That great mundane divinity, the Earth, is the common Hestia of Gods and people. This divinity, on whose fertile surface reclining, as on the soft bosom of a mother or a nurse, we ought to celebrate with hymns, and incline to with filial affection, as to the source of our existence.Theophrastus, tr. Thomas Taylor, VII … Continue reading How to Do a Libation for Gaia
Tag: hellenistic syncretic polytheism
Professional Shrine and a New Image for the Muses/Mousai
While working from home, I have had a fleeting opportunity to establish a small work-related niche for library science and creative activities in general. In the morning, I turn on the rechargeable candles and ring the bell, and I turn them off in the evenings. The prayer is informal and quick. I would not be … Continue reading Professional Shrine and a New Image for the Muses/Mousai
I Updated the “New to Polytheism?” Helpful Blog Post List
I have made some changes to the "New to Polytheism?" tab up at the top: I removed the sidebar and added six posts that have appeared on my blog over the past few months. My hope is that the additions further clarify things for new polytheists and provide support as you learn. As the text … Continue reading I Updated the “New to Polytheism?” Helpful Blog Post List
I Pulled the Prayers to All of the Gods Into eDevice Formats for Free, In Case You’re Interested
This short ebook (is it actually a zine? is that how those work?) contains the three prayers to all of the Hellenic Gods that I published on this site in January and February (a modified version of I, the compact II, and the very Platonizing III). The prayers draw a lot of inspiration from Plato … Continue reading I Pulled the Prayers to All of the Gods Into eDevice Formats for Free, In Case You’re Interested
Two Quotations — van den Berg on Proclus not being Athenian and what that means for sympatheia and Proclus’ prose prayer to the Gods in the Parmenides commentary
This week, after over a month of waiting, my Brill MyBooks came in. One of the books was Iamblichus' De Anima — or, after the front cover, shall I say <html>Iamblichus' De Anima (yes, literally, I guess he was in fact Very Online) — and the other was a MyBook print-on-demand of Proclus' Hymns by van … Continue reading Two Quotations — van den Berg on Proclus not being Athenian and what that means for sympatheia and Proclus’ prose prayer to the Gods in the Parmenides commentary
Prayer to All of the Gods III
This is the last of the three prayers that I wanted to write in 2021 — hopefully, a decent enough go at it. It's the most Platonic of the three (but, let's be blunt, that's all of them), and it was a good exercise in hammering out where I solidly understand Proclus' Platonic Theology and … Continue reading Prayer to All of the Gods III
Healthy Reverence and Ancestral Traditions
In Plato and the commentators — and in people talking about them — I've often seen positive language about people observing their ancestral traditions, especially as Late Antiquity gets under way and doing so becomes dangerous to one's personal and political safety. In some places, there are remarks that so-and-so is from x place, but … Continue reading Healthy Reverence and Ancestral Traditions
Indigo, Earth, and Starry Sky
A cotton tea towel that I dyed in October 2019 at an indigo dyeing party coordinated by a colleague. A few days ago, I had a sudden thought about indigo (the pigment that is drawn from several plants, including the indigo plant and woad) while praying, and I scrambled to write several lines of verse … Continue reading Indigo, Earth, and Starry Sky
Celebrating the Return of Light
The solstice candle in question, lit and veiled in darkness. Last night, I pulled my super-fragrant solstice candle out of the bubble wrap packaging it had come in. It was a purchase on November 30, 2018, from NaturalWitchRemedies (a store on Etsy that appears to be on hiatus right now) because it looked like a … Continue reading Celebrating the Return of Light
