike, their involvement in the war isn't just that of mortal and immortal but that of family, mostly parent to child. The Gods and Goddesses take sides in the war, driven by allegiances of blood, friendship and patronage. That they can choose to remain apart of the world is apparent in their actions when Zeus at one point orders them all to stay out of the conflict, (an order several of them ignore, especially Hera). In this way the poem shows us that they could have stayed out of the war, but there is proof in the story that these deities have long been part of the world and involved in the affairs of mortals. Zeus has chosen Paris, a mortal, to judge between three Goddesses, Paris is then rewarded by Aphrodite, (one of the three Goddesses) with the gift of Helen, a daughter of Zeus. Aphrodite also has a son in the conflict, Aeneas; another thing which brings the Goddess further into the war and therefore into the world. Theme Three: Nature and the Divine The evidence in the Iliad of how the ancient Greeks saw their deities is shown abundantly. One of the spiritual themes that is far less shown is how nature and the divine are seen. How do the two interact, if they interact at all? One part of the story that touches on nature is when Achilles is filling the waters of the river Xanthus, (portrayed as a deity) with corpses and blood, thus polluting it. The river God asks him to stop and when Achilles refused the God surges up and chases Achilles. Clean water has always been a concern of most cultures, without it humans die, this part of the story seems to be an admonition to keep corpses and other unclean things from fouling rivers even in battle. Theme Four: False Self versus Authentic Self Most religions have some guides as to how a person reconciles the false self and the authentic self. The false self being the self that adheres to the norms of society and the authentic self being that which is true to the needs of one's self and one's beliefs. Because the Iliad is a tale of war it is not immediately clear who is expressing their false self and who is expressing their authentic self. One of the first tasks we must undertake to discover this theme is to first decide what the Greeks valued and if these things are apparent in the story. Two of the things which the Greeks respect which are central to the story are; respecting the bonds of hospitality, which Paris breaks and being true to one's oaths, the Trojans break this one. Achilles on the other hand makes an oath that he will not return to the fight and keeps it for most of the story. These two practices which the ancient Greeks valued are represented in the Iliad by the actions of the characters. It is in the dilemmas facing both Hector and Achilles that we see the struggle between the two selves. Both men know that should they follow their destinies they will die and both question their destiny, Achilles says, "Mother tells me, the immortal goddess Thetis with her glistening feet, that two fates bear me on to the day of death. If I hold out here and I lay siege to Troy, my journey home is gone but my glory never dies. If I voyage back to the fatherland I love, my pride, my glory dies…" Even in Paris' choice we can find the conflict of the true self and the false self, Paris chose selfishly ignoring the laws of guest and family taking something that wasn't his, even if granted by a Goddess. Aphrodite herself chose selfishly, ignoring the laws given by Zeus about how a guest should act. Theme Five: The Individual and Community Eventually Achilles rejoins the battle and kills Hector, both men giving up their individual wants and adhering to the needs of the false self, as many in the conflict chose to giving into the wants of the community. In the Iliad the theme of individual and community and how religion directs this choice is shown many times, and in many ways. First there are two distinct communities; though they are similar they are different. The Trojans and their allies are one, Paris, Hector, Priam are members of that community. The Greeks, a combination of armies led by different kings, (two of which are related to each other), are another community, although they are slightly less cohesive than the Trojans. The conflict itself is about what is good for the community, The Greeks can not allow an insult to go unanswered; the Trojans have to protect their own, even though he is in the wrong. The poet tells us through the story that individual needs and wants, and in this case of women rights, are subsumed by the needs of the community. It is important to protect the interests of the community far more than it is to protect the interests of the individual. In the taking of sides the gods may seem at first to be supporting individuals, but they actually support the two sides or two communities in the war. Theme Six: Gender in Religious Language and Experience Life roles based on gender are often proscribed by religions, how a person acts, dresses and what is expected of them are usually based more on religious tenets than any other social structure. In the Iliad the role of females is clearly shown to be different than that of males, this is not a society of equals. Even among the immortals