Note: The "New to Polytheism?" link has been replaced by a link to The Soul's Inner Statues. The link to it in this blog post will not work. 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 … Continue reading I Updated the “New to Polytheism?” Helpful Blog Post List
Tag: polytheism
The Ineffable Power of Syllable and Sound
'Do not change the nomina barbara;'that is, the names handed down by the gods to each people have ineffable power in the initiation rites.Chaldean Oracles, Fragment 150, trans. Majercik, where it appears in context from Psellus Nisha Ramayya’s States of the Body Produced By Love is the best experimental poetry book I have read in a … Continue reading The Ineffable Power of Syllable and Sound
Instructions for Beginning
Look for the moon to steady youin ler variability — new to full to darkwhere you find lim, pause – stop – stop Cup your hands to receive that lightsay a prayer if you know a Godbut if you don’t, the quiet is enough Be attentive to your body’s breathwhether the summer has made ithumid … Continue reading Instructions for Beginning
Cutting Through Untruths
A poem that pushes back against certain misconceptions despite Socrates saying in the Protagoras that poetry is Not the Best Venue For That.
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
Apollon and Plague
So [Khrúsēs] spoke in prayer, and Phoibos Apollo heard him, and strode down along the pinnacles of Olympos, angered in his heart, carrying across his shoulders the bow and the hooded quiver; and the shafts clashed on the shoulders of the god walking angrily. He came as night comes down and knelt then apart and … Continue reading Apollon and Plague
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