This morning, I opened new incense blend called Cosmos Flower and lit it for Aphrodite and Eros. I didn't have a lot of time, so instead of reading Aphrodite's Orphic Hymn, I read one of the ones written by Proclus. But Goddess — for you are far-hearingno matter where you are, whether you embrace the … Continue reading Offering Cosmos Flower incense to Aphrodite and Eros
Tag: polytheism
Seira, transformative experiences, and spiritual materialism
Several years ago, while reading Platonic works, I found myself wondering how I and another devotee of Apollon could have such divergent perspectives and how, both of us presumably having had some kind of experience at the root of that, such a divergence was possible. Later, and as a related question, I started encountering ambiguities … Continue reading Seira, transformative experiences, and spiritual materialism
Cutting Glass, Releasing Garments
The 'last' garment and the most difficult to cast off is, on the appetitive level, ambition, and on the cognitive level, imagination. §111, Damascius I, On Plato Phaedo On January 1, 2021, when I did my annual 12-card divination draw, it was a very dismaying experience because almost all of it was bad. It pointed … Continue reading Cutting Glass, Releasing Garments
Proclus, On the Timaeus of Plato, Book 5, 324.5-24
This very topic should be investigated from the very beginning, asking why it is that the soul comes down into bodies. It is because it wants to imitate the providential care of the Gods, and it enters into generation on this account, abandoning contemplation. For, given that divine perfection is of two kinds, the one … Continue reading Proclus, On the Timaeus of Plato, Book 5, 324.5-24
October 2021 “We Are Individuals in Communities” Divination
Obligatory context: In 2020, due to feeling a lot of social burnout, pessimism, and pain about our wider polytheistic communities, I started doing a divination reading every three months about the polytheistic communit[y/ies]. The point of this divination, like most divinations I do, is to highlight growth areas that we may be missing that prevent … Continue reading October 2021 “We Are Individuals in Communities” Divination
More Binds than Separates
we are not so different when they break you apart I will be here to collect each piece not to soothe your naked heart but to give closure to now-ashen limbs recollecting the time I sang for you and your tears fell like overripe grapes from their twisting, tangled vines I wrote these verses while … Continue reading More Binds than Separates
The Phaedo, piety, and public health
While reading some passages about the relationship of the lover of wisdom to the body in Damascius’ commentary on the Phaedo this week, a mesh of associations captured me like a net, and I started thinking about something I first encountered as a teenager — the idea that, if we fall ill, or if something … Continue reading The Phaedo, piety, and public health
Advice About Honoring Gods for the Anxious
The Gods are beautiful and worthy of worship. If you are anxious about honoring them, don't feel embarrassed. This post walks through some false beliefs and expectations that are useful for anyone with such anxiety to address. A few days ago, I wrote something on social media because I was disquieted by some things I … Continue reading Advice About Honoring Gods for the Anxious
Quiet, But Still Praying
The first degree of prayer is the introductory, which leads to contact and acquaintance with the divine; the second is conjunctive, producing a union of sympathetic minds, and calling forth benefactions sent down by the Gods even before we express our requests, while achieving whole courses of action even before we think of them; the … Continue reading Quiet, But Still Praying
KALLISTI 