gender roles are unequal; Zeus admonishes Hera his wife and sister, "…If what you say is true, that must be my pleasure. Now go sit down. Be quiet now. Obey my orders, for fear the gods, however many Olympus holds, are powerless to protect you when I come to throttle you with my irresistible hands." Zeus' role as father and ruler is reinforced by the god Hephaestus, who says, "I urge you, mother-you know that I am right-work back into his good graces, so the Father, our beloved Father will never wheel on us again, send our banquets crashing!" Zeus is not just ruler and father, he is to be feared, catered to and cajoled when angry, for no one in the family will be at peace unless he is happy. In the Iliad males whether immortal or mortal stand far above females in the social and religious order. The lot of mortal females is also shown in the Iliad first Helen, the Chryseis and Briseis are taken from their families and given to others as prizes, counted among the jewels, gold and other treasure the warriors contend over. Their status before the conflict, in Chryseis' case as a priestess, is not of importance to the men who have taken them. Another clue to the status of women in the tale is that many times the fact that the warriors have sons in far off places is mentioned, but little is said about their daughters. Only when someone's daughter is offered or taken as prize are they mentioned or important. If the Iliad reflects the religion of ancient Greece, then women are seen as property, their status and worth linked to that of the men they marry or in some other way belong to. Theme Seven: Ethical and Social Concerns Was the status of women a social concern in the time of Homer of from some time afterwards when the poem was preformed? Or is the chief concern stated in the opening stanza: "Rage-Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses, great fighters' souls, but made their bodies carrion, feasts for the dogs and birds,…" The ancient Greeks lived in an almost constant state of war, yet in the Iliad in several places the reasons for those wars and what they cost in pain, suffering and death is enumerated. What is more, the poem doesn't actually glorify this; it gives bloody details, talks of pain and agony, but leaves the question of the worth of this destruction to the listener or reader. At one point Athena and Apollon decide that there has been enough death and they want a battle between just two men. If death in battle is glorious why would two of the Immortals reject it? Or is it that war is a continuation of chaos, something both these deities abhor? The Iliad doesn't give answers to this, only raises the question; which from a religious standpoint is exactly as it should be. Theme Eight: Metaphor, Symbol and Myth Metaphor, symbol and myth are the tools which religions use to teach the adherents of that religion the ethics and concerns of the religion. The Iliad is rife with metaphor and symbols and it is a myth. Most of the nature imagery in the poem is metaphor; Odysseus calls the land of Argos "stallion-land" stallions were much prized for their strength, beauty and fecundity, so he compliments the men of Argos. In his speech he talks about an omen they all witnessed, when a snake appeared to them at a sacrifice, devoured nine birds and then was turned to stone by Zeus; the omen so Odysseus tells them, stands for the nine years it will take them to win the battle with the Trojans. The snake represents them, the birds the years and that the snake turns to stone their eventual victory. Nature symbols are used to depict the armies and often times individuals characters, "…and the armies gave a deep resounding roar like the waves crashing against a cliff when the South Wind whips it, bearing down, some craggy headland jutting out to sea-the waves will never leave it in peace, thrashed by gales that hit from every quarter, breakers left and right." The army is shown by this to be a powerful and inescapable though chaotic force. The Iliad is itself a myth or teaching story, it exists not just as a history of a war that may or may not have happened, but as a means for people to examine the values and ethics of ancient Greek religion. It is interesting that it offers no answers, makes no suggestions about how to live a life, only points out choices, some very clearly and others in a metaphorical or symbolic way. Paris' choice of Aphrodite as most beautiful of the three goddesses; Achilles' choices of a long life in obscurity or a short life of glory and remembrance; Hector's choice of duty to his city and his duty to himself, the reader, (listener) is left to debate the wisdom of these choices on their own. Theme Nine: Spiritual Path or Progress on the Journey It is in these choices that a person progresses on any spiritual journey or path, the Iliad illustrates this well, mostly in Achilles choices. In his words we see his anger, his vanity, his bitterness about his impending death and his grief over the death of Patroclus. "All those burning desires Olympian Zeus has brought to pass for me-but what joy to me now? My dear comrade's dead-Patroclus-the man I loved beyond all other comrades, loved as my own life-I've lost him…My spirit