At the beginning of the month, I devoured the fragments of Damascius' Philosophical History, an out-of-print translation filled with interesting anecdotes about people in the polytheistic intellectual scene of Late Antiquity. The translator, Polymnia Athanassiadi, identifies many continuities between the world of Damascius and Mediterranean cultures today even while emphasizing the extreme cultural loss and … Continue reading Some Passages from Damascius’ Philosophical History
For Those Who Have Nourished Our Minds
There is a saying that our minds contain the sum of everything that we have encountered and read, a chaotic mixture that each of us must order through a process of sense-making, en-forming what is within us according to intention and necessity. Quite often, one of the ways we do that is through intentionally exposing … Continue reading For Those Who Have Nourished Our Minds
Prayers to All of the Gods
I have made some updates to the prayers to all of the Gods that I published on my blog earlier this year, including the downloadable PDFs, mobi, and ePub files available on Gumroad. Here are the links, with the estimated time they take to use in ritual. Note that the time does not include any … Continue reading Prayers to All of the Gods
When You Have a Bit of Time for the Gods
You don't have to be a mystic or super-religious to worship the Gods. A polytheistic mindset is one that affirms the existence of many Gods, whether you're a Platonist with a sophisticated sense of how the divine unfolds from the One or a Stoic with your Zeusizing cosmology (I'm not a Stoic so don't quote … Continue reading When You Have a Bit of Time for the Gods
A “How to Pray” Infographic
The text for this infographic is similar to this text-based prayer outline, with several additions: first, some guidance on praying for what is best over things we might regret; second, I include the importance of putting things away after the ritual to avoid clutter and to protect sacred items from dust. This graphic was created … Continue reading A “How to Pray” Infographic
Dionysos, Altered States, and Adaptogens
The goddess of the harvest has graciously bestowed two gifts upon us, (a) the fruit which pleases Dionysus so much, but which won’t keep, and (b) the produce which nature has made fit to store.”Plato, Laws, trans. Saunders, 844d A year or two ago, I started seeing something on my social media feed about something … Continue reading Dionysos, Altered States, and Adaptogens
When a God Comes Into Your Home
In Marinus' Life of Proclus, one moment that I never thought too much about was the part when Proclus is described as having a vision of Athene. Proclus had preternatural levels of endurance, driven by his writing, teaching, and devotional worship, at a time when it was becoming very clear just how much needed to … Continue reading When a God Comes Into Your Home
Heavy Reflections on Athene and Arachne
When I think of Athene, I think of strength, determination, and stubborn tenacity. She is the Goddess born from Zeus even after he swallowed Metis, her mother, and her birth is a symbol of the resilience and persistence of birth, life, and womanhood in the face of tremendous adversity — being swallowed by history and … Continue reading Heavy Reflections on Athene and Arachne
Chanting from the Chaldean Oracles
I am an experimentalist. Objectively, it is probably identical to mysticism, but in terms of how I view it, experimentalist more adequately captures my methodological approaches, especially when it comes to interpreting things the philosophers have written, trying out new things, and playing with the range of sympathetic signs to refer to the Gods in … Continue reading Chanting from the Chaldean Oracles