rebels-I've lost the will to live, to take my stand in the world of men-unless, before all else, Hector's battered down by my spear and gasps away his life, the blood-price for Patroclus." There is love in the Iliad as well, Phoenix, who refuses to leave Achilles when asked to, Patroclus' sorrow and grief over the dead Greeks, these are things the reader can identify with. One or the reasons that myths survive as long as they do is that they remain valid, that validity exists because myths like the Iliad, the Odyssey and others have characters who face life choices that are recognizable to the audience. In a religious myth this is especially important as it points out what is a moral choice and what is not. Achilles in his rage made a selfish and immoral choice; for pride he stood by and let many be killed who might not have been had he remained in the conflict, it took the death of one close to him to make him realize his mistake; an age old lesson. Theme Ten: Ritual and Practice One of the main themes of any religion is that of ritual and practice and here too the Iliad gives us many examples. In the very opening after being denied his appeal to ransom his daughter, Chryses prays to Apollon, "Hear me Apollo! God of the silver bow who strides the walls of Chryse and Cilla sacrosanct-lord in power of Tenedos-Smintheus, god of the plague! If I ever roofed a shrine to please your heart, ever burned the long rich bones of bulls and goats on your holy altar, now, now bring my prayer to pass. Pay the Danaans back-your arrows for my tears" In this small section we learn how the gods and goddesses are to be addressed and prayed to. First there is the extolling of the god's virtues, Chryses calls Him the God of the silver bow, he calls upon a specific virtue; God of the plague. Then the priest reminds the God of past favors and devotions, "roofed a shrine to please your heart…burned the long rich bones…" and finally he asks for something in return, "pay the Danaans back…" this same formula is repeated later by Agamemnon when he asks for Zeus' favor. The two instances differ in that Apollon gives Chryses what he has asked for completely, while Zeus grants Agamemnon only part of his request, showing that though ritual is followed the results are not guaranteed by immanent Immortals. Other rituals shown in the myth are those which surround the disposal of the dead; the treatment of the body after death is important. Stripping the body is an insult to the dead and to their communities. Conclusion Using these ten themes of spirituality one is able to look at the Iliad as a religious myth and see the value it held for the ancient Greeks. It is also possible to look at it in perspective to the moral values of today, both in the mainstream monotheistic religions and in the alternative reconstructionist religions of modern polytheists. The Iliad outlines many of the virtues, values and life choices faced by mortals. It also talks about the relationship between mortal and mortal; and mortal and Immortal. It addresses the nature of the immortal and divine, it names the divine and tells us the way the ancient Greeks discerned the divine. It gives us insight into the nature of the false self and the authentic self as the ancient Greeks saw it. It also gives insight into the roles of the individual, the community and gender in both religious and secular life. Ritual practices are outlined and there are examples of them clearly stated. Ethical concerns are spoken of in depth through the many speeches given by many characters. Most importantly the spiritual paths of those involved are spoken of and it is from these parts that mortals can gain inspiration and knowledge of a right way to live, orthopraxy, which the Greeks who came after the time of the Iliad held to be more important than orthodoxy. For those of us practicing modern Hellenismos the Iliad gives us insight into the ancient structure of our religion. More importantly by being able to apply these ten themes which can be found in monotheistic religions as well as other accepted and documented spiritual paths, Hellenismos can be seen to pass a recognizable standard into what a religion or spiritual system must contain. ¹ Ten themes of spirituality taken from Mary Shaw's class, "The Spiritual Journey" taught at Metropolitan State University; Religious Studies. The Iliad / Homer; translated by Robert Fagles, with introduction and notes by Bernard Knox. Penguin Books; Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition (1998) My mystical experiences and some thoughts on religion by Calixto Lopez This is not something that I, as a pretty strong rationalist likes to discuss much, and it is rather personal, but some discussions on friends' blogs make me wish to share some of them. First off, let me say, that I have never had the sort of mystical experience where one sits and chats with the Gods, whether in dreams, visions, etc. Rather it is something more basic, a strong sense of the numinous and awe. The roots of Roman religion, for instance came in the sense of numina (one could say, "power"), sometimes the numina of a place, or an event, or a phenomenon...which eventually became personalized as the Gods. In Hellenic religion, the same thing happened with the growth of daimones into theoi, and even in Homer the Gods are referred to daimones. The earliest religious iconography comes from Sumer, in the form of votive offerings of human figurines, each with huge eyes...eye wide with awe. All religion is rooted in awe. Even atheists often feel awe at the majesty and power of the universe, and formed Scientific Pantheism as a way to express their awe. The New Friesian Theory of Religious Value Religion contains a special domain of evaluation: the holy or the sacred. This category has two sorts of opposites and three forms of opposition. The opposites are the polluted or unholy and what may be called the common, mundane, worldly, or secular. The relationship between the holy, the polluted, and the common is similar to that between the beautiful, the ugly, and the plain in aesthetic value. There are no degrees of transition between the beautiful and the ugly. Something cannot really be both beautiful and ugly at the same time -- except in different respects, as in a portrait of an ugly person, e.g. Socrates, that is nevertheless beautifully done or revealing of the beautiful soul, e.g. Socrates [note]. On the other hand, there are degrees of being beautiful or ugly, but both of them tend to the third pole, the plain. Similarly, something cannot be both sacred and polluted at the same time, but there are degrees of sacredness and pollution, with each tending to the third pole, the common and secular. Religious value is more complex than aesthetic value because three forms of opposition mark off each of the three poles of the sacred and its two opposites. Thus, there is a difference between 1) the sacred and the profane, 2) the clean and the unclean, and 3) the numinous and the mundane. What is holy is therefore sacred, clean, and numinous. What is polluted or unholy is profane, unclean, and numinous. And what is common is profane, clean, and mundane. In many ancient religions, one of the most important oppositions is between the clean and the unclean. Many of the rules in the Old Testament concern pollution and cleansing; but cleansing, of course, does not make anything sacred, it merely makes it worthy of becoming, approaching, or associating with the sacred. In almost mathematical terms, nothing can exist on the track expressing degrees of sacredness without leaving the track showing degrees of pollution. The opposition between the sacred and the profane is often confusing because of the bivalence of the category of the profane. Webster's dictionary has one definition of the profane that is mundane, "not concerned with religion or religious purposes: SECULAR," one that definitely involves pollution, "serving to debase or defile what is holy," and one that is mixed or the profane proper, "not holy because unconsecrated, impure, or defiled: UNSANCTIFIED." "Unconsecrated" and "unsanctified" will mean simply the non-sacred, i.e. either unholy or mundane. The third form of opposition, between the numinous and the mundane, is essentially between matters of religious concern and those that are not. Whether of the holy or of the polluted, religious valuation can be said to possess "numinosity," an uncanniness, mystery, and power set apart from common, ordinary, worldly, secular, and mundane things. Holiness and pollution can both be dangerous, but the difference is that pollution is not sought for its own sake but is often acquired despite that (through spilling blood, having sex, menstruating, eating the wrong things, etc.). Ritual actions are required to remove pollution. Ritual actions are also required before dealing with holy things, in part to remove pollution but also to prepare for the dangers posed by holiness itself. There is nothing dangerous about the merely mundane. It is just a kind of emptiness in comparison. The holy and the polluted pose a threat to each other. The concepts "defile," "debase," and "desecrate" reveal that even what is holy, as well as what is clean and mundane, can be damaged by the unholy. If the divine presence in a temple is of value to a community because of the protection that the god provides, the desecration of the temple may not harm the god, but it may certainly harm the community, as the means of pleasing and accessing the god is compromised. On the other hand, something may be so holy that it cannot be desecrated. Thus Alfred Kohlatch [This is the Torah, Jonathan David Publishers, 1988] quotes Rabbi Judah ben Bathyra as saying, "Words of the Torah are not susceptible to uncleanness." Kohlatch adds, "No individual, not even one who is ritually impure, can defile a Torah by touching or handling it," and "the Talmud states clearly that a Torah scroll cannot be made ritually unclean regardless of who handles it." On the other hand, the holy is also definitely a threat to the polluted, as is well illustrated in the Biblical destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. ... Religion has its numinous character whether the principle objects of religion be immanent or transcendent, e.g. tangible fetishes, idols, places, persons, etc., even states of consciousness, or a supernatural God, heaven, etc. Religion possesses no special category of obligation (i.e. the rites and objects mean nothing to anyone outside the religion) but instead subsumes all the others, usually collapsing them moralistically into the ritual requirements of the religion. The "holy" is thus often equated with moral goodness or, when that sense isn't so strong, with the beautiful or the sublime. Numinous value, however, is polynomicly independent of other forms of evaluation: religious practices may be repugnant, the gods (or God) may do bad things, or sacred objects may be ugly or repulsive. The cleansing of pollution and the preparations for sacred rituals may require moral rectitude or beautiful costumes, or they may require appalling mortifications, self-mutilations, blood sacrifices, etc. Ritual practices simply may not make any sense... This polynomic independence occurs to us as the problem of evil. If God is omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent, then why does evil exist? He would know it exists; he would be able to get rid of it; and he would want to get rid of it. The problem of evil, however, is more general than a theological difficulty over a transcendent personal God. Even without God, as in Buddhism, there is still birth, disease, old age, and death. These were regarded by the Buddha as a problem. They still are, and we must still ask ourselves why the world often seems to be a "meaningless nightmare of suffering." If religion offers consolation that the world makes ultimate sense and has a meaning or a purpose, despite all evidence to the contrary, it is holy things that present the tangible (or perhaps intangible) quality of that consolation. Karl Kerenyi, in a book which only I have read, based on discussions of authors in various fora, entitled The Religion of the Greeks and Romans discusses this whole matter of numinous, profane, and mundane. "The case is no different with the verb hazesthai which might seem of all words that most confined to the religious sphere. Its meaning is related to that of dedienai --'to be afraid' -- and aideisthai -- 'to be ashamed,' and it is used as absolutely sysnonymous with this later word, and what is immediate decisive, moreover, it is not at all confided to the religious sphere...the word means a respectful, but not a 'religious' behavior...Hazesthai is what Zeus himself feels towards the sphere of Night. He would not want to do anything which might displease this great goddess. And hazesthai in two important passages refers to a deity to whom the epithet hagnos -- 'pure' -- belongs, that is Apollo...in the Odyssey a priest of Apollo is an object of hazesthaiaideisthai is used as a variant for hazesthai occurring somewhat earlier in the same passage... "The verb hazesthaihagnos, epithet of the pure and purifying god Apollo...It can well be said that 'it is used pre-eminently of the uncontaminated elements of nature. Yet the elements have in the world of men their deathly aspect as well. They form, like the gods, a boundary to human existence... "The other adjective from this root, hagios refers more to the cult -- 'pure' temples, uncontaminated cult statues, mysterious cult procedures..." (Kerenyi 1962 pp 106-107) Further on, Kerenyi writes: "A similar concept with the Greeks is hosion or hosia. In our texts the substantive hosia occurs earlier than the adjective hosios... "Negative versions, like the quite general one that is not hosia to plan another's deaths.. "...Plato treats of hosiotes (the state of hosia) in a sense equivalent to piety and religious purity in general. Yet he too starts from a case of murder...In general, in order to be hosios it was sufficient to live the Hellenic life as it was lived according to the nomizomena of the different States... "The word hosios is used not only of the person who leads a 'pure lift' but of anything else to which purity can be applied, for instance a place where something goes on which is still permitted by the unwritten laws of life but would be forbidden by the laws of a stricter religious need...It is accordingly quite clear that the hosion occupies a middle position between the hieron and the wholly profane... "..Hieros, the adjective for everything which belongs to the persons or presence of the gods, in Homer already has that radiant colour." (ibid pp 108-111) "It is clear that hagnos, hagios and hieron means Pure or Holy in various senses, and hosia is intermediate with Pure and Impure, i.e., it is Mundane or Clean and Profane. The Polluted, Unclean and Unholy would be something akin to hosios or miasma destructive of the Pure and Holy. The "Need to Know"and the Meaning of Life As Plato thought that the love of wisdom began with the love of the kind of value we can see, beauty, now we can say that beauty most concretely contains the promise of what is not merely of this life and this, phenomenal, world. This is ironic, since mere beauty can be regarded as one of the most superficial and trival things in life, with no necessary connection to virtue or morality. Indeed, beauty sometimes seem positively adverse to virtue and morality. When the Greeks, of course, said "good and beautiful," they meant nobility as well as good looks, or even, as with Socrates, nobility without good looks. At best, beauty often seems inert and dormant. On the other hand, beauty has other permutations. The sublimely beautiful displays active and even fearful power. While one tends to think of wind and lightning in this respect, erotic beauty is just as much an expression of it, with a fearful power that disturbs and unsettles, even frightens, many, even as it drives a great deal of fashion, entertainment, and daily life, often threatening loss of control, both personal and public. The sublime and the erotic bespeak hidden power that is only latent in the merely beautiful. While the numinosity of the sacred and holy is sometimes said to merely be a form of the sublime, there is considerably more to it than that. Where the sublime is powerful and even fearful, the numimous is positively uncanny and Other -- supernatural rather than natural. No longer an inert and dormant beauty, numinosity seems to have broken free from objects altogether, feeling like an intrusion from reality beyond phenomena, whether of divinities, spirits, or any other kinds of paranormal powers. This can still have its erotic aspect, as we see in the divine sexuality of Babylonian temple prostitution, or the pornographic sculptures on Indian temples. This certainly gives us another case of the difficulty of pinning down a construction of transcendent objects, since a religion like Christianity seems to construe the hereafter as devoid of sexuality. It is India that ironically combines the most austere ascesticism with the most explicit eroticism. ... It appears, then, that what we need to know are the values of the phenomenal world. Since we are not now living or operating beyond that, our doctrines and speculations about it end up being paradoxical and self-contradictory. Yet the values of the phenomenal world are themselves not truly of it, and present us a clue that there is more to things than what we see. The ultimate clue, though also the most tantalizing, is the sense of the numinous, in which we seem to glimpse an unaccountable majestas in the transcendent, whether we think that this is the God of Abraham and Isaac, the Existence, Consciousness, and Bliss of Brahman, the wonderful, cosmic Buddha-dharma, or even the Form of the Good...It is only a matter of concern when we want more, when the undeniable randomness, senselessness, and unfairness of events moves us to yearn for some way in which it will all make sense -- when the shortness and imperfection of life means that we want reunion with our loved ones, to enjoy moments that in fact were all too brief or that in our folly we did not appreciate enough at the time. The numinous is the uncanny, powerful and awesome. From Kerenyi again: "The life of the hosios is a normal life, pleasing to the gods after the Hellenic style. The characteristic of it is not a negative behaviour, but rather a laissez-faire, a carefree piety. A way of life distinguished by a special regard for the divine is called by the Greeks eusebia. Its root is the Greek verb expressing the highest form of worship --sebein, sebesthai...The etymological root meaning is on the face of it fairly clear and certain. Sebein, sebesthai originally meant something like 'step back from something with awe.' The simplest translation of sebas is 'awe.' This is confirmed, too, by the meaning of another verb derived from the same stem, sobeo -- 'I drive away.' This etymology does not require us to call in aid the mana-taboo kind of interpretation. The origin of the awe is no more expressed in sebas or sebesthaisobein.... "To arrive at a real understanding, therefore, we must start not from the bare etymology of the words but from the whole phenomenon, an account of the experience, that is, in which its cause too is given...In the Odyssey there occurs in four different contexts the sentence: 'Awe took hold of me at the sight.' In no case can there be the slightest question of a mysterious secret force. The sebas is everywhere occasioned by something becoming manifest and present in an actual form, something which by its visible appearance is able to excite such awe. Thus sebas was excited in Telemachus by the radiance of the royal palace of Sparta; by the pleasing presence of Telemachus himself in the old friend of his father and in Helen, who discovers the form of Odysseus in the form of his son; and finally in Odysseus by the divine beauty of Nausicaa as it appears before his eyes. Gods and men alike feel sebas at the view of an appearnce such as the narcissus, the wonderful flower which the earth goddess cunningly caused to grow for the enticement of Persephone and to oblige the god of the underworld -- 'a Sebas can be excited not only the beauty of an appearance, but also by a picture of horror, when it is imagined as if before one's eyes. Thus Achilles must picture to himself the dreadful state of Patrocles' dead body...When it is the horrifying condition of a slain man or a dishonoured corpse which is being imagined, the atrocity itself need not actually occur. The awe of it is in the soul." (Kerenyi pp. 111-113) The sense of awe against the beautiful or powerful...and aginst the horrible and terrible can also be seen in the following passage.